Question for a pretend bike racer
Tuesday, July 10th, 2007A loyal and faithful reader writes in:
Tonight on OL…Vs., Frankie Andreau argued that weight minimums for bikes were outdated given the stronger, lighter materials (i.e., carbon) available these days. Your take.
I agree. The UCI instituted weight restrictions for two reasons. Rider safety and equipment equity.
The UCI has been concerned, some would say overly concerned, with rider safety and has outright banned equipment (as in Spinaci clip on bars) and created their weight rules in order to attempt to prevent riders from using equipment that may put them at risk. My thought on this is to let the riders use what ever they want. Manufacturers are not usually inclined to put their reputation at risk by supplying riders with questionable equipment so I don’t believe that we would see a rash of broken bikes. The reality is that manufacturers are making their equipment as light as possible anyway and this just forces teams to change saddles or handlebars or whatever in order to bring the bike up to the weight limit.
The UCI’s other rational for their equipment guidelines is to prevent some high budget teams from buying themselves an advantage in developing super light weight frames and components. This is absurd. Does the UCI honestly think that manufacturers are not continuing to research and develop ways to improve the bicycle in every way with the exception of their weight limit?
Not only are materials stronger and lighter, but they are also getting cheaper to manufacturer since most of this stuff is coming from Asia.
Since I work in the bicycle industry I feel strongly that the UCI should just open the flood gates and eliminate their weight restrictions. It would add a lot of excitement and innovation to the industry and the sport.
