Originally Posted by
gomango
First of all, "blah, blah, blah" is not respectful. But I'll move beyond that and say, when I was "larger" I wasn't riding at the same speeds as I am now. 10-12 mph with the kids. I took it easy, as there was no choice. It was as fast as I could go. The weight rolled off quickly though. I got into nicer bikes pretty quickly including a local shop owner's Trek 5200. Jeez, if those Bontrager Lite's could handle me, I certainly wouldn't worry about some 105/Aeroheads. He put me on it, and has owned a shop and raced for the last 25 years. That was at 205. Trick to this whole thing is to get on something and have at it. Have some fun while you are improving your health. If this "SLX" issue is all that is holding you back, go buy some old gas pipe beast, fill up the tires, and get out there. You will not regret it.
Thanks for the encouragement. Honestly, the question was academic, really. I wanted to see what kind of thoughts/reactions there were mostly so I could learn more. I am riding, and getting back into great shape (I did spin for a long time, and while it was not the same as cycling, it was good preparatory work).
I wondered about Ti as well, but that is something I know nothing about, and looks like it might be out of my price range in any case.