ayceejay
Guru
- Location
- Rural Quebec
Judging by some of the posts I read on here, some expensive road bikes are manufactured 'down to a weight' rather than being optimised for durability. They are no-doubt modelled on the bikes that racing-teams use, which is fine if you have a van full of mechanics and spare parts following you around everywhere you go (I don't!) and your BMI is honed to perfection (mine isn't!).
My bike has no weight-weenie parts made of exotic aerospace materials, has more than twenty spokes per wheel (sixteen more, in fact), and is robust enough to be fit-for-purpose on our wonderful roads. I'm sure the bottom-bracket isn't an expensive one, but has been working fine since I bought the bike (used, and somewhat thrashed) a year ago.
So you are going to enter a team in a race that lasts three weeks and covers close to 200 kms a day and since light weight and not durability is the aim there is no need to think too much about materials lasting out the day? Is that what you are saying? If so that is nonsense. Imagine careening down the side of a mountain at 70 kph plus with your fingers crossed in case your brake cables snap.
I think you will find the opposite to be true, carbon, stainless steel, titanium, latex .....