260 lbs?

I REALLY want to get the Stria 5, but I’m right a the height limit (6’4’') and currently over the weight limit (260). The Strida is my inspiration for going to the gym and dropping those last 10 pounds, but I wanted to see if anyone has tested the boundaries and ridden the bike at over 250lbs? Is it like one of those limits with a safety allowance of 10 - 15 lbs or will I break it at 251? Help a big guy out…

I’m no technical expert on the Strida 5, but I’ll offer some information based upon my experiences with riding and enjoying this bike.

As far as I can tell there are three areas of the bike that are sensitive to loads:
Seat bracket - I am 160lbs and the seat on my Strida 5 has already failed (but was not the point of failure). Basically, the seat bracket wraps around the rear diagonal tube and is secured to this tube via two metal braces. These must remain bolted tight in order to prevent the seat from slipping. It turns out that the bolts on my seat had loosened and some stress was being transferred to a slender pin that travels through the tube and into one of the grooves in the seat bracket. Anyway, this pin sheared off and I dropped several inches! The only purpose of the pin is to ensure that the seat is aligned before you bolt on the braces.
Rear tire - The bike is quite sturdy, but most of your weight sits above the rear tire. These are high-pressure tires so at maximum pressure, or 10psi below the max just to be safe, the rear tire shouldn’t squash like a pancake upon mounting the bike. Regardless, expect this tire to wear a lot faster than the front one.
Ball joint - connects the front and rear tubes at the top. In my opinion, the joint is undersized for the job it must handle. Any vertical force that’s created when the front wheel encounters a shock is transferred up the front diagonal tube, past the pin that “loosely” connects the front and horizontal tubes, and directly into this joint. Fortunately, the unique design of this bike allows it to absorb horizontal force quite well.

That said, it is obviously more dangerous for a 260lb person to ride this bike than say a 200lb person. But, if you do choose to try out the bike, then just make sure that the seat bolts remain tight (actually, adding a thin rubber lining between the seat bracket and tube should add extra gripping power) and that you avoid slamming the front wheel through pot-holes and other nasty obstacles.

Greg

I am 95kg and I have broken the pin today. Not sure where to get a new one. any ideas please send me a mail on jiteshpatel@cattles.co.uk

I am 200lb plus bag and clothing… My first strida broke in half, crossing into Hyde park but was replaced with a new one FOC… something to do with heat treatment, i would also like to lose 10lb as my last inner tube had been repaired 13 times. I would still not change my strida, it is a brilliant bike. I use 2 rolls of the green slime tape on the rear and have solid front tyre. The bike does approx 8 miles a day rain or shine. :smiley:

Where did you get the solid front tyre and what do you think of it as a tyre?

I was looking at Greentyre as a possibility greentyre.co.uk