First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Lambo100
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First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Postby Lambo100 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 2:56 pm

Hi All,

I need some advice on what type of bike to get and I have no idea what I'm doing.

I live in South Yarra, and am looking to start cycling to/from work (CBD) every day. I've been steadily losing weight the last 12 months and I currently weigh about 175kg. It's about a 5.2km ride each way.

I'm looking to get a road bike / mtn bike for this - parts of the bike track between South Yarra and the city have gravel paths, but mostly it's bitumen/concrete.

I've been to Reid cycles in the city (near Vic market) and they've said the best I could do is get a Fat Bike, such as this: https://www.reidcycles.com.au/vice-2-plus.html
Or this:
https://www.reidcycles.com.au/reid-boss ... -bike.html

I don't mind the look of Fat bikes, but I'm not a teenager and I feel like I'd stick out like a sore thumb riding one. I've looked on multiple websites but not many Australian bike retailers will state weight capacities on their stock.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Thoglette
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Re: First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Postby Thoglette » Mon Apr 16, 2018 3:34 pm

Firstly, you're a long way from the heaviest guy to start riding (there's a cyclocross regular who's over 200kgs in the US). Secondly, you're still lighter than a pair of blokes on a tandem. Or a fully packed tourist on a touring bike.

So while you're a big fella you're not an unusual load for the standard bicycle. And so any well built, normal bike will suit you.

That said, you're going to need to run your tyres at higher pressures than someone half you weight, so go for something with wider tyres (no 23x700C tyres for you). Likewise, you will kill cheap machine-made wheels pretty quickly if you start kerb-hopping. A set of well made, high spoke count (36) wheels should be on your shopping list _once_ you start popping spokes.

If I'm forced to say "buy one of these" I'd be pointing you at a touring bike that can run 35mm or bigger tyres, preferrably on 26" wheels (as these are measurably stronger than 29ers. But at a pinch anything running wide-ish tyres'll do. Most $399 "city bikes" will do at a pinch. As would Reid's Men's Vintage Roadster (at $299). Or any mountain bike.

Here's Jan Heine's pressure chart. Extrapolating to 90kg per end suggests that you'd want to be running 32mm tyres at around 105psi and 37mm about 90psi to get the fastest speed out of them. As someone who regularly rides well below the recommended pressures, you'd be fine at 80% of these, noting that you'll get a few more pinch flats.
Image
Last edited by Thoglette on Mon Apr 16, 2018 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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P!N20
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Re: First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Postby P!N20 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 3:43 pm

What's your budget, Lambo?

Lambo100
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Re: First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Postby Lambo100 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:40 pm

Thoglette wrote:Firstly, you're a long way from the heaviest guy to start riding (there's a cyclocross regular who's over 200kgs in the US). Secondly, you're still lighter than a pair of blokes on a tandem. Or a fully packed tourist on a touring bike.

So while you're a big fella you're not an unusual load for the standard bicycle. And so any well built, normal bike will suit you.

That said, you're going to need to run your tyres at higher pressures than someone half you weight, so go for something with wider tyres (no 23x700C tyres for you). Likewise, you will kill cheap machine-made wheels pretty quickly if you start kerb-hopping. A set of well made, high spoke count (36) wheels should be on your shopping list _once_ you start popping spokes.

If I'm forced to say "buy one of these" I'd be pointing you at a touring bike that can run 35mm or bigger tyres, preferrably on 26" wheels (as these are measurably stronger than 29ers. But at a pinch anything running wide-ish tyres'll do. Most $399 "city bikes" will do at a pinch. As would Reid's Men's Vintage Roadster (at $299). Or any mountain bike.

Here's Jan Heine's pressure chart. Extrapolating to 90kg per end suggests that you'd want to be running 32mm tyres at around 105psi and 37mm about 90psi to get the fastest speed out of them. As someone who regularly rides well below the recommended pressures, you'd be fine at 80% of these, noting that you'll get a few more pinch flats.
Image
Thank you! I really appreciate this!
P!N20 wrote:What's your budget, Lambo?
Sorry I should have put that in - Budget would be $1000 - $1200 max. But it doesn't need to be anything fancy, I'd be ok (happy even) with half that.
Also forgot to mention I'm 200cm - so a big guy. I assume frame size would be important for me too?

