royalflash

I just want to get this off my chest: One thing I keep reading on bike forums that annoys me the most is this comment that if you are an overweight rider (whatever that is) then you don´t deserve a light bike and should not even think about buying any lighter components.

but I would like to point out:

1) no one yet seems to have produced a table of rider weight vs allowed bike weight or seems to be able to enlighten me as to which particular bike models I (93 kg body weight) deserve so such comments are unhelpful and moronic.

2) Also just for example if I weigh 5 kg more than my riding buddies then I have to drag 5kg more up every hill period. This is harder than dragging 5kg less up every hill (duh). One way to fix this is to eat less pizza and lose 5kg. Another equally effective way is to lose 5kg of bicycle weight. Both have exactly the same effect on cycling ability apart from one being more expensive and one involving more will power. Buying a heavier bike will definitely not help.

3) If I want to spend my hard earned cash on buying bikes and light bike bits I will and don´t need anybodys opinions on whether I should do or not.

So will everyone please think before posting these stupid comments.

What they amount to in my opinion (since they are usually posted by thin people) is people just saying I can´t understand why everyone can´t be nice and thin like me.

Well I can´t understand why everybody is not a rich and glamourous film star like me but I don´t go around reminding you of it all the time do I.

RonL

I am in full agreement that you can get whatever bike you want regardless of your weight and don't wish to discourage your rant

Having often heard your point in "2)" I have a hard time seeing your point. If you are 5 kg heavier to another person and the bike weight is equal, shouldn't you have an advantage with the weight acting as a downward force on the pedals? Assuming equal physical conditioning. If you and the other person weighed the same and one of the bikes weighed 5 Kg more than the ligher bike person would have the advantage.

kingsfan4life

+1
When people post these things its just like "what are you thinkin dude"

royalflash

are you for real or is this just a wind-up?

if that is the case then Lance has been doing it wrong all these years. He should have been stuffing himself with pizza instead of keeping his weight down. Maybe you should suggest that he carries a rucksack stuffed with weights if he decides to make a comeback sometime.

fmw

I hear you loud and clear. I was criticized for spending money on light parts because I'm interested in making one of my bikes lighter. I'm not a racer. I don't need a light bike. I just want to do it and I can afford it. Why can't people live with that?

I think many of these critics are youngsters sharing an apartment with four other people and making credit card payments on their bicycle. Nothing wrong with that. We all started there. But there is nothing wrong with enjoying a hobby the way we like and spending our disposable income as we see fit. We earned it. Get over it.

bigbossman 

Stress and load on various parts needs to be considered. Take wheels for instance - many sets have weight limits, that a heavier rider exceeds at risk to his/her safety.

I weight 230lbs, and don't need a light wheel collapsing or a stress fractured light frame cracking through when I'm screaming down Mt Diablo.....

I'll buy slightly beefier components and lose the weight at the gym. That said, I was still able to find a nice sturdy bike at around 20lbs.

BostonFixed

to royalflash and other "heavy riders"

You can ride whatever bike you want, but when you hop on a 8kg (~16#), bike, and it breaks, wears out quickly, the wheels fail under stresses which they are not designed for, don't come *****ing here.

Wheels will go out of true faster, parts will wear out faster or even break, frames and other components might flex objectionally under your weight, things may break. Ride whatever you want, but keep in mind some bikes/parts are better suited for heavier riders.

baj32161

I am 207lbs and that was one of the first questions I asked about my wheelset when I bought my bike (Bontrager Selects). I was assured they would be fine...and they have been. I do not want to be worrying about frame stress and such when I am out riding, but yes to the OP...you buy whatever you want...too many people in here have nothing better to concern themselves with.

Cheers,

Brian

Mr. Beanz

Rider at 220 here and my thoughts are, I won't use a light wheel cause I know from experience that they aren't strong enough to support my big butt! I'm tired of having a new rim built every year, so I went heavy rim for heavy ride. I do fine! The rest of the stuff, no problems.

But one thing I gotta argue! I don't think 5 lbs less off the bike is the same as 5lbs off the body!(maybe you said kilo's).

To lose 5lbs, you had to do something to enhance your fitness level! Workout a bit harder, maybe? No substitute for that!

huhenio

I would rather drop some of my excess weight -195 , 178 would be ideal for a lean cyclist - before bothering into buying a lighter bike.

... but I am cheap

Mr. Beanz

[QUOTE=huhenio]I would rather drop some of my excess weight -195 , 178 would be ideal for a lean cyclist - before bothering into buying a lighter bike.


Sounds like the type of guy that shows up in California without a bike!

oldcrank

Amen brother.

tekhna

It's amazing to me how many incredibly overweight cyclists there are.
Well, I guess not just cyclists but people in general.
Have some self-control when it comes to food people.

Cyclaholic

No, they don't deserve ultralight bikes/components, why would they? That doesn't mean that they're not perfectly entitled to buy & use/break them either, so long as they remember that those components were NOT designed for ******es that consider burgers and pizza as food groups.

The fact remains that yes you are entitled to buy whatever the heck you want, contrary to good advice - it's your money, but if/when it breaks because it was designed for one or two seasons of road racing by a 120lb whippet rather than riding bumpy MUP's by a 300lb clydesdale then please don't come here with another "my LBS sold me X and now that it broke they won't honor the warranty yadda yadda yadda boohoo poor me" post.

