Originally Posted by
kleinsamuel
I am 6.4 and weigh 240. - I have a comfort bike and looking to upgrade to something faster I ride on avg 100 miles + sometimes a 50 mile avg sunday ride my current bike had a lot of issiues with wheels and other componants. Trying to decide between giant rapid or defy or trek 7.2 fx (or 3) or 2009 trek 1.5. That's for bkgrnd.
The bigger question is that a few lbs talked me out of a road bike seeing I am 6.4 and weigh 240 they tell me it won't hold up as good on the ny roads which are pretty bumby. Is it tru. I mean just because I put drop downs will it suddenly be ore likley to warp the wheels etc.especially seeing on a lpot of hybrids the wheels are just as thin
Ok, so I'm looking at a similar decision as you are. My thinking is if you want speed, go with road bike, and if you want more of an utility, versatile bike, go with hybrid.
Hybrid is going to be somewhat slower then road bike, but not by much if it's a light hybrid with drop bars and skinny tires - so that distinction gets blurred a bit as well.
If you ask me it depends on your planned usage of the bike - and since you said that you want to bang off some miles on it, and be quicker doing it, I'd say the road bike would suit you well. As you seem having not so great roads around you, a bit wider tires can help - like 28 mm. Also, get at least 32 spoke wheels, no less, and get your wheels rebuilt and re tensioned at the time you get the bike - that way the wheels have a good chance of lasting a fair amount of time. Since usually machine built wheels are under or over tensioned on some spokes, they sometimes tend to fail on those few spokes prematurely. Having them rebuilt and tensioned properly while they are new and material is not fatigued makes them last a lot longer.
Also riding light and evading the worst potholes helps. But at 240 I don't think you have much reason to be concerned, since most road bikes are rated for far higher loads. So I'd say go for it and enjoy yourself!