I currently weigh 310 and am 5'6 (52 year old female) (and if any of you repeat that, I will hunt y'all down like the dogs that you are and kill you ;-).
I've ridden a little over the last 10 years on a Target Schwinn hybrid but really didn't like the hybrid handle bars... when I was in high school (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and steel ruled the bike world), my dad (who was also a large man) and I both had Raleigh Reliant road bikes... we loved them. Sadly, they are long gone!
I have tried to find another Vintage Raleigh bike from that era -- figured if it served my dad well, then it would be fine for me... "bought" one from a guy who fixes up and sells bikes to "college commuters" and went for my first ride in the neighborhood -- that lasted less than 5 minutes... I heard the unmistakable noise of metal rubbing on metal in the rear. Get home and check out the bike and the "plate" that is between the spokes and the chain was all bent and the chain was rubbing and digging into that. At first, I thought I did it (though I wasn't sure how I would have)... but then when I looked at the pictures online from the original, it was clear that was how the bike was before I ever touched it.
I text the guy and tell him that there was a problem with the bike and that I wanted a refund (he had a 7-day refund policy). He texts back "I made bet here that you were coming back. I won 650 bet with a friend. I have been selling vintage to college commuters". Basically, I took that as an insult at my age and weight. The next day when I went to return the bike, he said he wasn't being offensive. I said it was offensive. He then went on and on about how he loves big woman, had his wife there and told me she weighs over 200 lbs etc... needless to say, NOT the best experience in the world. I guess I *know* intellectually how people view me... It just really STINGS to have a perfect stranger admit it to your face, if that makes sense.
So, undeterred (or just really stoooopid with a flat learning curve ), I've decided to go take a look at this bike tomorrow:
-----VINTAGE SUTEKI BIKE EXCELLENT CONDITION-----
It appears to be in very good shape. The woman who owns it just had it tuned up 5 months ago and it is ready to ride.
However, I'm scared to go look at it and have her take a look at me and my size and age and face that kind of judgement again... or worse -- if I were to "break" her bike or something.
I have read over and over and over about going to a LBS and working with them ... I just don't have 500-600 bucks at this point to be able to do that.
So I guess I am looking for
a) encouragement -- that I shouldn't be afraid to try this bike out
b) anything obvious from the pics that would be a red flag that it would not be up to the task of lugging me around
c) anyone with any experience with Mixte road bikes and how they compare to regular road bikes in terms of your stance etc?
Anyway, that's my story -- any advice and encouragement would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
p.s. I suppose I should add that I don't plan to ride this cross country, over curbs etc. For now, just around the labrynth of well-paved neighborhoods with no curbs etc. Eventually, might like to add distance and do a century etc -- but where I live, our country roads are so narrow with no shoulder and so many cyclists regularly get mowed down by cars that I don't know if I'm brave enough to do that. So pretty optimal conditions for a road bike. I don't plan on carrying anything with me of significance other than my cell phone, In Case of Emergency card, and ID so they know where to ship the body.