Best Bike (very) Overweight

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
skyhawk
Posts: 296
Joined: 30 May 2019, 3:00pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by skyhawk »

dommyb wrote:Hey,

Any input appreciated....

What bike to buy to lose weight using govt scheme thru employers?

I know I can start super cheap, “see if I enjoy it”, etc but got budget in mind of say £1200......and yup know max govt allowance is 1k.

So don’t want out and out mountain bike but equally don’t want road bike. Thinking steel frame for strength so options include;


Many Thanks


I really do think you need to go to a PROPER bike retailer and speak about a bike BUILD as I did, I like being different I don't want off the shelf.

It amazes me that people buy a bike then pull it apart and replace a lot, spending even more............... duh, why not do as I did, go to a good shop, talk about what you want to do and custom chose the parts.

I wanted COMFORT, road and softroading (not rough off road), see below image, not cheap but 100% perfect for me in a single spend


I think you and your aim is GREAT and you need to be highly commended for what you want to do.

I was 21 stone, but didn't cycle or lose weight by cycling, you are great go for it.

I was well aware that my weight was a concern and the first bike I bought was a Saracen which I was told was ok for my weight and it was.

DO NOT spend a lot to start, lose the weight, get used to it, THEN after a year you will know just what bike you want NOT need

A1 all the very best

Random 37 is also commenting on customising the bike. to make it ok, don't we all do this, in fact mine is a hybrid designed by me for what I want. Mainly the seat for comfort, a BROOKS saddle, leather, lower bike stem and raised handle bars, I don't care a damn what people think I want to be comfortable and enjoy the ride.

P1050175.jpg
Both I and my son are Autistic. We have aspergers and ADHD, not stupid :). If I sound "blunt" in my posts, please be understanding : I am not perfect. Thank you. Visit https://www.asdinfowales.co.uk/ to learn more
Ivor Tingting
Posts: 856
Joined: 10 Mar 2009, 9:57pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by Ivor Tingting »

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.
"Zat is ze reel prowoking qwestion Mr Paxman." - Peer Steinbruck, German Finance Minister 31/03/2009.
reohn2
Posts: 45158
Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by reohn2 »

Post removed
Last edited by reohn2 on 15 Jun 2019, 12:50pm, edited 1 time in total.
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
skyhawk
Posts: 296
Joined: 30 May 2019, 3:00pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by skyhawk »

reohn2 wrote:
Ivor Tingting wrote: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.

I totally agree with this post.
The Elephant bike mentioned maybe good initiall,but once your weight comes down it may prove to be a burden rather than a help,unless your cycling is purely short journey utility riding



Exactly why I said what i did about starting less expensively
Both I and my son are Autistic. We have aspergers and ADHD, not stupid :). If I sound "blunt" in my posts, please be understanding : I am not perfect. Thank you. Visit https://www.asdinfowales.co.uk/ to learn more
slowster
Moderator
Posts: 4629
Joined: 7 Jul 2017, 10:37am

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by slowster »

The goal of someone who is 175kg is not to ride 50 miles or to do the sort of cycling and rides that many of us would consider normal. Their immediate goal need only to be to ride a bike to end of the street and back. Their next goal may only be to repeat that for a few days running. After that, they just need to have some very short local destination trips as their goal: the nearest shops, the library, the local park etc.

The Elephant bike is perfect for that. Even if there is a hill on the route for which the Elephant Bike does not have low enough gears, that's fine because it's a good excuse to get off and walk/push the bike. The OP does not need challenges. He needs short easy local rides which he can do every day and build into his lifestyle as Brucey suggests. Those short easy rides should be sufficient to put the OP into calorie deficit, and start a gradual gentle weight loss. A bike like the Elephant Bike is ideal because it's simple, robust, offers a comfortable upright position and is suited to wearing ordinary everyday clothes.

I agree with Ivor Tingting about consulting a doctor, but I suspect that for someone so overweight cycling is likely to be a better form of exercise than walking, because it involves gentle rotational movement of the muscles. Walking a significant distance weighing that much is likely to entail risks of injury because of the weight and impact that is going to be transmitted through the legs and feet. The ideal exercise is probably swimming, but that requires access to a swimming pool and many people do not like swimming, and it's unlikely to be practical to swim every day, whereas it is practical to hop on a bike every day.
Jamesh
Posts: 2963
Joined: 2 Jan 2017, 5:56pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by Jamesh »

I would go to a big bike warehouse like Halfords, decathlon, go outdoors even Argos as the returns policy is very generous and if something does break the minimum wage spanner monkies aren't going to quibble rather they will replace or refund.

