I bought a fat bike in June, and I absolutely love it. Rigid and 4″ tyres is ace for me, the best climbing (off road tech climbs) and I love the grip. I sold my Scandal after buying it as it was never going to get ridden again. At the end of last ride I found my first fatty puncture, which I thought I’d fixed. However coming to ride it today one of the other thorns I found must’ve gone through and I missed it on the tube meaning I found a flat front tyre. As I’d spent most of yesterday doing maintenance on the fatty I couldn’t be arsed fixing it again, so had my first ride in 6 months on my 2012 Canyon Nerve AM.

I did a ride up near Hollingworth Lake towards Blackstone edge, with a few climbs and a few descents and it got me thinking about FS for the larger cyclist. I’ve put weight back on recently, but I used to train powerlifting so I’m always going to be a big guy. I’m at about 120kg currently though which is the heaviest for ages. I’ve had the fox rear shock tuned for my weight (FF), it’s and older shock but it’s serviced. It’s a propedal rather than a CTD, so I tend to run it in propedal rather than open unless I’m at an uplift.

I appreciate coming from a rigid bike to a 150/140 FS you are going to notice the difference, but climbing on the Canyon felt horrible today. Sag is set about 25%, but when I am sitting pedalling the big sits way into its travel and I seem to pedal strike a lot. I don’t think the Canyon feels any different to the last time I rode it. It was ace on the slightly rocky, loose descents but climbing and sitting on the flat it wallowed and bobbed all over the place and was knackering.

I’m back on the case losing weight, but with the best will in the world I’ll never be less than 105kg. I want to have a decent FS as I like an uplift at Antur/BPW and it felt so, so much fun on the descents today. However the climbing was knackering and no fun. I do want to treat myself soon. I had been thinking about a Bird Aeris.

Should I hang on until I’ve lost more timber before buying a new FS (in fact should it be a treat for losing weight)?
Is a FS always going to be compromised for the larger cyclist?
Are there any All Mountain/Enduro type FS bikes that suit heavy blokes?

spesh enduro 29 felt great for me at 20 stone. a bit long for slow stuff, but good everywhere else.

my ventana el capitan was also fantastic at everything, when i was 22 stone.

Ventana make frames that can cope with any weight rider.

I had that issue with my old Trance running a ProPedal shock. A volume reducer helped a bit but I still always ended up with too much air in it to kill the climbing bob.
I’m on a newer Trance now, with more travel but running a RS Monarch shock and it’s miles better than the old one. Sits in its travel where it’s supposed to and doesn’t bob even at 30% sag. It does have a Climb mode which is almost a total lockout, but I never feel the need to use it.

I feel that I’m the most qualified person to answer this question.

Being 28st, you need to look for the strongest bikes.
Look for bikes with the longest shock available for the given travel… Ie 215×63/4 for any bike over 150mm travel… Preferably with smaller air can with stops the bike from blowing through the travel too easily.
I personally have a Yt wicked from 2013 and that is plenty strong enough for me when I ride bpw/antur stiniog/fod etc… Although I have put stronger forks on instead of the pikes as they’re flimsy.
I spoke to Pat Campbell Jenner of Ison distribution the other week at Woburn bike park regarding the Identiti Mettle and after having a proper look at it, I can recommend one… Proper burly bike that.
Also a YT Capra would be more than enough bike.

I’m 6’6 and 115kg and I ride a specialised Enduro 29er XL, run Maxiss Highroller 2 tubeless and have no issues. Long travel makes the switchbacks a bit tricky but otherwise it’s a great bike and I have no issues over weight or height.

Niall

Being rotund I expected climbing on my Five to be an horrific affair, but it’s actually better than the few multi pivot behemoths I tried. The shock makes a massive difference, I had Pro Pedal shocks tuned in the past but the CTD on my Five is in a different league.

I found that the new fangled larger cassettes made more of a difference to climbing than any particular bike I tried

I’ve got an XXL Turner Sultan from 2009 and it’s still kicking my fat ass when and wherever I want.

Look for bikes with the longest shock available for the given travel… Ie 215×63/4 for any bike over 150mm travel…

This ^^^

Basically, anything with a low shock ratio means that the shock doesnt need as big a spring weight to hold you up, which ultimately means the shock doesn’t have to work so hard, and is under less stress etc.

Check out Foes bikes – they’ve long been an advocate of low leverage ratios:
http://foesracing.com/bikes/

A few bargains here at the UK distributor Balfa:
http://www.balfa.co.uk/frames/foes-frames

Cheers for the comments.

Transporter – I threw my leg over a lad’s Capra (Medium I think) at Llandegla, it didn’t work for me as it felt right in terms of reach but I couldn’t get the dropper low enough for my little legs (I’m wide but only 177cm with short legs).

The Canyon frame is strong enough, I think. I’m on a replacement frame but it cracked on the rear brake mount so I don’t think that was anything to do with my weight. The Canyon only runs a 190/50 shock I think, so that fits with the points above about shock ratios. The new Bird Aeris 145 with a 230/65 Monarch Debonair could be a decent option then?

I have exactly the same issue as you… I’m only 176cm with short and wide legs… A lot of really heavy weights when younger put paid to that.
Anyway.. I actually have a large frame that I modified by shortening the seat tube to suit a 150mm dropper. If you aren’t worried about resale value etc then I’d highly recommend this route as it allows you to run a larger bike and all the benefits that brings ie longer wheelbase being more stable at speed.. More cockpit space to move around on.

You say the canyon is 140mm travel with a 50mm stroke shock? If so then that is a fairly high leverage ratio compared to more modern bikes… Basically find the travel and divide by the stroke of the shock and you should be aiming for below 2.5….whereas yours is 2.8. It doesn’t sound a lot but it could be the difference between the shock working just right for you and not… High leverages coupled with fox shocks tend to not work as well as with the non piggyback rockshox versions in my experience… The fox shocks need a hell of a lot more air pressure or tokens to perform well as they tend to blow through their travel easier than rockshox monarchs for example.

I sound like I’m in exactly the same boat as you, I was training powerlifting until a couple of years ago and still retained the huge (width, not length) legs and back.

I’m not sure I fancy modifying a seat tube, just due to my ineptitude at cutting things, but at least I know what to look for in a bike. The Bird with a non-piggyback Rockshox shock could work.