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Some might remember me from this post. So basically after finding a fix for my dutch bike I was riding around London I now actually moved back to Germany. To the countryside to be exact and to the hilly countryside as well! With lots of forest. So now I am looking into building or buying a very rigid MTB. I will be mostly riding in the woods.

I have also considered an E-Bike for extra boost up those hills but I am not sure if that makes sense or not. The KTM Mighty XL looks really good as far as ebikes go. It is officially rated up to 170kg (~370lbs) but that is actually for the whole bike + rider and baggage. So it's more like 150kg (~330lbs) for the rider. The price tag is probably fair but at about 4000 USD you could also buy a car for that. I am considering it anyways.

However I also want to consider regular MTBs.

What are some features or things that I should look at that would indicate a bike that can take heavy loads — or that you would recommend or should I have to go for a custom built?

In the past I was given a quote for a custom built back in London by SBC Cycles. Great guys but I couldn't spare the coins at that time so waited until I found the working solution for my dutchie. The built was based on a Surly Troll frame even though that bike was conceptualised for the city but could probably easily be altered to be an MTB aka different tyres.

In general I was wondering as well - is the MTB market completely international or would I find totally different makes in Germany than in the US?

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  • I will mostly be cycling in the woods which can be fairly rough ground after rain
    – Nico
    Commented Apr 8, 2018 at 9:55
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    Tried to make it less a shopping question.
    – RoboKaren
    Commented Apr 8, 2018 at 19:29
  • Well it will be hard to find anything suitable with 370lbs. I just checked the weigth limit of the Surly Troll and it is 355lbs. But in general you should check about everything. Especially if you want to go ride in the woods. But I think you will need something custom build as I don't think any manufactures consideres your weight class. Most manufactures build bikes in which can be used with a weigth of 120-130kg. In general you will get bikes from most us manufacturers and some german brands. In which part of Germany exactly do you live? Perhaps I could help you or point out a shop.
    – nollak
    Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 7:09
  • @nollak Heidelberg
    – Nico
    Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 8:34
  • @nollak also on weight limits - I used to ride a steel frame bike that was officially rated up to only 120kg (~260lbs). No problems whatsoever - my problem was always the wheels.
    – Nico
    Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 9:57

3 Answers 3

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As you probably know specific product recommendations are off topic here. However, three recommendations:

  1. Overbuilt wheels, heavy duty rim, 44 or 48 spokes.

  2. The biggest tire you can run, especially on the rear.

  3. Consider a full suspension bike. A 90kg rider coming off a big drop is going to generate as much force as you will going over a pothole.

Props for your efforts to keep riding.

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  • is there a place to discuss specific equipment?
    – Nico
    Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 15:18
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    There is a chat room associated with this site: chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/214/the-velodrome. Several other bike forums out there on the net that are easily findable via Google
    – Argenti Apparatus
    Commented Apr 9, 2018 at 19:41
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    I'm not sure a FS bike will work out. In most cases the shock is unlikely to take enough pressure to function properly. I quick google didn't throw up any shock that supported a rider weight over 280lb.
    – Andy P
    Commented Apr 13, 2018 at 14:22
  • @Andy P - agreed with Andy P, been on a couple of rides recently with high-priced bikes rear dampers failing on fairly lightweight riders. Might be bad luck on our part, but still.
    – Sentinel
    Commented May 11, 2018 at 9:15
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I don’t know if the fat tire bike fad has also hit Europe, but if it has, then fat tire mountain bikes give you many more options.

Fat tire bikes tend to be massively overbuilt. First, they’re not trying to be lightweight in any way. Second, the thick wheels and tires mean that forks, axles, dropouts, and frames also need to be thicker. Spoke counts also tend to be very high.

fat bike

So they tend to be very sturdy and the fat, thick tires are very lush to ride on. Certainly something to consider.

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  • The rolling resistance is enormous though and I’m not sure they are actually more sturdy than a normal mountainbike.
    – Michael
    Commented May 10, 2018 at 18:42
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I have stepped away from an ebike and am in the process of ordering a Schauff Sumo Offroad which has a guaranteed max load of 200kg(440lbs!!!).

Edit 06/21/2018: I just received my Schauff custom bike. Here are some pictures: https://www.pic-upload.de/gal-1166769/gd4vz/1.html

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