# Wheel weight limits



## dee.jay (21 Nov 2014)

Do wheels themselves have weight limits?

I'm finding my rear wheel needs truing again.. I did it once myself but I was rubbish at it.

I'm taking it to LBS for them to sort it now - noticed one of the spokes you could tweak by hand - that can't be right. 

I'm 18 stone odd but don't consider that to be too heavy, maybe it's just the cheap bike (Did spend £350 on it, which admittedly isn't "a lot". I'm finding lots of little niggles with it that are annoying, gears needed tuning, brake cables needed adjusting - dunno whether it's the bike, my load, or just my inexperience.

Should I really be needing to do all this at 300 miles?


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (21 Nov 2014)

Yes they do have weight limits. Tends to be around the 110kg mark but it will depend on all sorts of things like the bike type (road, mountain, hybrid, touring etc)and how careful you are when riding. 

So what are you riding, and are they the stock wheels (usually not up to much). There are some good offers on wheels at th he moment £63 for some shimano R501's - road bike wheels which I think are 105kg rated but know of people going over that (you have to count the bike weight as well)


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## dee.jay (21 Nov 2014)

Well my weight is roughly 115Kg - so that probably isn't a good start.

I have a 2013 Claud Butler Explorer 100 and yes, stock wheels, hybrid bike. I commute 14 miles round trip 4 times a week generally - and it's all on road/cycle path and there is a small section through a park. The path through the path is rougher than the road but not too bad, I suppose.

I'll see how the wheel truing gets on then think about upgrading the wheels if I'm still struggling. My weight will go down as well too (it has already actually, was over 19st!)


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## Panter (21 Nov 2014)

The legendary Gaz was 10 stone up on you when he started riding on 700cc wheels 

http://39stonecyclist.com/am-i-too-heavy-for-a-bike/


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## vickster (21 Nov 2014)

Get some wheels hand built

Assume you try to avoid potholes and do go up and especially down kerbs?


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## dee.jay (21 Nov 2014)

Yes avoid potholes and I don't fly off kerbs - I join/leave cycle path/pavements where the pavement is low to the ground.


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## Spoked Wheels (21 Nov 2014)

I would also get the LBS to balance the spokes tension or you'll be back in no time for more truing. They might charge you a bit more though cause it takes longer to true a wheel and having uniform tension. 

If you don't have enough spokes for your weight and riding style then it's simply a question of time before you need to replace the wheel(s)


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## PpPete (21 Nov 2014)

vickster said:


> Get some wheels hand built


Better still - learn how to build your own wheels.
The reasons behing the need to 


Spoked Wheels said:


> to balance the spokes tension or you'll be back in no time for more truing.


 will become clear.

I've been building wheels for about 5 years now (started using this) and although no lightweight, i've entirely failed to break any spokes at all...despite hitting a significant number of large potholes very hard.

P.S. Building wheels from scratch always seems easier to me that truing up some piece of factory built crap.


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## vickster (21 Nov 2014)

PpPete said:


> Better still - learn how to build your own wheels..


Yeah cos that's going to happen with me


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## PpPete (21 Nov 2014)

vickster said:


> Yeah cos that's going to happen with me


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## Spoked Wheels (21 Nov 2014)

PpPete said:


> P.S. Building wheels from scratch always seems easier to me that truing up some piece of factory built crap.



You are not alone in that  at least not as enjoyable.


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## mrandmrspoves (21 Nov 2014)

As for gears and brakes needing adjusting, yes that's completely normal. A new bicycle needs time to settle down, gear and brake cables often stretch a small amount from new and that's enough to give you poor shifting and braking. Any reputable bike shop offers a free early service to deal with those exact issues and to ensure nothing has worked loose.


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## Nigelnaturist (21 Nov 2014)

@dee.jay as @SatNavSaysStraightOn says, @BrianEvesham runs his Triban 3A on R501's and whilst not 18st any more, he has had them some months.


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## moo (22 Nov 2014)

I'm also running R501s on a Triban for shopping duties. I may be a lightweight but the rear wheel is forced to carry an extra 30kg once a week, which has to be worse for the wheel than rider weight. I've been over some huge potholes and after 4,000 miles they are still true.