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10speedsemiracer
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Re: First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Postby 10speedsemiracer » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:07 pm

Lambo100 wrote:Hi All,

I need some advice on what type of bike to get and I have no idea what I'm doing.

I live in South Yarra, and am looking to start cycling to/from work (CBD) every day. I've been steadily losing weight the last 12 months and I currently weigh about 175kg. It's about a 5.2km ride each way.

I'm looking to get a road bike / mtn bike for this - parts of the bike track between South Yarra and the city have gravel paths, but mostly it's bitumen/concrete.

I've been to Reid cycles in the city (near Vic market) and they've said the best I could do is get a Fat Bike, such as this: https://www.reidcycles.com.au/vice-2-plus.html
Or this:
https://www.reidcycles.com.au/reid-boss ... -bike.html

I don't mind the look of Fat bikes, but I'm not a teenager and I feel like I'd stick out like a sore thumb riding one. I've looked on multiple websites but not many Australian bike retailers will state weight capacities on their stock.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.
I think the Reid staff advice re the fat bike is more to do with the wheels than anything else, and I'm with you on the not riding around on a fat bike thing.

There is another option, but it's a bit convoluted. Find a pre-loved known brand MTB or Hybrid like a Trek/Merida/Giant/Specialized etc, in a large size on Gumtree or eBay, like this as an example :

Image,

and either have the existing wheels re-laced for heavy duty use, or get a set made up, have the bike serviced and put some 35mm Schwalbes Marathons on it. Say $300 for a bike, $250 for wheels, $100 for tyres, $100 for service, all done for $750 and you'll have a heavy duty city bike which rides like new.
Campagnolo for show, SunTour for go

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bychosis
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Re: First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Postby bychosis » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:58 pm

Lambo100 wrote: Also forgot to mention I'm 200cm - so a big guy. I assume frame size would be important for me too?
You would be looking for at least an XL frame. I’m 180cm and ride a large in some models and XL in others, it depends on riding style. I do have a long reach though which means a low seat setting on an XL, so it should be fine for you - but definitely try before you buy.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

Lambo100
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Re: First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Postby Lambo100 » Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:09 am

I really appreciate all the replies here, thanks guys! This is good info to look into.

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Howzat
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Re: First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Postby Howzat » Wed Apr 18, 2018 9:39 am

Touring bikes are great - tough as they come, and good for longer rides too. Certain brands like surly and vivente tend to hold value and are available in tall sizes.

Neddysmith
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Re: First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Postby Neddysmith » Wed Apr 18, 2018 10:37 am

bychosis wrote:
Lambo100 wrote: Also forgot to mention I'm 200cm - so a big guy. I assume frame size would be important for me too?
You would be looking for at least an XL frame. I’m 180cm and ride a large in some models and XL in others, it depends on riding style. I do have a long reach though which means a low seat setting on an XL, so it should be fine for you - but definitely try before you buy.
Agree here, i would thing definately looking at XL frame size, Im 183 and ride L - XL depending on geometry so someone at 200 would certainly be XL, great suggestions looking for something in either a touring range or mountain bike range i would think and then putting on some more trail friendly tryes if going the mountain bike route.

Ivanerrol
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Re: First Bike Advice - Heavy Rider - Melbourne Area

Postby Ivanerrol » Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:19 am

I'm 188 and 100Kg.

I have two bikes roadbikes - one a 58 and the other a 59. classed as XL.
O.K. for me
I've ridden an XXL - 60. Quite comfortable.
There are 61 and even 63 frames - XXL
At 200 cm you will probably be on the upper end of the XL size limit.

You will need to test ride any possible frame. Some XL bikes I've ridden were on the "smallish" side for me. Needed to raise the seat higher.

Mountain bikes seem to feature the bottom bracket higher from the ground than road bikes.
Some hybrid bikes have higher from the ground bottom bracket bikes than others.

This is my flat bar road bike. It's an XL 59
Image

You may notice that the seat is up a bit and I need to lean over to reach the handle bars.
In your case you would need to lift the seat up higher still and lean over further to reach the bars.
You would probably require at least a 61+ XXL bike for this particular model.

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