Bicycle safety standards officially adopted in Russia

To determine compliance, the wheels will be tested for “fatigue”

A series of national standards, according to which the safety of bicycles will be determined, was recently adopted by the Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology (Rosstandart). The documents, in particular, determine what kind of tests the “iron horse” should be subjected to in order to find out that it does not pose a danger to those who ride it and those around them.

The standards prescribe the testing of both bicycles as a whole and their individual parts. For example, pedals are recommended to be tested for strength. To do this, they will need to be screwed to a rigid vertical support and a special drummer weighing 15 kg should be dropped onto them from a height of 40 cm.

In order to test the pedals for durability, they will need to be screwed to a rotating roller and weights hung on them, for mountain bikes – 90 kg, for all other types – 80 each. The pedals must remain intact after 100 thousand revolutions of the roller. Wheels should be tested not only for strength, but also for resistance to the “greenhouse effect”. To do this, they will be placed in a chamber with a temperature of 80 degrees for 4 hours.

To test for fatigue, the wheels will need to be spun with special drums with protrusions that simulate bumps on the roads. A good wheel will have to ride over the ledges 750 thousand times and remain intact.

Similarly, it will check the assembled bikes. To qualify as “safe”, a bike will have to pass brake, strength, fatigue, impact, and many other tests.

In addition, the developers of the standards indicated what should be the maximum height of the saddle of a safe bicycle – at least 63.5 mm. This is the general standard for city, mountain and racing bikes. For teenagers, stricter limits are set – from 63.5 to 75 cm.