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## Venod (22 Nov 2014)

PpPete said:


> some piece of factory built crap



I fully agree with building your own wheels its satisfying and you get what you want, but I don't subscribe to the myth that factory built wheels are crap and wouldn't advise anybody against getting some, I have been out on some Planet X wheels this morning that are still going strong after 1000's of miles, people say Planet X hubs are rubbish, but they are just branded PX they are Novatec Hubs as used by loads of other wheel makes.


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## smokeysmoo (22 Nov 2014)

FWIW I've never had handbuilt wheels, I've often intended to but when I've needed some I've needed them more quickly than anyone could build me some.

As a result I've always had factory wheels, and TBH I've never had an issue with any of them.

I now run Halo Aerorage all year round, (I could lose far more weight off me than I ever could of a pair of wheels ), but I don't find them a problem and they've never even needed truing in around 3 years, (I don't ride much compared to others though TBH).

I've had 'good' wheels before, (Mavic Ksyrium SL's), and TBH I don't feel like the Halo's are a sacrifice.

The only time I've bust a spoke was on a rear factory spec DT Swiss wheel on my old Focus Cayo Pro, but it was only 20 spokes, I was about 20 stone, and I'd been hammering it for over two years when it when ping.

Just stick to a higher spoke count and check them when your cleaning, you shouldn't have any problems then.

FWIW I did recently bought a pair of THESE for an 80's resto project I did. I went for them as money was tight and they have a high spoke count.

I was skeptical due their low price, but I was more than impressed and IMO they were brilliant for the money


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## dee.jay (22 Nov 2014)

So I took a closer look at my wheel and I think part of the issues I have experienced are probably my own doing. When I put the Marathon tyres on- I note there is a bit of a bulge / uneven area in it. Around here is where the wheel is no longer true. I've also used a cheap inner tube as well so I think whilst I get the wheel trued, I will get the guy to replace the tube for me as well. I didn't have this problem for the first two months I rode this bike so I think that's the problem.

All lessons learned I suppose


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## Nigelnaturist (22 Nov 2014)

dee.jay said:


> So I took a closer look at my wheel and I think part of the issues I have experienced are probably my own doing. When I put the Marathon tyres on- I note there is a bit of a bulge / uneven area in it. Around here is where the wheel is no longer true. I've also used a cheap inner tube as well so I think whilst I get the wheel trued, I will get the guy to replace the tube for me as well. I didn't have this problem for the first two months I rode this bike so I think that's the problem.
> 
> All lessons learned I suppose


Tube won't make much difference, maybe a little weight, but its small, since putting gatotskins on I haven't need to work on the tubes bar two occasions and that was after hitting stones.


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## PpPete (22 Nov 2014)

Afnug said:


> I fully agree with building your own wheels its satisfying and you get what you want, but I don't subscribe to the myth that factory built wheels are crap and wouldn't advise anybody against getting some, I have been out on some Planet X wheels this morning that are still going strong after 1000's of miles, people say Planet X hubs are rubbish, but they are just branded PX they are Novatec Hubs as used by loads of other wheel makes.



Certainly not all factory built wheels are crap. If you go and buy just a set of wheels then I would expect (hope) you to get exactly what you pay for.
Sadly my experience is that some big-name bike brands seem to think that the way to get their entry-level and mid-range complete bikes down to a price point is to economise on three things that are not immediately apparent in the shop: wheels, chains and bottom-brackets.
Even then not all the wheels are 'bad' but if you've ever tried to true or re-tension even just one of the not-insignificant percentage that are sub-standard then you will understand why I say


PpPete said:


> Building wheels from scratch always seems easier to me that truing up some piece of factory built crap.


Those are hours of your life that you will not get back spent in a futile attempt to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear..


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## dee.jay (25 Nov 2014)

Well, wheel went into the shop today. Chap there seemed to think it should be simple enough to resolve - will sort out the tube as well, I replaced the Kenda one with a cheap one thinking the Kenda's were poo. It was the original tyres that were my problem in all reality.

Hopefully get it back tomorrow rolling straight and true!


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## Nigelnaturist (25 Nov 2014)

The only thing I found wrong with the Kenda's were handling, and whilst not as good as my gatorskins for puncture protection (actually no where near) they weren't to bad.


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## dee.jay (26 Nov 2014)

The Kenda tyres I had were pants for puncture protection :-D


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## KneesUp (26 Nov 2014)

dee.jay said:


> Well my weight is roughly 115Kg - so that probably isn't a good start.



Your weight isn't all taken by one wheel though. It's about 55% on the rear - but that's 55% of you and the bike and whatever you carry - so perhaps 130kg x 0.55, or 71.5kg.


