[PWRDbyTRD]

I was looking at the Bianchi Axis 2005 model and I really liked it. They let me leave the bike shop w/o question over it while other bikes they say that they wouldn't recommend. I'm 400lbs, would this bike be OK for riding (this is going to be a street/path bike, it's not going offroad) or should I steer clear of it, any other recommendations

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[rykoala]

Hey TRD. At 330, I feel your pain. I discussed this at length with the LBS and they suggested that I wait until I get down to around 275 before I think too hard about road bikes, because the strength of the wheels isn't so great [EDIT: not so great compared to 26" MTB wheels]. That hasn't stopped me from putting together a single speed bike with 27" tires and 1.25" tires, it should hold up. But just get some very strong wheels, like you did on your Kona.

I hope you search goes well! Sounds like you're doing great!

[hdfy]

I weighed 370 when I started riding a road bike. I used Mavic open pro rims with 36 spoke Ultegra hubs just have them properly trued and tensioned and they will hold up OK.

[Surferbruce]

i have an 05 Axis and love it but i think you're gonna wanna sub out the wheel set. the 1x 16spoke front wheel is pretty light. i only weigh 160 but have managed to bash em out of true a little in about 3 months of frequent riding.
otherwide it's a great bike.

[Red2000SS]

I agree with rykoala, I think wheels are going to be the weakest link - but I think you can find strong wheels for a road bike -Tandem wheels - they are designed to support 400+ lbs. That said I think you would be MUCH better off with a mountain bike with a suspension. Unless you are always riding on glass smooth asphault all the time, any bumps are going to pound the crap out of you and but tremendous stress on your wheels / frames / etc. Mountain bikes aren't really desinged for 400 lb people, but they are designed to handle 200+ lb riders impacting after taking 4 ft drops at speed. You sound like you are just wanting to ride roads / bike paths so I think you will be fine even with the occasional bump / pothole - just don't do any 4 ft jumps!

Good luck with your efforts. I am a scrawny 230 lbs :D LOL, I am trying to lose weight, but I am probably one of the biggest guys doing a weekly ride sponsored by the local bike shop.

There are MANY people much bigger than me that have started riding and lost a lot of weight.

I just wanted to offer some encouragement and try to get you to think about comfort on the bike. Yes, you might be slightly faster on a cyclecross bike than a full suspension mountain bike, but you may be miserable after a few miles.

If your bike hurts too much to ride after a few miles, you won' ride it much. Just something to think about.

Again - good luck!

[my58vw]

I am also a scrawny 230 pounds but I am 6'6" so I am not very overweight at all (want to get to 200 though). I went with soms strong areo rims but went 16 spoke. After 4 months of riding fast and hard both are slightly out of true but that is no big deal. For someone your weight I would look at a hardtail with strong 26 inch wheels with 1.25 inch slicks. You can even do a rigid fork up front. When you get a little farther down the weight scale go to a road bike with either tandem wheels or stronger 700 cc wheels.

[catatonic]

I'm 5-8" 230lbs, and I can pretty much warp the hell out of 700c wheels. I second the comment about Tandem wheels.

So far my Mavic MA3 rims have put up well, but I hate how they resonate under speed...I plan on replacing those sometime this year for a better set of rims since that vibration they build up is so freaking irritating.

[late]

Hi,
is it a triple? You want a triple. Will it take a large tire? I would suggest anything 36-40 and a lot of bikes won't take that big of a tire. You want the tire to be perfectly round when you are rolling on a flat road. But you don't want much more pressure than that. That way they give a little when you hit a bump. Most rims over 500 grams will work for you, just get 36 spokes, and a strong hub. These are a couple touring wheels from Peter White, I think they would be strong enough without getting tandem wheels at twice the price....

Shimano XT hubs, Mavic T520 silver rims, 14-16 Wheelsmith spokes, 36 spokes

Shimano LX hubs, Mavic T520 silver rims, 14-16 Wheelsmith spokes, 36 spokes
(I use 14 ga spokes, they're a little beefier)

I would contact Wall bike, and ask them if they think a sprung Brooks saddle would work for you.

http://www.wallbike.com/B67.html

[BlastRadius]

Make sure the wheels you get are spaced at 130mm. The Axis has 130mm rear dropout spacing and is aluminum so you can't stretch it to fit 135mm MTB hubs.

The Axis also can take 35-40mm tires since it comes stock with 35mm CX tires. I recommend the Bontrager Select Invert 38mm tires. They're smooth on the road and have just enough inverted tread to do well on hard dirt trails.