dkyser

I am officially riding again, have gotten down enough to at least get on my bike, but as you can tell I have some concerns with my Trek 8000, even with mods.

I lock the suspension out, but still it has some give to it and pretty bouncy. I realize its not the bikes fault, its mine for being so dang heavy.

I am going to ride ride ride but still looking at non suspension alternatives that will enable me to put on more miles per day.
I will not give up my Trek 8000, I will be at the point I can do some dirt stuff again, I loved it. I will also get to the point I can ride a road bike, but my geometry is not ready for it.

I may set a milage goal and reward my self with an in between bike to get me under 300 lbs.

I want something that will hold up and when I am ready to move up, be pretty easy to sell. I was in the car business for 18 years so know I will take a loss, but will gladly take it on the chin to get me under that 300 lb mark.

I will be 100% on flat paved roads, bike trails for the next 70 lbs, no horsing around or serious hill climbing.

I do not know much about components, so looking for some suggestions. I know the Trek is a 36 spoke wheel, but not sure about the rest of the bike.

I need the most upright position possible, and like the idea of having 2 bikes anyways. If one need some shop work, can still be pedaling.

nymtber

get a rigid fork for the 8000 Cheapest route...a nice cro-moly fork would do well. Get rid of the bounce and save the suspension fork for when you drop some weight!

Just a thought...at 235 I still prefer a 26x2.0" tire for anything that isn't smooth pavement. My Sirrus is for pavement only, the SS mtb and 27spd mtb are for bike paths, offroad, rough roads, etc.

Good luck on your weight loss and keep up the work, it ain't easy! At least cycling is a fun way to shed the pounds

Wogster

You can always get a solid fork for the 8000, will not be expensive, and when your ready for dirt, then put the suspension fork back on. The key issues are it needs to be the same height from the fork crown to the dropout as your suspension fork, and needs to have the ability to mount your existing front brake. The 8000 now uses a disc brake, it didn't always, and I don't know what year yours is.

If your on paved roads, and smooth trails, you can save some energy by swapping boots, some smoother tires with less tread can be helpful.

You should also not discount hills, hills are like intervals, they can seem beastly, but they also can help a lot. In early December, my training rides were averaging about 82RPM, threw some intervals into the mix, and yesterday, was having trouble staying below 90RPM. So what you do is this, you find a hill, you need to walk the last 100' or so, once or twice a week, you make sure you tackle that hill, the first couple of weeks it will seem impossible, the next couple of weeks, you will find out it is possible, but it nearly kills you, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. It's that day you realise you have a couple of gears left, when you get to the top, that you start to realise that your getting better, then you get the day, your at the top, and your still in the middle range, that you want to come here and post about your awesomeness. The next step, you go find a bigger hill, one that you can't quite get up, and repeat the process. By the end of the summer your talking to some skinny guy who bemoans that first hill and your reply is "what hill?

You also burn a lot more calories, going uphill, then you do on the flats, and there is the added bonus, what goes up, must come down (weeeee).

jethro56 

look at the Trek Fx series