I am sure that this topic has been discussed to death, but I am in need of some advice.

Back Story:

I went from 205lbs to 288lbs in a two year period due to thyroid cancer. I have now been cleared to exercise by my Dr. I tried running and jumping rope. Each caused tremendous amount of pain on my knees. I do not have access to a pool. My last resort is cycling. I have looked at a Fuji, Trek and Cannondale. All seem to be nice bikes. Problems I am having.....cost: I only have $400 to spend on a bike. Size: I am 6'1 and not sure if I should go with a 21" or 22" inch bike. Terrain: I will mostly be riding on a blacktop or concrete road surface.

Could people be kind enough to give me some suggestions on what bike to purchase and how I should begin my biking exercise.

Thank you
Mark

you writing from the Job?


IDK your situation , the local Bike shop has a flow of used bikes taken in and resold, here..
go forth after work and ask . look around in the real world..

most bikes are sized metric and many slope the top tube to shorten the seat tube Aka "size"

try a few on

First, exercise is great for your health but is not really an effective way for the vast majority to lose weight.

I worked out at a gym for years and my weight stayed the same. I didn't lose weight until I understood how our bodies deal with food. (I only wanted to lose 10 pounds and I wanted to do that for almost 20 years. Those pounds always came back.)

Long story short, to burn your own fat requires a negative stimulus of an insulin deficiency. In other words, you do everything you can not to raise your blood sugar. You avoid foods with added sugar (processed foods) and foods that quickly convert to sugar (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes). You should also avoid fruit juices but not fruit per se. There's more sugar (fructose) in fruit juice than in cola. When you eat a piece of fruit the fiber helps to slow down the blood sugar increase. Eat fruit, don't drink fruit juice.

As far as bikes go, I'd go the second hand route. I also gave up running years ago because of my knees.

You'll get a lot of advice here regarding bikes. I just wanted to give some helpful information about weight loss.

The following video (at 1:02:08), the last eight minutes, really changed my life around. I'm 64 and just about gave up trying to lose weight. I'm 5'9" and my weight is now steady between 155 and 160 lbs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTUspjZG-wc

This is true. However, one reason lies in the fact that, if you exercise regularly, you will gain muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. In a sense, your body conspires against you. That said, most people find they can't lose the weight they want through exercise alone, so a sensible diet is definitely key.

the numbers 21 and 22 tell us nothing about the bikes actually fit
although those frame sizes
when applied to mountain bikes or hybrids
tend to be large or extra large
and you potentially could ride either one comfortably
but every bike maker is different
s there is no direct comparison that can be made just by knowing
one is 21 and the other is 22

so my advice is
neither

find yourself a used road bike
in the 58 to 60 cm size
or whatever size you can adjust the seat to get proper leg extension
and have the post in past the minimum insertion mark
and still be comfortable riding the bike

for 400 dollars you might be able to find something quite nice in the used market

First thing I would do is spend a few hrs on a gyms stationary to make sure your knees can handle it.

Maybe something with lots of low gears on it. A triple chainring set up. You can find on pretty much any type of bike you want to ride; mountain, hybrid or road bikes. Spinning fast in lower gears will keep you from straining your knees.

Endurance exercise is poor at muscle building - weights are much better. The other reason to exercise is to lift base metabolism.

Absolutely awful advice.

Road bikes - which means RACING bike in cyclist language - are designed for 150lb highly flexible riders to go as fast as possible. Well

1. The guy ain't 150lbs and probably isn't very flexible

2. There's no reason to go as fast as possible to lose weight. Riding a less speed optimized but safer and more comfortable bike at a slower slower speed and the same level of effort will work just as well.

I'd suggest getting a used all-rigid moutain bike (look for something like a Kona Lava Dome or GT Avalanche) and putting slick road tyres on. The more upright position won't risk destroying and overloaded back and the fat slicks will provide the cushioning and grip needed for almost 300lbs of rider.

Putting a 280lb guy on 25mm racing tyres is an unsmart thing to do - you either have to take the tyre and tube beyond safe pressures or risk pinch flattting, the ride will be lousy, and the cornering and braking grip inadequate. This guy weighs as much as a many cyclists plus their touring gear do - and there are reasons why touring bikes can take 32-40mm tyres instead of 25s! And that's BEFORE you consider the riding position.

To the OP: And put a short high stem on that mtb to get an upright riding position too! (Stems are easy to change - you just undo some bolts.)

If you want a new bike, then look around for a hybrid that will take wide tyres.

As for what to do:

- Get medical clearance

- Start riding short distances slowly

- Drink water as needed

- Increase time and distance gradually

- When you ride up hills, change gears so you can keep your legs spinning fast - the other way - hammering the pedals while standing - can bust a knee if your technique isn't right (This is another reason I'd suggest an MTB: they're the easiest bike to bike to find triple chainrings with granny gears for climbing hills.)

Then, when you can ride reasonably fast for an hour, read about interval training and see the doc again.

The other advantage of an MTB is that it will think that carrying a 280lb rider on the road is a pretty easy life compared to the offroading it was meant for. Whereas a used road bike meant for a 150lb rider, *not*. Safety margins keep repair bills and hospital bills down!

It's unlikely the poor guy CAN cycle for a few hours. He's just had thyroid cancer...

Fortunately, there's no reason to believe his knees are at risk. Because you cycle sitting down. Rather than repeatedly jumping. Skipping - or running - while weighing as much as this guy will hammer your knees (unless you're hugely tall and meant to be that weight, in which case the longer leg will absorb more shock.)

you made some very good points
esp about flexibility
which i had not thought about
but you also made
some very ignorant assumptions

like
road bikes does not necessarily mean racing bike
and
a lot of road bikes
including
touring
road sport
and many older bikes
can accept tires wider than 25mm
and
none of them are designed for 150 lb riders

i suggest you head over to the Clydesdale forum
where 200 to 300 and up lbs riders discuss their carbon road bikes
and describe the thousands of kms they safely put on them every year

Actually, it does. It's bizarre, but if you mean eg a touring bike you have to say that. By default "road bike" = "road racing bike." Which actually means a peloton or TT or crit bike, not say an Audax bike...

