Weight Restrictions

[Vidor06]

I am a retired rugby player who has, since the summer, taken to cycling for my main form of exercise. Been commuting on my hard tail mountain bike since then, its not a long commute. However, if I go out at the weekend the suspension and weight become an issue. So I have started to look at n+1.

My main problem is that I weigh in the region of 20 stones and while I anticipate this dropping with more exercise I am never going to be a light weight.

Time to cut to the chase. When I look at road/cyclocross bikes they feature a lot of carbon and I understand there are some weight restrictions with carbon. A colleague has told me that I would be ok to go for carbon front forks and maybe even rear forks but to stay clear of a carbon seat post.

So am I right to try to totally avoid carbon or can I heed my colleagues advice and look at bikes with carbon forks?

 

[Norm]

I would (did!) avoid carbon. The savings are not hugely significant. I went for a Specialized Secteur Sport which, according to Evans, weighs 9.62kg.

Going for the next model up, the Specialized Roubaix comes with a carbon frame and costs nearly three times the price (£650 to £1700). The components (105 rather than Sora / Tiagra) are better but that's a lot of money, IMO.

BTW, I'm a very similar weight to you.

First consideration, however, should be what sort of riding you will be doing and what sort of money you are looking to spend.

 

[LazyLoki]

A cyclocross bike sounds like a good idea to me. They're generally built a bit tougher and you'll have no problems with the carbon forks they use as they're designed to be ridden off road as well as on. Probably most importantly, the cyclocross will come with much higher spoke count wheels than a lot of road bikes.
If you're going to use it for your commute then you might want to be able to fit mudguards and again a cyclocross has the clearance and fittings for this. If you swap out the stock tires (which are probably something like a 32/34 with road slicks then I doubt you'll see a great deal of difference in performance compared to a road bike and the cross will also have a slightly more upright riding position which may be more comfortable for you as you're coming from a flat bar.

 

[Garz]

Depends on how much you want to spend, but if your certain you will be using the bike (i.e. its not just a passing fad) then the stronger albeit costly titanium would be the weapon of choice.

The problem is when you buy entry level prices it's not too long till you get the urge to have spent double in the first place!

 

[bad boy]

Yes Id say this is spot on and something I have come to the conclusion myself although Ive not spent anything yet, but one of those people that if I'm going to do something I like to do it properly.

I would say however concentrate on the wheels you need something with at least 32 spokes on the back the spez secteur sport and the elite which is the model up comes with Mavic cxp 22N's I believe and they are good strong wheels 32 spoke count and I think they are even used on some cyclo cross bikes.

Depends on how much you want to spend, but if your certain you will be using the bike (i.e. its not just a passing fad) then the stronger albeit costly titanium would be the weapon of choice.

The problem is when you buy entry level prices it's not too long till you get the urge to have spent double in the first place!