Rider weight concerns.......

[keitht]

I recently purchased a Raleight titanium frame from here, and am planning on building her up as an tool to use in my planned ( gentle )excerise rountine.

This was all going well, until a serious roadie friend of mine expressed reservations about my weight on the frame...suggesting its not really built for someone as heavy as me, and at that the very least will be very flexy.

I have done a little search on the net, which seems to suggest he is right...grrrrr!

Having doubts about the suitablity of my wheels as well now....these are most likely built for skinny weightless racers as well !!!!


So to the figures, recently I have been very lazy, and been eating too much, and now weigh 15st 6lb.

My target is around 13st, as this tended to be my normal sort of weight..due to shape, height etc.

Now to the question, am I ? and will I still be too heavy for the frame at around 13st.....thinking I should maybe have stuck to my original plan and bought a CX bike, or maybe a touring...

No sniggering please, just an honest appraisal.

Ta

 

[roadking]

Rider weight is always an issue when deciding on frame material, type, and style of frame. Suitability, viz use of the frame (roads, competition type, recreational).

There is also some doubts about the longer term viability of titanium, a riding buddy of mine had a titanium pedal axle snap on him recently - ouch!!!

Imagine a frame breakage, the human body is soft; the bike and he road less so!

Hope this helps (a little).

Roadking.

 

[monty dog]

If you're talking gentle riding, then no worries. As long as your're not jamming the pedals uphill and expect instant response and you're looking for a compliant ride, then it'll be fine. One of the good properties of titanium is its extremely good fatigue resistance - it can keep going for a very long time. I remember doing some material tests on ti fabrications many years ago and was amazed by the ability to withstand repeated deflections.

 

[orbeas]

Ti frames

When I rode Speedwell Ti frames, they broke what ever weight you were !!!!

 

[Jonny69]

Maybe switch out for a steel frame if you're worried about it. Steel frames can take some serious punishment. I was (probably foolishly) using my 90's Raleigh 531 racer for off-road duty for a bit, comedy downhill work with skinny slick tyres, so they can take a battering.

 

[john]

I'd not worry about riding either frame or wheels at 13 stone.

 

[Agency_Scum]

You'll be fine mate. What's the spec on the wheels? I'm 18 stone and rarely have problems.

 

[keitht]

Thanks for the replies gents...seems I may be worrying for nothing.

K

 

[jimmys]

Go steel, seems to handle my big weight fine

 

[jimo746]

I wouldn't be overly concerned as long as you are planning on gradually reducing the load on the bike rather than increasing it . For general road riding and fitness training I would think it will be fine.