300lbs looking for a new bike to ride in Downers Grove area
 

All,

I'm 5'9" and weigh just under 300lbs. I've been doing Crossfit-like HIT since November including some spin sessions. Really enjoying biking and in the summer with the kids in Chicagoland's western suburbs including Downers Grove.

I'm looking for what bike shop and which brand/model I should be looking at that will hold up on the weight for lots of pavement riding with the kids in the neighborhood and weekend runs to trails like Waterfall Glen or Prairie Path (love to hear other suggestions as well.

Looking through these forums, I know I have to try some new bikes out but I can't seem to narrow done the options from reading all these posts. Are there better bike shops for dealing with the 300lb man's bike needs in the Chicagoland Western suburbs?

I have an old Gary Fischer MTB from the mid-2000s and the seat is toast and tires/tubes (even new ones) don't seem to hold up well to my weight. I'm still new enough that I don't know all the models/brands/bike shops that would be be a good fit for this.

I really want to know the exact brands/models that I should be looking at and rough costs.

Thanks,

Kris Arthur

Find a Friendly bike shop that likes big guys.

Trek 7.2 FX

Visit some shops and buy the bike you like. Most bikes can handle the weight (assuming aluminum or steel frame). The weak point will probably be the wheels. You can ask the shop to upgrade them to 36 to 40 spoke wheels since that will be strong enough to hold the weight. I use these Vuelta Corsa HD Road Wheelset

I'm on a Trek 7.2 FX, similar weight and riding terrain, with no problems yet. Seems to be a popular choice, definitely worth a ride if you have a local dealer.

Soma DoubleCross Disc! You can build one up with a straight bar - then if you ever want to convert it into a road bike - I'm in Chicago - I heard Bike Fix Inc. :: Oak Park Bicycle Shop & Peerless Service Department is good. I got my Soma from SmartBike on Armitage - owner there very cool guy.

Went to Trek they mentioned the Shift 3. I tried it but it seemed weird as it had really smaller tires (19" I think?) and higher handle bars. Good right, just felt awkward. Seemed to ride nice but I felt like I was peddling a lot more and going not that far... The rep didn't point me to the 7.2 FX at all and I think she looked up how much weight the frames could take or tires could take.

Went to Spokes and the rep put me on a Specialized Roll... bigger tires... 7 gears total... pretty nice, simple bike, and solid ride, just never heard it come up before in these forums but I'll search more for it now. The rep mentioned he wouldn't put me in anything else but this, these were selling like hot cakes at about $490. I asked again about some of the Giant/Specialized bikes and he mentioned this is the only one he would put me in. Anyway, nice ride, liked the tires, thought the bike itself looked a bit unisex but not the end of the world.

Went to RTT Cycle Shop. Andrew is a great guy. He talked about the path he takes to Waterfall Glen from where I live. I tried out a Felt Path 30. It was a very nice ride as well. Everything seemed to be in the right place. I tried the SCOTT Sub Cross 50 as well and it seemed very smooth but the handle bars were a bit lower/more crouching position. It seems to me that the SCOTT is the better brand between the Felt and the Scott at least.

I'm not sure yet what I want to do. I really want to get something with decent components in that $475-$700 range. Do people add on digital odometers, etc. any more or do people just use iPhones with the Strava app?

Are there any other bikes I should consider? I wish the Scott had the handle bars up a bit as I would prefer to buy from the LBS in the area.

Thanks

Hi Kris

The biggest problem on a bike wheel be the wheels, go with whatever bike you want and once the wheels give up, contact your neighbor, PSIMET, he can build a wheelset for you that will last ages.
Are you looking for a road, hybrid or mountain bike?

Looking at hybrid bikes as lots of neighborhood on pavement riding mixed with some packed trail riding.

The bike I ended up buying a year ago when I started my weight loss was a bike I had no intention of even looking at when I arrived at the LBS that day. I was set on either a Trek DS or FX for sure, so I thought. What I ended up taking home that day was a "gravel ready" road bike, the Felt V100. I fell in love with it the second it was shown to me that day. Loved it even more when I took it for a spin.

I would recommend at least take a good long look at one yourself. It's the lower of the V series bikes but if you can find the money I'd actually opt for the V85 or V55, the upgraded components are well worth it. Had I known back then what I know now, I would have definitely gone for the V85 (V55 wasn't released yet) and dealt with the pissed off boss (wife) later. It'll handle your weight easily (that's around what I weighed back then as well) and it'll hook you on road bikes for life.

I now ride my Cannondale on a daily basis. I'm so glad I went with a drop bar style of bike now, and so is my wife. When we got my V100 she got a flat bar road bike (similar to the Trek FX series) and she started wanting a drop bar bike after just a couple of months. We both bought our Cannondales on the same day back in December and haven't looked back since. The Felt V series is a GREAT starter bike in my opinion that can handle what you're describing.

Where we bought my V100 is up in Zion, almost to the Wisconsin border. Zion Cyclery, but I'm sure there are plenty of Felt dealers closer to where you're at.

You can use the Strava ap, iPhone 5s the battery is good for around 2 hours with screen active, if you shut screen off your good for 6+ hours . I'd suggest NOT buying phone type add on gadgets like Wahoo makes, just save for a garmin, took me awile to buy one but I love it. Wish I had the $$ I spent on phone add on gadgets :-).

The wahoo HRM has been great though. The time to buy stuff like a $400 garmin is Performance triple points weekend :-).

On the Specialized Roll they make one with a top tube that is less "unisex" looking ?

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/fitness/roll-elite/106882

I'd throw down another $150 and get this one because it has an 8 speed cassette not a freewheel.....the bearings with a freewheel are way closer together, the setup is a lot stronger using a cassette.