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## Poacher (26 Nov 2014)

KneesUp said:


> Your weight isn't all taken by one wheel though. It's about 55% on the rear - but that's 55% of you and the bike and whatever you carry - so perhaps 130kg x 0.55, or 71.5kg.


Pffffft! What about when he's pulling a wheelie?


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## dee.jay (26 Nov 2014)

KneesUp said:


> Your weight isn't all taken by one wheel though. It's about 55% on the rear - but that's 55% of you and the bike and whatever you carry - so perhaps 130kg x 0.55, or 71.5kg.



Is it as much as that? Well that's brilliant :-) least I can cycle in confidence. My front wheel is just fine so I think my rear wheel getting untrue must be due to some rough terrain. I know for a fact that on my route to work there is a cycle path through a park I use that has some rough ground and a pothole.

I have a fairly good recognition of one day where I only just managed to swerve the front wheel but rear wheel went through. I wonder if that was the start of the undoing of my spokes.

Otherwise my route is on fairly decent Tarmac/pavements and I can't think where else I could have started it. As stated above - I don't go flying off kerbs but do use the meeting points between pavement and road quickly - I assume these are nothing to worry about. 

Thanks for all the replies.

PS. I've never pulled a wheelie :-)


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## Big_Dave (26 Nov 2014)

I'm a little heavier than you are @dee.jay, when I bought my carrera with wheels the strength of melting chocolate they took a good 250 miles or so to bed in properly before no longer needing to be tweaked, after that they remained true with exception of hitting a few pot holes the size of mine shafts, my rear hub collapsed at 500 miles so I fitted a 105 hub, spokes took about 5 or 6 rides to bed in and now rarely needs touching, My retro raleigh I bought some weinmann wheels cost about £75 for the pair, took a good few rides to bed in and have been brilliant wheels (although a bit of a harsh ride they do give excellent feedback from the road). I have some XT wheels on my mtb, they have never seen a spoke key in over 5 years and have stayed true. 
In all fairness to my wheels they do get some hammer on the hill climbs where I live and the weight that I am, you can't expect too much from a cheap set of wheels.


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## dee.jay (27 Nov 2014)

Thanks for all the posts everyone. Just been and collected my wheel, the chap in the shop said it was quite badly out, but all done now. Fitted it back on the bike already, much happier. It is actually straight now! Maybe this time it'll last more than 250 miles before going again.

£10 to sort. I also bought me a rack and pannier for £55 online this morning so I'm pretty much all sorted for commuting now


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## dee.jay (10 Mar 2015)

Well I went out for a lovely 25 mile ride this morning, rear wheel went "PING" and now got another sodding buckle in it.

Cue 3-4 days getting it fixed. Time for new wheels, or probably a better bike (Mrs .jay says I've proved myself enough to spend a bit more money on it now)


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## w00hoo_kent (10 Mar 2015)

dee.jay said:


> Is it as much as that? Well that's brilliant :-) least I can cycle in confidence. My front wheel is just fine so I think my rear wheel getting untrue must be due to some rough terrain.


The rear wheel takes a lot more strain than the front because you're putting drive through it as well as everything else. I only ever did spokes on my rear wheels and both factory wheel sets (Sirrus & Synapse) suffered from it. Buying a set of wheels should see you out of trouble for a while, even the cheaper end of the off the shelf scale should sit better than whatever came on your bike in the first place. If you want to be safe, go with a decent spoke count, at least 32, although I'd be surprised if you weren't already running that.

Once they started going I was forever doing spokes, no amount of getting the LBS (and I tried multiple ones) to look at them fixed it.

If you're looking at continuing to lose weight, I'd go new wheels now, new bike in a bit as the new bike is just going to give you budget wheels again.


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## ANT 666 (10 Mar 2015)

If you are looking for hand built wheels I can recomend dcrwheels.co.uk His prices are good I think they start at about £150 or something like that, talk to him and he will advise you right as opposed to just trying to flog you something he needs to shift.
I got some lovely wheels off him with Royce hubs on them roll wonderfully and realy bullet proof and I'm no light weight and the roads round here are awful.
Give him a call you don't have a lot to loose.


