Road Cycling - Weight Limits?

I love my old Trek hybrid but find myself salivating over some
of the new road bikes. Given that my weight is 240lbs however,
I'm not sure that a transition is practical, (My wife suggests that
I consider buying the brand of bike that the bears ride in the circus)... Miss Sensitivity. In any case, how tough are those
road machines?

The point of failure is usually the wheels.
A road bike wont break in the frame from a rider your side, but modern wheels are heavily dished (assymetric) and have fewer spokes, so are not as strong. Get a set of 36 spoke wheels built up, and it should be no problem.
When riding a road bike, dont feel obliged to crouch down low and aerodynamic like a professional racer. many shop bikes have a very low position, which you can change with an appropriate stem.
Touring bikes such as the Trek520 are designed for big loads, and would be stronger than any hybrid, as well as lighter and faster.

Originally posted by Cyclekopf
...consider buying the brand of bike that the bears ride in the circus
Nonsense! The bear in the circus rides a unicycle! (Needs his hands free for juggling.)

Road bikes are tough. For your size, I would say go with aluminum so you don't get alot of flex (problematic on larger frames).
There are very few road bikes with weight limits. The only one I can think of off-hand is the Derosa Merak. That is a feather-lite frame.

Cannondale, Specialized, whatever are all fine. You should be fine with wheels as long as you avoid the sub-1600gram wheels. The only race-wheels I would recommend would be the Mavic Ksyriums which are rock-steady, durable and feather lite. Even you could not flex those babies! Avoid carbon-rim wheels as you will destroy them after one pothole.

Get a stiff stem like a 3T Forgie and strong bar (don't go for any sub-240gram bars or you could snap it) you are all set!

I'm at your weight or maybe even a tad more. Get a roadbike. I have a Colnago Master and an 1980's Basso both made out of Columbus steel. They both have well made, but far from extra-heavy duty, wheelsets. The Colnago in fact is 32 spoke. No problems.

I played college football and haven't been under 200# since I was a sophomore in high school. Every instance of wheel damage I can recall was due to builder or rider error.

Get a roadbike!

:beer:

I've an old Schwinn Super Le Tour, 1976 era, purchased new back then and still cranking strong, though I have changed a bit in the weight dept...I shot up to 225 on a 5'7" frame, chunky is a kind word, but last year in June I started to ride my bike during my lunch breaks, performing any and all errands in town that I had to do instead of taking the car, helped in both health wise and car/gas wise as well. The bike didn't seem to mind my extra cargo, but I sure did, it slowly came off and this year, started riding again this week, I'm down to 178, close to a 50 pound drop and my riding sure felt a lot quicker! From a Tight size 40 pants to a snug size 33 and a determination to get into size 32 by summer!

Sorry to wander on but I owe a lot to the bike to help get me back into shape, as well as changing my eating habits, eating fruit in the morning, light lunch and moderate dinner, nothing after 7pm if possible and strictly nothing after 9pm. Cut out the junk foods and just purposed in my life to eat right for a change! Maybe turning 48 might have something to do with it, with a half century leaning close in only 2 years I am making some changes!

My point on that is, I changed in less than 6 months and was surprised that it could take a short time to accomplish this, and I think that I'll be able to keep it up, along with riding to keep me in form. If I continue to make these gains I'm going to treat myself to a new bike next summer, not sure what to get yet!

G2