Weight limits for bicycles need to be higher and more transparent, especially if the majority of people want to use them.

  • Cort@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    28
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    3 months ago

    where significantly fewer people are overweight or obese

    Hey, not sure if you’re getting your numbers from the article, but you may want to double check.

    40% of Asia is overweight or obese and over 50% of Europe is overweight or obese, with USA at 75%. (Sourced from WHO)

    Also, just an aside: the USA is the smallest of these three by population, so the total number of overweight or obese people in Europe vs USA (240-250M)is fairly close even though the percentages are higher.

    • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      A good point, but from the article it sounds like the demographic for which this would be a problem is 300lbs+. The proportion of people meeting the criteria for being overweight is in the same ballpark, but I wonder if maybe there’s a more skewed distribution of people who are overweight enough to exceed the safety margin of a standard bicycle.

      • Cort@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        3 months ago

        I think it starts to be more of a problem around 230-250lbs. Like they mentioned in the article, the bikes are often listed at a total weight capacity, meaning rider + cargo, with most brands at or below 300lbs. If the rear rack is meant to hold 40lbs and maybe 5lbs of accessories and water bottles then add 20lbs for a front rack/panniers; your getting into the close to the rider weight limit by being anything more than a little overweigh.

        • isaaclyman@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          edit-2
          3 months ago

          It’s worse than that, even. Some brands (like Tern) go by gross vehicle weight, meaning rider + cargo + bike. And their most popular bike is 75 pounds.

          It’s not as much of a problem for Tern specifically because their bikes are rock solid (I’m very big and tall and don’t have a problem with mine) but still a confusing way to measure.