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My mate, who's a stocky/lardy chap around the 18 stone mark, is looking for a new bike. He's not fast and definitely not a fan of the gnarl or sweeping, tight singletrack. He likes long rides at a steady/slow pace across rolling hills like the South Downs.
He's had a Commencal Meta 4 for about 4 years and I have replaced numerous snapped spokes on it... He thinks he wants a Lapierre Zesty but i think he really needs something with less travel and bigger wheels. He will not entertain a hardtail. I think a 120mm 29"er will fit the bill. Can anyone suggested some suitable steeds for him to consider???
Cheers 🙂
....before you said 120mm 29er I was thinking '... ooooh, a Santa Cruz tallboy would fit the bill'
100mm
LT version = 135mm
Well, that's not out of the question. I guess 120mm on big wheels might give a similar burliness-of-ride as a 140mm 26"er?
Why 29" wheels because he's heavy?
Is he tall as well?
How about a better wheel set and a shock service/ tune for his weight .
Why 29" wheels because he's heavy?
Is he tall as well?
He's not particularly tall. I just imagine that he'll enjoy the benefits of bigger wheels without missing any of the benefits of smaller ones.
How about a better wheel set and a shock service/ tune for his weight .
Not nearly 'shiny' enough. He has the taste of a new bike in his mouth. He very nearly "drank the coolaid" from the Evans' sales guy the other day and almost turned his lunchbreak into a £3k, Zesty-fuelled, wallet-lightening enthusiasm-gasm...
If he likes Evans then the Norco 29ers are in the sale, Revolver & Shinobi.
A bigger bike might not be too bad a thing. The suspension will isolate the wheels from damage and the wheels should be burlier anyway. Shorter travel frames are generally lighter and as such will be rather flexy under his 18st.
At 15 1/5st I bend wheels quite easily (but I do like hitting roots and rocks fast) so I have to use 721s for general riding just so I'm not replacing the rim every two weeks. In fact my current rims hold a record for me and have so far lasted about 3 years. My previous DT 5.10 rims lasted about 3 weeks.
Giant Anthem
A lardy bloke on big-wheels doesn't sound right to me.
Maybe he needs to lose some heft then make a decision. 💡
A lardy bloke on big-wheels doesn't sound right to me.Maybe he needs to lose some heft then make a decision.
I get you. I've suggested a mobility scooter, but he wasn't keen.
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5.
5.
Never never never. T'would be like two wives at a dinner part in the same frock. (I haz Five.)
Five or a patriot ...
18.5 stone . He's a lightweight
I have a mate in a similar weight range with similar riding habits who also thinks he needs an FS... Currently his knackered old Carrera Vulcan bought ages ago on C2W just isn't doing it for him, and he plans to fit slicks and relegate that to commuting duties.
I've pretty much got him sold on 29ers as rolling better, and suggested that a shorter travel 29er could well be better for his needs than a longer travel 26er, he's not bothered much about the Gnarr either but anything that promises efficiency tends to pique his interest.
He's developed a bit of a thing for Specialized, so I've just pointed him at the local concept store and suggested he asks them about demoing a bike or two, rather than discourage this single brand fixation I've just said if you like the brand and they do what you want go with it, chucking 20 bikes from 10 different companies would just confuse the decision TBH... But then another mate of ours went and got a Canyon and now those are on his radar I can see that adding more faff than actual choice making...
The first thing we did was take a walk round the Speccy shop and he liked the look of the some of Stumpy and Epic 29ers. He struggled to get his brain around 2 x 10 gearing or the idea that a 29er with less travel might be a good thing for covering lots of xc miles, though as he's sort of stuck in that "More is better" mindset.
It helps if I can give a simple explanation of why certain features might be "better" or worse for him then and there with an example to point at, otherwise it's all a bit abstract... feels like I'm doing the sales assistants job for them really...
But yeah [I]"Tubby plodders"[/I] with money to burn shold be riding 100-120 FS 29ers with at least 2 x 10 gearing... IMO
TBH it's taken months and he's still yet to actually buy anything...
"Tubby plodder"
Nice moniker. Think i'll get a sticker made for his top-tube.
"Tubby Plodder"
lol might have to change my user name