The freewheel is a set of sprockets more or less that threads onto the rear hub, the cassette is a set of sprockets that slide onto a splined portion of the rear hub.

Sounds a little arrogant on his part that he would "only put you" into that bike though, 300 is within the design spec of a LOT of bikes....and your $$ are free to spend on a bike you love to ride....not one narrowly defined model some dude decided is "right" for you :-).

The one I linked has a 36 spoke rear wheel too where the non disk versions have 32 spoke......they do not specify if the $550 7 speed version has 36 spoke rear wheel, it may....32 spoke may be fine ....I rode my trek 7200 32 spoke wheels over 2000 miles starting at 280 lbs with no issues....but 36 spokes gives you a little more strength in the wheel.

28/38/48 front 11/34 rear on the gears gives you plenty of gear for most terrain and wind

I think I could spring for the V100. Probably couldn't pull off the v85 yet. Is the Path 30 just not great for longer mileage runs from a posture standpoint?

The V series are pretty cool :-). I rode a flat bar bike a lot.....on a road bike I never use the drops.....hoods mostly but the tops now and then, nicer to have options for hand position. Overall even if you could achieve the same exact posture on a flat bar bike IMHO the road setup on the hoods will be easier on your hands. The place where I bought my bike offers free guru fit and they insisted they could not really "fit" a rider into a flat bar bike, which makes no sense to me but they insisted that was true

Looking right now at the Path 30 and I see a LOT of similarities to the Trek Navigator 3.0 that I started with in 2010. That Navigator was only ridden MAYBE 40-50 miles total that summer that I bought it. After the 3rd or so ride I realized that I had made a huge mistake by buying it...at the time I wished I had opted for the FX series instead. It's ok for little rides of just a couple/few miles here and there but if you want to spend any time at all on it, it certainly isn't made for comfort. The total upright positioning is what was ruining it for me. It was killing my rear end and sapping a lot of power that should have been going to the pedals.

A year ago I was determined that I was going to stick to losing weight and I was going to ride my bike to do it. I put a few miles on the Navigator and didn't really enjoy any of those miles after the first couple of rides...I knew it had to be replaced. It was a heavy and slow ride like no other, and I'm afraid that is exactly what the Path 30 is going to be like for you as well. If you're like me, you're going to want to be able to ride at a decent speed and get faster as you get more fit. Sure you can do it with a bike like the Path 30, but I doubt you're going to enjoy it as much as other options out there.

If you can possibly manage to swing the extra money, check out the V85. The upgraded components are WELL worth the extra money. The entire drive train is better....you're going to get a 105 drivetrain instead of Claris. And the brakes are way better on the V85....I had terrible squealing problems with the stock brakes on my V100 and ended up getting them upgraded by my LBS to the brakes that are on the V85 and only had to pay the difference in value between the two. But don't let that scare you away from the brakes on the V100 though...my LBS said that I was the only one that had those problems with the noisy brakes on their V100. So I'm thinking my bike just had duds from the get-go.

I know you're looking at basically doubling your budget by going with the V100 and tripling it for the V85, but I have to enthusiastically recommend you at least looking those two bikes instead of a "comfort" bike like the Path 30. I would be willing to bet that you will be happier with either of those two bikes and therefore will be more likely to keep getting on the bike. And that's what you really want....to find yourself looking forward to hopping on the bike for a quick 2+ hour workout each day (well if you're like me you will lol).

Number 1: pick the shop you like. Then work with them to get a bike that you will ride. A drop bar bike is no fun unless everyone else in the group is also on a drop bar bike, and is more interested in riding than looking around.

Personally, I would fix up your newish Gary Fischer; my newest bike is a 1994; my commuters are 1993, 1992 and 1984 - all are extremely reliable.

To start, get these tires:
https://www.amazon.com/Kenda-Commute...s=kenda+26x1.5

26 x 1.25" for the front; 26 x 1.5" for the rear

These tubes (schrader)
https://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-Thorn...esistant+tubes

or presta:
https://www.amazon.com/Sunlite-Resis...esistant+tubes

in 26 x 1.50 to 1.95

And re-tape the inside of the rims before installing the new tubes and tires.

On one of my commuters; I run 32-559 (26x1.25) on the front and 40-559 (26x1.5) on the rear with these tubes (presta - all my bikes are presta valve) - no puncture worries.

Tried the Felt V85 Today
 

I tried out the Felt V85 today. This bike was very nice. I really liked that I wasn't forced to crouch all the way down all the time to ride the bike especially since I'm bigger starting out. That is one heck of a bike... nice ride, seemed like great quality/finish. They didn't have a V100 to compare as that's a little bit more in my price range.... ... I really liked that bike though!

Some tough decisions ahead.

Thanks everyone for all the feedback.

The V85 is a huge set up in components for $500 :-). I'm not seeing the $1000 price point for the V100 with that component level unless there is something I'm missing there.

When I bought my V100 a year ago the MSRP was either $800 or $850. It's gone up to $1000 now because they have become so popular and are selling like hotcakes for Felt. Back then the V85 was still only $500 more than the V100, and like I said earlier...had I known then what I know now about the differences in components, I would have surely went with the V85. The $500 is money well spent. You can't upgrade those components and keep at or under $500. I like my V100 but it didn't take me long after purchasing it (and doing a lot of reading on these forums lol) to figure out that I would have liked the V85 even more. I still kick myself for not researching things better before buying that bike. But don't get me wrong...I still enjoyed the hell out of my V100. Just saying that I would have liked the V85 even more, and forking over the extra money would have been a no-brainer for me.