Best Bike (very) Overweight

[Jamesh]

Well done!

Let us know how you get on / any issues?

Cheers James

[Trigger]

Good stuff!

Take it easy until you get into the swing of things, no need to push yourself too far early on and give yourself a bad experience that might put you off continuing.

[James981192]

So looking for a bit of advice in regards what bike i could get. I am fairly tall and overweight just now my hight is 6'5 and my weight is around 300 lbs. I am hoping that though diet changes that i have been doing and some exercise i can get this down. So basically i am looking at getting a bike so i can get out and about more and see places around my city. My budget just now is around £500 and hope to get a bike for the good weather coming in now.
Thanks.

[Jamesh]

I would think a hybrid would be a good choice as would 29er

Disk brakes are worth having too. If using on rails and tow paths front suspension is marginal and heavier.

Being larger you might still be able get a bargain as stock of medium sized bikes sell out!

Don't give up at the first hurdle it does get easier! and hills hurt us all! anyone who says they don't is lying!!!

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers James

[chyllyphylly]

Aka me.

Hi all, I’m looking to get a bike on the Cycle2work scheme and looking for recommendations. I’m 6ft 6 and 22 stone.

I know that cycling is not the most beneficial form of exercise, but my knees are giving up, so want to avoid high impact on them.

Also will be using it as my primary mode of transport as I don’t drive and want to avoid public transport for the time being.

Thanks

PS, I did start to lose weight, buying an Apple Watch really motivated me, I was obsessed with closing circles, then the whole virus thing stopped it in its tracks.

[Bonefishblues]

You could do worse than read this thread for a starter for 10 - there are others in similar vein, too.

[Jamesh]

I think a good 29er mountain bike in XL size should suit.

I'd go for one between £300 - 700 pounds

Expensive enough to be well made but not so expensive that design choices have been made to reduce weight.

Cheers James

[Thenaul]

Hey,

I'm curious to know if you managed to sort out a bike and shift a bit of weight?..its almost a year since your OP.hope alls going well and enjoying getting about on your bike.

James

[chyllyphylly]

I think a good 29er mountain bike in XL size should suit.

I'd go for one between £300 - 700 pounds

Expensive enough to be well made but not so expensive that design choices have been made to reduce weight.

Cheers James

Thanks for this, I know what to look for.

Also the facemasks on public transport announcement has made me more determined

[andrewwillans49]

A 29er hardtail would be ideal. They're designed to be very robust. When the knobbly tyres are worn out buy some 29er slicks for road use, I did and it seems pretty bullet proof as well as providing a compliant ride.

[mongoose2]

I read this thread back in February and just wanted to thank a couple of the posters, plus offer my own advice as an overweight person going through the whole "which bike will accommodate my fat backside without breaking" dilemma.

@random37 and @slowster were incredibly helpful in their replies. Their perspective matches my own experience and their advice was invaluable in me making the final push and buying a bike in March this year.

Well, it's probably best to start with my fatty credentials Over the past 10 years since turning 30, getting married, having 2 kids, and general sedentary working life had taken a toll on my weight. With the pandemic, working from home brought less activity again and more ability to snack, have lavish homemade lunches etc. All that led to a point where on the day my bike arrived in March, I weighed 25st 8lb (358lb/162kg). I'm fortunate that I don't have any obesity related conditions (doctor confirmed), but it is definitely worthwhile seeking advice from a doctor before starting.

My advice here is probably applicable to anyone who is 250lb or more, but definitely for 300lb or more newbies to cycling.

Before getting to bike considerations, a more important question is what type of cycling do you aim to do - commuting only, road/paved routes, trails etc. I'm fortunate enough to live in the middle of an area with good paved cycle routes, plus dirt and compacted gravel trails which are suitable for more casual "offroad" rides, and I wanted to be able to go for bike rides with my kids too. The key for me was getting a bike that was flexible enough to handle all of that, without the need for any serious offroad, downhill, or jump capability.

