Originally posted by boudreaux
Well, actually to begin with 80 kg is 176 pounds. Your original commment referenced something much less, like 130 to 150. What rubbish.!!...Now for the Campy guote: it's nothing but CYA hooey. If you buy that kind of rot you should not even be riding bicycles. All one has to do is look at the real world, see what people are riding and how it works.Much better than blindly quoting self serving CYA drivel.... Ya don't need special custom built heavy duty wheels unless you are a total clyde.
I don't understand why you continue to ignore that which is obvious to the most casual observer. Do you realy think that a Small, 49 - 50cm bike is designed for 190 lbs?? Let me answer for you....NO IT ISN"T. It is designed for the typical rider, which would be a female or young , small male rider, probably weighing somewhere between 110 and 130 lbs. Thus the 130 part of that range. Then consider the most popular bike size sold is a Medium, ranging from 54 to 57 cm. That rider profile will be a rider between about 135 and 160. That is the 150 reference, given that most companies will engineer any product be be at least 20% stronger than needed. So the answer for probably 75% of bikes manufactured is 130 to 150 lbs. Quite simple to calculate if you take the time to do it.
Sure there are larger bikes and larger riders - but they do not represent the majorityof the riding community - they are at the far end of the bell curve. Which is why campy probably designs for a max weight at 80kg. Very simple marketing - 90% of riders that will want to buy their products will fall below 80kg. There is little need or financial return for manufacturing a product that accommodates a higher weight. So sir, it is your response that is pure rubbish.
2nd bit of analysis. Do you have any idea how much more stressis placed on a bike by a rider that weighs 190 vs a rider that weighs 170? Even though the weight varience is only about 20%, the difference in stress caused by the additional mass is abut 50%. Go to 210 and it is double, etc.
So do an experiment. Load youself down with enough weight to make yourself 215. Then go ride your bike for about 500 miles. Just be prepared to do quite a bit of bike maintenance - especially to those wheels. I know, I have been riding for 30 years and while wheels have gotten better in terms of materials and designs, the ultimate goal of most manufacturers is to balance weight with strength. That is why I still need to upgrade my wheel - especially the rear wheel nearly every time I buy a bike.