Originally Posted by
randallr
I am 140 lb, and the aluminum bikes I rode were more built for 190 lb men. I suppose they might not pound someone heavier like they did me. If the OP can demo a bike and ride it far enough to see if it inflicts pain, that’s great.
At my racing weight in the 1980's, I was 136 lb. At 72, I've lost a lot of muscle mass and now weigh about 118. As I said, my favorite bikes for the last 15 years have been aluminum, after riding high-end steel exclusively since the mid-'60's.
Luckily for me, I've always been skeptical about the claim that aluminum bikes ride more harshly than other bikes, so I never succumbed to confirmation bias (aka "that aluminum frame shook the fillings out of my teeth!").