Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - 2nd ride on new bike and disaster!!!

First the good, made my second ride on my new Sirrus, 4 miles averaged a little over 9 mph, but there where a couple of long but not very steep hills had to work hard to get up em though. My butt was sore but it wasn't as painful as I was imagining, before I went to bed last night.:) Tried to ease my hand pressure on the handle bars and my arms and shoulders made it a lot better on this ride.
Now the bad, my oldest son has really taken an interest in riding my new bike he is 18 years old and he is also a clyde, 6' 3'' 235lbs, he will be beginning his 1st year in college at NSU, and playing baseball for them. He is big but very fit.
Now the ugly, while he had the bike out for a ride coming down a hill at 25mph and he said he felt like the rear end of the bike was coming out from underneath him somehow he managed to get it stopped without wrecking, but the rear tire was warped pretty bad.After reading posts from this forum before I picked the bike up at my LBS I stressed to them on more than one occasion that I was concerned that with my weight would there be a problem with my choice of the sirrus, they said that there was no weight limit on there frames and that I would be safe to ride it. I asked about spoke tension on the tires they said to bring it back in 4 weeks for a tune up and enjoy riding my new bike. When I was reading the owners manual it clearly said, there adult bikes where rated for 100kg, 220 lbs thats bike, rider, and cargo combined. If I was coming down that hill I would have surely wrecked in the middle of the road with a 45mph speed limit, I would like to know if this is an inherit risk of cycling, or do I ask for a mountain bike instead, I know they can fix the tire but I'm not sure if I can trust these guys at the shop, who told me not to worry about my weight on this bike. Any ideas?

Do you mean wheel is warped, or the tire is disfigured.

235 is not a lot of weight for stock wheels...I wouldn't say it's low, but litterally breaking spokes and warping rims with that little mileage is no where near typical.

If you simply got a flat and did t stop right away and the tire is toast, that to me at least is no big deal.

It's got 32h wheels which should be adequate if properly tensioned, but absent more of a description it does sound like your son got a flat rather than a wheel problem. What does the wheel, itself, look it?

Friend weighing a hefty 325 lbs rides a 21 lb bicycle . . . no issues.

The tire is fine and still holding air the wheel is warped.

The tire is fine still holding air, the wheel is warped pretty badly, less than 20 miles on it, I am a little shocked that it warped that quickly. It was a hwy he was riding on, it was very smooth.

If the tire went flat and he rode on it for too long, I think that can damage the wheel as you'd be riding on the rim.

Take to LBS and see if they will replace for free considering bike is new

The tire is fine still holding air, the wheel is warped pretty badly, less than 20 miles on it, I am a little shocked that it warped that quickly. It was a hwy he was riding on, it was very smooth.

Any broken spokes? I'd say the wheel was clearly defective (probably not tensioned correctly contrary to what the shop told you). Take it back and have them fix it, I might be tempted to take it to another shop with a competent mechanic and have them retension the wheel.

The tire is fine and still holding air the wheel is warped.


The tire is fine still holding air, the wheel is warped pretty badly, less than 20 miles on it, I am a little shocked that it warped that quickly. It was a hwy he was riding on, it was very smooth.

how much do you weigh?

there is a good chance that your rear wheel was improperly tensioned or is just defective. my best friend bought a new giant escape in may. while adjusting his derailleur i noticed that his rear hub was wobbling bad, it looked like it was machined off center. we had the bike shop replace the rear wheel.

If the tire went flat and he rode on it for too long, I think that can damage the wheel as you'd be riding on the rim.

You'd likely tear up the rim, but I'm not sure that riding on a flat tire would cause the wheel to go out of true. Sounds to me the nobody bothered to check the tension on the spokes before the bike was delivered to the OP. I would give the shop a chance to fix it. I'd strongly suggest that they need to check the tension on every spoke on both wheels using a tension meter...

I sit here, slowing shaking my head from side to side.

