Which MTB for a 150kg guy

[funnyman]

Thanks all, I have forwarded all the info to him so he has a better idea of what he's in for. 

[ChrisF]

Maybe worth him getting in touch with @MORNE

 

Morne has built a couple of bikes for some TALL people, some of them may even have been heavier ....

 

 

I would also like to see @Titan Racing Bikes input on this thread.  Just possibly one of their entry level bikes, with upgraded rims .....  And NO, I am not affiliated to them in any way   

[MORNE]

3 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

Maybe worth him getting in touch with @MORNE

 

Morne has built a couple of bikes for some TALL people, some of them may even have been heavier ....

 

 

I would also like to see @Titan Racing Bikes input on this thread.  Just possibly one of their entry level bikes, with upgraded rims .....  And NO, I am not affiliated to them in any way   

XL tigre builds into a BIG bike. it will be perfect for a tall guy. And steel will be nice and strong. 

If you need even more stack...more riser bar. More seatpost...get a dropper.

Wheels....i think people overthink it too much. not everyone is going to throw a normal bike down a DH course...so a normal, good setup pair of 32 spoke mtb wheels will be fine imo. Maybe even something with riveted eyelets. I used to have some Sun mtx33's. and those things were imposible to buckle i swear. Yes they were heavy. 

If you are really worried...i guess you could get some 36spoke wheels but they are almost non existent. If  we really cared for a '90kg weight limit' that some wheels have....then tandem bikes must be blasphemy....tandem mtb's even more so. That system weight far exceeds a one person bikes'.  What about loaded touring bikes? I say they take all this into account and are conservative with their limits. 

When i see 90kg weight limit....i basically assume thats PER wheel. how in the fark do guys then not explode unicycle wheels? If it were 90kg system weight over two wheels....that would mean a bike wheel would buckle under half that load if you used one wheel?? What happens when you are one of these freaks that can pop a wheely or manual down a trail for km's at a time?

~15kg bike and a 90kg rider on one wheel? = DEATH?

yea it wont explode...i pretty confident.

 

[Shebeen]

31 minutes ago, MORNE said:

XL tigre builds into a BIG bike. it will be perfect for a tall guy. And steel will be nice and strong. 

If you need even more stack...more riser bar. More seatpost...get a dropper.

Wheels....i think people overthink it too much. not everyone is going to throw a normal bike down a DH course...so a normal, good setup pair of 32 spoke mtb wheels will be fine imo. Maybe even something with riveted eyelets. I used to have some Sun mtx33's. and those things were imposible to buckle i swear. Yes they were heavy. 

If you are really worried...i guess you could get some 36spoke wheels but they are almost non existent. If  we really cared for a '90kg weight limit' that some wheels have....then tandem bikes must be blasphemy....tandem mtb's even more so. That system weight far exceeds a one person bikes'.  What about loaded touring bikes? I say they take all this into account and are conservative with their limits. 

When i see 90kg weight limit....i basically assume thats PER wheel. how in the fark do guys then not explode unicycle wheels? If it were 90kg system weight over two wheels....that would mean a bike wheel would buckle under half that load if you used one wheel?? What happens when you are one of these freaks that can pop a wheely or manual down a trail for km's at a time?

~15kg bike and a 90kg rider on one wheel? = DEATH?

yea it wont explode...i pretty confident.

 

 

I'm pretty sure he went custom on some stuff, but starting at 250kg+ ernest gagnon took up cyclcocross to lose weight. those wheels look beefed up, but no reason to think that the weight limit is a very conservative guideline for general bike use.

 

http://ernestgagnon.blogspot.com/

 

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7ZHr1vLSfR4/VCXjQB2siFI/AAAAAAAAXCw/D4mUoLbmb9k/s1600/318964_515545175124992_1186828740_n.jpg

 

 

[ChrisF]

48 minutes ago, MORNE said:

XL tigre builds into a BIG bike. it will be perfect for a tall guy. And steel will be nice and strong. 

