I have been considering buying a bicycle for myself as a way of getting out and exercising. As you can see by my signature I am by no means a small person....I was wondering what things to look for when I buy a bike (I am looking at city bikes.) They showed me two last evening and the higher priced model had double rims. Someone said because of my size that might be a good idea because there would be less stress on the tires. The tires were medium size.

I also wanted to know if I am doing something that will be too strenuous on my legs ..especially my achilles.

I think the bike would be awesome because I live right on the river where the Korean government has made this wonderful bike and walking path that goes for miles and miles.

Opinions and advice PLEASE!!!

Have a good day!

I recently started biking myself. I was very nervous as my sister, who is not small either, said she went biking and her tires kept going flat during her ride. I never thought about that before. So I asked some people in the exercising thread. They thought it would be okay if I used a mountain bike. I have a few at my house from friends who moved away. I finally went out riding last week and it was okay. My tires didn't go flat....so I think you would be okay with a mountain bike as we are similar in weight. One tip though - make sure you have a comfortable seat! I think I bruised myself...hehe. The last few days haven't been pretty!

i LOVE bike riding. it is my absolute favorite workout by far. i just use my mom's huffy bike, haha it gets me where i need to go. i would invest in a larger seat though. i used to ride my sister's and she had a bigger seat and it was SO COMFY. i mean, i could ride that baby for hours. until i broke it. now i have to sit on the skinny people seat. i don't enjoy having my butt poked for an hour.

I agree, get a comfy seat, you know a fat bottom one. I've got one with gel and it's great. I also ride a mountain bike, and the tires do not go flat, I also have had cruiser tires (like you would have at the beach) on my mountain bike frame, and they didn't go flat. What you really want is a fatter tire so they won't go flat, you don't want a skinny road bike tire until you drop a few lbs. GL with your biking!

Check out teamestrogen.com. It's a website devoted to women's cycling. Lots of threads devoted to what is a good bike for larger women in the Beginner's area and what to look out for.

When I was 240-ish, back before I had totally wrecked my knees, I used to bike to college. The one bit of advice I have is this. Get the tires flat-proofed. All the bike shops around here offer it. The put slime in the tires and also an extra tough liner inside and some of them put a puncture strip in there too, and for $50 your bike is "guaranteed not to get a flat" for the life of the bike. It's a great deal especially with extra weight on there. If it goes flat they fix it for free. I never had a flat after I had this done to my bike.

Now, of course, the only advice I can offer is about recumbent stationary bikes! (see Avatar). I can no longer ride a regular one because of wrecked knees.

Go to a bike shop and get fitted for a bike. I never liked biking until I got the perfect fit for me - and now I just love it!
I do agree on the seat. No matter how comfy it is, give yourself time to adjust, there will be some soreness in your butt for a couple weeks. Once you get past that, it will be really enjoyable. And much less stress on the joints than running or even walking!
Not to mention that you do get a bit of upper body workout in there, steering and balance uses the muscles of your arms, chest and back.

That path sounds great, too!

I definitely say to get a bigger seat....my bike has a skinny person seat and when I ride it for 30 minutes, you don't really think it's hurting but when you get up the next day and try to get on it, my butt feels bruised on the inside! *lol* I have to get a new seat that is for bigger butts!

I have an old ten speed, a Trek 1500 road bike and an Electra Townie... my husband is an avid cyclist. I have never had a flat tire and biked when I was even heavier than I am now. The Trek 1500 was the bike I used on a 100 mile bike ride, I weighed in the 230's I think. No flats for the entire time-- BUT- I may just be really lucky. It does have the skinny butt seat, I am embarrassed to sit on it now, to be honest. I think from the back it probably looks like I am sitting on the seat post. Now I ride my Townie as I have a bike trailer on the back for my daughter. It has thick tires and, if you are not a great bike handler (I am not,) it is great because it is virtually impossible to fall off of. It has 'flat foot technology' meaning you can always put your feet on the ground. I have a 21 speed so I can use the 'granny gears' on hills. It is the bike I got when I was pregnant so I could continue riding and feel safer, I am clipped into the Trek pedals. You may want to look at hybrids as well. You can go farther with a hybrid than a townie because the tires aren't quite so thick.

Team estrogen is a GREAT SITE! (robin41 recommended it as well.) It has a lot of great information and was the only place I could find plus-sized cycling gear. Doesn't mean I looked good but it was nice to have extra padding. (I just wear jogging pants on the townie.)

I hope that is at least a little helpful. I LOVE bike riding, we have already been out this morning for 30 minutes. That is as long as my DD will last so I take it. Good luck!

I agree with fiberlover - go to a bike shop. I have a Jamis comfort bike that I absolutely love. It has shock absorbers in the seat and the handle bars so it doesn't beat you to death and the seat is awesome. I started riding about 40pounds ago and I've never had a flat tire, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. DH has two Jamis bikes and he's had quite a lot of warranty work on his road bike (he rides it really hard.) They stand behind their equipment really well.