The OP did his due diligence in reading up here. He's selected a bike that has 32 spoke wheels. And, he's gone as far as enquiring about tensioning before taking delivery. Only to be told to bring it back in 4 weeks.

(If the shop failed to form the outer elbows, stress relieve the spokes to the point they no longer change with successive turns and then balance the tension on the spokes before delivering the bike.)

Why? Why, do shops resist performing the assembly work that would save them time later on? And, save their clients this frustration?

It's this sort of stuff that caused me to start building my own.

The DeepV's I built in March (using the above measures) didn't require any post breakin touching up. I did put them back in the stand to check true and tension after about 400km. They didn't "require" a thing. I did make a couple of miniscule adjustments toward perfection. They now have around or over 1600km on them.

The DT 585's I built last week about 100km on them. They don't seem to be "breaking in". I don't expect that they'll be any less satisfactory than the aforementioned.

If LBS' really want to survive in this day of internet everything, they need to pull their collective fingers out and actually capitalize on those occassions where they can actually add value to the clients transaction. Properly "finishing" wheels during the build would be just such an opportunity. Especially when a clyde is involved.

To the OP, take both wheels to the shop. See what they say. Give them an opportunity. If they haven't got a decent "wheelsmith" on staff and a tension meter, don't bother working through the issue with them, beyond getting a fresh wheel as a warrantee replacement. Then, either find a "wheelsmith" or learn to maintain your own wheels.

Rant over.

Or...OR...his son screwed up the bike by trying to "launch it off some sweet jumps", and is using the whole "the wheel felt funny" excuse as a cover.

Kind of like how my friends daughters car "kinda felt like it might have had a flat or something", right before she ran it broad side into a brick wall shredding the tire, the bumper, the fender, the door, the side molding, and the wing mirror.

That theory sounds far more likely then a sinister bike shop selling shoddy workmanship to rip off fattys.

Because if my 275 pound ass can ride on a set of low spoke count, radial laced, Mavic Ksyrium wheels, on a light weight road frame...then your son should have no issue with that bike, on those wheels, on that road surface, even on a poorly built up example.

Something smells fishy here, and its not my chamois.

I would do a few things:

1) Go back to the shop and talk with the owner/manager. Owner if you can get them but the manager will work.

2) Get heavier duty spokes (which worked for me) and I am a big guy.

3) Take the bike away from your son. You do not know how hard he is riding it. And if I know most 18 year olds, they like to jump curbs!

4) Buy your son a bike or better yet, he can buy it.

Broken spoke(s) would be my first bet. I don't know your son, so it bothers me a bit that it was suggested that he abused the bike and lied about it. My daughter is 18 and built her bike from the frame up and maintains it herself. She is a careful rider. If he was jumping curbs etc. that could indeed be the problem but you know whether or not you can trust him with your bike.

Factory wheels on a decent brand name bike are generally plenty strong for larger riders, but like anything else, there is a chance you got a lemon. Could be a bad rim, weak spoke, or whatever. Unless there is evidence of abuse, it should be covered under warranty. Get the other wheel checked at the same time. New wheels do break in over the first couple hundred miles and may need retensioning to keep them true and strong, this is normal and your LBS is correct that a tune up after it has been ridden for a while is in order.

Broken spoke(s) would be my first bet. I don't know your son, so it bothers me a bit that it was suggested that he abused the bike and lied about it. My daughter is 18 and built her bike from the frame up and maintains it herself. She is a careful rider. If he was jumping curbs etc. that could indeed be the problem but you know whether or not you can trust him with your bike.

Factory wheels on a decent brand name bike are generally plenty strong for larger riders, but like anything else, there is a chance you got a lemon. Could be a bad rim, weak spoke, or whatever. Unless there is evidence of abuse, it should be covered under warranty. Get the other wheel checked at the same time. New wheels do break in over the first couple hundred miles and may need retensioning to keep them true and strong, this is normal and your LBS is correct that a tune up after it has been ridden for a while is in order.