If you need even more stack...more riser bar. More seatpost...get a dropper.

Wheels....i think people overthink it too much. not everyone is going to throw a normal bike down a DH course...so a normal, good setup pair of 32 spoke mtb wheels will be fine imo. Maybe even something with riveted eyelets. I used to have some Sun mtx33's. and those things were imposible to buckle i swear. Yes they were heavy. 

If you are really worried...i guess you could get some 36spoke wheels but they are almost non existent. If  we really cared for a '90kg weight limit' that some wheels have....then tandem bikes must be blasphemy....tandem mtb's even more so. That system weight far exceeds a one person bikes'.  What about loaded touring bikes? I say they take all this into account and are conservative with their limits. 

When i see 90kg weight limit....i basically assume thats PER wheel. how in the fark do guys then not explode unicycle wheels? If it were 90kg system weight over two wheels....that would mean a bike wheel would buckle under half that load if you used one wheel?? What happens when you are one of these freaks that can pop a wheely or manual down a trail for km's at a time?

~15kg bike and a 90kg rider on one wheel? = DEATH?

yea it wont explode...i pretty confident.

 

 

FULLY agree.

 

I weigh about 90kg .. add the kit ... add the e-bike weight .... add a back pack with a spare battery .... add 2 liters of water ... add GoPro and a fist full of spare batteries ... add a Canon camera .... dont forget the tool bag ....

 

And this load gets used on trails for all but gap jumps.

 

 

[stephenplumb]

Without having any specific knowledge i would comment as follows. If this 2m 150Kgs behemoth is not a lardass,  he is going to be capable of significant power output/torque along with just significant mass. 

I know that in road riding terms, tandems were regarded as mobile destruction labs/equipment testing facilities. Track sprints also seemed to have muscle bound Adonis's in regular appearance and they too were known for breaking all sorts of gear, from cranks to chains and even handle bars. I recall reading of a german fellow that used solid steel handbags for that reason. 

So find someone that knows how to build wheels. For I would assume you would need more spokes/wheel that for a 45kgs king of the mountains contender. 
Then you need to find the longest cranks you can lay your mits on. I know i specced 175mm cranks for my road bike many moons back, but they could be had up to around 182.5mm. 

Find the longest cranks you can for this fellow. I seem to recall that MTBs had longer cranks that road bikes so not sure what what his options would be there? Custom?

Suspension may be a difficult as shocks are generally made to operate within certain envelopes. He may well be outside that envelop and while you may be able to change the spring constant (more pressure) you will probably not be able to adjust the damping that much to suite. Also not sure if the pressure involved will be within the design specs of the equipment involved. 

My suspicion is your mate may well have to shop at the upper end of the catalog or speak to a designer like Pyga (i know them - not too sure about other local builders) to get some more engineering based input on what is feasible and what is not. He may well be within the envelope of the above considerations, but I would want that confirmation from someone that does this as their day job.

This is a bit a of a reality for a super large fellow, and I suspect that buying a cheapie (that may well be fine for someone of more normal dimensions) may just lead to him getting irritated and getting out of the sport. I suspect he will probably also destroy drive trains in pretty short order if he is outputting meaningful torque befitting such a large fellow, so that may also need to be in the budget?

My Pyga was a game changer, and while I am no great shakes as a rider, I cannot believe how much nicer it is to live with, than the many year old rally it replaced and, how it flatters me. Just this weekend I summoned the courage to attempt a smallish gap jump at wolverspruit, and as the kids say, "cased it." It was easily controlled and mildly irritating whereas with the rally I would have probably had a mouth full of gravel. 

[TheKaiser]

22 hours ago, stephenplumb said:

Snip snip snip.....

It was easily controlled and mildly irritating whereas with the rally I would have probably had a mouth full of gravel. 

