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Monty Montgomery
July 17th 03, 01:58 PM
On one of OLN's breaks, they stated one of the rider's bikes had to have
weight added to it (heavier seat post) because it was too light.

Is this true?
Is there a minimum bike weight?
If so, what is it?
If so, why?
Thanks
Monty

Qui si parla Campagnolo
July 17th 03, 02:09 PM
<< Is this true?-yes
Is there a minimum bike weight?-yes
If so, what is it?-6.8kg
If so, why?-who knows... >><BR><BR>


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Antti Salonen
July 17th 03, 02:10 PM
Monty Montgomery > wrote:

> On one of OLN's breaks, they stated one of the rider's bikes had to have
> weight added to it (heavier seat post) because it was too light.
> Is this true?

Yes. It was Team Saeco's new Cannondale.

> Is there a minimum bike weight?

Yes.

> If so, what is it?

6.8 kilograms (15.0 pounds), including at least pedals and bottle cages.

> If so, why?

I would imagine that the reason is the same why there are pretty strict
regulations about other aspects of the bikes. Road cycling regulations
want to emphasize the man over the machine. I think it also has a
safety benefit, as there's no incentive to use _seriously_ light fragile
equipment. I doubt many bikes weigh much more than 7 kilograms in the
mountain stages, but you could build sub-6 kg bikes out of standard
components, if you really wanted to.

-as

Morten
July 17th 03, 02:11 PM
Hi!

The Saeco riders were riding the new Cannondale (CAAD 8 I believe) which
weighs some 6,6 kg. The minimum weight allowed - by UCI - is 6,8 kg. This
limit is set for security reasons. There is some concern that the bike
becomes too fragile if the tube walls are made too thin.
If you saw the first mountain stage in the Alps you may have noticed that
the Saeco riders were wearing white jerseys instead of their normal red
ones. The white jerseys had the text "Legalize my Cannondale" printed on
them.

You can read more on Cannondales web site.

Morten

"Monty Montgomery" > wrote in message
...
> On one of OLN's breaks, they stated one of the rider's bikes had to have
> weight added to it (heavier seat post) because it was too light.
>
> Is this true?
> Is there a minimum bike weight?
> If so, what is it?
> If so, why?
> Thanks
> Monty
>
>

Jonathan v.d. Sluis
July 17th 03, 05:47 PM
Qui si parla Campagnolo > schreef in berichtnieuws
...
> << Is this true?-yes
> Is there a minimum bike weight?-yes
> If so, what is it?-6.8kg
> If so, why?-who knows... >><BR><BR>

The limit was established for safety reasons; lighter bikes would be too
unsafe to ride, or so is assumed. The exact limit itself was established by
weighing all bikes and then designating the lowest weight as the limit. I
don't know when this happened, or which bike was the lightest (if I remember
correctly, this last bit was kept secret). So it's a very arbitrary limit,
which explains the anger of the Saeco team. But I suppose there's no way of
measuring safety, and it is certainly possible to make a heavier and at the
same time more 'dangerous' bike. Perhaps the limit will be lowered in the
near future.

Jonathan.

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