oneradtec

I think safety begins to get compromised now that bikes are routinely leaving the bike shops sub 15lbs.

See what happened to Hincapie at Paris Robaix with his broken steer tube?

Would that have happened on a lugged steel frame with quill stem? Not that I want to go back in time or anything like that.

Bikes are lighter and more racey in appearance...but not any sexier than those that Lemond and Fignon raced on in the late 80's and early 90's. What if Hincapie's steer tube had broken while descending a mountain at 55mph? Maybe he would have ended up like that Italian guy on Motorola back in '95?

GuitarWizard

Obviously the envelope is pushed when you start making stupid light parts. My bike weighs around 17.5 pounds, and I do have some fairly light parts on it.....FSA carbon compact crank, Thomson Masterpiece seatpost, Specialized Toupe seat....but they were bought more for necessity rather than just primarily getting something lighter.

For me, my bike weight is not an issue. It's not real light compared to some, but it's not real heavy either. I'll just be happy once I lose the last 15 or so pounds on my body.

Cypress

Fabio Casartelli flat out crashed. Nothing broke.

George's steerer tube broke after

1. Being crashed.
2. Being ridden on the worst roads known in pro cycling.

Things happen, and I'll take the 1 in 8,000,000 chance that it won't happen to me.

jbhowat

Threadless forks and stems are more resistant to breaking than quills. They were developed for mountain bikes first for christsake. Then they were quickly adapted to road use when it was realized that they were lighter and safer than quills. Hincapie was on an alloy steerer tube and his bike was likely barely sub-19lb on the day it broke.

Also, bike broke just as much if not more when people were riding lugged steel bikes with quill stems during Paris-Roubaix.

merlinextraligh

And Hincapie's steerer tube wasn't stupid light. It was AL for god's sake. The broader point has some merit. However, the UCI weight limit and product liability litigation in the US should keep stupid light in check.

mingsta

The funny thing is, I'd happily ride a 1kg CF frame such as the BMC or Specialized Tarmac SL, maybe I'm buying the marketing hype but I feel that many of these CF frames are light but without compromising safety. I'd be wary of super light steel or ti frames though, I've heard that the Ghisallo is so thin in places that you can visibly compress the tubes with thumb and forefinger!!!

Grasschopper

Dude what are you talking about...Hincapie was riding a bike with a 500+g AL steerer fork...really fing far from a lightweight fork...try to get your facts right before you post a reactionary thread slamming technology...The winning bike at Roubaix was a 880g (frame) full CF bike...one of the lightest out there...no issues...George rode full CF wheels for aero and lightness benefits against everyone's better judgement and the wheels were not an issue...the HEAVY part was the issue and most likely only because he crashed earlier in the race.

KevinF

Stuff breaks. Stuff has always broken. Stuff will always continue to break.

It is entirely possible to design a bike so that it will never ever break. You would also never ride it because it would probably weigh in the vicinity of 40 pounds. So compromises are made. The engineers who design a part could tell you exactly when in a products life-span they expect it to break. Most cyclists will never come close, let along actually reach that point. They figure that those cyclists who ride so much that they're likely to fatigue a part to its breaking point will "know" and replace it before it breaks.

Your car is the same way; so are airplanes, boats, submarines, everything with a moving part. That's the idea behind regularly scheduled maintenance. Good mechanics find small problems before they become big problems.

TCR

That's like asking if a woman's boobs are too big. Can't happen.

cydewaze

What are "R" bikes?

khuon

High quality 40 lbs bikes have broken too.

bigskymacadam

cervelo's line of frames. very light. ;)

operator

I assure you, that can happen.

Thylacine

Dude, I don't know what you're talking about.

As far as I'm concerned, choosing deep section rims is a mistake because they're too linearly rigid, which would mean transfering more shock to the steerer tube. There's also been talk about the way Chris King headsets work, in that the compression ring because it has an o-ring between it and the steerer, it could possibly allow for small movements back and forth due the the cyclical vibrations of the cobbles possibly causing a notch to form. There's also been talk of Hincapie forcibly striaghtening his bars causing the stem to notch the sterrer leading to it's inevitible failure. Either way, the fork didn't fail because it's light.

