Framebuilders - est steel for 200 lbs rider?

hi, witch is the strongest steel for 200 lbs rider?
I prefere round tubes vs ovalized tubes?
thank´s

Heat treated, with the largest diameter and thickest walls you can find.

Not enough info about bike/rider/purpose to give any other answer.

Heat treated, with the largest diameter and thickest walls you can find.


I'm not sure how useful this is, as these two properties have to be traded off against each other, unless you want a heavy frame.

I'm 210lb. I've never had a problem with any frame, including those I ride off road or used for courier work. (Which has been all of them except for that silly Sirrus I bought when I needed a bike in a hurry.) Steel frames tend to be designed for toughness, until you get to the very high end where you have lightweight thin wall options from the more exotic tube sets.

Also large diameter tubing isn't stronger then smaller diameter - it's just less flexy, which goes against the point of having a steel frame. It certainly isn't tougher than large diameter tubing: bikes like the Kona Explosif have survived 20 years of mountain biking and general abuse with flying colours, despite being made out of relatively skinny tubing.

Anyway: except for a few very high end racing frames that are deliberately trade off toughness for maximum weight reduction, you're not going to have a problem with the frame and your weight.

I'm not sure how useful this is, as these two properties have to be traded off against each other, unless you want a heavy frame.

I'm 210lb. I've never had a problem with any frame, including those I ride off road or used for courier work. (Which has been all of them except for that silly Sirrus I bought when I needed a bike in a hurry.) Steel frames tend to be designed for toughness, until you get to the very high end where you have lightweight thin wall options from the more exotic tube sets.

Also large diameter tubing isn't stronger then smaller diameter - it's just less flexy, which goes against the point of having a steel frame. It certainly isn't tougher than large diameter tubing: bikes like the Kona Explosif have survived 20 years of mountain biking and general abuse with flying colours, despite being made out of relatively skinny tubing.

Anyway: except for a few very high end racing frames that are deliberately trade off toughness for maximum weight reduction, you're not going to have a problem with the frame and your weight.

you missed the point of my response, reread the op.

I see what you did there.
http://images.icanhascheezburger.com/completestore/2008/8/8/iseewhatyoud128626993722391395.jpg

you missed the point of my response, reread the op.

I did. And the guy what the strongest steel was, because he weighs 200lbs. And your answer was wrong for two reasons -

- Firstly, tube diameter has nothing to do with frame strength. Other than making a frame of a given strength harder to achieve and heavier.

- Secondly, the OP is worrying needlessly. 200lb isn't really a problem for most steel or alu frames. He'd either have to buy an utter dog or a super-expensive and hard to find ultra-light one-season racing special to have a problem.

I'll second that. I'm 194lbs (although at 6'6" that's not so much beef), and I get away comfortably on whatever a DMR trailstar weighs at 14". That's, what 5.5lbs in plain, d/b 4130, if that? I've stacked that into a stone bridge, still attached and not marked it. Admittedly impact testing isn't *quite* the same as fatigue cycling.

Anything in Deca 14.5/16.5, Reynolds 725/853, Columbus Zona/Nivachrom etc would be spot on with plenty of suplus strength. It's pretty difficult for a steel builder to screw it up at the expected loading behaviour a 200lb rider could give it.

Wake me up when we have to build a bike for Earthquake.





"The vampires feed on the wars of man...."

Thought I weighed 220, turned out I was 265 when I got around to looking. Thankfully weight is down a lot since. I never had a problem with 1.125 normal chromo tubes in a road bike, and mild oversized tubes in an MTB. It depends how strong you need it to be. Rider weight is not a big stressor compared to other stuff like rough use.

The thing is that strength is semi irrelevant. What you are really looking for are tubes and designs that create the correct level of stiffness. The tubes have to bend before they will normally fail either catastrophically or as a too noodly frame. What happens is that as you push the efficient stiffness envelope you more highly stress the tubes, which is where high tensile strength comes in. But basically you would have to get greedy on rider weight and, say, frame weight before that would come into it too much. Normally you can get away with fairly normal tubes and just boost the chainstays a little.

I did. And the guy what the strongest steel was, because he weighs 200lbs. And your answer was wrong for two reasons -

- Firstly, tube diameter has nothing to do with frame strength. Other than making a frame of a given strength harder to achieve and heavier.

- Secondly, the OP is worrying needlessly. 200lb isn't really a problem for most steel or alu frames. He'd either have to buy an utter dog or a super-expensive and hard to find ultra-light one-season racing special to have a problem.
I'm sure I don't want to understand why you say his answer was wrong. Are you a framebuilder? Bigger riders will almost all prefer a stiffer frame, thus the larger diameter tubes. The thickest tubes available may or may not be necessary depending on the rider's height. As was said in the post that was "wrong," not enough information about the rider and intended purpose were given.

If you go to Henry James and read the recommendations for tubes given rider weight, they didn't consider the possibility of an 200+ pound rider. OTOH, I have weighed up to 220 pounds, and never really found my 1980 vintage Columbus SL frame to be too flexible, and I doubt that it has any trouble supporting my weight.

When I first got into it I looked at that HJ chart also, and I was a little shocked. At six one and broad build, I couldn't weigh the 180 they had as the high point on the chart. When I asked them about appropriate tubes the only tubes that varied were the the CSs. Of course, as you say, they would have had me in the OS tube by the time I hit 180.

Essentially all material used for bicycles have elastic limits and a fatigue life cycle. Steel is exceptional in that flex/stress absorbed without exceeding the elastic limit does little to effect the life and strength. Most classic steel road bikes were clearly designed for riders less than 200 pounds, numerous charts validate that statement. I suspect that large, strong cyclist (greater than 200 pounds and fit or greater than 250 pounds and whatever) are probably capable of flexing many classic SL/SP/SLX/Tangue 1&2 etc frames beyond the elastic limit and in doing so the life of the frame is being effected. In order to avoid this happening the bike would need to use oversize tubes, thicker walls or some other combination to achieve the intended ride qualities and life cycle durability. So, a bike built for a fit 250 pounder should be heavier, so what, unless he is planning to loose 75 pounds and turn into a weenie why would he not want the heavier built bike? A little more weight to achieve the required ride and fatigue life is a small percentage of the total bike and rider weight package.

I did. And the guy what the strongest steel was, because he weighs 200lbs. And your answer was wrong for two reasons -

- Firstly, tube diameter has nothing to do with frame strength. Other than making a frame of a given strength harder to achieve and heavier.

- Secondly, the OP is worrying needlessly. 200lb isn't really a problem for most steel or alu frames. He'd either have to buy an utter dog or a super-expensive and hard to find ultra-light one-season racing special to have a problem.
You have that sweet combination of ignorance and arrogance I have so missed. Kudos to you, dude who understands little!

Here is my bike a mongoose hilltopper. http://share.ovi.com/media/currentresident.bicycle/currentresident.10071 It has 60000 miles on it. It is made out of 4130 chromemoly either 1.0 or 1.1 mm thick. It has been hit by three cars each time knocking the chainstays off about 5 mm. Each time I was able to realign the frame. I weigh 195 pounds the bike plus load weighs 70 pounds. I will be buying a custom frame and will be using 4130. Nova cycling supply has some tandem strength tubing. Catoregon also some burley tandem tubing available but won't answer my emails. Tange also makes some tubing with 1.2 .9 1.2 mm thickness but I don't know who sells it.