[Closed] how strong are our bikes....

The only thing I destroy regularly is rear rims on the tandem - everything else solo or tandem stands up to the use I put it to without any trouble apart from drivetrains

If your not breaking it, pretty strong!!

on rocky descents i spend a lot of the time thinking ' i hope that my wheels/forks/brakes/frame do not give way'

If I have time to do that, then I ain't going fast enough.

If I don't have confidence in a piece of kit it gets changed for one I *do* have confidence in.

I know I'm a skinny bugger, but (touch wood) I've never had a component fail catastrophically whilst "just" riding. I've broken stuff as a result of crashes (which is my own fault for not being good enough and crashing in the first place), I've broken minor parts whilst riding, but bar the odd chain, I've never broken anything that's then lead to a crash.

That said my bikes are all sensibly specced for purpose, and I'm a relatively easy load case. Stick to sensible kit from reputable manufacturers and you should be fine.

I weigh 65kgs and have nothing to add to this thread.

😉

JonEdwards
not what i was asking.
i ride as fast/hard as the next man.
but it is in my head.

Good post...Im always thinking the same esp on my retro stuff :^)

Speaking to mr Cotic, he was saying some of the standards they have to test the frames to are way in excess of anything you would apply in the real world.

I know what Ton means. I used to take my eye of thr trail to check my front QR regularly, don't know why, and have never had one come undone, but it just used to niggle me

I sort of know what you mean ton, though the thoughts don't usually happen till I have the bike on the work stand and I notice how flimsey standard dropouts on forks look (Probably why I now have 3 bikes with Maxles) or how thin the walls of the handlebars look.
At the time I'm usually too scared/busy trying to find a line less likely to overface my low level of ability to have any other thoughts in my head.

*puts hand up

Even at 63kg I still had that same thought plummeting the black on Whites Level

If I ever thought about my carbon bars just before going off a drop I'd panic.........!

But never really heard anything about required bike testing - euro encap sort of thing???

I feel a lot safer with my carbon bars than I do with alumninium ones.

There are loads of testing requirements in order to be able to get the european safety standard (used to be British standard).

This lot carry out tests to ISO stds

[url= http://www.efbe.de/enindex.php ]bike part testing[/url]

ton - Member

i ride as fast/hard as the next man.

do you truly believe that? Don't take this badly, but I'd genuinely be surprised simply going from your weight/size and bike you ride if in reality you rode hard at all. I wouldn't dispute the fact your bikes will take a lot of punishment tho.

JonEdwards
not what i was asking.
i ride as fast/hard as the next man.
but it is in my head.

...and I'm saying if you have time to think about anything other than hanging onto the bike and pointing it where you want to go, then you could be going faster. I'm absolutely comitted mentally and physically to making the bike go as fast as I damn well can. Nothing else.

I might worry about such things at home, in the car, when cleaning it whatever. Absolutely NOT whilst riding.

I've broken components, not many mind you. Cranks on my bmx, bent discs, broken seat posts casing jumps on the hard tail. Had a few wheels explode etc.. Never really worried about frame or forks. In fact I rarely worry about damaging or breaking most of my components which is why I posted a thread this morning about some bikes being over built for their required task.

ton, your not going to let gw get away with that.

I cracked My Hustler frame.. 😳

On one of the welds..

Still, I never said I was lighweight..

More like 18 stne of idiot...

Sub-60kg, and I snapped a frame once, JRA! Think it was more material failure, than my riding, what caused it, though.

I snapped a frame riding into a tree. But I've never broken anything whilst it was doing what it was supposed to be able to do. If I thought for a moment that any part of my bike couldn't handle what I want it to do, like Jon, I'd replace it. Also agree with his comment about going fast, I've no time to think about anything other than what's happening.

Think it was more material failure, than my riding

I have the same issue even at 60 kg each time I have to go over a step with my HJ I always wonder. That is why I use a hoss or a switch now 😉

I'm 15 stone and cracked my Marin's headtube, only noticed it when cleaning it after a day in the Black Mountains.... 😐

I think the same with carbon bits on my HT or roadbike.

I better go on a diet then! or buy non carbon bits.

Last thing you want to do is worry but the laertness makes you ride faster!

GW i try to ride with as many stwers as possible.
hopefully 1 day i will ride with you, (and that is a invite) and then you can see for yourself. 8)

I can see where Ton is coming from too - I am 15.5 Stone and ride an Orange Prestige which has really skinny steel tubes, esp at the rear end which flex quite a bit when the back brake is used. Thinking of changing to a more "clydesdale" type of hardtail for my size / weight for piece of mind more than anything else.

Steel is fine

GW - Ton totally outrode me on HtN 1.5!!

(Actually everyone bar 1 did! :-D)

RM you're the sort of guy we need on the Rivington ride this sunday!

Auldy - what you need is the brake booster I've got in my bits-and-pieces box, it'll stiffen it right up! I used to give a 3.5lbs steel xc frame a good 17 stone Peak District beating on a regular basis without problem but I was always a little unsure. Now I have a Rocky Ridge and Heckler, shouldn't have much of a problem with those two!

yoshimi - thanks! Maybe next time.. I'm going to be sporting a very bad hangover sunday. 😆

Plus, I need to build up my stamina before I do any more riding in groups, i'm waaaaaaay to slow and unfit!

Sheared the Seat Tube on a Trek Fuel 80. Right accross about 6 inches up from the BB. Same bike had gone through 3 swing arms, all cracking in the same place. Trek has just replaced the Alu swing arm with a carbon one. My guess is the extra stiffness and the locked shock stressed the frame. I was climbing in the saddle at the time.

Trek replaced the frame and I've not had a repetition. To be honest the original bike was a lemon. The only thing that I haven't replaced from the original bike are the Bars, The Stem, the rocker link, the Brake Levers and Brake Calipers. Everything else has died or worn out.

Never really worried.

I've broken a few wheels but never catastrophically. Normally bearing failure or reshaping the rim (did one on the ice cream run at rivi).

Cracked a lightweight frame but assumed I rode it for a few weeks like that.

I ride a 456 but think I could quite easily do the riding I do on the standard inbred.

Brant would be an interesting one to answer this, not sure how he tested the on one's but I wonder how much stronger the 456 is over the inbred and whether it is guestimated or precisely tested?

do you truly believe that? Don't take this badly, but I'd genuinely be surprised simply going from your weight/size and bike you ride if in reality you rode hard at all. I wouldn't dispute the fact your bikes will take a lot of punishment tho.

WTF?

STR - what don't you get about what I said?

Ton - I had thought about going to your inners/GT ride around christmas time but had a 6yr old to look after. woulda been interesting to meet Glupton too. next time eh?

So, not to mince words, what you said is:
[img] [/img]

Well out of order.