Me
Earlier this year I decided that I needed to get fit and lose weight. Currently I weigh in at an unbelievable 24 stone. Yep I know – its not exactly fit – its in the morbidly obese category.
Now I do enjoy the odd short walk but after a while my heels do hurt. Plus you never seem to get enough walking in, or get far enough in a set time.
A while ago I thought about getting a bike, but thought hey I am a fat bastard and being an engineer also thought poor bike! I went to my local bike shop and asked the normal questions – what sort will they survive my weight etc., They suggested that although my intentions were admirable, bikes are designed for a maximum weight limit of around 17 to 18 stone and unfortunately at 24 stone I am outside that range so no gaurantee!.
Unfortunately although I had a bike in mind, a Raleigh – forget the model, I didnt realy have enough cash to buy it. Recently my employer started a bike to work scheme. This is good of course because it gets you a bike at reasonable rates, actually tax free!! The bad bit is that its with Halfords!
I have done some research and it turns out that although Halfords have bad press with respect to most things they sell – In some respects a bit like Dixons et al on the basis (and I dont mean this disrespectfully to any Halfords staff) that they are not well versed usually in any of the products they sell. Product knowledge being what they read off the product card. – Some of the bikes they sell are actually not that bad. I feel that I am buying in the lower middle of the range – £250 – £400
For various reasons, mainly greed, I am going to buy from the Halfords normal stock range – if only to get an extra 10% worth of accessories. Thats 10% of the letter of collection! Which in my case is £400 so I get an extra £40 of accessories.
So what am I going to buy?
Its down to 3 bikes – All Carrera – A Halfords own brand
- Subway 2 – Town and Trail bike – Initial choice £279.99 (was originally £329)
- vengeance disc ltd mountain bike -Main choice £299.99 (originally £539.99)
- kraken mountain bike – second favorite £379.99 (originally 449.99)
The vengeance and kraken are similar specs, the gears and front forks are slightly better on the kraken.
I have the letter of collection and the £440 is burning a hole in my pocket 
Hi Ian, really enjoy your posts. Keep it up and keep us informed on your progress!
cheers mate,
vinko
By: Vinko on October 24, 2009
at 10:51 pm
Keep up the great start Ian – get on your bike – even if it’s just a mile or two!
By: Mike A on October 28, 2009
at 2:15 pm
Ian, have you ground to a halt, or just stopped blogging?
By: Martin on April 12, 2010
at 7:04 pm
Hey mate, just done a bit of googling and got your blog, i got on the scales today and also weighed in at 24st so i am starting a diet with immediate effect and plan on buying a bike. Did you ever get a bike that suited?
By: Gary on April 22, 2010
at 6:51 pm
Gary – Yes I bought a Carrerra Kraken from Halfords. So far its been a good bike, sturdy and copes with my weight. I havent lost any in reality although I do feel fitter. The latter is to do with the fact that I am also doing Salsa dancing once a week along with some cycling.
Most bikes are rated by the manufacturer to around 17 stone, including the Kraken. However this is normally the safe working load. In engineering the general practice is to design to a load that is 1.5 times the load you expect things to suffer. So this means that the bike should cope with 25 stones quite happily. Hope this helps
By: idbvideo on April 22, 2010
at 7:30 pm