I for one will continue laughing at ******es that show up at the next charity ride sporting a carbonfibre/dura.ace mid-life-crisis machine who then turn their noses up at my steel tourer. I usually stop laughing at them about 20 seconds after the start as I settle into a nice fast paceline and they fade into the background.

my58vw

What about someone like me at prime when I wiegh in at 205 - 210 pounds (6'6"). Does that mean I can not have a superlight weight bike because I am "too heavy".

(BTW 205- 220 Is ideal for my frame size).

For anyone having liteweight components can be a comprimise, that is how it works.

And yes the weight on rider to frame weight does make since... but I can still tell the difference between a 17 and a 40 pound bike anyday!

tekhna

What does that even mean "for your frame size"?
I am not a hell of a lot shorter than you (2" shorter) and I weight 50 pounds less, easily.

cyccommute 

I'm amazed at how many insensitive, self-centered and judgmental people there are. How about some self-control when it comes to judging others? I'm sure we can find some flaws in anyone, can't we?

FarHorizon

I haven't weighed 178 since 1965, and probably won't again, unless I'm on my death's bed. If I were whippet-thin for my height and frame, I'd still weigh over 200! Carbon racing-fart-frames aren't built for me. That's life. So what? I like to ride and I'll buy whatever bike I want. I perfer bikes other than the type Lance rides. My money, my choice. I don't care what other posters say or don't. I also don't whine when parts fail. I just buy more! It ain't about the bike or the parts - it's about riding!

mac

I was looking at some clipless pedals and some of the higher-end (lighter) models had weight restrictions of sub-200 or sub-180 so I didn't buy them. I ride a touring bike so I'm not concerned about its weight or its abilty to carry my weight + gear.

EJ123

Is it bad for a performance steel bike to hold a 200lb++ person when doing some cross country riding taking some bumps?

geeklpc1985

Hmmm....What I do is buy stronger bike components. I am down to 170 pounds, but I have a lot of gear and stuff I ride with. So on a bad day myself, bike and gear can be up to ~400 pounds. One day doing that I bent by rim so bad I had to get it replaced. I didn't get a heavier rim, and I a stronger rim. Also before I had my Marin, I had a Sun EZ-3 USX, I broke the frame 2x it was a 65 pound trike, so I got a stronger bike, my Marin is about 20 pounds. So go stronger not heavier.
Good Luck,
Super Geek

Michel Gagnon

First of all, I don't care what you ride, as long as you like it. Having said that, I would say:

1. It's impossible to establish a "maximum safe weight" for a given bike. Riding on rough pothole-ridden asphalt is much harder on a bike than riding on smooth pavement. Lifting up oneself over bumps is gentler on the bike than simply sitting through them. Standing up and throwing the bike on both sides while pedalling hard is fairly hard on the components. Riding with 20-30 lb of gear on rack(s) is hard. All these considerations mean that a 160-lb rider may be harder on his frame and even break it while a 230-lb guy won't even have any problem with his wheels, let alone his frame. That is even true if they ride on the same roads.

2. Weight – whether that of the bicycle or of the rider and his/her gear – is not a really important consideration. The important factor is the total weight (bike + rider + stuff carried), and then, it only makes a difference when one accellerates or climbs a steep hill. Loaded tourers are almost as fast as unequipped road riders, as long as the road is flat; but they take much longer to start at an intersection and climb hills more slowly. In terms of light parts vs heavier ones, it obviously depends on where the weight is saved. By thinning cogs? By using lighter tubing? Or by using better material?

One place where the weight carried makes a difference is in tire selection. A 100-lb woman may tour comfortably with 700x25 tires (even on bumpy Québec highways), but a 170-lb person will need 700x28 to 32 and a 250-lb man will need 700x35 to 37 tires to get the equivalent comfort and performance level. Why? Simply because the greater mass needs a greater surface to be carried. Still, nothing prevents you from using 700x25 or 28 tires – don't complain about the rough pavement! and nothing prevents a 100-lb woman from using 700x37 tires for a tour on asphalt – but don't complain about sluggish performance.

KrisPistofferson

While I agree that people have the right to waste their money in any way they see fit, It is ridiculous when you see guys on 10 pound bikes who need to lose 100 pounds, and yes, those lightweight racing components are manufactured for lighter people,(bicycle racers-130-140 pounds,) and could be potentially dangerous the farther up into clydesdale territory you go. Flush your money down the toilet any way you like, but this is a public message board, so don't get all butt-hurt when one of us points out how silly it is that Mr. Buffet owns a Madone.

+

=Ridiculous

Skipper

Get a clue, fool. It is no doubt often, but not ALWAYS, a lack of self-control. And no, I'm not incredibly overweight.

royalflash

the arguments above that deriding overweight weight weeniesism merely done out of concern for their welfare and to prevent structural failures does not stand up to any scrutiny. As Merton helpfully notes above with reference to Thompson stems/seatposts component weight and strength are not mutually exclusive properties.

The following link (posted on BF) detailing the strength of 12 different bike frames also supports this.The lightest bike (Trek OCLV) carbon fibre frame was also the strongest and could not be broken in the test. Its also interesting to note that the only other frames to survive the test were made of aluminium (not steel).

https://www.damonrinard.com/EFBe/frame_fatigue_test.htm

this is a direct quote from this webpage "durability, rigidity and minimum weight are not mutually exclusive properties"

So when all you mocker and haters next feel the urge to laugh at ******es (i.e. people who are heaver than you) who turn up to rides on expensive CF/dura ace maybe you should do your homework first and find out what you are talking about.