If your looking for a bike to commute around town, I recomend a cyclocross type bike or a basic mtn bike. Road bikes arent very comfortable for short to mid commuting IMO, you feel every bump in the road. You can put a big more comfortable seat on any bike. I personally like commuting on my Mtn bike because I think its more comfortable... big tires absorb most of the bumps etc of city riding. http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/multiuse/sirrus/sirrussport http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/multiuse/ariel/arieldisc Trek makes some cool commuter bikes: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/town/urban_utility/district/9th_district/#
understandable, but you're going to have a lot of extra drag and your legs are going to work a lot harder. I tend to agree though, it does bother my back, and I've got about 20 years on you.
http://www.amazon.com/Takara-Kabuto...door-recreation&ie=UTF8&qid=1427092369&sr=1-8 I'm going to guess buying a bike like this on Amazon is like going to Wal Mart to buy one and flushing your money down the toilet, right?
Even for light exercise/commuting/escaping methheads easier? Not like i'd be actually road racing or anything.
I have a 2014 Marin Bobcat Trail. It was 999 at REI, bought it there because I didn't know if I would ride it much so I coukd return it easily. I have a sette royal gel seat and run Geax Evolution street type 29 inch tires. My wife and I were riding yesterday and we got passed by 2 road bikes going pretty fast. For funsies I took off and chased them down, I was gaining on them while they were pedaling hard. I had to slow and coast so as not to pass them. I know they couldn't have been maxed out, but they were booking. I just checked the graphs on Runtastic MTB and it said I hit about 20mph. That seems pretty good for a 315 lb guy on a 40lb mtb. By the way, I have shimano m395 hydraulics. Not the top of the line by any stretch but modern discs are awesome.
I have a Trek 520 touring bike I bought at bike gallery a few years ago. I love it. I've done a couple bike/camping trips on it, and even when I was at my heaviest it was super solid and comfortable with all my camping gear. I biked 42 miles a few days ago, longest I've done real recently. I had wider handlebars put on cause it helps my shoulders and back, but aside from that and little things like the seat, it's all original and still working great. I want to start doing some cyclocross next year, which means I'll have to buy a another bike. I was looking at a Kona cyclocross bike, but I'm not sure I want to spend the bucks without being sure I'm going to cyclocross race enough. My nephew is a racer, came in third in nationals, and sometimes I go to his races. But I've yet to try it myself. The Clydesdale division is for people 200lbs and over, so I would most likely race there if I try it.
I've heard that Nashbar is a step up from the Wal Mart bikes, how do these look? http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_504148_-1 http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_537009_-1
Both nashbar and performance have some great deals on quality bikes. Before my current one I had a nashbar that was actually a Fuji but cost half as much. Also you can get some great unbranded frames by eBay from China. My brother got a carbon fiber racing frame made in the same factory as some famous brand, I forget which, but he spent 400 plus 150 shipping for it, but said the same frame branded would have been 2000
