Bike for 500lb Person?

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 05:51:09 GMT, "neil0502" wrote:

Lot of clydesdales riding here. Ahem.

Badger,

Since the above--despite lack of attribution--is quoting me, I wanted to be
clear: I was not trying to be insulting in any way, shape, or form. My
comments were sincere. I just know how often trolls lurk and wasn't
interested in participating in sadistic dialogue at the expense of any sort
of person.

If your apology was made on my behalf, then I failed to make myself clear
and offer an apology to xmp333.

I applaud the efforts of any person engaged in healthy activities,
especially when the potential benefits are as profound as they could be in
the case of the OP's friend.

Neil


Oh, not at all, Neil. Note in a subsequent post, I ask about broken cranks,
troll-like quality, story seemed to have inconsistencies.

The OP is sincere, but since she is talking about friend, relating story
second hand...

I saw a couple comments, no one in particular, and Chalo responded to some
with a funny post.

You're all good, man.

Best,

-B

wrote
I am genuine and serious.

Dear :
As an aside to your question: you may have raised doubts about the
sincerity of your post, in part, because of your anonymity. I must
admit that I was curious about your comment that your friend wanted
the faster speed of a bicycle over a trike. No offense intended--to
your friend or to you. Regards, Roy Zipris

(Chalo) wrote:

Remember, he is as strong as you would be if you wore 300+ lbs of
weights strapped onto your body at all times.

In my case, that wouldn't be very strong because lying helpless on the
floor wouldn't allow me much in the way of workouts! ;-)

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

: What bike(s) would you recommend for a 500lb rider, who's about 6'2 in
: height?
:
: If this isn't a troll, I'd recommend stomach stapling surgery, so
: he gets his weight down to what bikes can accomodate. No normal
: bike is made to accomodate someone so obese.
:
: That's some ugly sizeist crap there, homie.

What's this, some new word you made up to make overweight people feel
better?


:
: No "normal" bike is made to accomodate someone 7 feet tall either.
: Would you advise such a person to have his legs sawed off short?

Bad analogy, and you know that. The problem with a bike for a 500 pound
person is stress on a few localized parts--not the length of the tubine.

:
: I can see how a 500 pound person interested in recovering his fitness
: might undertake cycling as a form of exercise that would be gentler to
: his skeleton than than trampling around, and more effective for weight
: loss than swimming.

But it's not the only form of exercise he could do. He could hike and walk,
for example.

:
: I have seen bicycles made for up to four riders. Even people with
: small bodies and smaller minds are apt to weigh more than 500 lbs per
: set of 4. Perhaps the three stokers should have their arms removed to
: help get their weight down to what a normal bike can accomodate?
:
: Chalo Colina

This is another example that is misleading. On your figurative bike with 4
riders, their combined weight is not centralized over the crank. Spreading
out the weight changes the dynamics of their weight on the frame. If you
have to resort to idiotic examples like these two, you are not adding
anything to the problem---just trying to attack everybody else who IS trying
to help. Why don't you put forth something positive instead?

Pat in TX

: I'd recommend a stationary bike in a gym.
:
: At 500 lbs, riding a regular bike is not safe for him or for others
: sharing the road with him.
:
: Don't be a prick. He's far less of a hazard to other road users than
: anyone in a car.
:
: Bikes can be made to serve people of different sizes, fortunately.
:
: Be thankful that this is an electronic forum; any 500-pound person who
: is strong enough to pretzel his cranks could also wrench your puny
: limbs until you squealed like a little piggy.

You come across as being so ANGRY all of the time. All this anger at people
who are trying to help the OP. And, surely, you must realize that your
500-pound strong person wouldn't be able to CATCH anybody on this
"electronic forum". So, chill at bit.

Pat in TX
:
: Chalo Colina

Hi,


First off, I want to thank everyone who has given constructive input
in this matter. I really appreciate it.

I also wanted to clarify a few things.

First off, my friend tried a few trikes -- at least one 'bent and an
upright. He doesn't feel either are for him. For one thing, the
handling on the 'bent had him concerned, and the upright didn't look
like it could get any speed. I know he's a big guy, but he is capable
of some nice bursts of speed, and as he (hopefully) loses weight, he
should be able to do even more.

