Too heavy for a road bike :-(

[jifdave]

As I've now probably mentioned in every single one of my posts......

I'm 6'8 with a 37" inside leg. I thought I had problems getting a big enough frame in my price range.

I found a few that we're too expensive but I'm willing to stretch to it.

Now apparently most road bikes are only suitable up to 275lb. I'm about 290lb :-( so before I can consider a roadie I need to lose a stone. That's the aim but I'd rather lose weight going fast :-(

Anyone know of company's doing stronger frames?

 

[Hacienda71]

Do you know what size frame you need? Ribble do a 64cm winter frame as standard, should be pretty robust if teamed up with some high spoke count wheels.

 

[musa]

A stone won't hurt. As mentioned changed the wheel set with one with more spokes

 

[MrJamie]

Are you the hulk?

With most things weight guidelines tend to be on the side of caution, i cant imagine 275 vs 290lb making much difference. I could be entirely wrong but i think the frames would be fine, the wheels would probably be the weakest link, maybe more so if theyre super lightweight ones with less spokes.

 

[gb155]

As I've now probably mentioned in every single one of my posts......

I'm 6'8 with a 37" inside leg. I thought I had problems getting a big enough frame in my price range.

I found a few that we're too expensive but I'm willing to stretch to it.

Now apparently most road bikes are only suitable up to 275lb. I'm about 290lb :-( so before I can consider a roadie I need to lose a stone. That's the aim but I'd rather lose weight going fast :-(

Anyone know of company's doing stronger frames?

Unless it's carbon then it's rubbish, trust me, I know a thing or 2 on the subject

 

[ohnovino]

Agree that the only thing likely to cause problems is the wheels, and even then you'd probably be okay as long as you don't whack too many potholes.

BTW, if you went for the Ribble you might find it a little cramped, as their 64cm frame only has a 59cm top tube.

 

[smokeysmoo]

Oh shite, I'd better sell my bikes then Only joking JD.

I'm 6'5" and a big lad to boot. I'm currently sticking to 32 spoke wheels, but until a few weeks ago I was using THESE, and I didn't have any 'issues' even with them, but I convinced myself I would if I carried on using them.

It is worth checking with frame manufacturers about weight limits IMO, I've done this before and I've had Trek, (cf road), Focus, (cfroad and cf mtb), Ribble, (alu road), Giant, (alu mtb) and Cannondale, (alu road) frames without any issues at all.

FWIW Felt did tell me they had a 16 stone weight limit, but I can't remember if it was directly related to the bike I wanted or applied to all their frames TBH.

Buy what you want and stick some high spokes wheels on it. I don't know what you budget is, but wheels are where most manufacturers save ££'s anyway, so unless you buying high end the wheels will be worth upgrading anyway, whether that means high spoke count or otherwise.

 

[Lard Armstrong]

I was almost as heavy, I bought a Van Nicholas Yukon Titanium frame, no issues at all. I bought Shimano low end wheels (550 series) which are bullet proof. The good news - they are also the cheapest in the range, hurrah !

This enabled me to get out and lose some weight, I eventually wore out the wheels after 5 years, but the frame will last forever and remains my most used bike.

I have since lost 30lb plus.

 

[Lard Armstrong]

...Also found that 25mm tyres seem quicker than the 23s I was using. Also less road buzz.

Bon chance.

 

[Manonabike]

Unless it's carbon then it's rubbish, trust me, I know a thing or 2 on the subject

Are you saying that unless frames are CF they are rubbish?

How do you come to that conclusion, bearing in mind that it would be a 290 lbs rider?

 

[jifdave]

which wheels would be best?

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/ro...base&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=Googlebase

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/ro...base&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=Googlebase

 

[smokeysmoo]

which wheels would be best?

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/ro...base&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=Googlebase

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/ro...base&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=Googlebase

Too low spoke count on both IMO. I've just put THESE on my CAAD, and I use THESE on my Ribble framed commuter

Both links are just to the rear wheels. Both front wheels are available on the same site.

 

[jifdave]

i posted those links because they are the two offered on the bike builder.

so perhaps the better of the two?

 

[equivalence]

I'm quite heavy myself 230lbs and have destroyed quite a few wheels over recent years. It took me only about 2 months to snap 3 spokes on the rear wheel that came with my Ribble Audax. I then got a set of wheels built with 36 spokes and front and rear, and it took me less that 6 months to what can only be described as destroy the rear wheel. I also have a carbon bike which had some sort of rear aero wheel with around 10 spokes and you can guess what happened to that. Same with the fixie the wheel lasted less than 6 months. However, I've now been riding on Fulcrum Racing 7s for over a year, normally 5 days a week, and have only had to tighten a few spokes once at the very beginning and they have been absolutely solid since.

 

[srw]

Consider a tandem. Our Thorn (a manufacturer known to over-engineer anything they possibly can) has 32-spoke wheels, front and back. The bike weighs about 3 stone. Between us at our heaviest we weighed about 30 stone. So that's an all up weight of 33 stone on 32-spoke wheels. We've not broken a spoke since the very early days when the manufacturer was having wheel-building problems.

Or consider a Brompton. Small wheels are notoriously less sturdy than bigger wheels. A Brompton has 28 spokes. By about 2000 they'd worked out how to build the wheels, and even though I was a stone or so heavier than you are now I haven't broken a spoke since then.

At only 19 stone I think you'll do fine with the right wheels. Find something reasonably robust from a reputable wheel-builder, and look forward to going faster once you've shed a few pounds and can upgrade to