moose67

Hey guys I need a little advice. I built a custom quad recumbent (quadrecumbent.blogspot.com) but I haven't been real happy with it for various mechanical reasons. I can get it to work but it's going to need some work. Besides that it's heavy. I'm looking for an inexpensive ride, preferably a mountain bike. I'm on a tight budget due to buying a new house. My main concern is the wheels. I'm around 450Lbs. I need to get back going again and my quad isn't working for the area we live in. My dad bought a bike at "Wally World" the same time I bought my donor bikes. It's a 26" with suspension. He added a wider seat but hasn't rode since he bought it. I'm thinking of trying to use that. Any suggestions?

Thanx

Tom Stormcrowe

Take it easy with it, don't drop off curbs, etc. I rode a Royce Union at 450 pounds....also keep the tire pressure correct.

If you can find one and the terrain is flat, a single speed cruiser might also be an option. Look at Worksman for example, that kind of bike, or their recumbent trike if you can get the budget for it.

StephenH

I had a $100 mountain bike that I bought at Academy. There were several weak points. One was the wheels. I weigh about 280 or so. I took that bike offroad twice, once on a reasonably smooth dirt trail, once on a reasonably smooth pasture, going slow and no jumping or anything. Both times, I had to buy a new rear wheel when it was all done. So beware of wheel problems. (For what it's worth, the wheels didn't just collapse, but popped some spokes, got out of true, and started rubbing the brakes.)

Second weak point was the gearing/shifting system. It was forever needing to be adjusted, and most of the time that I was riding it, it couldn't be shifted in to every gear (usually, granny gear wasn't available). Part of that might have been me, not knowing how to adjust things properly. Oh, and when you put too much pressure on the pedals, the chain would skip a tooth or hop from gear to gear or something- never quite figured out what it was, but it means I needed to downshift, only downshifting also doesn't work well...not a good combo, in other words.

Third weak point was the brakes. I don't think I could skid either tire when it was new, and brakes did a steady downhill from there, getting scary there at the last. Definitely a situation to be avoided, especially if you live in a hilly area.

Anyway, good luck with whatever option you take, but don't expect too much from a cheap bike.

AndrewP

If the rear wheel is double wall construction it will be strong enough, but you will have to keep the spokes properly tensioned. It will be worth having a Park tensiometer ($50) and a spoke wrench (5). If the bike has rear suspension your weight will put a lot of strain on the rear suspension pivot. Look at the Park Tool or Sheldon Brown websites on wheel trueing.

Bill Kapaun

Look for a used Hard Rock on CL. Get the wheels respoked/tensioned by someone that knows how to build wheels.