Hawgsnawt

Hello everyone!

I wanted to Thank everyone for the helpful advice I've seen so many of you giving during the last week while I've been doing some HEAVY reading on the forums here and in this section in particular. I started with MANY questions, being new to cycling, but during the week I waited to get approved and verified I found the answers to most on my own.

A little about me.... I'm 44, 365, 6'1...I have not been on a bike since I was 14. I know NOTHING about most of this fantastic new world and am eager to learn!

My wife ( also an Athena at 250 ) and I decided we had to change our lifestyle....if for no other reason than to be around long enough to see our son raised. My son is 8 this week, and is my whole world.

I was a long haul truck driver till he was born, years and YEARS of sedentary lifestyle took its toll on me, hey, its hard to work out when confined to the cab of a rig 6 weeks at a time between 3 day breaks! My wife has had a sit down office job her whole life, and was showing the effects of an inactive lifestyle as well. When my son was born...I realized I could not raise a family over the phone so I came home and got a local driving job that allowed me to be home every night. It was a physically demanding job however as it was for a home improvement chain...I drove out large lumber orders to folks building things as small as a deck, or as large as an apartment complex....however, when there were no lumber loads to run, I tried to help out the home delivery guys as much as I could and this often required dragging 500lb fridges up 3 flights of stairs....being too old for that kind of work ( imho it's a young mans game ) and having been so sedentary my whole life in the cab of the truck...it was not long till I herniated 3 disks in my lower back. I was able to make it another year or so before my back simply would not allow me to preform the work any longer and with heavy heart I resigned and became a school bus driver instead. Since then, due to my pre existing poor condition coupled with what has become a VERY bad back...I'm EXTREMELY limited on what I can do physically....High blood pressure and early diabeties have become facts of life, and what little muscle mass I once had is rapidly leaving me.

Enough was enough, life had to change, at this rate I will not make 50....and at 50 my son will only be 14.

I looked at fitness options for someone in my condition and size....came up with 2 viable options for low impact fitness.... swimming, and cycling. As I live in a small town with no real public pools to speak of, not even a YMCA, and as I am just almost out of work ( bus drivers work on average 4 hours a day ) I have no money to sink my own pool....cycling became the clear choice.

I found this forum 7 days ago, and applied for membership, I'm intent on making this work for us....ANY physical activity will be a step in the right direction. I had not even thought about my weight being an issue on a new bike, I had intended to just pick up a couple 150.00 specials at the local discount big box, but some reading informed me that would just be wasted money as the bikes they sold could not support my girth. Reading existing threads asking for suggestions, I found that MOST suggestions were WELL out of my price range, especially as I am looking to buy 2 bikes, one for me, and one for momma....

I did enough research to land on Worksman cycles as our best option....so we spent several days deciding on options and ended up ordering 2 cruisers with their 3 speeds. Momma selected a nice classic red woman's frame, white wall tires, chrome fenders and rear rack, sealed crank and 36 tooth sprocket option. Myself I replicated the retro cruiser bike, black, red rims, chrome rear rack and fenders sealed crank and 36 tooth sprocket, assuming I'd need the extra real estate I also selected the extended seat post and extralong handle bar stem.

My back is only going to allow me to ride straight up cruiser style so these bikes were a good fit with those options, they are also extremely heavily built which will not only support our weight but will also act as extra resistance to increase the effectiveness of our " workout ". We will only be riding on city streets in Small Town USA and everything here is nice and flat...we are hoping our selections bring us years of use and will help us achieve our weight loss and general fitness goals.

Comfort being a large issue, as well as wanting to maintain the look of our retro cruisers, having seen them recommended so highly from so many people on the forums....we ordered Brooks 190 saddles. These are limited to an upright cycling position, but so are we, so they are a good fit as well I believe and I hear the larger seats do not require quite the break in of the smaller seats like the B17s and such. They should do nicely.

Worksman bikes are built to order so we are still 4ish weeks away from shipment of our own bikes...sadly, we are very excited to get out and get active again!

One mistake I may have made while ordering my bike....I was so drawn to the retro cruiser look that again, I did not even think of my weight and ordered it as they show it, complete with springer forks in the front =o/ I have no idea how well the worksman springers are built, but I get the feeling they are simply an aftermarket fork added to their existing bike and not made in house to the same load rating of their standard steel lugged tube forks. I've anticipated issues however and looked at their spare parts selection and if the front springer does not appear to be up to snuff, I can order a replacement standard steel lugged tube fork for 45.00 and replace the springer till I have shed some pounds and it is again safe to use.

I plan to commute to work on my bike in the AM...its about 3 miles each way, so 6 miles daily 5 days a week or 30 miles a week just from the AM commute....add to this our new plan of all 3 of us taking family rides in the evening for an hour or two every night, and longer rides on the weekend and I'm hoping to honestly put 100+ miles a week on my bike.

Any thoughts? suggestions? thoughts on bike and seat choice combo either from an esthetic standpoint or mechanical standpoint?....what do you think my odds are of being ok on those springer forks? Also, do you guys think those Brooks saddles will be ok with me at 365?.....should I use another for the first months till some weight comes off? I'd sure hate to break it =o(

I'm glad to be part of the forum, and thank you all for having us!

Hawgsnawt

This bike in a 3 speed




with this seat

ColonelSanders

I don't know anything about your fork situation, but I have the B190 and my physical dimensions are very similar to yours.

