50 year old newcomer

[fatbelly33]

Hi Russell,

I'm a relative newbie & a bit older than you. I am 6ft tall and was prior to dieting & exercising obese with "significant" heart disease. I've been riding my road bike with drop bars 4 or 5 times a week & can now do an hour no problem. The weight has dropped off me & I now have a resting pulse rate of 55. I do road bike riding only as its the easiest (we've all got roads right outside our houses) & also the quickest way to get fit. I have tried Mountain Biking but it's a lot of stop starting & my fitness didn't improve that much until I went all road biking. Try your local bike shop or an Evans & sit on different road bikes. Evans have got this bike in for £900 & they have it in size 61cm which would be okay for you https://www.evanscycles.com/fuji-roubai ... e-EV280185

Does your employer have a cycle to work scheme ? If so you can buy this bike and get tax & NI relief on the purchase which can take up to 42% off the price. If they don't do cycle to work scheme then you can get the bike on 12 months interest free for £68 per month.

[hondated]

Its a fairly recent revelation to me but having a few bikes I have decided for riding locally my main criteria is light light and light.
Its far more fun riding a bike that is responsive than riding a Tourer which to be fair is made for just that.
I am fortunate that my Bianchi has a triple chain ring but another of my bikes has a compact chain set with a 32 rear sprocket so both allow me to climb most hills fairly easily.
You mention cantilever brakes and my experience is that they can be difficult to set up correctly so I prefer dual pivot brakes.
And for that extra bit of comfort I have fitted 25mm tyres which makes a big difference to 23mm tyres.
The funny thing is is that back in the 60s as kids we always lifted a bike up to feel how light it was and the lighter it was the better to us it was. Clearly we weren't wrong then !.

[iandriver]

Its a fairly recent revelation to me but having a few bikes I have decided for riding locally my main criteria is light light and light.
Its far more fun riding a bike that is responsive than riding a Tourer which to be fair is made for just that.
I am fortunate that my Bianchi has a triple chain ring but another of my bikes has a compact chain set with a 32 rear sprocket so both allow me to climb most hills fairly easily.
You mention cantilever brakes and my experience is that they can be difficult to set up correctly so I prefer dual pivot brakes.
And for that extra bit of comfort I have fitted 25mm tyres which makes a big difference to 23mm tyres.
The funny thing is is that back in the 60s as kids we always lifted a bike up to feel how light it was and the lighter it was the better to us it was. Clearly we weren't wrong then !.

I'm glad you're enjoying your light bike, but could you let us know how heavy you are roughly. I'm 6'5 and slender for my size, still 15.5 stone. It's this kind of thing that makes me nervous with bike advice for people my size. The OP could well be way over most bikes recommended weight and still not look that big. Sorry to be a grump, it's not what I want to do, I'm just vividly aware that being outside typical height and weight ranges brings its own issues which the bike industry isn't so hot at dealing with in a weight driven environment.

[TrevA]

Its a fairly recent revelation to me but having a few bikes I have decided for riding locally my main criteria is light light and light.
Its far more fun riding a bike that is responsive than riding a Tourer which to be fair is made for just that.
I am fortunate that my Bianchi has a triple chain ring but another of my bikes has a compact chain set with a 32 rear sprocket so both allow me to climb most hills fairly easily.
You mention cantilever brakes and my experience is that they can be difficult to set up correctly so I prefer dual pivot brakes.
And for that extra bit of comfort I have fitted 25mm tyres which makes a big difference to 23mm tyres.
The funny thing is is that back in the 60s as kids we always lifted a bike up to feel how light it was and the lighter it was the better to us it was. Clearly we weren't wrong then !.

I'm glad you're enjoying your light bike, but could you let us know how heavy you are roughly. I'm 6'5 and slender for my size, still 15.5 stone. It's this kind of thing that makes me nervous with bike advice for people my size. The OP could well be way over most bikes recommended weight and still not look that big. Sorry to be a grump, it's not what I want to do, I'm just vividly aware that being outside typical height and weight ranges brings its own issues which the bike industry isn't so hot at dealing with in a weight driven environment.

I wouldn't worry about rider weight too much. I'm just over 18st and don't have any problems apart from the odd snapped spoke on badly built wheels. Certainly no problems with frames or other components. I've gone over to mostly using factory built wheels. I've been riding Fulcrum Racing 7's for nearly 10 years with no broken spokes in that time and I've probably done 20,000 miles on the 2 pairs I've had.

Yes, I'm technically well over the weight limit for the wheels (around 80kg), I'm actually around 112kg. But I've not had any problems with them. There are wheels such as Mavic Cosmics, that have a 120kg weight limit.

A lot of people on here will say that you are better off with hand built wheels, but that relies on finding a competent wheel builder. I had 2 bad experiences with hand builds so have largely given up on them.

