Is it ok to lift a road bike by one of the aluminium seat stays? Yesterday I realised I was doing this when inspecting the rear derailleur during a ride (front of the bike facing down, all the weight on one seat stay) and afterwards it got me a bit worried that I might have bent/damaged something. Bike is Cannondale CAAD12, total weight around 9kg. Just have no idea how strong these seat stays are and what they are capable of. Thank you for your answers :).
1 Answer
If it can hold your weight while sitting on it, then it should definitely be OK to lift the bike from it.
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+1. I hang my freeride bike (17kg) by the seat all year long, so you don't need to worry.– BorissovJun 9, 2016 at 8:43
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3@Boris The seat stays are the tubes that run diagonally from below the saddle to the rear axle, so hanging the bike by its seat doesn't seem directly relevant (in that case, most of the weight would be taken by the seat post and seat tube, the one running from the saddle down to the bottom bracket). Jun 9, 2016 at 11:13
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All right, my bad. Then I'm not sure the question is relevant, especially on a road bike (no rear suspension).– BorissovJun 9, 2016 at 11:26
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4Exactly this. The seat stays take a lot more stress from hitting a bump with you on the bike (even if you're "light" over the bump) than they ever will from you lifting the whole bike by the stay. (Granted, there's a difference between compression and tension loading, but the magnitude of the forces is significantly different.) I wouldn't pick the bike up by a derailleur, chain (you'll get dirty!), brake/shifter cable or lever, but beyond that I think you're pretty safe in hoisting it by whatever is convenient and won't rotate in an uncontrollable manner.– FreeManJun 9, 2016 at 12:42