So I'm recently back into riding my road bike after not riding seriously for 10 years or so. I've given myself a carrot in that I've said I'll replace my '89 Bianchi Limited with something modern after I put 1000 more miles on it. Of course, that means I get to start shopping for a new bike...
At 250lbs I'm pretty big for a bicyclist and even when I'm done dropping the excess fat I'm trying to I'm still gonna be 210lbs or so, so stiff and durable has a higher relative value vs. weight than it would if I was 145lbs. I know that steel frames that can survive me climbing out of the saddle exist, my Bianchi does it today and I know AL can do it too. But I just don't know enough about carbon...
I've seen a bunch of FUD about carbon forks (even seen one custom frame builder that refuses to use them because he believes they're unsafe) and I've seen several people post things in this forum about carbon frames not being able to survive crashes but it looks like Trek is still selling them... What's the real scoop here? Is there such a thing as a carbon bike that would survive 10 years of a >200lb guy riding it or should I limit my search to metals?
Thanks,
Dean
At 250lbs I'm pretty big for a bicyclist and even when I'm done dropping the excess fat I'm trying to I'm still gonna be 210lbs or so, so stiff and durable has a higher relative value vs. weight than it would if I was 145lbs. I know that steel frames that can survive me climbing out of the saddle exist, my Bianchi does it today and I know AL can do it too. But I just don't know enough about carbon...
I've seen a bunch of FUD about carbon forks (even seen one custom frame builder that refuses to use them because he believes they're unsafe) and I've seen several people post things in this forum about carbon frames not being able to survive crashes but it looks like Trek is still selling them... What's the real scoop here? Is there such a thing as a carbon bike that would survive 10 years of a >200lb guy riding it or should I limit my search to metals?
Thanks,
Dean