Where as in my experience with smaller shops, especially owner owned ones will look you up and down and say sorry mate what did you expect.

Just my personal experience of bike shops in Yorkshire - other parts of the country might be different. (Yorkshire men are just that for a reason!)

Cheers James
Brucey
Posts: 44521
Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by Brucey »

Jamesh wrote:I would go to a big bike warehouse like Halfords, decathlon, go outdoors even Argos as the returns policy is very generous and if something does break the minimum wage spanner monkies aren't going to quibble rather they will replace or refund....


they might also turn round and say 'used outwith the conditions of sale, no warranty'. Best to get their policy established before going ahead.

cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
random37
Posts: 1952
Joined: 19 Sep 2008, 4:41pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by random37 »

Brucey wrote:they might also turn round and say 'used outwith the conditions of sale, no warranty'. Best to get their policy established before going ahead.

Decathlon lists its maximum weight for all non-racing bikes at 120kg. I believe Halfords are the same, although it's a while since I've checked. And I could buy an off the peg bike from any of them now.
random37
Posts: 1952
Joined: 19 Sep 2008, 4:41pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by random37 »

I can tell you from personal experience that very few cycle shop employees understand how to choose bikes for heavy people, which is why the OP was asking us about bikes with 32mm tyres. I am so tempted to open a bike shop for big folk. It's an untapped market, and I feel I could really help people.
Some of the advice on this thread sums up the attitudes. It is very negative, although doubtless well meant.
reohn2 wrote:The Elephant bike mentioned maybe good initiall,but once your weight comes down it may prove to be a burden rather than a help,unless your cycling is purely short journey utility riding

You can't ride a 3 speed bike for any distance. Not unless you're Heinz Stücke, or Gustaf Håkansson. Or most of the postmen in the UK until a few years ago. I would imagine a lot of posties did more miles in a week on 3 speed bikes than the majority of club riders did.
You may cover more distance on a touring bike, or go faster, but you can ride all day on any bike you like so long as you're comfortable. On the other hand If you find a bike unrideable because you can't breathe because the bars are lower than the stem, if you succeed it will be in spite of your bike.
Trust me when I say I had road bikes staring at me for years because of this. For me, a precondition of starting riding again was acquiring a big, heavy bike with the bars and stem in the right place.
Ivor Tingting wrote:....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.

That's wrongheaded advice. Of course you need to check with a doctor if you're getting back into excercise from a break. But saying someone can't ride a bike because they're too heavy to ride a standard bike is (a)not true and (b)offputting.
Overweight people do not need skinny people lecturing them on diet and lifestyle. The OP is not stupid. If it was possible to change people's lives by telling them not to eat bad food and doing more excercise (but not of the kind the OP actually wanted to try, as that's too hard for them), there would not be overweight people. One of the preconditions for change is feeling good about yourself, and having the freedom to ride to the shops and back is really empowering.
slowster wrote:The goal of someone who is 175kg is not to ride 50 miles or to do the sort of cycling and rides that many of us would consider normal. Their immediate goal need only to be to ride a bike to end of the street and back. Their next goal may only be to repeat that for a few days running. After that, they just need to have some very short local destination trips as their goal: the nearest shops, the library, the local park etc.

Exactly! Do a little bit every day, and don't push yourself so much that you hurt too much to do it again the next day. That's all you need. Who knows where you'll end up after a year?
OP, I do hope we haven't put you off.
Jamesh
Posts: 2963
Joined: 2 Jan 2017, 5:56pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by Jamesh »

One bike that I think might suit the op is a voodoo limba.

I had a feel of one in Halfords and the bike seemed very robust so much so I quite put me off buying it!!

Second hand nearly new ones can be had for £200 on eBay.

Voodoo's range of hybrids are gvm too.

Cheers James
reohn2
Posts: 45158
Joined: 26 Jun 2009, 8:21pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by reohn2 »

Post removed.
Last edited by reohn2 on 15 Jun 2019, 12:51pm, edited 3 times in total.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
Bonefishblues
Posts: 11010
Joined: 7 Jul 2014, 9:45pm
Location: Near Bicester Oxon

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by Bonefishblues »

random37 wrote:I can tell you from personal experience that very few cycle shop employees understand how to choose bikes for heavy people, which is why the OP was asking us about bikes with 32mm tyres. I am so tempted to open a bike shop for big folk. It's an untapped market, and I feel I could really help people.
Some of the advice on this thread sums up the attitudes. It is very negative, although doubtless well meant.
reohn2 wrote:The Elephant bike mentioned maybe good initiall,but once your weight comes down it may prove to be a burden rather than a help,unless your cycling is purely short journey utility riding