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## dee.jay (10 Mar 2015)

Sounds good to me - wheels good for up to 160Kg


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## dee.jay (11 Mar 2015)

Waiting for another reply now but thinking about getting a wheel built and some new brakes, trouble is, I'm now looking at spending between £2-300 - would I not just be better off getting a new bike and getting a wheel to put on that?

The problem with my wheel is that it's a screw-on freewheel and I need to buy a new cassette as well. Cost on top of cost! I could take advantage of a 8/9/10 speed cassette, but then this means a new shifter as well... Could just stick with 7 (current wheel) but I dunno.

One option could be to get a wheel built with a 7 speed cassette and use the cheap wheel for a turbo trainer (I dont own one at the moment) as I've got spare tyres and tubes as well can just swap it out if I want a turbo session then.

Did go down halfords and looked at their Cyclocross Boardmans though, the CX Team (£900) was very nice, but no eyelets for a rear mudguard (despite having the fitting at the top for one) so that seems a bit daft to me - pity, it was a very nice bike!


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## vickster (11 Mar 2015)

Did you not buy the Whyte in the end?


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## dee.jay (11 Mar 2015)

I'm not allowed to buy a bike yet  There are some personal issues that prevent me spending a large bit of wonga on a bike for the time being - but it will happen eventually.

I just don't want to break a nice bike by being a lard-arse!

I do really, really like that Whyte though 

(Though, if I tell Mrs .Jay that I need to spend £250 on my current bike then she might say it's not worth bothering and I can catalyse the purchase of said Whyte/or other nice bike)


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## e-rider (11 Mar 2015)

dee.jay said:


> Do wheels themselves have weight limits?
> 
> I'm finding my rear wheel needs truing again.. I did it once myself but I was rubbish at it.
> 
> ...


weight limits range from 95-110 kg for most manufacturers. you are over that.
You will need a good quality 36h handbuilt rear wheel. No 'factory' wheel will stay true for long unless you slim down to 100kg or less


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## Spoked Wheels (11 Mar 2015)

dee.jay said:


> Sounds good to me - wheels good for up to 160Kg



What is the spec of said wheels?


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## Nigelnaturist (11 Mar 2015)

e-rider said:


> weight limits range from 95-110 kg for most manufacturers. you are over that.
> You will need a good quality 36h handbuilt rear wheel. *No 'factory' wheel *will stay true for long unless you slim down to 100kg or less


It would have to be a good one as I have got through a pair of RS10 and 11's I am 78Kgs bike 12Kgs so that leaves me 5-15Kg for rubbish. In my case both times the rim that has fractured.


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## Nigelnaturist (11 Mar 2015)

dee.jay said:


> Waiting for another reply now but thinking about getting a wheel built and some new brakes, trouble is, I'm now looking at spending between £2-300 - would I not just be better off getting a new bike and getting a wheel to put on that?
> 
> *The problem with my wheel is that it's a screw-on freewheel and I need to buy a new cassette as well. Cost on top of cost! I could take advantage of a 8/9/10 speed cassette, but then this means a new shifter as well... Could just stick with 7 (current wheel) but I dunno.*
> 
> ...


With the right spacers 7sp cassettes fit, I used an 8sp cog at one point as a spacer.


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## dee.jay (11 Mar 2015)

Yes I'll go for a 7sp one and save any further expense. I'll have to wait until Tuesday to get the bike back (bad times) so I might as well take some time and decide what to do. And yes, I appreciate I need to slim down (and I am working on it!) (I was a lot more than that once upon a time) but conversely there are riders that are bigger and heavier than me that get on just fine.

@Spoked Wheels - this was on his website. Not sure the exact spec.

Bottom line - I think I will get a hand built wheel for the time being that will take my weight and slim down on this bike. Brake upgrade for front and back would be £50 so I'll go for that too. I need a dependable commuter. Otherwise I'll just drive all the time and that defeats the object of commuting in the first place! I sit down enough in my job as it is! (Telecoms Engineer - often static for many hours at a time, and at night too)


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## Nigelnaturist (12 Mar 2015)

ask @BrianEvesham how he got on with his R501's he was a larger chap when he started, last I noted he was down below 16st (sorry Brian if it is much less these days), I have just got some R501's having as I said got through a pair of RS10/11's in two years.


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## BrianEvesham (13 Mar 2015)

I have no issues with 501's. back up to 16 1/2 stone post winter weight. I was nearly 21 st when I started on the original T3 wheels.


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## dee.jay (13 Mar 2015)

Nice tip - think I am looking at £130 on a rear wheel which seems reasonable given that it's for a touring spec wheel.