That just made me bust up laughing. That has to rank up there as one of the best/worst paragraphs ive read on this entire board.

I trusted my son when I let him ride it , I've trusted him for 18yrs and he has done nothing to ever make me not trust him so I believe him when he tells me how this happened. Now if it was his younger brother I might take more stock in your theory. lol Actually there both good kids.

Lets face it, going over a curb or a big bump might not be the "wrong" thing to do but lets face it, when you buy the bike, you have more ownership of it and feel the need to treat it with more respect.

If you need proof of this, look at any of the workers at a job. For example, I work in a kitchen and when I ran kitchens, it was amazing to see people slam the cooler door or the oven but what they do not understand is that these things cost a crap load of money. They dont have to pay for it therefor they do not care (as much at least) if at all.

We gave my daughter a bike to ride around campus when she went to college. She lived in a co-ed dorm and loaned the bike out to guys who included football players. When she brought it back home at the end of the year, it had square wheels and the cottered cranks were trashed. When someone doesn’t own something, they seem to feel no hesitation to jump curbs, speed bumps, etc. My son jumped a speed bump on a mountain bike my wife got for him and collapsed the fork. It was a cheap bike, but still…The only surprise here is, why you are surprised.

My vote would be broken spoke, have you checked all the spokes?

In my experience the wheel buckles pretty quickly once a spoke goes. I adjusted the rest of the spokes to get the wheel running straight again and cycled it to the next town (I was on a tour) and they replaced it for me.

Seems to be equipment failure plain and simple. I am 6'3" and was 235, 32 hole middle of the road rims. You should get a replacement rim, this is based on what you say being the facts. Check your paperwork and hope your LBS does the right thing.

When I was reading the owners manual it clearly said, there adult bikes where rated for 100kg, 220 lbs thats bike, rider, and cargo combined.

Are you sure about that? This document (http://cdn.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/pdf/manuals/OM0225USA_AppA_2012A.pdf) seems to disagree. 265 or 300 depending on which model of Sirrus.

Sadly, finding this document bums me out because it means that I am, naked in the morning, currently at the limit for the Roubaix I want to buy. Guess I need to lose more weight before I go down that road...

You know, I really don't think that weight is a significant issue on this new bike.

What we need to assess first is the cause for the wheel going out of true. As others have asked, are any spokes broken? Does the wheel spin freely or rub the brakes or worse, fail to clear the stays?

Next, you might approach the LBS with the facts of your case. If they bring up the weight issue, tell them I'm 280. I ride 32 spoke wheels. I rode hard today and sprinted off at a few lights to get into work. So that's not really the issue. The issue is a fairly new wheel not holding up to reasonable riding.

What's reasonable? Well, they sold the bike to you, and if you were heavy then, why did they sell it to you?

If the cause was broken spokes, then on a new wheel, ALL the spokes are suspect. I wouldn't ride with a bad batch of spokes. And when spokes are bad (I've bought enough boxes of cheap spokes in bulk) it's likely a high percentage of them are bad. The maker systematically has an inferior way of forging the mushroom head or bending the curve at the base or what not, and if one breaks after a short perior, another will likely break.

IMRE, many wheels that come stock are showing up like that. And the results are inconsistent with any maker, and even on the same model bike. I suspect that it's because the factory that assembles the bikes are often getting inconsistent batches of spokes and they don't do sufficient QA to test the spokes. Most manufacturers are making the assumption that on mid-grade bikes, sub $1000, the riders average less than 200 lbs weight and less than 500 miles per year. The rest of the time, it collects dust in a garage. With that data in hand, they probably aren't investing much into quality and consistency, especially with spokes.

I'm not sure what to recommend for you, except try to work with the LBS. I know from my experience, I'd build my own wheels. But that does take some investment in time, tools, and self-education, which may not be the same for the OP.

all I can add is since you personally werent on the bike, you dont know exactly what happened. All it takes is one speed bump to jump out at you, or one pot hole you didnt see....not that I have a lot of experience but that massive of a failure for no apparent reason seems odd.

