Buying & Ownership
Maximum total weight
What does Maximum total weight mean?
The heaviest a bicycle may be with the bike, rider and cargo added together. Also called gross vehicle weight. Unlike payload, it includes the bike itself.
Maximum total weight is the maker’s limit for the bike, the rider and everything carried, added together. Trek states it in exactly those words on the FX+ 2 Midstep: a maximum total weight limit of 300 lb (136 kg), the combined weight of bicycle, rider and cargo, checked November 11, 2026.
How is it different from payload?
Payload leaves the bike out, and maximum total weight counts it. That difference is the bike’s own weight, and on an e-bike it is large. Trek lists the FX+ 2 Midstep at 25.2 kg in size M, so 136 kg minus 25.2 kg leaves 110.8 kg (244 lb) for you, your clothes and your bags. Read as a payload, the same 136 kg would suggest 25.2 kg more capacity than the bike has.
Makers use both terms, and some don’t say which they mean. Tern calls its figure “Max Gross Vehicle Weight” and lists 210 kg (463 lb) on the GSD S10. Aventon prints “Total Weight Limit” without defining it.
It matters because a heavier bike quietly uses up more of the limit. Our guide to how much electric bikes weigh lists 15 current bike weights to subtract from it.
Also known as: maximum total weight, gross vehicle weight, total weight limit