And if you meant a touring bike and not a racer... then they're a very small minority of the used road bikes for sale, so if you if you tell people to get a road bike and no more, then the chances are they will end up with a racer.


Yep. But if that's you meant, you should have said so - and a nice used tourer is a LOT harder to find at a decent price than a rigid mtb. Lava Domes et all were made in about 100 times greater numbers.

Yes, but most of these people are idiots who don't understand the engineering and think that they should choose a bike as a fashion statement. It's not just a matter of safety - they pay a fortune for bikes that will go slower because they're abusing the tyres - either over-pressurizing them or taking them past 15% deflection - and driving up rolling resistance, so they can look like they're in the TDF. And a $4000 brand new bike will have safety margins in construction that a $400 used one won't. And it will come with a year of LBS support, and the user will probably have deep pockets for maintenance after that. If he buys the wrong gear cluster or chainrings, he can afford hundreds of dollars to get new ones fitted.

You can, to be candid, be an utter idiot in buying a high-end new bike and still get ok results. But if you're on $400 and you weigh close to 300lbs... then you need to have a brain.

A good used tourer would be an ok buy, but they're hard to find. Ditto cross bikes - it took me months to find a nice one used. But a rigid MTB... most people can flick around ebay and find an acceptable bike a few miles away from them.

..It's also a mistake to think 300lb guys with 50" waists on crit bikes aren't injuring themselves just because they seem ok this wee. A lot of spine damage is cummulative, and aggressive road bikes are notorious for straining the spines of riders who are actually the correct weight.

you are right

i was thinking older road
or 10 speed
bikes
which often had ample clearance for normal width tires
and I did not specifiy that
my bad

evidence for this?

certainly sounds more like improperly fitted bikes you are describing
not of any particular sort

Well, by definition you could say that any bike that does damage to the spine is "improperly fitted"...

Aggressive racers are simply designed to win races. More aero positions do this, but they require more load on the spine and more severe angles between vertebrae. These are bad things - the spine is meant to act as an upright stack, not a bridge. This is why Audax bikes are less aggressive than crit bikes - if the crit bike's position was not a strain, then the Audax bike would use it too because it would be faster!

So again, the simplest thing to do is to find a rigid MTB. Because telling a guy like the OP how to find a drop bar that's an Audax bike rather than a more aggressive design, not easy. It's really something to do only if you have a friend who knows the ropes. And even then you need lots of time, because old Audax and tourers are few in number and greatly sought after.

Also, if you buy a 90's MTB and use it as an upright with a short high stem, you can turn it into a damn fast drop bar by a simple and cheap refit when you are ready for a more aggressive position. Believe it or not, this is a Zaskar, the winningest MTB of the early 90s:



...But the same bike could even be configured with BMX bars to give a very upright position. And it's an easy bike to find at good prices on ebay and super-tough. This is a Lava Dome I set up BMX style for a friend:



..If you have medical problems, these bikes are terrific because the sloping top tubes, wide tyre clearance and ability to work with a huge range of bar positions means that they can fit around your needs in ways that most bikes can't. Add in that they're cheap and tough and easy to find, and have exceptional handling, and they're great buys.

you still provide no evidence that a low position damages the back

also

everything you say about drop handlebar bikes
also applies to flat handlebar bikes
and vice versa
including
many come from the factory with stretched out positions
and
changing a stem and or handlebars can turn a stretched out low position into a more upright one

If the bars are low enough, yes. Plus you get carpal tunnel as well.

As for more evidence, well, you obviously nothing about how the back is supposed to work, so I'd recommend

Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance: Amazon.co.uk: Stuart McGill: Books

..But, trust me, we are supposed to walk upright!

Yes. But also have to usually re-cable, which means a mechanics bill for someone like the OP. So you're telling him to buy a touring bike, and a new stem and bars, and get work done for $400... I don't really see this working.

Otoh, here in the UK I saw a perfectly maintained Muddy Fox MTB that would be ideal on ebay today for £50 - thats about $75? And I picked up a ready to ride Zaskar last year - which is the 911 of that MTB generation - for about $300. And I can find excellent quality MTBs in this price range and ready to ride in every reasonable size every week. Lots of them. On US ebay, the choice is even better. There's nothing wrong with the tourers or Audax bikes, but the MTBs are enormously easier to find and considerably cheaper. Which, if you're on a $400 budget, is important. Yes?

To the OP: you might want to look at kettlebell swings for weight loss. They involve knee movement, just as cycling does, but not impact. And you can do them indoors, and all you need is a $75 kettlebell. Technique is important though, so you might need lessons if you're not experienced with athletics - if you are, then you might get away with a book or video.

300 Swings a Day for Faster Fat Loss | Breaking Muscle

Again, this is something to talk over with your doctor.

My back feels really good when closer to parallel with the ground and stretched out quite a bit but my neck kills in that position. Would be OK if I didn't have to look where I was going.

Bolt upright position kills my back. Every bump compresses my spine and I find that extremely uncomfortable.

There's a happy medium somewhere in between. It'll be different for everybody.

I'd totally go for a nice rigid MTB if I was 300 lbs, though. I used to have more belly and I know that a low position is impossible with said belly.

Hell I have 3 of them as it is. I try to look for light, cheap ones. KHS Comp is 25 lbs, Mongoose IBOC Zero-G is down to about 23 lbs, ParkPre Pro 825 is about 24 lbs.