Any broken spokes? I'd say the wheel was clearly defective (probably not tensioned correctly contrary to what the shop told you). Take it back and have them fix it, I might be tempted to take it to another shop with a competent mechanic and have them retension the wheel.

My Sirrus from a few years back broke many rear spokes when I first got it (before that I had not broken a spoke since the early 70s cheapo bikes). I was very surprised. I rebuilt them myself and solved the problem. Mine was disc braked (less dish = weaker to begin with).

I weigh less than 180 lbs,

That's a bummer about the wheel, hope the shop makes good.

Okay, update for all of those who were pinning it on the boy!! Took the bike to the LBS told them his story they said there was no way the wheel could have came out of true without having some kind of bump, or hitting a pothole. They didn't make a big deal out of it at all, they fixed the rim at no charge and said if it happened again they would replace the rim for free. Armed with the info, I confronted the boy and explained to him that I wasn't mad and that the only way I could be comfortable riding this bike was knowing it was safe and not a factory default was for him to tell me if he went over a bump or anything that could have damaged the wheel, he finally admitted that he accidentally caught the edge of a curb and knocked it out of true. So I guess I misjudged the boy's amount of honesty, but it reassured me that I made a good decision about buying from the local LBS instead of ebay, or craigslist. Lesson learned.

Something smells fishy here, and its not my chamois.


That's beautiful.

Your son was probably afraid of your reaction to him damaging your new baby even if by accident. Sometimes a fib or half truth comes out. Good for him for owning up and your being cool about it.

That's beautiful.

I thought it had a nice ring to it.:thumb:

Also, a large number of my moms side of the family used to run a large orchard in Grand Junction. And still owned land with trees on it in the middle of town (right across from fruitvale elementary) up until they passed away a few years ago.

is that just a general manual for all bikes? my 2007 hardrock comp disc was a beast and was unbreakable...at the time i was 400lbs and never once broke a spoke or even had a flat in the year i road it...stock setup, stock wheels 36h

Okay, update for all of those who were pinning it on the boy!! Took the bike to the LBS told them his story they said there was no way the wheel could have came out of true without having some kind of bump, or hitting a pothole. They didn't make a big deal out of it at all, they fixed the rim at no charge and said if it happened again they would replace the rim for free. Armed with the info, I confronted the boy and explained to him that I wasn't mad and that the only way I could be comfortable riding this bike was knowing it was safe and not a factory default was for him to tell me if he went over a bump or anything that could have damaged the wheel, he finally admitted that he accidentally caught the edge of a curb and knocked it out of true. So I guess I misjudged the boy's amount of honesty, but it reassured me that I made a good decision about buying from the local LBS instead of ebay, or craigslist. Lesson learned.

Score one for the chef! Damn kids! :)

Score one for the chef! Damn kids! :)

That point is mine! :P

I thought it had a nice ring to it.:thumb:

Also, a large number of my moms side of the family used to run a large orchard in Grand Junction. And still owned land with trees on it in the middle of town (right across from fruitvale elementary) up until they passed away a few years ago.

GJ ain't a bad place to live.

The tire is fine still holding air, the wheel is warped pretty badly, less than 20 miles on it, I am a little shocked that it warped that quickly. It was a hwy he was riding on, it was very smooth.

My experience with stock rims is less than stellar. 2 of my 3 bikes have new rims, better, higher quality, stronger rims that the stock crap. I am on the verge of replacing the stock rims on my mountain bike too....

I am not hard on my bikes other than my weight making me hard on the bikes by default. I would never in my life run a wheelset close to the maximum capacity as a matter of course. I also can second finding a wheelsmith or a shop with a tension meter and someone who actually knows how to use it. Take your bike and run away from any of these "fly by the seat of their pants" guys!