Best Bike (very) Overweight

[random37]

Random37
I don't believe mine or Ivor Tingting's advice to be negative,cautious perhaps but don't forget the OP is 175kg and a heavy smoker.
He would need a bike that would support his weight and there aren't many about,certainly no touring bike I'm aware of,so the Elephant bike may work for him but would need to be as you say ridden on short flat rides initially until strength is gained and some weight lost.
Overall he needs to be careful and visiting his doctor would be a good initial step along with a strict diet and quitting the fags if his aim is to get fit.

You've missed my point entirely.
OP came to this forum asking for advice about a new bike, and you and Ivor took it upon yourselves to offer advice about his diet and lifestyle. Ivor went as far as suggesting he wouldn't be able to ride a bike at all, which is unlikely to be true.
Everyone needs to start somewhere. It is neither realistic nor reasonable to expect someone who has spent years or even decades gradually gaining weight to immediately about turn their entire lifestyle. If you advise people to do so, you set them up to fail, which perpetuates the (false) belief that change is impossible.
A little bit of progress every day adds up to a series of little victories. That's how you change a life.

[skyhawk]

Random37
I don't believe mine or Ivor Tingting's advice to be negative,cautious perhaps but don't forget the OP is 175kg and a heavy smoker.
He would need a bike that would support his weight and there aren't many about,certainly no touring bike I'm aware of,so the Elephant bike may work for him but would need to be as you say ridden on short flat rides initially until strength is gained and some weight lost.
Overall he needs to be careful and visiting his doctor would be a good initial step along with a strict diet and quitting the fags if his aim is to get fit.

You've missed my point entirely.
OP came to this forum asking for advice about a new bike, and you and Ivor took it upon yourselves to offer advice about his diet and lifestyle. Ivor went as far as suggesting he wouldn't be able to ride a bike at all, which is unlikely to be true.
Everyone needs to start somewhere. It is neither realistic nor reasonable to expect someone who has spent years or even decades gradually gaining weight to immediately about turn their entire lifestyle. If you advise people to do so, you set them up to fail, which perpetuates the (false) belief that change is impossible.
A little bit of progress every day adds up to a series of little victories. That's how you change a life.

A1 +++

[reohn2]

Post removed.

[Vorpal]

As much as I think you should take up cycling I think that at this stage with your excessively heavy weight and inevitable lack of any fitness and being a smoker you should consider consulting your GP for advice and also maybe consider other physical activity and changes in your diet to bring your weight down to a more manageable level so you can actually cycle. It seems pointless spending lots of cash on a brand new bike that might well not be successful for you owing to your current disposition. I would just begin with walking gradually increasing you distance and intensity each week for 3 months. See how you go then re-assess. As others have suggested an elephant bike might be suitable but you still have the obstacle of your current weight of 175kg to support.

Cycling is likely to be better than walking. It puts less stress on the joints. It also allows the OP to go farther, which may mean they can use active travel more.

[random37]

I don't think it unreasonable to advise the OP to lose weight and give up the fags,yes he's asked about cycling but at 175kg and a heavy smoker,with the health issues associated

I repeat - the OP didn't want advice about his health and lifestyle. He wanted advice on what sort of bike to buy. To quote his original post:

Just keen to get going, arrest weight and start weight loss

Which is the right way to go about it.

trust me I’m an expert on what I’m”should” be doing!

Besides which, you are not his doctor. You don't know what his blood pressure is, or his cholestorol levels. Your unsolicited advice tells him nothing new, so it serves no useful purpose.

with his situation there's a very real chance that he may not be able to find a bike to suit him other than a really heavy duty one

There is nothing wrong with having a really heavy duty bike, and such machines are perfectly viable for everyday use. The thousands of posties who rode Elephant Bikes back when they were Pashley Mailstars still managed to use them to do their daily rounds. On the continent where cycling isn't looked at as some weird sporting activity but as an actual, viable way of getting your day-to-day jobs done, people ride heavy duty bikes every day, as there's less hassle of ownership.

Incidentally, when I used to race, I knew a few people who spent their work days delivering post on bikes. They were very handy indeed when they got their road bikes out at the weekends. You can put the miles in on anything.

Yes, perhaps they might want something lighter and more responsive when they're fitter/lighter. But if they don't start getting the miles in starting today, none of that is likely to happen. He might well find a lighter machine more enjoyable to use when he's lost 60kg, in the same way he might want to wear a different pair of trousers. He could even sell his heavy duty bike, and get a chunk of his money back. Or not. So long as it makes him feel good, it doesn't matter what sort of bike he rides.

This is all a moot point, anyway. dommyb hasn't posted again.

[slowster]

The OP's biggest obstacle is not physical but mental. When you are very unfit, severely overweight and unhealthy, it's very hard to start getting regular exercise, drastically change your diet, and give up smoking all at the same time. Smoking and overeating are probably mental addictions as much as they are physical addictions. Breaking those addictions is very difficult for most people. Suggesting that the OP should try and tackle them all at once is a recipe for failure: it's expecting too much, too quickly.

The mental stress of trying to do that would probably do two things: make the OP feel even more in need of a cigarette than before, and make the OP want to eat something ('comfort eating').

