Well first of all welcome to the forum , big clyde it's good that you ruled out the road bike but i have ridden with somr pretty big guys on them and I say to myself how can that bike hold up but they do!!you know that you can add a thousand dollars more to that 500.00 and you still won't be getting the best of the best as you put it thou I can't really tell you which bike is best suited for you I think you should be thinking mountain something strudy with gears!! I'm sure someone with more info on this and they will give better advise , you picked a excelent sport and let us know when you're down to 220!!!!!!!