Or put another way, a mouth missing most of your teeth 😆

[DieselnDust]

I'm not aware of any xc bike other than alloy frames that don't have a weight limit of around 120kg including the rider

[Shebeen]

43 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I'm not aware of any xc bike other than alloy frames that don't have a weight limit of around 120kg including the rider

isn't the weight limit "only the rider".... or does it include the bike weight?

[floatfox]

Someone that tall and weighing 150kg should not ride a xc bike. He will do one or two rides and be put off cycling completely. I would say a minimum of 120mm travel on the fork, but would prefer 140mm so as to get the bars higher. Most trail bikes will be able to handle his weight, for training and casual riding. XC Bike will be very aggressive and will put a huge amount of strain on his hands, wrists. neck and lower back.

[Shebeen]

looks like victor has a lefty and assos is in his size curve

[DieselnDust]

24 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

isn't the weight limit "only the rider".... or does it include the bike weight?

usually its quoted as all up weight which includes the rider. Some may not but I'm not going to sift through a brazillion users manuals in bike shop trash cans to find out wo lists how.

id' get a trail bike f i were a 150kg. Its stronger with beefier suspension

[DieselnDust]

8 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

looks like victor has a lefty and assos is in his size curve

stiffest XC fork around well the old double clamp units were anyway. The forks had a higher weight limit than the frames

[esCape-ist]

On 8/29/2022 at 4:24 PM, stephenplumb said:

Without having any specific knowledge i would comment as follows. If this 2m 150Kgs behemoth is not a lardass,  he is going to be capable of significant power output/torque along with just significant mass. 

I know that in road riding terms, tandems were regarded as mobile destruction labs/equipment testing facilities. Track sprints also seemed to have muscle bound Adonis's in regular appearance and they too were known for breaking all sorts of gear, from cranks to chains and even handle bars. I recall reading of a german fellow that used solid steel handbags for that reason. 

So find someone that knows how to build wheels. For I would assume you would need more spokes/wheel that for a 45kgs king of the mountains contender. 
Then you need to find the longest cranks you can lay your mits on. I know i specced 175mm cranks for my road bike many moons back, but they could be had up to around 182.5mm. 

Find the longest cranks you can for this fellow. I seem to recall that MTBs had longer cranks that road bikes so not sure what what his options would be there? Custom?

Suspension may be a difficult as shocks are generally made to operate within certain envelopes. He may well be outside that envelop and while you may be able to change the spring constant (more pressure) you will probably not be able to adjust the damping that much to suite. Also not sure if the pressure involved will be within the design specs of the equipment involved. 

My suspicion is your mate may well have to shop at the upper end of the catalog or speak to a designer like Pyga (i know them - not too sure about other local builders) to get some more engineering based input on what is feasible and what is not. He may well be within the envelope of the above considerations, but I would want that confirmation from someone that does this as their day job.

This is a bit a of a reality for a super large fellow, and I suspect that buying a cheapie (that may well be fine for someone of more normal dimensions) may just lead to him getting irritated and getting out of the sport. I suspect he will probably also destroy drive trains in pretty short order if he is outputting meaningful torque befitting such a large fellow, so that may also need to be in the budget?

My Pyga was a game changer, and while I am no great shakes as a rider, I cannot believe how much nicer it is to live with, than the many year old rally it replaced and, how it flatters me. Just this weekend I summoned the courage to attempt a smallish gap jump at wolverspruit, and as the kids say, "cased it." It was easily controlled and mildly irritating whereas with the rally I would have probably had a mouth full of gravel. 

Don’t try be clever here now, this is South Africa, a bum in the air, slammed stem XC bike is all you ever need. Preferably in the lightest carbon fibre possible. 140mm travel is absurd, and why on Earth would you ever want to raise the handlebars man. Come on. Ger with the program…

 

(all said in jest)

[droo]

On 8/27/2022 at 4:31 PM, Beefy said:

Wow 150kgs is a unit!

High praise coming from you...

[Beefy]

1 minute ago, droo said:

High praise coming from you...

Exactly.