How Much Weight Can My Bike Carry?

Mark Thompson said:

Just wondering how much weight I can carry on my bike.
It's got 700x25c tyres and £30 ish Rigida rims. I'm a
skinny type at 12 stone ish so probably worrying about
nothing but don't want to load it up and break a spoke in
the middle of nowhere.

Whether a spoke breaks or not will depend on how well the
wheel has been tensioned and stress relieved more than the
weight you put on it.

Tony

Lots! In the fifties the French were defeated by the North
Vietnamese and most of their equipment and supplies were
carried by bikes! Admittedly very strong ones but none the
less bikes.

Previous poster has it right. Spoke breakage is about
the quality of the materials used and just who built it!
Also correct loading of weight is important, i.e. low
and balanced.

Quoted message said:

Lots! In the fifties the French were defeated by the North
Vietnamese and most of their equipment and supplies were
carried by bikes! Admittedly very strong ones but none the
less bikes.

Previous poster has it right. Spoke breakage is about the
quality of the materials used and just who built it! Also
correct loading of weight is important, i.e. low and
balanced.

Fantastic. Cheers guys.

(ps re: N Vietnamese Vs French: did anyone see Dads Army
last night with the cannon and the onions?)

About 6 stone, well-balanced, IF your wheels were well-
built.

You COULD carry more but it gets difficult to handle the
bike of the load is more than half your weight.

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden] Edgware.

Mark Thompson said:

Just wondering how much weight I can carry on my bike.
It's got 700x25c tyres and £30 ish Rigida rims. I'm a
skinny type at 12 stone ish so probably worrying about
nothing but don't want to load it up and break a spoke in
the middle of nowhere.

The frame will never bend - it is incredibly rigid in a
vertical direction. Whether the wheels will take it depends
how well they were built and what the spoke tension is.
Stainless spokes tend to last a lot better than "rustless"
ones, and double butted spokes are more resilient when you
hit a big pothole.

Wider tyres would allow you to run a lower pressure, which
would absorb more road shock.

Zog The Undeniable [email hidden] opined the
following...

Quoted message said:

The frame will never bend - it is incredibly rigid in a
vertical direction.

However the increased shock loads will promote fracture in
an Aluminium frame. If in doubt (And it is possible to do
so!) contact the manufacturer. Also bear in mind that you'll
need to spread the weight fore and aft. The most heavily
loaded ride I've done recently (15kg +
me) turned my bike into an animal. If I tried to stand it
nearly fell over, and any corners turned into a slalom
with the tail end flailing behind me. I also
discovered that if I got off the bike and lightly
tapped the underside of the handlebars, I could make
it stand on end!

Jon

Quoted message said:

About 6 stone, well-balanced, IF your wheels were
well-built.

You COULD carry more but it gets difficult to handle the
bike of the load is more than half your weight.

Yippee I can load up 10 stone of camping gear that means I
can take the family frame tent! :-)

In all seriousness, I did the C2C ride with around 40lbs of
gear and me weighing in at 20 stone or so on a 'free to good
home' Raleigh Equipe 12 speed racer. I was more concerned
about frame flex than wheel flex but the bike and wheels
survived the ordeal. I'd not repeat the experience again
though as the hills were murder on a double ringed bike.

The bike is now happily scurrying around Otley's environs
piloted by a much lighter rider.

Quoted message said:

However the increased shock loads will promote fracture in
an Aluminium frame. If in doubt (And it is possible to do
so!) contact the manufacturer. Also bear in mind that
you'll need to spread the weight fore and aft. The most
heavily loaded ride I've done recently (15kg +
me) turned my bike into an animal. If I tried to stand it
nearly fell over, and any corners turned into a slalom
with the tail end flailing behind me. I also
discovered that if I got off the bike and lightly
tapped the underside of the handlebars, I could make
it stand on end!

Fantastic. Just got the panniers (and they're *huge*) so
will have a go and see if mine can do it too :o) Fortunately
it's a chromoly frame so it should be ok - just the spokes
to worry about.

vernon levy [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

Yippee I can load up 10 stone of camping gear that means I
can take the family frame tent! :-)

Just planning to invest in some cmaping gear, with a view to
cycling to the York Rally. Current estimate for total weight
of camping stuff is about 7kg. With 10 stone, I dread to
think what I could take with me, or how long it'd take to
get up any hills.

Jon

Quoted message said:

Just planning to invest in some cmaping gear, with a view
to cycling to the York Rally. Current estimate for total
weight of camping stuff is about 7kg. With 10 stone, I
dread to think what I could take with me, or how long it'd
take to get up any hills.

I still haven't got the hang of lightweight camping. I
reckon that it's easier for me to shed personal weight than
trim the surplus from the camping gear list :-)

Got to get it sorted for LEJOG though.

Jon Senior <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk>typed

Quoted message said:

vernon levy [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

Yippee I can load up 10 stone of camping gear that means
I can take the family frame tent! :-)

Quoted message said:

Just planning to invest in some cmaping gear, with a view
to cycling to the York Rally. Current estimate for total
weight of camping stuff is about 7kg. With 10 stone, I
dread to think what I could take with me, or how long it'd
take to get up any hills.

Quoted message said:

Jon

Don't you ever do any shopping by bike? Groceries tend to
weigh in at rather more than camping gear. 7kg isn't very
much anyway.

I once bought a watermelon for a friend and then struggled
to he Mugdock home...

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden] Edgware.

Mark Thompson said:

Just wondering how much weight I can carry on my bike.

If you're going to use panniers, most are rated up to 25kg.

Quoted message said:

It's got 700x25c tyres and £30 ish Rigida rims. I'm a
skinny type at 12 stone ish so probably worrying about
nothing but don't want to load it up and break a spoke in
the middle of nowhere.

If you have 36 spokes you can probably get away with
cycling home with a few dud spokes - just remove them
(pliers help) and replace them as soon as you can. If your
wheels weren't hand-built you can reduce the risk of this
happening by stress-relieving them as per
www.sheldonbrown.com (wheelbuilding link).

I've had problems with hubs breaking on my old tourer - I
think it had been rebuilt with a funny combination of racing
parts and it had a threaded hub (a weaker design). Assuming
your bike isn't ancient and is not a racer, I think you
should be fine.

The CTC do a rescue service BTW. I don't know how good it is
and haven't signed up, but I have often considered it.

AC

Helen Deborah Vecht [email hidden] opined the
following...

Quoted message said:

Don't you ever do any shopping by bike? Groceries tend to
weigh in at rather more than camping gear. 7kg isn't very
much anyway.

Hence my tale elsewhere in this thread of riding the bike up
a hill with 15kg on the back of it. Vernon was discussing
taking 10 stone of camping gear!

Quoted message said:

I once bought a watermelon for a friend and then struggled
to he Mugdock home...

Jon

Quoted message said:

The CTC do a rescue service BTW. I don't know how good it
is and haven't signed up, but I have often considered it.

Hmmm, costs £30 to take me to nearest train station/bike
shop. A taxi is highly likely to cost less and I only pay
for the taxi if I actually need
it. Not that good then. :-(