Originally Posted by Angus
I've wondered this many times myself. I don't believe that they do, at least not with a great deal of thought. When I first began cycling I bought a mid-level Cannondale hybrid in size XL. Whe I got it home I read the tag on the seatpost which said it wasn't to be ridden by anyone over 185 pounds. On a frame that size there's a pretty good chance that the rider is going to weigh more than that, and I was more than 100 pounds more than that. To make matters worse, the dealer wouldn't switch out the post!
Angus, that weight limit was set by the lawyers, likely as a liability limiter....in short, so they could say "He exceeded the capabilities of the material, so why should WE be held liable?"
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. “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”- Fredrick Nietzsche
"We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." - Immanuel Kant