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## S.Giles (13 Mar 2015)

There's something I don't understand here. Shouldn't _any_ wheel with 36 properly-tensioned spokes be easily able to support the weight of even the heaviest rider?

(I can see those daft wheels with hardly any spokes and Baco-foil rims having trouble, but surely heavy riders avoid those anyway.)

Edit: I started to think about how tandem wheels could be different, and found some interesting information here. Scroll down to _About Wheel Durability_.


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## dee.jay (13 Mar 2015)

Well yeah but also when you factor in that my entire bike was probably less than £300 to build, who knows how much was spent on the wheels, I've spoken to other people who are heavier than me or know of riders who are bigger than me and have zero problems - but they've spent a lot of money in the first place - so I dunno.

Maybe I am wrong, but the only conclusion I can come to is that my wheel being a cheap one probably is not up to the job of carrying my weight at the moment. I can't see any other way to look at it?

It's been trued once by a wheel builder who says he undid all the spokes and tightened from scratch.


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## w00hoo_kent (13 Mar 2015)

dee.jay said:


> It's been trued once by a wheel builder who says he undid all the spokes and tightened from scratch.



I thought this with my penultimate spoke break so loosened the spokes myself before I took the wheel in to be sorted next time. Got 19 miles before the next spoke went. So no idea if it had been done the time before or not...

I think you're on the money, the wheels are a fraction of the value of a relatively cheap bike. Any that you buy to replace them are likely to be better because they've been built to that price point which will hopefully be well above the budget wheels on the original bike.


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## dee.jay (13 Mar 2015)

Excellent. I am a happy man now - though the DCR Hunt chap I've been talking to above agrees as well - so yes I think I am spot on.

Fairly sure that if I went out and spent £1200 on a CdF 20 bike then I'm damn sure the wheels would last longer. I don't want to subject them to 18 odd stone at the moment though, so I can afford to invest in a new wheel for the time being.


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## coco69 (13 Mar 2015)

Simple rule of thumb....if someones a fat nacker then get some strong wheels..simple


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## dee.jay (14 Mar 2015)

Yeah - I took the bike down to the shop earlier, turns out I've just snapped a spoke. Didn't realise this at the time! Still, I will keep all this in mind.


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## dee.jay (5 Apr 2015)

Had it fixed, been and done about 40 miles on it since, and this morning another spoke went.

Absolutely fed up now.


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## w00hoo_kent (7 Apr 2015)

That's the routine I got in to. I bought handmade wheels, haven't done a spoke since. But I recognise it's a tough decision on a bike you're not keeping forever. I have a similar quandary on my 'saved from a skip' Raleigh. At some point it's had a spoke go and the previous owner just removed all the bits (there is no spoke and nothing in the relevant hole). This is, naturally, on the rear, which is a tad 'dutch' (buckled). I kind of figure I should fix it, but I'm not sure I'd trust a 30 quid wheel and even that would be a lot of money spent on this particular bike. I'll think of something eventually...


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## dee.jay (7 Apr 2015)

Yes I am rather fed up. Absolutely annoyed now because the weather is glorious and no bike. Could have had a nice few hours out every day this week!!!

I am in a position where I can buy a new bike, but I think I will throw up a new thread, I'm in a bit of a quandry what to do.


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## Longroad (9 Apr 2015)

I wonder how long I will get from mine then???

I'm just shy of 25st and just done a few rides (3 actually ) So I'm kind of expecting the worst but hoping for best. Looking at spec on my bike (Marin bobcat hard tail) it seems I have ARAYA - DM-650 with 14 gauge spokes. No idea if that helps any but will update when they do break although I'm keeping fingers crossed they don't!!!!


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## dee.jay (10 Apr 2015)

Be interest to hear how you get on. Gaz the 39 stone cyclist, rode bikes from stock. However, he rode a Giant MTB, Scott Hybrid and a Ribble road bike. Where I went wrong is that I've asked a comparatively cheap bike to do 600 odd miles...


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## w00hoo_kent (10 Apr 2015)

My feeling is an MTB is much more likely to cope, this may be because I came back to a second hand hard tail Mongoose when I was my heaviest and didn't have any problems with spokes although theft was a thing...


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## dee.jay (10 Apr 2015)

Yeah theft bothers me. I've spent £120 on securing the shed though including CCTV.


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