looking for some advice if I may, particularly from people who have been in a similar boat to me and have overcome it.
I am 6 foot 5 inches tall. Based in the UK. I weigh about 300lbs at the moment (down from 340lbs) and still chipping away.
I have cycled on and off for all of my life. I previously commuted daily on an old CUBE Aluminium framed road bike, back when I was fit!
I started Triathlons last season and am carrying this on into 2026, with a Half Ironman (70.3) booked for September 2025.
Here is my current predicament - I beleive I am too heavy for Carbon bikes… I accept that - are my only options ALLY/STEEL/TITANIUM?
I currently have a Canyon Endurance (1-2 years old… 105 Group set - lovely bike, but I want disc brakes and the frame/fork on this one aren’t set up for a change to disc brakes).
I have a few options…
Buy a new Canyon Endurance AL or other brand bike with disc brakes - however, I’d ideally like a better group set and even would like to explore electronic shifting… it’s just annoying that I’d be buying a whole new bike when I know that I will be looking to upgrade the most expensive components… the wheels and group set! The big PLUS with Canyon is that they do a XXL frame, and they seem to be very good value for money and get great write ups.
Explore CONDOR bikes, they have an Aluminium and Steel race orientated frameset but I am concerned that their largest size (61) is going to be too small for me.
Find a frameset and put the parts from my current CANYON on it whilst upgrading slowly?
Carry on loosing weight then look at Carbon bikes which are on the market (Canyon Aero?) in XXL sizes with the components I want… only issue is the Aeroad CF SLX 7 AXS, which is the bike I’d want, has a max weight of 120kg/264lbs… would need to drop 36lbs just to ride it naked without any clothes on? Worth keeping my current bike and working towards that?
Listen to your advice around Aluminium or Steel framed race bikes suitable for upgrading components over time, suitable for a mixture of riding to include Triathlon up to Ironman distance - I’d like to be clear I am not looking to win these Triathlons… just to finish them… and my height again does not lend itself naturally to Aero/Tri bikes so I am happy that this ship has sailed.
Really appreciate any advice - it’s causing me a massive headache.
6’ 5" here, did a lot of tri at up to 240 lbs, full IM at 220, raced bikes at 210-15.
The only real disadvantage you have is your weight. If you lose let’s say 75 pounds you can be a monster on the bike as you’ll have strength built from pushing do much more.
You’ll never climb with guys at 150-60 lbs but who gives a shit. They’ll be sitting on your wheel the rest of the time. Make sure you make them suffer then.
Ride any frame you’re well fit on. Material until you get light, doesn’t matter. That’s icing on a cake you don’t have yet.
I ride Cervelo in 61cm, both R and P series. I use geometrygeeks website to check new bikes to see how close they are to my current. What I don’t want is a ton of spacers, so make sure the stack is close to what I want.
There are a few compromises bigger guys need to make; don’t chase the lightest, lowest spoke count wheel sets - although disc brakes do help with this - but having your rear wheel flexing around as you pour on the power, sucks. Don’t chase the lightest, boutique components, but there’s still a lot of high end gear that works.
I would say invest in parts you can upgrade now but if you’re changing brake systems there isn’t much point. If you don’t like a low, racing position, maybe a gravel style bike will give the extra strength to resist flexing, a comfortable position to get long miles in on, and wheels that focus on additional strength.
I rode a Cannondale CAAD aluminium road frame and one of their cyclocross frames for a long time. Modern aluminium bikes are pretty amazing with what the do. I’d look at things like the Mason bikes, if the stack is high enough, etc…
6’5” I wouldn’t think you need to go higher than 61cm. A 63cm Cannondale was too big for me. Felt 61cm was another brand that fitted well. Maybe look at the all road style bikes, or gravel style bikes and upgrade now?
Whilst carrots are nice, sometimes it’s worth as much to get the new bike and being motivated to go out and ride a ton on it as you’re made up with the new thing…!
It’s probably somewhat important to know that the weight limits that manufacturers place on bikes are fairly arbitrary, and are generally the same across all of a particular manufacturer’s bikes, regardless of frame material. Essentially no one is actually deriving these numbers from testing; they’re coming from the legal department, and they’re more or less uniform across the industry, and intentionally so. The idea is to defray potential liability by demonstrating a significant consensus across brands.
I’m 6’4" 270 with freaky long legs and not that long of a torso. I rode the 25.5" Trek I ordered from the factory in 1977 until a few years ago. It fit me perfectly or maybe it’s just because I rode it for 45 years. Everything creaked and rattled and it didn’t feel safe and when I broke a crank arm (Dura Ace 1st generation), I got a new bike.
I got a Canyon Endurace AL with 105. I don’t trust my size on carbon. It’d probably be fine, but I don’t see the need. I’m not winning anything.
My Trek measurements were kinda between the Endurace XL and XXL measurements and I went with the XL, which I think was a good choice. It doesn’t feel as perfect as my old Trek did, but now if I ride the Trek it feels weird and and unsteady.
The biggest difference by far – it’s not close – is the disc brakes. Now I don’t have to plan ahead and spy bail-out spots if I can’t stop. There are two hills on my regular routes that end at an intersection and before the new brakes I had to come to nearly a complete stop at the top of the hill to have any hope of stopping at the intersection. The brakes are a big deal.
Best of luck. I’m not really even hardly tri-ing anymore, but I do ride and thought I’d stick my head in here and see what’s happening.
Summary of my advice: get something with disc brakes. Or at least not 50 year old brakes.
Just wondering, why not carbon? I can see why you might want to stick with aluminum handlebars, but as long as you’re not buying the most ultralight carbon frame, you might actually be better off there, particularly from a frame fatigue perspective. Carbon will break when not engineered properly, but when done right its amazingly strong.