Clyde ready for an upgrade but need some serious insight. Help is most appreciated.
With so many options for a light/average weight rider, how can I choose something that's right for me? I've been a minimum 275# since graduation in 2001. I let my self go to 393# and over the course of last summer/fall I managed to drop down to 355# because of my rekindled love of riding a bike. I hadent rode a bike in several years because of the seemingly instant fail rate of those bikes with my weight. Granted those select bikes did come from a wal-mart rack. Last summer i went to my local bike shop was recommended for my $600 budget a Haro mountain bike which I bought and did have success with. The owner mentioned he didn't feel overly comfortable recommending me a road bike because of my size which I was fine with at that time. A few squeaks here and there but it held up to a runtastic 1482 miles worth of abuse (and by abuse I mean my weight, I only ever rode it on the road). I know how to "float" over objects and unavoidable road hazards. I don't remember ever having a rough impact with anything last summer/fall. I realize the inevitable will happen and I'll hit something or take a tumble but overall I'm a pretty decent rider.
Last fall something happened to me and it's changed my whole mentality about riding. I'm chugging along up a fairly long and steep stretch feeling pretty good about my pace when out of no where this cyclist wizzes by me seeming doing triple my speed, made all of about 3 seconds of road noise as he passed me and before I knew it, he was out of sight over the horizon. I realize I'll never be in the kind of physical shape that cyclist was but since that day I've been obsessing over a road bike to replace my mountain bike.
So my question to whoever reads this, rather my plea, is there a road bike out there that would be reliable for a guy my size? Soon as the weather is a consistent 50+ degrees here in the heart of Kentucky I plan to start riding again and would love to hit the road on a new bike. Yes I am constrained to a budget, $1600 at the time of this writing. Size wise I'm 355# and 6'2". I'm not brand loyal, I just want reliability in a well made product.
Thanks to all who take the time to read this and to the ones who reply with some insight.
Jason
Campbellsville, KY.
Last edited by phatkhat74; 02-23-15 at 11:00 PM.