Make sure you don't do what I did and that is to not take into account that the springs were designed to sag and lower the height of the rear of the seat.

I had the nose pointing slightly upwards and all that did when the springs sagged with me on it, was to give me extreme soft tissue damage along my perineum.

Admittedly my problem was also compounded by having low handlebars and I needed the seat pointing upwards so that I didn't slide forward.

And if that seat can't take your weight, then I doubt any bike seat in the history of mankind could. It is a beastly thing.

Tpcorr

Congratulations on the steps you're taking to improve your health. Until your bikes arrive why not start walking? Start with maybe 10 minutes a night, walking is a great way to start getting in shape. As you undoubtedly know losing weight is mostly about diet. My wife and I use an app called loseit to track our calories and help us to maintain a healthy weekly weight loss goal. Good luck.

Tom

Nikon shooter

Congrats on the decision to take back your lives. Those are going to be some great bikes for you. Don't know about the forks, but as you said, wait and see and it's a cheap fix if it doesn't work out. Keep us informed as to your progress and send pics when the bikes arrive. You're among friends here.

Keith

obed7

congrats on the life style change and the new bikes. Riding with the family is a great thing to do.
I still enjoy riding with my wife. My son and I still ride together too and he is 44 years old.

Giant Fuji

I am proud of your decision to get fit, congrats! Please understand that you cannot out work a bad diet. I lost 90 lbs since Sept 2014, 80 of that with no excercise to speak of. Weight loss happens at the dinner table, fitness happens on the bike. Put them together and you will be surprised at the results. Download a calorie counting app (lose it or Myfitnesspal ) and be honest with it, it works. We are here to help and coach you along.

MikeRides

Congrats on realizing your problem and coming up with a solution to fix it.

geehue

It looks like a great bike. Stories like yours make my day -- I am especially glad that both you and your wife are deciding this together; it will make the journey easier and more fun to have somebody by your side.

What is especially encouraging is that you are teaching your son by example ...

Bill Kapaun

Great decision!
I have a chipped vertebra in my lower back from childhood and simply need a rather upright position.
I've found that the more I ride, the better shape my "lower half" is in and it seems to help "support" the back.

Don't over do it starting out. Ride a short distance on day one and quit while you still feel good.
Your body will tell you what to do on day 2 etc.
IF you overdo it and have screaming sore muscles the next day, it's hard to climb back on the horse.
Your mileage WILL rapidly (way more than you expect) improve IF you keep it fun.

Hawgsnawt

should be one more week till our bikes ship! I'm getting excited LOL, like a kid at Christmas!

updates with photos soon!

Midtown

What did you do to resolve the problem? What bars are you now using?

beakersbike

Dude, you are so on the right track! That's how I got started, getting a good comfort bike. Okay, it took a few things breaking and being replaced to be a good comfort bike, but it let me get started. You did the research ahead of time that I didn't do which is an awesome start. I just sold mine to another big guy, so I hope it helps him get a good start as well. I'm a long way still from being in ideal condition but at least have gotten to the point where I've 'outgrown' the comfort bike.

So my next step up, which I'm hoping to finish building today or tomorrow - would be a perfect fit considering what you did for so many years: Long Haul Trucker!

That springer fork might be fine. The build on those springs looks very solid, definitely more solid than you see on low end suspension forks. Anyway, looks like a cool way to get started, really hope you have a blast!

ColonelSanders

My initial solution was to change bike seats and I have to say that the Serfas RXL HYBRID RX SADDLE LYCRA is a fantastic saddle.

In a month or so, I will be do a complete make over of my bike, which will include converting my 1" quill to an Ahead Stem adapter setup, and this adapter is a few inches higher than my current quill, plus I will be using an adjustable stem to get the angle right.

It will then all be mated to a stock standard flat bar handlebar that could be any brand.

Hawgsnawt

got call today, Bikes are shipped! should be delivered in a few days....I'm excited, but now I'm also starting to get nervous LOL....I dunno why....but I am.

Have started looking for 3 bike hitch racks for the truck. Where we are in town there is a major highway to cross to get to our prime riding area no matter which direction we take to get past it....gonna load em up on the rack and attack it from the other side of town and leave the truck in a safe parking lot.

adrien

Awesome! Cheers to both of you -- it will pay off with your son. No price to being around!

Advice? Go slowly, and tune into your body. Shift your thinking about food (this is the hardest thing). You're an athlete now (I'm serious). Food is fuel -- there's good octane and there's the other stuff.

Assuming you want to shed weight, 90% of that is about how many calories you take in, not how many you burn.

Finally -- realize that you are the world to your son. He's watching this, and learning how to treat his body. This is not just something you are doing for each of you; it's something you are doing for your son.

Good on you, congrats, and come back here when you need advice or motivation.

Fldaves

Congratulations on the realization that you needed to be proactive in becoming healthier. I was in your situation this time last year. I missed cycling(due to having cancer surgery) and realized I too had to loose weight. So after initially loosing 80 lbs I bought a bike and now feel soooo much better. Anyway, set realistic goals and challenge yourself to become a better you. Good luck and keep us informed on your success!

dagray

Congrats and stick to it.

You will thank yourself if you stick with it. That means go out two days riding and take a day off, and then do it again and again. Slowly increase your distance and your speed. You will find yourself later on a mountain or a road bike (you can get different handlebar stems that will sit you in an upright position).