Originally Posted by
amybikes
Really, really awesome. Although do you guys think this will give the GB team an even bigger advantage than they already have, equipment wise? But really, totally, a positive IMO.
Actually, it gives the other guys a better chance, if history is any indicator.
Think Graeme Obree's home built specials.
Tight restrictions on the form of equipment preclude the sort of light bulb moments you saw in his case, and tend to favor the bigger budget folks that can squeeze the most from what they have.
Motor racing is full of examples of some crazy genius finding a new way to skin a cat and knocking off the big guys. Colin Chapman and Lotus was a great example...hey, let's put the engine in the back. They were tiny compared to Ferrari and Mercedes, yet they came to dominate F1.
Funny to note that Obree took big swings at the Lotus bike, by that time Lotus was Goliath and Orbee was David with a welder and an idea.
Yep, I think that they still need to keep something in place to make sure that bikes don't get so light that they become unsafe... but in this day and age 6.8kg is far too high.
JMR
There's no such thing as a "safe" weight, and no correlation between weight and a safe device. If you look at the recall list for consumer cycling products, the most recalled stuff is usually cheap and heavy things along the lines of the Denali MTB.
As a kid I broke a lot of heavy steel bikes in half.