You can't ride a 3 speed bike for any distance. Not unless you're Heinz Stücke, or Gustaf Håkansson. Or most of the postmen in the UK until a few years ago. I would imagine a lot of posties did more miles in a week on 3 speed bikes than the majority of club riders did.
You may cover more distance on a touring bike, or go faster, but you can ride all day on any bike you like so long as you're comfortable. On the other hand If you find a bike unrideable because you can't breathe because the bars are lower than the stem, if you succeed it will be in spite of your bike.
Trust me when I say I had road bikes staring at me for years because of this. For me, a precondition of starting riding again was acquiring a big, heavy bike with the bars and stem in the right place.
Ivor Tingting wrote:....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.

That's wrongheaded advice. Of course you need to check with a doctor if you're getting back into excercise from a break. But saying someone can't ride a bike because they're too heavy to ride a standard bike is (a)not true and (b)offputting.
Overweight people do not need skinny people lecturing them on diet and lifestyle. The OP is not stupid. If it was possible to change people's lives by telling them not to eat bad food and doing more excercise (but not of the kind the OP actually wanted to try, as that's too hard for them), there would not be overweight people. One of the preconditions for change is feeling good about yourself, and having the freedom to ride to the shops and back is really empowering.
slowster wrote:The goal of someone who is 175kg is not to ride 50 miles or to do the sort of cycling and rides that many of us would consider normal. Their immediate goal need only to be to ride a bike to end of the street and back. Their next goal may only be to repeat that for a few days running. After that, they just need to have some very short local destination trips as their goal: the nearest shops, the library, the local park etc.

Exactly! Do a little bit every day, and don't push yourself so much that you hurt too much to do it again the next day. That's all you need. Who knows where you'll end up after a year?
OP, I do hope we haven't put you off.

Good post.
skyhawk
Posts: 296
Joined: 30 May 2019, 3:00pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by skyhawk »

Jamesh wrote:I would go to a big bike warehouse like Halfords, decathlon, go outdoors even Argos as the returns policy is very generous and if something does break the minimum wage spanner monkies aren't going to quibble rather they will replace or refund.

Where as in my experience with smaller shops, especially owner owned ones will look you up and down and say sorry mate what did you expect.

Just my personal experience of bike shops in Yorkshire - other parts of the country might be different. (Yorkshire men are just that for a reason!)

Cheers James



I would NEVER in my wildest dreams consider Halfords, Argos and the like for bikes, go to a proper seller, also there are hundreds of REAL bike shops out there still going one man shops who have and are cyclists themselves
Both I and my son are Autistic. We have aspergers and ADHD, not stupid :). If I sound "blunt" in my posts, please be understanding : I am not perfect. Thank you. Visit https://www.asdinfowales.co.uk/ to learn more
skyhawk
Posts: 296
Joined: 30 May 2019, 3:00pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by skyhawk »

Jamesh wrote:I would go to a big bike warehouse like Halfords, decathlon, go outdoors even Argos as the returns policy is very generous and if something does break the minimum wage spanner monkies aren't going to quibble rather they will replace or refund.

Where as in my experience with smaller shops, especially owner owned ones will look you up and down and say sorry mate what did you expect.

Just my personal experience of bike shops in Yorkshire - other parts of the country might be different. (Yorkshire men are just that for a reason!)

Cheers James


I would NEVER in my wildest dreams consider Halfords, Argos and the like for bikes, go to a proper seller, also there are hundreds of REAL bike shops out there still going one man shops who have and are cyclists themselves

And a proper shop would sell you what is needed, especisll a build, the right frame wheels, shocks etc like mine above
Both I and my son are Autistic. We have aspergers and ADHD, not stupid :). If I sound "blunt" in my posts, please be understanding : I am not perfect. Thank you. Visit https://www.asdinfowales.co.uk/ to learn more
skyhawk
Posts: 296
Joined: 30 May 2019, 3:00pm

Re: Best Bike (very) Overweight

Post by skyhawk »

Jamesh wrote:One bike that I think might suit the op is a voodoo limba.

I had a feel of one in Halfords and the bike seemed very robust so much so I quite put me off buying it!!

Second hand nearly new ones can be had for £200 on eBay.

Voodoo's range of hybrids are gvm too.

Cheers James



BUT if you have never had a bike it you can buy a lemon and end up spending another £250 on it
Both I and my son are Autistic. We have aspergers and ADHD, not stupid :). If I sound "blunt" in my posts, please be understanding : I am not perfect. Thank you. Visit https://www.asdinfowales.co.uk/ to learn more
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