Max weight for a road bike.

bike butcher

well all 17 stone of me has been looking at various bikes and getting to the point of trying a few just worried about what kind of load a road bike can take. My old bike was a steel framed steel wheeled monster from a bygone era. and all my other bikes are all mtbs built to be abused.

so will your generic low end road bike take the weight (plus maybe up to 20kgs on racks etc) I know better than to try any bike with a low spoke count?

thanks

duckiciao

Mines fairly low end (RRP about £450), and weighs in at just over 11kg, and I weigh 15st and am 6'4". The frame is aluminium, and the rims are double walled with about 24 spokes to the front and 28 to the back (I think), and it takes my weigh easy peasy, doesnt seem sluggish or over loaded.

Rykard

Trawling the board they seem to recommend 32 spokes as a minimum if you are not a whippet (like I am not).

I have an old Nigel Dean training bike that i lent to a colleague to try out that i am dying to get onto... That has 32 spoke wheels , i will let you know how that goes...

bike butcher

Thanks for the input. Pouring over the sites [of manufactors] I don't see any references to max weight which is annoying. I doubt a alu frame is going to buckle. drive chains, baring etc will be fine, cheap bikes tend to have overly weightly and as a result often stronger than needed (in my experience at least) components so the only thing that poses questions is the wheels. a cheap road bike with 32 PG spokes would seem ideal, though cant say anything for the build quality of a cheap wheel. Wheels are always somthing that can be upgraded at a later date if need be. I ride 32 spoked DB mtb's fairly hard and so far the only way ive buckled a wheel is inadvertantly comming to an abrupt halt without the use of conventional brakes, if you catch my drift.

To be honest i jsut wanted the reasureance that i wont ride the bike home and find ive ovalised (is that even a word?) the wheels.

Panter

I'm a complete newb, and over 17st.

I have a Giant SCR3, although only had it a short while. I've hit a few potholes on it, and its been fine.

A couple of weeks back a friend let me have a go on his £1500.00 Lemond. That thing was carbon and the wheels must've only had 6 spokes each
I rode it very gingerly, and not for long as I thought it was going to go back looking like it was on caterpillar tracks or the frame in splinters, but that too was fine.

I was worried about the same thing before I got my bike and spent a lot of time asking peoples advice and trawling forums. I didn't find a single instance of a bike failing due to rider weight.
Incidentally, I don't believe you will find a maximum rider weight quoted. Only on very light weight wheels anyway.


Get out there and enjoy !!!!

HTH

Chris