Just as a Follow Up I have recently skim read through a copy of EN 14766:2005 “Mountain-bicycles — Safety requirements and test methods” (and no you can’t see it, copyright infringement, BSi subscriptions and whatnot)
Its 95 odd pages I think, so not a quickie and I didn’t read all the details just the bit’s that I thought might be “Interesting”…
Long story short; it’s basically a series of Static and Dynamic Proof Loading procedures, it actually seems quite comprehensive (to me at least), Loading points and Loads used reflect those you’d expect to see in “Normal” use of a Mountain Bike it has specific caveats for Suspension Frames and Forks…
The “Pass/Fail” criteria tend to be looking at visible damage (Cracks/Deformations etc) and measuring specific reference Dimensions, and assessing whether they have changed by more than a set amount or not…
All seems very black and white and not that onerous really, but then I’m not in “The Industry”…