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building a bike maybe... finding a good donor for ultra clyde?

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Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) Looking to lose that spare tire? Ideal weight 200+? Frustrated being a large cyclist in a sport geared for the ultra-light? Learn about the bikes and parts that can take the abuse of a heavier cyclist, how to keep your body going while losing the weight, and get support from others who've been successful.

building a bike maybe... finding a good donor for ultra clyde?

Old 05-09-11, 02:45 PM
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building a bike maybe... finding a good donor for ultra clyde?

I guess the first part is, I am really loving the mountain bike I have, especially for hauling my son around on his trail a bike, but I want to work on a road bike for myself while I'm dropping weight, here is the issue. I'm looking at my local CL and areas around here, not many used builders are apparent, I'm not worried about the components in general, but i would like a 25" frame. because I am not likely to drop below 300 lbs before finishing it, I am strongly considering just building one off a frame to my liking, as I have ideas what I am interested in. I am not spending $700 on a bike I plan to start messing with off the bat, I would rather just go frame up even if it costs more, because I can spread it out. so here are my two considerations.. is a frame a frame in the lower cost brackets? Nashbar has a frame and fork in the $200 range for the two, or would i be better off buying a box bike and just not assembling it? I am not horribly concerned about branding myself, or labels and stickers, as I plan to paint it myself. my ultimate goal is a flat bar roadie for now, I am too heavy to play with things with toy front shocks. and looking at alot of the off the shelf bikes I see nothing is exactly what I'm looking for and is built to take a guy at my planned weight... ok I think I've droned out enough, thanks for reading this far if you still are. lol.
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Old 05-09-11, 05:08 PM
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Most frames are made in just a couple different factories in China or Taiwan, the frame geometry is more important than the Brand.

I built up a Aluminum Kona Jake the Snake with a Carbon fork and put 1000 miles on it in the last year. I started at about 270# and am about 245 now. Your wheelset needs to be strong or else they're going to go out of true often. Probably a set of Tandem or Touring wheels would suffice. You could build up a Surly LHT or Crosscheck and not have to worry about any frame "issues" at 300#...
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Old 05-09-11, 09:30 PM
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BigHuf;

I am a bit over 300lbs also. My commuter is a 1985 Schwinn World Tourist that I purchased new. Last summer, it went through a series of relatively low cost upgrades, including 36/40 Suze-Araya wheels with sealed bearings. The bike was made by Giant in Tiawan, and the frame is low carbon steel. I ride 12 miles each way, every weekday on it. No issues.

I am presently building up another bike, I purchased the frame last fall, it is a SR Sierra Sport made of Tange straight guage Cro-Moly. It is also mid- '80's vintage. I got the frame off eBay.

If you want to build up a bike, I recommend looking for a Cro-Moly frame; it does not need to be new. There are some great deals of low and mid range components that work well. They are not a light as the high range stuff, but work well, and often will last longer.
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Old 05-10-11, 08:27 AM
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thank you for the info guys, I am definitely liking this plan more and more, so is my wife, the "spreading it out" is definitely a plus. weight isn't really a major issue, I am currently biking on a 35 lb mountain bike(weighed on a digital bathroom scale, I calibrated it with 50lbs weight first), so a few ounces, or even a pound all said isn't going to matter since I have no intentions of racing, but would eventually like to do group rides once i am more comfortable with my stamina. my biggest concerns are not being geared too high and good 36+ spoke wheelset. I would love to find a used cro-moly frame, but my options are open. if its going to cost as much as a new, then its all the same to me at this point.
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Old 05-10-11, 09:54 AM
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As far as choosing between the Nashbar or other bare frame and fork and a box bike (assuming by that you mean something like a bike from BikesDirect or some other web or mail order merchant), and you view the frames as being more or less equivalent, I'd say it depends on how much wrenching you want to do. It's my understanding that those complete mail-order bikes are pretty well along the road to being assembled already. I think most of them require mounting the bars on the stem, saddle on seat post, installing the pedals and putting on the wheels. Stuff like headsets, bottom brackets, cranksets, derailleurs and brakes are mostly done already. At least that's my impression.
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Old 05-10-11, 07:03 PM
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well, I took in my 2 wheelsets to be trued today (45 mins drive each way, ugh I need to learn how to do that), and the place had a customers trek 7.1fx(wrong size, but thats not the point here, and if it was mostly stock it looked like a good starting point frame and most gear, I am seriously scared of the wheel set holding up to my additional mass, but they at least are affordable enough that can be remedied with time. that said as much as I want a road bike I keep looking at the dropped bars and fast rigging and just don't feel it, the trek looked like a great bike as it sat, and maybe thats where I. I straddled a few today and I am really wondering if thats what I want or if I want to want it. I think I need to keep my mind off this and just see where i evolve. I would like to participate and do in longer rides, and I know road bikes are where its at for that, but maybe i need to wait before I jump. I know it seems finicky to wonder where this hobby is taking me, but I'm sure I'm not the first person to be here.

how do you know which way to go with your purchase?
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Old 05-16-11, 06:17 AM
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Originally Posted by BigHuf
..........

how do you know which way to go with your purchase?
A couple of years ago; I purchased a new bike (gray); and the LBS really screwed me. After a few upgrades to solve the issues; I got out the bike (red) I purchased in 1985; (which I had not ridden in years and has had several changes over its life); and made a bunch of changes to it to get it what I wanted for my commute. Then I wanted a back up/replacement for my red bike that would even better suit me - that is my blue bike; not yet finished. I purchased a mid '80's Cro-Moly frame and fork off e-bay for $40- last September, and have been working on it as time and budget permit. The BB and headset have been rebuilt. I had a false start on the wheels (anyone want a set of 650c Sun M14A 36H rims with Shimano hubs, and Wheelsmith SS14 spokes?) It should be done in a couple of months; with ISO 590 rims. Just a few weeks ago, we bought a Trek T50 Tandem ('94 vintage) that I am returning to flat bars - will be done before Memorial Day; have all the parts; just need to get home from this business trip to China.
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Old 05-18-11, 08:52 PM
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i was in a similar situation to you, I wanted something custom so i built up piece by piece even though it may have cost a bit more, the actual process was much simpler. REgarding nashbar frame. I'm 250lbs, I have a rear rack that I routinely put about 30lbs on and a front rack that I put about 10 lbs on. by the time you add in the weight of the clothes on my back, my bike is basically supporting 300lbs with ZERO issues. One of the reasons i built from scratch is that I was replacing a bike that got stolen but prior to that bike being stolen I had a stock wheel replaced under warranty because the rim was cracking. No bikes at the lbs come with clyde friendly wheels stock so i just decided go from scratch. I had a mavic a719 36 hole rim laced to a deore hub with DT Comp double butted spokes and brass nipples. Wheel is super duper strong and it was only about $200 bucks ($80 for the rim, $40 for spokes, $40 for hub, $40 for labor). Today and tomorrow nashbar is doing free shipping on their bikes and as I just posted in another thread, they have their flat bar road bike on sale for $399. That price is awfully hard to beat. I'd buy that, put the brand new wheels up for sale on craigslist for $100 and they will probably sell overnight, then put that towards getting proper wheels built. some clydes here were getting ultegra 36hole deep v wheelsets built from prowheelbuilder.com for $300. you could also buy the flat bar bike and ride the stock wheels til they give way.

Also, I think Nashbar also has a set of vuelta wheels that are 36 hole clyde friendly wheels, they are heavy but I'm sure they are pretty bombproof.
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