I bought one new in 1991 and weighed 245 then. I gave it to a buddy of mine who weighed 280 when he started riding 5 years ago. He is now down to 220. I think it's a great bike to get you where you want to be. As mentioned above, the best and first thing you should do is get the wheels retensioned. Probably a lot of miles left in that bike. The Shimano 600 group that came on mine was bombproof. Rode the daylights out of it and it's still going today.