elessarcif

Well I finally decided to register because I couldnt find this specific question answered anywhere. My question is is there a frame I should steer clear from from a strength perspective. I am 210lbs and actually will probably gain weight cause my goal is about 215-220(I like to bodybuild). Currently I ride a Trek Portland but would like to start looking at a serious road racing bike. I have been looking at Pinarello FP3, Trek Madones, Cervelo S2, and a few others. I am a pretty strong person and I dont feel like dropping 3-4 grand on a bike just to have it not be able to handle my weight. It is probably a stupid question but I wanted to ask anyways. I am tracking issues with pedals and wheels but I havent seen anything about frames.

late

Body building and road racing are going to conflict all over the place.

The short answer is no. You want good wheels, and you can have the dealer swap the stock wheels for rugged ones,
at the time of purchase (if it's needed).

Which is more important to you. If you want to keep bodybuilding, then get a sporty bike.
There's a bunch.

I think both would be fun, and you could have a lot of fun in fast group rides without
the sacrifices racing would demand.

elessarcif

Oh I am fully aware of how my lifting will conflict. I should probably be more clear on this. I body build purely to increase my physique and I want to road race purely for entertainment. Honestly when I lose muscle mass from biking I am not really worried about it. It will be just like when I got into marathons. I went from a really tight 230 down to about 195(over 4 years of marathons). I was dissapointed with my loss in strength but it meant a challenge to get back up there. Road racing is my new marathon. I am prepared to drop muscle mass if that is what happens. I dont think I will have to sacrifice as much as I did while running though.
With all that being said my big goal is to have a fast bike and a pretty light bike and to have fun with it. I do all this for my personal entertainment so as long as I have fun than I am successful. I also am entertained when my wife takes pictures of me next to some of these pipsqueeks . When I was 230 running my first marathon I looked like a giant and fairly silly next to the japanese at the honolulu marathon.

late

OK, I wouldn't worry much about the frame, and you're looking at the usual suspects.
Cannondale has a good rep for big guys.

One small company you might want to consider is Habanero.
https://www.habcycles.com/teamissue.html

jethro56 

Welcome elessarcif. Since I've gotten into biking I've struggled to keep my weightlifting strength at the level I started. I have lost 60# of fat though.Core strenght is so important to comfort in biking and I concentrated on that this winter.

bautieri

I don't think you're going to get a new FP3 built up for under 4k.

At your weight, no. You're not going to have to worry about your frame. Even the wheels should be ok if you take it easy on them. Personally, I'd go with either a Trek Madone (pick one) or a Specialized Tarmac. Both companies have good warranties should you manage to destroy the frame through normal use.

elessarcif

My big problem when I got into marathon running was that I couldnt keep the strength or weight up. The problem comes in the consumption of calories. If you are losing large amounts of weight you are also in most cases(outside of highly overweight people) losing strength. That was a problem I had. I had to consume as many calories as I was burning and even though I was eating more then 5000 calories I was losing weight and muscle mass.

Bautieri, I can flex above 4 grand if I am dead set on it, already got the wife's ok. The problem right now is I am in Afghanistan and this is my planned coming home gift so no bike testing for me right now but I love the look of the Pinarellos. I plan on spending atleast a fair amount of time on RandR looking at and testing bikes.

bassjones

First off, thank you for your service! Secondly, you're not going to have any issues with any frames at your weight. I would imagine you will be a pretty powerful rider though, so you will probably want stronger wheels than the stock ones that come on those light weight bikes.

elessarcif

First off thank you for the notice, it is always appreciated. Second yeah I figure if the LBS wont give me a sufficient trade in value I will ride those wheels into the ground and then with my tax return I will buy new wheels(havent told the wife that yet )
The other thing I was worried about are the drop bars but I am not too concerned about that.

CraigB

Let me add my thanks for your service, and a note about drop bars: at the performance level you're looking, drop bars are all you'll find, and unless you have some flexibility or disc issues (which I suspect you don't), drop bars are nothing for you to be concerned about. Swapping to flat bars could be done, but it would be an extensive retrofit, involving your shifters and brake levers as well as the bars themselves. And if you worry about such things, many who ride similar bikes would likely look on that kind of conversion as being akin to putting a flowered carry basket on the front of the bike. No offense to flat-bar bike owners, or to those with baskets on their handlebars. I'm just sayin'

elessarcif

Oh trust me I have no interest in switching to a flat bar, to be honest they have never been comfortable at all for me, I am a drop bar person. Sometimes I dont know my own strength and I can just picture doing a sprint and snapping the carbon and doing a face plant into the head tube. Probably not even possible but stuff like that is always in the back of my mind.

