People around two metres tall or weighing over 100 kilos find it difficult to buy a bike. Our test shows six convincing solutions - special oversized bikes with a maximum payload of 180 kilograms.
And the bicycle industry? It never sleeps, but its products for plus sizes are sometimes well hidden. We found six brands that cater to XXL customers. The most important thing here is higher and longer frames. We also tormented the suppliers with the requirement that the 1.95 metre tall Mr XXL-Mustermann weighs 130 kilos. This weight alone is too much for most standard bikes. Our test bikes reach a frame height of 78 centimetres with a payload of 180 kilos - real jumbos, delivered in oversized boxes. During assembly for the test ride, we had our first setback: Four out of six test bikes have steel frames.
Fahrradmanufaktur T-XXL (29er), http://www.cycle-union.de
Kalkhoff Foreigner XXL, http://www.kalkhoff.de
Raußen R10 (29er), http://www.xxl-bikes.de
Santana Extratour, http://www.santana-tandem.de
Schauff Sumo XT (29er), http://www.schauff.de
Utopia London (29er), http://www.utopia-velo.de
The full-length article from issue 2/2010 is available as a free PDF download.
