380lb man just trying to be better
 

Hey everyone, brand new member and this is my first post. I have started eating healthy and trying to take care of my self. It seems that doing a bike ride every night could assist me in loosing weight. I have three children and a wife that all have bikes and they ride every night ( I walk) the problem is I don’t have a bunch of money to fork out for a bike. I received a link about a mongoose mountain bike. It’s a 26x4 in wheel with a steel frame. And just wondering if this bike would hold up for a while till I can build up a big enough fund for a good bike. Please and thank you for all your comments and help!

Mongoose is a Walmart BSO (bike shaped object) which may or may not hold up. General feeling around here is to avoid BSO's. I guess it all depends on what they're asking for it, but I probably wouldn't pay much for it.

You might want to look for a used steel rigid mountain bike from a name brand bike manufacturer, watch Craigslist. Lots of them were sold in the 90s and you may be able to buy one in decent shape for $100 or so. Get new tires and tubes, and even pay for a general service/inspection at a bike shop is maybe $150 more (or less if you can do the work yourself). You would then have a good quality bike for $250.

Well, the Walmart version is about 199.00 and the actual mongoose one runs about 223.00 in the specs the main difference I see is the Walmart version max weight being 250 and the real version being 300. But after reading a quite the haul of reviews and asking questions there as well people who are similar to my size say it works well with upgraded seat and handlebars. Was just curious if anyone here had any personal experience with this type of bike.. if it support me for a while I feel like 223 isn’t a bad investment to get started.

upgraded handlebars? That's a first, never heard that before. Those walmart bikes are great for hanging in the garage and looking at, or maybe occasional riding around the block.

What city do you live in? My guess is you can find a used, rigid (ie no shock) mountain bike for less than that amount that will be sturdier, work better and last longer. Try Craigs list and feel free to post a link or two and we can help you sort through the muck. The good news is if you get sick of it, you can probably resell it for the exact same amount.

Riding a bike instead of walking in the evening is not going to help you lose weight. Bicycles are pretty efficient. You will burn more calories walking than you would doing the kind of riding that will be possible for you. Continue to walk, lose 100 pounds and many more bike options will be available.

Bike riding has a lot of benefits like being easy on the joints but it is not very good for weight loss, if you do bike riding make sure it is "in addition to" and not "instead of" whatever you are already doing. I have a walmart bike and weigh 300. I had to upgrade the tires and tubes already which was 60 bucks, plus add seat padding for 20, get a bunch of tools and crap to constantly tighten the spokes. About 120 bucks so far, aside from the bike itself.

At this point I think I might just get a 500 dollar bike from mcghies and save myself all the headaches I have gotten into, and this is 'just' at 300 pounds, and only riding a modest 4 miles a day. At 400 pounds you may have even more trouble, though the 4 inch tires should be a giant help.

Here's my experience...
 

I started about where you are now and probably about 20lbs heavier. I did the same thing you are doing now by checking out the big box stores. My son, who had just purchased a bike a few months prior from our local bike shop, checked with the owner and the owner suggested an Electra Townie 7D ($499). It's considered in the Comfort Bike category. I ended up buying it and began riding fairly consistently but started having issues with spokes breaking. After a few trips to the bike shop, the owner thought it best to have a rear wheel built that would deal with my weight. That only cost me $60. I have been riding that bike since last July 4th and have over 2000 miles on it. I have lost nearly 80lbs since June 1st of last year but I have to ad this caveat that while the riding has definitely helped to lose, my diet has probably been the single greatest factor. That's my experience but many others have accomplished the same or better going different routes.

I think something like this will accommodate your weight better than a Walmart bike:

Save up to 60% off new Fat Bikes and Mountain Bikes - MTB - Gravity 2018 Bullseye Fatbikes

If you can spring for $400. And you have to assemble it (it's pretty easy if you have the slightest mechanical skills) or pay someone $50 or so to assemble it.

Though I would like to add that diet is much, much more important than any exercise for losing weight. Download and use My Fitness Pal and keep meticulous track of the amount of calories you're eating each day. Make sure you stay at or under your allotted calorie count for each day and you'll find the pounds start to fall off.

They say you can't outride the fork, and they're right. You'll be surprised at how few calories you burn on a bike ride and how easy it is to eat 2,000 calories in a day.

Yep diet/ fewer calories is what it's all about. Much easier and more fun to buy a bike than to push back from the table. Fun is fun, though!