motobecane69

assuming your truly a bodybuilder, your biggest issue is going to be in potentially breaking cranks if you have strong legs and even then, its a rarity. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, you can ride a bike at a high level without sacrificing nearly as much of your muscle mass as you would running. yes, having extra weight slows you down but in my opinion not as severly in cycling as it does in running. IF you decide to truly train to race on your bike, than yes, you would want to lose some of that upper body muscle mass while keeping your lower half as strong as possible.

bradtx

elessarcif, My son is a weightlifter, hella strong and about your weight. I suggest an aluminum frame and bars... a carbon frame maybe fine, but I'd worry about carbon handlebars.

Brad

motobecane69

Agreed, no reason to absolutely have carbon bars. with that said, I've been rolling on no name ebay carbon bars and stem for 6 months at 6'3" 245lbs and no issues though admittedly my riding style lends itself more towards endurance riding and I don't often do any hard sprinting.

Regarding wheels, I somewhat disagree with those that seem to think you need some special wheels because of your strength. Professional cyclsist have pretty powerful legs and are running some pretty lightweight wheelsets. It's all about the quality of the wheel build. You shouldn't go super ultralight at your weight, but you can go with a fairly lightweight rim and 32 spokes in the rear would provide some extra assurance.

bautieri

Pinarello makes some sexy bikes for sure! I'd love to own one at some point too...though I suspect that if I ever dropped that kind of money on a carbon rig it would spend more time in the basement as it's just too dang nice for inclement weather or commuting.

I believe the only US dealer for Pinarello is in North Carolina. That might make for a nice road trip as part of your homecoming. Thank you for your service. If we can be of any assistance with your bicycle related questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

himespau 

I've always been told that Aluminum stems and seatposts don't weight much (if anything) more than carbon and are probably stronger and more reliable. Bars might be similar.

elessarcif

Bodybuilder might not be exactly accurate since I rarely get my bodyfat below around 8% but I try my best. I squat between 425 and 440(depending on how I am feeling) so I am pretty strong but not powerlifter strong.
I do agree on going with an aluminum set of bars. Will most likely go that direction. To be honest I can add a few grams without much notice at my weight but I need a starting point and this is where I am working on that. I have plenty of time to do research right now.
As to bautieri, I am stationed in Germany and was actually thinking about making a trip to Italy with the wife and might have to see what I can find there .

Thanks to everyone for your advice so far, I am taking it all into account.

Seattle Forrest

Your weight isn't a problem for a road racing bike. The wheels will fail long before the frame, but even that shouldn't be a problem for you.

Also, a crack showed up recently in my Cervelo RS, in the frame, along the front of the seat tube. I brought it into the shop and asked them how concerned I should be. Two (business) days later, they left a voicemail saying that a new frame was on its way from Cervelo. Their warranty ROCKS!

SuperFatDave

Do a lil research on road bikes from Cannondale, Trek, Specialized and Giant as I would believe those are 4 of the 5 most popular brands sold in the U.S..
Jamis and Bianchi are 2 other possibilities.
You'd be looking at the 10spd Shimano or SRAM components, light weight wheelsets and carbon forks. Frame material and grade/quality is going to be what determines the cost.
Maybe factor a duarble pair of training wheels into your budget. Allows you to spend more time on the bike as opposed to being in the shop.

motobecane69

good advice but you realize that in his budget every single bike is going to be 10 spd components and carbon fork? heck, even the most entry level road bikes have carbon forks, it's just the entry level hybrids that are still steel. I do totally agree about 2 wheelsets. It sounds like you are serious about racing even if it is just for fun. Start doing your research on various types of racing wheels whether they be aluminum, carbon, clinchers or tubular.

CraigB

We have an authorized Pinarello dealer here on the north side of Indy.

bautieri

Pinarello needs to update their website then. It claims the only one in the US is in Charlotte NC.

Your statement has me all excited that there might just be a Pinarello dealer in a reasonable distance from my home! Where did you get that information?

CraigB

I've been in their shop and looked at them. The shop in question is Nebo Ridge in Carmel, IN.

elessarcif

I am really surprised, why are there not more US sellers of pinarellos? Luckily there are quite a few Bianchis dealers because the Infinito seems really sexy also.

Snapperhead

To confuse you even more, Orbea also has pretty good warranty.