I want to buy a road bike
Yeah, it's certainly an issue. The thing is, as the article does say much further down, amateurs are very unlikely to be putting the bike under anything near the same stresses as pros, unless physically they significantly exceed the maximum weight limit.
And those weight limits are one place where the manufaturers don't fudge. Firstly, because they put themselves at huge risk of very punishing lawsuits if they do; secondly, because the weight limit adds a price-premium by putting in the customer's mind that this is a pro-level, ultralight piece of kit.
As far as the pros are concerned, the UCI minimum weight makes ultralight frames a bit pointless, actually; since the weight has to be made up elsewhere, it often goes on the wheels, where it affects the bike's performance far more. I think I've noted here recently, though, that mechanics a few years ago had an ingenious trick for dealing with the weght limit; drill a small hole under the bottom bracket, then fill the tubes up with ice. It'll weigh in legal, then lose it all once the water melts...
Anecdotally, fwiw, the current generation of carbon frames are far less likely to break (I haven't seen any stats, but that's the general consensus among riders). Though a friend of mine had a severe rush to get a replacement bike under warranty before the Etape, after the seat-tube on her Trek sheared right through.
Yeah, it's certainly an issue. The thing is, as the article does say much further down, amateurs are very unlikely to be putting the bike under anything near the same stresses as pros, unless physically they significantly exceed the maximum weight limit.
And those weight limits are one place where the manufaturers don't fudge. Firstly, because they put themselves at huge risk of very punishing lawsuits if they do; secondly, because the weight limit adds a price-premium by putting in the customer's mind that this is a pro-level, ultralight piece of kit.
As far as the pros are concerned, the UCI minimum weight makes ultralight frames a bit pointless, actually; since the weight has to be made up elsewhere, it often goes on the wheels, where it affects the bike's performance far more. I think I've noted here recently, though, that mechanics a few years ago had an ingenious trick for dealing with the weght limit; drill a small hole under the bottom bracket, then fill the tubes up with ice. It'll weigh in legal, then lose it all once the water melts...
Anecdotally, fwiw, the current generation of carbon frames are far less likely to break (I haven't seen any stats, but that's the general consensus among riders). Though a friend of mine had a severe rush to get a replacement bike under warranty before the Etape, after the seat-tube on her Trek sheared right through.
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