When I wrote in my post about riding to local destinations as a goal, I toyed with adding the suggestion that when he got to the local park he could sit down on a bench and have a cigarette and watch the world go by before returning, and similarly that he should ride to a cafe for a cake and coffee.

If the OP starts out as random37 and I have suggested, in a few months he will be much fitter. Regular short local rides will result in both physical and mental changes. Those changes will put the OP in a situation where it will be much less of a challenge then to start trying to cut down the number of cigarettes/give up smoking, and much more likely to be successful. I suspect that the regular exercise will also start to have a positive effect on his diet without him consciously thinking (and getting stressed) about it.

[reohn2]

I don't think it unreasonable to advise the OP to lose weight and give up the fags,yes he's asked about cycling but at 175kg and a heavy smoker,with the health issues associated

I repeat - the OP didn't want advice about his health and lifestyle. He wanted advice on what sort of bike to buy. To quote his original post:

Just keen to get going, arrest weight and start weight loss

Which is the right way to go about it.

trust me I’m an expert on what I’m”should” be doing!

Besides which, you are not his doctor. You don't know what his blood pressure is, or his cholestorol levels. Your unsolicited advice tells him nothing new, so it serves no useful purpose.

OK,I'll withdraw from the thread from now and I'll to remove all my posts from this thread forthwith.

with his situation there's a very real chance that he may not be able to find a bike to suit him other than a really heavy duty one

There is nothing wrong with having a really heavy duty bike.......

Agreed.

[random37]

OK,I'll withdraw from the thread from now and I'll to remove all my posts from this thread forthwith.

I hope I didn't offend. It wasn't my intention to do that, or come across as argumentative.
It's just that I have been in OP's position, and I know what works (and what doesn't).

[reohn2]

OK,I'll withdraw from the thread from now and I'll to remove all my posts from this thread forthwith.

I hope I didn't offend. It wasn't my intention to do that, or come across as argumentative.
It's just that I have been in OP's position, and I know what works (and what doesn't).

I'm not offended you're right I was wrong

[The utility cyclist]

Cycle to work scheme has no upper limit, this was a fallacy from day one, just that no-one knew about it, this has been made clear by the relevant minister as they are wanting people who need adapted cycles to be able to take advantage of the scheme.

Don't dismiss carbon fibre, it's stronger than steel, aluminium and titanium in most regards, yes the lightweight stuff isn't what you want nor need and indeed at this juncture you don't 'need' any type of CF but the modulus used for downhill mountain bikes is incredibly strong, a road bike frame I bought is made from the same stuff as the top end Specialized downhill bikes from 2010 that competed and won World Championships.
Steel is an easy and sensible option for now.

My own daily commuter (part alu/part CF) has withstood loads in excess of your weight just fine, I used to carry an additional person on a regular basis sitting deadweight on the saddle on a journey of a few miles. The all up weight included fully loaded bags was over 185kg, the wheels I had at the time were a 32 spoke Ultegra/Open Pro rear and 36 spoke Mavic MA2 on a 90s Sansin, tyres were 32mm and 28mm front.

36 spoke wheels that are well built should be more than adequate with some decently wide tyres at the correct pressures, I would say something over 38mm is where you want to be.
luck finding something and enjoy the riding.

[skyhawk]

I think the most important factor is going to be comfort, a good Brooks saddle

[Bonefishblues]

Cycle to work scheme has no upper limit, this was a fallacy from day one, just that no-one knew about it, this has been made clear by the relevant minister as they are wanting people who need adapted cycles to be able to take advantage of the scheme.

Notionally not, but effectively so, as employers didn't want to register as credit providers (forgive the inexact term) to release the upper limit - I mean who actually wants to spend more than £1000 on a bike

Yours, greasing everything he can find...

[The utility cyclist]

Cycle to work scheme has no upper limit, this was a fallacy from day one, just that no-one knew about it, this has been made clear by the relevant minister as they are wanting people who need adapted cycles to be able to take advantage of the scheme.

Notionally not, but effectively so, as employers didn't want to register as credit providers (forgive the inexact term) to release the upper limit - I mean who actually wants to spend more than £1000 on a bike

Yours, greasing everything he can find...

People with disabilities who need adaptations and/or special frames, if something a bit nicer is more likely to encourage you to cycle to work then why not.

[alexnharvey]

Two queries about the mailstar/elephant.

Isn't the stepthrough frame inherently weaker than a diamond and is that an important factor with a very heavy rider? Some older working bikes had twin top tubes, why was that?

Would the bike require some other adaptations for the load, or are there any that would help with comfort?

[Bonefishblues]

Cycle to work scheme has no upper limit, this was a fallacy from day one, just that no-one knew about it, this has been made clear by the relevant minister as they are wanting people who need adapted cycles to be able to take advantage of the scheme.

Notionally not, but effectively so, as employers didn't want to register as credit providers (forgive the inexact term) to release the upper limit - I mean who actually wants to spend more than £1000 on a bike

Yours, greasing everything he can find...

People with disabilities who need adaptations and/or special frames, if something a bit nicer is more likely to encourage you to cycle to work then why not.

I was speaking from the perspective of an imaginary employers' HR Dept person with a slightly nasal whine (ask me how I know )