Originally Posted by
priorat
I've been riding the heck out of my Felt z90 the last three months, and have dropped from 295 to 275. The bike is great for what it is, but I'm starting to ride more aggressive now, and can really feel the aluminum buzz more than I want. I knew the z90 was an entry-level bike when I bought it, but I didn't expect to ride as much as I have, or to want to upgrade this fast either. Well, I bought my 9-year old son a 2008 Fuji Ace kids road bike the other day (he loves it, and is already fast!), and the bike shop had a 2008 Fuji Team Pro on closeout for $1600, and I think I can get them to go lower than that. Full carbon frame with Ultegra group and Dura-Ace rear. A friend of mine recommended that I buy the bike I see myself riding a year from now, not the one that I see myself riding next week.
So here's the million dollar question: Am I too heavy for carbon right now? I've searched for opinions on carbon frame weight limits and haven't found much. Any thoughts here? Thanks!
Bikes that have weight limits, will have warnings of that weight limit all over them, because if a bicycle has say a 250lb weight limit, and the company does not warn you of it, they are still liable if it fails due to you being over that limit.
Carbon Ffbre reinforced plastic is amazingly strong stuff, they use it in building fighter aircraft. Now one issue with it, if you crash, the frame needs to be inspected for damage, because if some of the fibres have been damaged, it loses some of it's strength, which can lead to a cascade type catastrophic failure over a very short period of time.
This is why you never buy a used CF bike, you never know when it's been dumped. It's also not recommended to buy a used AL bike, because they have a limited life span, due to stress fractures from repeated flexing. Steel frames on the other hand, if you don't let them get rusted, can last a long time, there are steel framed bikes that are over a century old, that can still be ridden (although most are museum pieces now), lots of steel bikes that first saw the road in the early 1960's that are still on the road. Ti is also quite durable, expensive, but durable.
The road buzz problem with Aluminum is usually because your striving for the rock hard tire, try a 10PSI lower tire pressure, and see if that helps.