[francovendee]

You could do a lot worse than going to Decathlon and trying out their own brand B'Twin Triban 520 in XL size. You have a choice of straight or dropped bars, get a good range of gears with a triple crankset and it has fittings for mudguards and a pannier rack. Its weaknesses are the paintwork which is easily scratched, the brake pads and the tyres but these are easy to upgrade and it wouldn't win any prizes in a beauty competition.

Even if you don't like this bike and decide not to buy it, you will have a good benchmark to judge other bikes by.

I agree, by far the best approach. You'll get a reasonable bike for not too much money. None of the possible problems buying second hand. You'll find out if you can cycle with bad ankles then if you like cycling you can work out what you do and don't like about the bike before buying anything else.

You'll get a lot of advice on here, so good luck.

[hondated]

Its a fairly recent revelation to me but having a few bikes I have decided for riding locally my main criteria is light light and light.
Its far more fun riding a bike that is responsive than riding a Tourer which to be fair is made for just that.
I am fortunate that my Bianchi has a triple chain ring but another of my bikes has a compact chain set with a 32 rear sprocket so both allow me to climb most hills fairly easily.
You mention cantilever brakes and my experience is that they can be difficult to set up correctly so I prefer dual pivot brakes.
And for that extra bit of comfort I have fitted 25mm tyres which makes a big difference to 23mm tyres.
The funny thing is is that back in the 60s as kids we always lifted a bike up to feel how light it was and the lighter it was the better to us it was. Clearly we weren't wrong then !.

I'm glad you're enjoying your light bike, but could you let us know how heavy you are roughly. I'm 6'5 and slender for my size, still 15.5 stone. It's this kind of thing that makes me nervous with bike advice for people my size. The OP could well be way over most bikes recommended weight and still not look that big. Sorry to be a grump, it's not what I want to do, I'm just vividly aware that being outside typical height and weight ranges brings its own issues which the bike industry isn't so hot at dealing with in a weight driven environment.

Ian how dare you ask me my weight that's personal. Oh well might as well tell you then. 15s 9oz sorry don't know what that is in new money and I am 5' 10". Probably getting shorter but definitely getting more rotund by the minute. I think the real reason for my comment is that ,like many others I guess, I have an hiatal hernia which causes acid reflux and it just seems far less effort on a lighter bike to propel myself.

[iandriver]

Its a fairly recent revelation to me but having a few bikes I have decided for riding locally my main criteria is light light and light.
Its far more fun riding a bike that is responsive than riding a Tourer which to be fair is made for just that.
I am fortunate that my Bianchi has a triple chain ring but another of my bikes has a compact chain set with a 32 rear sprocket so both allow me to climb most hills fairly easily.
You mention cantilever brakes and my experience is that they can be difficult to set up correctly so I prefer dual pivot brakes.
And for that extra bit of comfort I have fitted 25mm tyres which makes a big difference to 23mm tyres.
The funny thing is is that back in the 60s as kids we always lifted a bike up to feel how light it was and the lighter it was the better to us it was. Clearly we weren't wrong then !.

I'm glad you're enjoying your light bike, but could you let us know how heavy you are roughly. I'm 6'5 and slender for my size, still 15.5 stone. It's this kind of thing that makes me nervous with bike advice for people my size. The OP could well be way over most bikes recommended weight and still not look that big. Sorry to be a grump, it's not what I want to do, I'm just vividly aware that being outside typical height and weight ranges brings its own issues which the bike industry isn't so hot at dealing with in a weight driven environment.

Ian how dare you ask me my weight that's personal. Oh well might as well tell you then. 15s 9oz sorry don't know what that is in new money and I am 5' 10". Probably getting shorter but definitely getting more rotund by the minute. I think the real reason for my comment is that ,like many others I guess, I have an hiatal hernia which causes acid reflux and it just seems far less effort on a lighter bike to propel myself.

Ta. Sorry to be personal. I just know from my rugby days that 20 stone can be nothing to a second row who likes a beer or six.

[hondated]

I'm glad you're enjoying your light bike, but could you let us know how heavy you are roughly. I'm 6'5 and slender for my size, still 15.5 stone. It's this kind of thing that makes me nervous with bike advice for people my size. The OP could well be way over most bikes recommended weight and still not look that big. Sorry to be a grump, it's not what I want to do, I'm just vividly aware that being outside typical height and weight ranges brings its own issues which the bike industry isn't so hot at dealing with in a weight driven environment.

Ian how dare you ask me my weight that's personal. Oh well might as well tell you then. 15s 9oz sorry don't know what that is in new money and I am 5' 10". Probably getting shorter but definitely getting more rotund by the minute. I think the real reason for my comment is that ,like many others I guess, I have an hiatal hernia which causes acid reflux and it just seems far less effort on a lighter bike to propel myself.

Ta. Sorry to be personal. I just know from my rugby days that 20 stone can be nothing to a second row who likes a beer or six.

No need for an apology Ian as I understood why you were asking.
On your point how those big rugby boys cycle is beyond me and I am thinking of Lawrence Dallaglio and the charity ride he organises.