Originally Posted by
RobbieTunes
All,
I appreciate the responses. I'll contact him and tell him I am 50/50 on the frame/wheel set combo being right for him. I can probably go to Ksyrium Elites on the wheels and he'd be OK there, but I think the frame's a little iffy, and I definitely know the fork is twitchy.
Since the thought of him on a steel frame raises no such doubts, I think that's his best option, and I'll tell him so. He's a nice guy, and I think he'll like biking, once he's properly fit on a good bike.
Thanks for everything, folks.
Even steel has rider weight ratings. Unless he plans to lose some of that weight, he'd probably be best off with straight gauge on the smallest frame he can ride.
Of course, there's probably some margin of error on the weight ratings, and the frame may never fail, but the worst that's likely to happen with a steel bike being ridden by somebody over its weight rating is the frame will eventually fail, although most likely the failure wouldn't be of the catastrophic variety...