Heavy Loads and Carbon Fiber
As I continue my search for potential new bicycle candidates, I find my self coming back to a common question. Am I too heavy for a carbon fiber rig?
I’ve ridden aluminum (including fork) for the last 15 years and have had no problems with the frame. While riding the last year or so I’ve really put my old bike to the limit because I’m sure it wasn’t designed to carry a 260 pound rider. It’s performed great though. As I’ve been looking for a new bike I’ve fondled a couple of carbon fiber bikes but am really hesitant to even test ride one because I know I’ll probably love it but am afraid I’m too heavy for the frame. I don’t want it to die a slow death due to the stress of carrying me, or worse, fail catastrophically while riding.
This question was thrust back into the spotlight this weekend when I looked at a bike mentioned to me by one of my local readers here in Dallas. It’s a 2009 Fuji CCR2 on closeout at Performance Bike. I honestly don’t know too much about Fuji’s, and always thought of them as ‘department store’ bikes, but I think their reputation has been growing the last few years. The bike I looked at was all carbon fiber outfitted with a full Ultegra setup for $1500. If I remember correctly, that’s almost $1000 off the list. It’s a beautiful bike. The price is about the max I wanted to spend but the fact that it’s a full carbon bike has given me reservations because of my weight.
I’m also hesitant to buy a carbon fiber bike because of the message it sends. A grotesquely overweight guy riding a light carbon fiber bike isn’t something I want to be remembered for. Especially when I know that I’d get more benefit, in both riding and in my health, by shedding 90 pounds.
So, I’m looking for opinions/facts on heavy riders and carbon fiber bikes. Am I best off just going with an aluminum frame/carbon fiber fork setup or am I OK going all carbon? I’m sure the manufacturer specs for the bike will help me determine this but I’m interested in your opinions and thoughts.
Read MoreStatus of My Bike
Today I managed to head down to the local bike shop to talk with them about my busted bike. In truth, I had been putting this off because I just had a feeling it wouldn’t be good news and I was right.
Photo Courtesy of fenlandsnapper
They called around and couldn’t find ready-made rims that fit my rear spacing which meant we had to try and make another size work or try and find some old 7-speed hubs and lace up new rims. Whichever method I chose a new set of rims was going to be a couple hundred bucks (pretty cheap considering wheel set prices these days but still a lot). Throw on top of that everything else that needed to be done (plus labor) and we were quickly approaching several hundred dollars. I don’t believe I paid more than $500 for this bike brand new so I wasn’t to keen on dropping several benjamins on it when that could be put towards something newer that didn’t have down tube shifters. You know, step into the modern age of cycling.
So, all that said, it looks like I’m done for a while until I can save up some cash to buy a new (or used) bike. I’ve kept my eye on Craigs List for a while and every once in a while see a decent deal so maybe I’ll go that route. Who knows.
I did see a 2009 Specialized Allez (in my size even) on there today for a great price ($350) which means it was actually some guy in West Africa trying to send me a certified bank check for an inheritance from some super courteous stranger I’ve never met. Go figure.
Read MoreThe Phone Call Isn’t Coming
The subject says it all. I found out yesterday and I’m feeling crushed right now. Not exactly sure what I’m going to do now.
Read MoreHad To Take a Break; Back Now
For my regular readers you’ll notice that I haven’t posted in about a week and have been scarce on Twitter (@farsided). I had a really rough week last week dealing with the family separation and the job search, and felt really tired of being on the bike so much. I did ride a few times but they were slower endurance pace rides instead of hard intervals.
Most of you know that I’m working in Dallas while my family still lives in Jacksonville, FL. I’ve been trying to get back to Jacksonville but the job market there has been a tough nut to crack. I put a lot of effort into the job search over the last couple of weeks and reached out to some old acquaintances of mine that were able to stir up some leads for me. Up until a couple of weeks ago I had had a good lead in my back pocket and was just waiting for the job to be posted. Turns out the the job was canceled and I was back to square one. I found out yesterday that the job was back on and I applied for it today. I won’t elaborate now but I’m very excited about this opportunity and have high hopes that it will be what gets me back to Jacksonville with my family. I’ll update as I know more.