So, now for the difficult part - what bike to get? At 358lb, I was way above the weight limits for any non-custom bike. Like many overweight people, I had concerns any bike I got would just crumble underneath my vast backside. I went to 3 bike shops, as is the standard advice on cycling forums, however none of these shops recommended a bike that was a) flexible enough for my needs, and b) was under £1000. My experience with bike shops is that they seem perfectly good if you're a typical cyclist build, but if you're not then they don't really know what to do with you, plus probably don't want to be liable for you injuring yourself - which is actually fair enough. Undeterred by those experiences, I took to the internet and the Wild West of forums. After reading enough advice from people who actually seemed to understand the concerns and requirements of overweight people with bikes, I took the plunge.

I bought a Trek Marlin 5. Nothing flashy, it's an entry level mountain bike costing £495, with a 300lb recommended weight limit. My thinking with a mountain bike is that they are designed to take more punishment. If it can take a 200lb rider doing serious offroad activities, it can probably take 358lb of me riding on beginner/intermediate offroad trails with no jumps, or road/paved surfaces. It has 32 spoke, 29" tyres, 2.2 wide (make sure 32 spokes is the minimum you run with, plus if you're tall enough get 29" tyres).. It has disc brakes, providing better and more consistent braking (an important consideration when needing to stop 300+ pounds of mass!). It's hardtail, with front suspension (useful for trails), but that suspension has a lockout so it can become fixed (important for road/paved surfaces). It has 21 gears, which is a good range for flexibility.

I decided to buy a big comfortable saddle (check out Bikeroo saddles) and some metal pedals to replace the existing plastic/nylon pedals that came with the bike. In terms of the bike hardware, that's it. I've been running stock rims and tyres that came with the bike for 3 months now without any issues, but when buying I accepted the likelihood i may need to replace rims, tyres, tubes more often, potentially looking for specialist rims if spokes went or buckling occurred.

As the weeks went by, I made some dietary improvements, mainly in portion control and cutting out snacking, but I'm not on a denial diet in any way. I'm now 12 weeks in and I'm losing an average of 4-5lb per week. When you have extreme excess weight like I do, small changes make massive differences over time, so although I know the rate of weight loss will slow, it's a great motivator to start with. On day 1 I only cycled to the end of my road and it was terrifying to be honest, but I stuck with it, now doing a minimum of 30 minutes cycling per day, 6 days a week, and I still eat 2500 calories a day (recommended "at rest" for me is 2700 cals). It has changed my life and the best thing about it is that it doesn't even seem like I'm exercising - it's just fun and a nice way to spend a minimum of 30 mins a day!

Finally, in this ridiculously excessive long post, what have I learnt since February when I embarked on the "I'm fat but I might start riding a bike" journey?

1) Definitely consult a doctor before starting - none of us want the lecture, but you owe it to yourself and loved ones to suck it up.
2) By all means consult a bike shop, but don't feel pressured into buying if you're not happy.
3) Decide what type of riding you want to do, not what you feel you should do, or what you see others doing.
4) Accept that the bike industry doesn't cater for you (unless you have a massive budget for a custom bike).
5) Accept that most bikes, especially road/performance bikes, are built for professional cyclists, who are basically contortionists in comparison to us overweight types, and have minimal upper body weight mass (which we evidently do not )
6) Accept that you are NOT too fat to ride a bike - be sensible, informed and diligent in your purchasing decisions, but don't feel excluded.
7) Ignore anyone who says "the saddle isn't the problem". Anyone saying that has never tried to balance 300lb+ on their gooch!
Ignore advice from cyclists who do it as a sport - it's the equivalent of asking Lewis Hamilton for tips on driving to the shop.
9) Ignore anyone who offers lifestyle advice/critique when you've only asked about what bike is suitable.
10) Most important - make sure you're comfortable and just have fun. If it's not, you won't do it. Just give it a go, it might change your life!

[Grandad]

Inspiring.

[Nessie23]

Inspiring.

+1

[iandusud]

Good for you Mongoose2. I hope this message can get relayed to more people who have got caught in the vicious circle of overweight / inactivity. As you have shown it's not so hard to break the circle.

[Jdsk]

Great start. Well done.

And a useful reminder that this doesn't need a fortune spent on the bike.

Looking forward to news of further progress.

Jonathan