As for the original topic, bikes are getting lighter but also better. Cutting edge bikes will always be marginal (How many bikes after the Paris-Roubaix were thrown out? We'll never know), but companies are not in the business of exposing themselves to liability, so I don't see where there is anything to be worried about.

The real question is - "Do you need a 16lb bike?" The answer is "Of course not."

jbhowat

I wouldn't doubt it, but the same can be said for an S-Works E5 or a Cannondale CAAD8. Those tubes are thinner than beer cans in the middle. A lot stiffer though and it will take a lot of hand strength to get any noticeable compression (I've done it to an E5, but i could only see it because it was in direct sunlight and you could see the light reflection changing.

Also, the Ghisallo ****ing sucks. Yet another uber-expensive titanium bike that flexes more than a neXt from Walmart. Goood job Litespeed, you're catching up to Moots. (Fortunately I know that other LS models are in fact awesome- I can't say the same for the other Moots model that i haven't ridden).

rapidcarbon

I don't know what (and how much money) I need to get a sub 15lbs bike. I have a 2lbs frame, with all campy record, cinelli ram, record carbon cages, record carbon crank, thompson masterpiece seatpost, 1500g wheelset and the bike still 16.5lbs. So I don't think that bikes are routinely leaving the bike shops sub 15lbs. I'd say 1 out of 1000 bikes will come out sub 15lbs

tobycat

Good point. Sub 15 is hardly routine and it seems the only way to get there is with very light (tubular) wheels and no pedals along with very light components across the board. Going from a moderately light 2 1/2 pound frame to a light 2 pound frame is still only getting you 1/2 pound difference. The only way that moves you to sub 15 territory is if you were already at 15 1/2 pounds - a super light bike anyway.

No pedals - maybe another 1/2 pound; Wheels, maybe another 1/2 pound; Frame, 1/2 pound; Maybe Zero Gravity brakes save another 1/3 of a pound. Gets tough to find savings if you started with a light bike.

botto 

he's cutting letters to keep his dictionary light

patentcad

• Bikes are not 'routinely' leaving bike shops @ sub-15lbs. In your weenie dreams. Sub 17lbs, perhaps. On the very high end.

• I have two high end road bikes. One weighs 17.5+ lbs., one 16.5. That latter bike is like a tank. You could drop it off my roof and then ride it 50 miles.

• About the only way a bike is going to get UNDER 15lbs is with VERY expensive wheels and tubular tires. Period. Are those wheels a bit less sturdy than heavier wheels? Of course. Would you be a bonehead to routinely ride on them every day? Of course. They're RACING wheels.

Bike parts have always broken on occasion. I don't think that's getting more common as they get lighter. If anything the materials/engineering have improved.

My advice: while you're out there riding your 16.8 lb. Giant or Trek that you THINK weighs 15lbs because LBS that sold it to your weenie ass told you so, I wouldn't lose any sleep over this. And get a scale already so you can actually have some idea of what this stuff really weighs. Or keep using that 'I weighed it on my bathroom scale' method. Are some of the people here severely brain damaged or what?

Bottom line: yes there are sub 15lb bicycles. In the garages of very well heeled bike weenies and under the asses of the top pros in the Tour de France. Those guys get the incredibly overpriced light parts that MAKE their bikes 15lbs. for FREE.

barba

This is some of the most gratuitous use of the word "weenie" that I have ever read. Mercy. (I don't believe in smilies, but I would insert one here if I did)

pseudobrit

Immediately to the left of the "E" bikes and a mere inch away from the "A" bikes. But it's much to daunting to bother reaching over to touch on them.

patentcad

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KevinF

Isn't the UCI weight restriction greater then 15 pounds? I thought it was something like 15.01 pounds.

rufvelo

Maybe Hincapie would have been better off with a steel fork and steerer and stem and bars in this specific situation.

Or maybe Discovery should have made a decision before the race to swap his bike in any crash and halt the entire team to pace him back.

But then then other guys fell too and their bikes didn't break and they finished in the top 5.

Hincapie would have been mighty upset to finish second to Boonen or Cancellara, while Discovery insisted that he lug a bunch of steel for six hours, just in case....

operator

Given that Boonen had a steel steerer too, sure.