It had been four months since I’d seen my family so this past weekend I flew home to be with them. It was a planned trip so I could attend my wife’s parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary Party, see my youngest daughter get baptized, and be there for her 9th birthday. The trip was a whirlwind of activity but it felt so good to be home and around family again. I was away from them for long periods of time while in the Navy but I find it much harder to be away now since I’d gotten to spend the last two years with them after leaving the military.
Needless to say, I didn’t ride much more than about 40 miles last week and didn’t get a long ride in on Saturday. I’m OK with that though because I really think I needed the rest. One thing I did do was weigh myself this weekend and since getting weighed on my doctor’s office visit back in April I’ve lost right at 20 pounds. That’s right at one pound a week which is what’s recommended. I could tell my clothes fit better but after not seeing much change lately I was getting discouraged on this front as well. Now that I know my hard work is paying off it’s just fuel to keep going.
To those that reached out to me this past week I appreciate it.
Read MoreSecret Jersey Graphic Discovered
While scouring the Internet I came across what appears to be an early design graphic for, perhaps, Team Radio Shack. I’m not sure what it will be used for but I could see it on tshirts or maybe even a training jersey.
El Pistolero Wanted
WeatherChannel.com and Steaming Piles of Horse Dung Suck
Yesterday was my first ride this week because of having two rest days in this weeks schedule. I was really itching to get back on the bike even though it was only an easy 30 minute spin session. The physical act of riding was uneventful so I won’t talk about that. I would like to talk about weatherchannel.com, horses and group-ride Wednesday.
Anemometer=Wind Bird
White Rock Trail here in Dallas is a multi-use trail and you’ll see cyclists, runners, walkers, and roller-bladders on it all the time. The far northern section of the trail also sees use by horseback riders but they stay off to the side of the trail for the most part. Recently though, and yesterday was a prime example, these equestrian wannabees have decided they’re going to ride Mr. Ed on the trail and let him dump a huge pile of steaming crap down a 20 foot section of trail. Come on. At least have the common courtesy to get off the trail before letting your horse clog the trail for the rest of us. Before you know it your leisurely ride has turned into a full-blown obstacle course with dirty wheels and copious amounts of crap-stink as your reward for nailing a pile/log of horse dung. That’s awesomeness you can’t buy.
Fonzie=White Tshirt Coolness
With it being group-ride Wednesday, I also saw all the poseurs dressed to kill in full team kits on their racer bikes. The really cool ones were the dudes sporting full kit and time trial bikes. In one spot I saw a group of no less than six dudes flying in paceline formation while sporting full kits and TT bikes. I’ll admit that I was blown away by their awesomeness. I even saw a group of four ladies doing the same thing about 10 minutes later. Which reminds me of the chick I saw last Saturday down on the trail. She was riding a sweet looking pink Tri bike. Being a real dude I’m OK with pink and even have a couple of pink shirts but I could never ride a pink bike. This girl though rode it hard which is kinda like cool if you think about it. The pinkness tempts you to think or say something about it. I bet she hopes you do because when you blows past you she’ll yell, “Go get your own pink bike you girlie man!” Heck, most of the girls I see down at the trail would own me any day of the week on a bike.
What did I wear yesterday? I walked the line between Fred-dom and Poseur-like. You could call it ‘Freseur’ (not to be confused with Friseur). That means I combined the qualities of both into the total package of manly (or non-manly) cycling. I started with simple black bibs followed with a low quality, all-white, jersey. Nothing like the contrast of black and white in cycling fashion. After getting my black cycling shoes on I remembered that I had new gloves for today. And they were…black. I’m not sure I could have planned it any better. I looked like something out of an epic old school cycling mag or a model in a White House | Black Market catalog. Then I remembered that I actually look like Jabba The Hutt while dressed in spandex and barely stifled a laugh before donning my brain pan and shoving off.
Read MoreCONNECT WITH BTL
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
