chainzawz

Hello all,

I have been enjoying my LeMond Etape very much but now that I am planning on joining a cycling club in the next few months when I move up to NH and plan on entering in some races (will be a first time racer) I want to build a new bike with a CF frame and make it as light as I can (but yet still strong enough to handle my current clyde-ness (I currently wight 220 but if I lose my spare tire (it's big) I bet I will be down to around 155-170). Anyways I am hard on bikes to begin with so I need something strong. Anyways do any of my fellow clydes know where I can get a CF frame that is good and strong? I was looking at the PedalForce frames and found them to be really cool looking (no logos just black carbon which is AWESOME and INSANE!) BUT they have a weight limit of 220, yet they were tested up to 300 LBS and still held together. I suppose I could buy one and built it with the parts that I want and let it sit until I loose a bunch of weight (always an option I suppose)

Anyways now that I have been rambling on I am looking for input on where I can get a good CF frame that is not a frame from (trek, specialized, you get the idea)

TIA!

Barabus

Trek has a lifetime warranty- just sayin'

mkadam68

I am a huge fan of my Kuota Kharma. No weight limit and it has lasted me over 10,000 miles and still going strong (and I exceed your weight by 40+ pounds!). Stiff and comfortable. There are plenty of CF manufacturers who don't have weight limits.

However--from one racer to a hopeful racer--you don't want to race with anything you can't replace.

chainzawz

Hey all thanks for the replies, that is true about Trek! I didn't know that

Yes I do understand that it is a racing bike and it is eventually going to get into a crash (hopefully not because of me). Thankyou for pointing that out! How do you deal with that? (stupid question) I think if I was to crash a bike I don't know what I would do!

superdex

Don't buy a carbon fiber bike. I reference this wonderful thread: https://bikeforums.net/showthread.php...993&highlight=

Wogster

Realize that weight limits are set by lawyers and marketers, not engineers, if a frame is designed for 300lbs, and tests to 300lbs, then the lawyers want 150, and marketing wants 300, they split the difference and legal won out, over the last 5lbs.

chainzawz

thanks for the reply Wogsterca, That is what I thought too, I figured if it was tested up to that weight I should be fine. I think I might just go with the pedal force frame. (I missed out on the group buy for the new frame but oh well).

Thanks again for all the replies, once I figure it out I will probably make a build thread like I made in the road forum! Thanks again!

Scummer

I'm riding a CF frame from Trek and it has held up fine sofar. And I hit some huge pothole last year. Didn't even untrue the wheels. And I come in at close to 200lbs.

chainzawz

thanks for all the replies all! I have decided that I am going to go with the PedalForce frame and that I will wait until I reach a "safe" weight before I ride it. I am planning on building it up with a bunch of parts that I am going to buy (not sure if I will pick out a group-set or if I am going to pick out all the parts myself). So I figure that that will take me a while to do and in the mean time I can ride my LeMond and drop the #'s that I need to...

Anyways thanks again for all the help!