When u r heavy u will burn about 40 cal a mile so a hour ride will burn about 400 cal . Not to much but better than sitting on the couch and burning none. As for a fit rider u might burn 25 cal a mile so to even think about losing weight u need to put in the time and miles but u can certainly lose weight if done right if u have the time to in

I have been eating very well and have been losing pretty decent weight with the walking every night and the eating right. I was 407 about three months ago. And now I’m just trying to do a little more... I would ride at a slow pace for much longer distances then what I would walk. It hurts my shins after a while of walking ( over an hour or so) but the route we take is about 1.3 miles and if I had the bike I could probably triple that and be happier. I have also been doing a lot of sit ups and push ups and yoga type stuff in the evenings. Just curious if this bike would hold up for at least a few months. ( I tried to post a url but it wouldn’t let me because I haven’t made 10 posts.... it was a link to amazon for the mongoose Brutus 26 x 4.25 fat tire bike)

I read reviews on a few places saying they didn’t have any issues with it. But I figured I would ask here also since I had just joined.

Complete waste of money. Might as well take $200 and flush it down the toilet. There are bikes that might hold your weight, but this is not one of them. Any bike that sells at retail for around $200 isn't going to be great, and bikes that sell at big box stores are the worst. and that is for people half your weight.

If you are buying new, you need to at least double, and maybe triple your budget. So, $400 and more likely $600, if you budget for wheels to handle your weight. You can do better used, but you need to know what to look for, and it sound like you really don't (no offense).

The problem is, a 4 mile bike ride, while it is a start, won't really do much. You won't burn enough calories to make much of a difference in your weight loss. The only benefit is that if you stick with it, your body will eventually adapt and you will eventually ride further. Which is what you need to do. Specifically, you need to ride at a pace that will raise your heart rate got about an hour, 4 or 5 times per week. My suggestion is to work up to 12, or maybe 14 miles in an hour, with occasional longer rides of 25 miles or more to build endurance and burn more fat. And even then, your body will eventually adapt, forcing you to work harder and eat even less to continue to lose weight, though in some ways, that is a sign the training is working. And, the Mongoose won't get the job done.

Edit. Congratulations on your weight loss. I know from experience that changing your diet is not easy. I have recently gone down that same path because despite riding a lot at a decent level of intensity, I am still at least 60, and maybe even 80 lbs overweight. So go into this bike riding thing with realistic expectations. The bike riding is more a reward for your discipline at the table rather than something you do to burn a lot of calories.

Sadly due to our weight we need to buy heavy duty bike. Choose bike with a 36h wheel set. I tried using stock bikes and i broke all the wheel.


this happened to me too;

https://gifyu.com/images/you84d18.gif

As has been said, a cheap bike is usually exactly that and at your size you need quality. I would bite the bullet and go to a local bike only store and just talk to them about your needs, many have used bikes that can save you some money. At this point in the journey every calorie burned is a victory and by not being on the couch you are winning!!

Look into a diet such as Paleo or Keto. Try to eat as healthy as you can. Regarding shin pain it's your shoes. I remember this from my skinny Marine days and those crappy boots they issue you. Spend some money on shoes would recommend swing by a new balance store. You need firm but not hard soles. Walk, whatever weight you lose from it add it to a backpack in form of sacks of rice or beans. Walk a mile and back, leave pack then come back for it

A cheap step watch with heart rate monitor like a mi band2. Some earphones and rock out or listen to podcasts cast.

Best of luck buddy


Old mountain bike

Also if you can't get to a gym, pick up some dumb bells or even a kettlebell. Look up chichi beginner on YouTube and go from there.

That tandem looks pretty small and lightly built, likely it was built for a couple of children and not the overweight adults trying to ride it.

Like you I tried the Walmart road first! Kept snapping spokes and getting rear wheel pinch flats. (I weigh in at 350lbs) But I road that bike until I wore the sprockets out. Then after some research I settled on a Surly Karate Monkey 29er. Rigid steel frame and fork, I went with single speed free wheel on Surly solid axel hubs. And Schwable Big Apple tires. I went single speed because I thought it would make me work harder, but you can go with gears if you want. I had my bike built thru WEB CYCLERY, I picked out all the components, they built it and shipped it to me. A little expensive yes, but think of it as a car that in the future you replace components as they wear out instead of throwing away a cheap bike!

Lcweightloss- you get your bike yet?

Go to your local bike shop and tell them what you are looking for, and that you are hoping to save money buy buying a used bike from them (people do trade in their older bikes when they upgrade).

Make a relationship with that bike shop so they know you will be their customer, and they will help get you into riding.

I was 406 when I started riding (at 6'3") and was down to 350 (am up to 360 now).

Get a bike, maybe upgrade wheels to accommodate our weight, and ride at least three times a week.

You CAN do this.

I agree. A couple years ago when I wanted to lose weight and got into cycling, I started out riding 3-5 miles at a time several times a week which didn't really do much but started to get my legs used to riding. Eventually I started riding every morning, doing 10 miles around town and then going on longer rides on the weekends. This, along with changing my eating habits, made me lose 50 lbs. But as far as long rides were concerned, I would push myself to go a certain distance, then another time go a little further, until I was doing 40 mile rides.

Instead of
 

What worked for me was using the bike instead of a car. Worth investing in a better bike, and actually riding it (hauling groceries, etc.) can work wonders.