Second, here are the details on the crank breakage. His Townie had a
two-piece crank. One part came out of the chain-ring and connected
with the other part (with the pedal). While he was riding, the
pedal-side of his crank appeared bent at the point of connection with
the chain-ring side. Then it fell off. On inspection, the inside of
the crank that fell off appeared "cored out", like someone took a
drill and drilled around, or sort of like a screw that got stripped.
I was with him at the time, so I saw all of this first hand.

Finally, I'm not sure about his wheel woes as I was not there. If I
was, I would have checked for broken/loose spokes. I asked him to
check, but he was adamant that there weren't any (but I don't believe
he actually checked). So that part is by necessity, 2nd hand info.


Thanks.

velomanct wrote:
|| David L. Johnson Wrote:
||| On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 14:58:34 +0000, neil0502 wrote:
|||
|||| IIRC, the man in question has already snapped a couple of pairs of
|||| cranks. How is that possible? Wouldn't LA -- or any other top TdF
|||| rider put dramatically more force on the cranks than this
|||| gentleman likely could?
|||
||| Why would you believe that? This guy, just standing on one pedal,
||| is putting a full 500lbs of force on that one crank arm. No one
||| exerts that
||| much force from a 165lb body riding a bike.
|||
||||
|||| Is it safe to assume that--if this /is/ true--that we must be
|||| talking about some really poor, totally low-end cranks?? IOW: how
|||| much force can your average Ultegra/105/DA crankset take before it
|||| gives. I was assuming it was about 10x anything I'd ever give.....
|||
||| I would imagine any road crank would snap right off if this guy
||| tried at
||| all to make that happen.
|||
||| --
|||
||| David L. Johnson
|||
||| __o | Enron's slogan: Respect, Communication, Integrity, and
||| _`\(,_ | Excellence.
||| (_)/ (_) |
|| 1st of all, why are some of you using lance armstrong as an example
|| of
|| a strong rider? He is an ENDURANCE cyclist. His body strength is
|| close to nothing compared to this 500 lb man. When you weigh that
|| much, you are automatically really really strong, because you have
|| to carry all that weight around.
||
|| If you are going talk about strong cyclists, at least use a track
|| sprinter in your statement. Lance does not have superior strength.
|| Exceptional endurance and fitness is NOT strength. Why do so many
|| people not see the difference?

I see LA having exceptional endurance and not strength, but saying he has
exceptional "fitness" needs more qualification. I'm not saying he doesn't
have exception fitness, but his fitness is in exceptional only for cycling,
not for running and many, many other activities.

||
||
|| --
|| velomanct

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 09:00:43 -0500, Pat wrote:


: I'd recommend a stationary bike in a gym.
:
: At 500 lbs, riding a regular bike is not safe for him or for others
: sharing the road with him.
:
: Don't be a prick. He's far less of a hazard to other road users than
: anyone in a car.
:
: Bikes can be made to serve people of different sizes, fortunately.
:
: Be thankful that this is an electronic forum; any 500-pound person who
: is strong enough to pretzel his cranks could also wrench your puny limbs
: until you squealed like a little piggy.

You come across as being so ANGRY all of the time.

You, on the other hand, come across as being an asshole.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored
_`\(,_ | by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." --Ralph Waldo
(_)/ (_) | Emerson

: : I'd recommend a stationary bike in a gym.
: :
: : At 500 lbs, riding a regular bike is not safe for him or for others
: : sharing the road with him.
: :
: : Don't be a prick. He's far less of a hazard to other road users than
: : anyone in a car.
: :
: : Bikes can be made to serve people of different sizes, fortunately.
: :
: : Be thankful that this is an electronic forum; any 500-pound person who
: : is strong enough to pretzel his cranks could also wrench your puny
limbs
: : until you squealed like a little piggy.
:
: You come across as being so ANGRY all of the time.
:
: You, on the other hand, come across as being an asshole.
:
: --
:
: David L. Johnson

Based upon what? The only thing I wrote in this entire post was the line
"You come across as being so ANGRY all of the time." Everything else was
written by other people. Aren't you smart enough to figure that out?

Pat in TX
:
: __o | "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored
: _`\(,_ | by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." --Ralph
Waldo
: (_)/ (_) | Emerson
:
:

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 11:02:21 -0400, "Roger Zoul"
wrote:

I see LA having exceptional endurance and not strength, but saying he has
exceptional "fitness" needs more qualification. I'm not saying he doesn't
have exception fitness, but his fitness is in exceptional only for cycling,
not for running and many, many other activities.

You know he was a top triathlete before switching to cycling.

Are you making some other interpretation of exceptional fitness?

-B