Bike weight important or not

I have read several articles on paper and the internet about the weight of a bike and the practical noticeable differences (none according to the cycling magazines and webarticles) when riding on flat roads.

I realize that there is some debate on the moving and non moving parts of the bike, but in this aspect it's just the total weight of the bike that my q'n is for.

What puzzles me is the following:
Example 1: Imagine that you put a backpack on and put several waterbottles in it and start walking, cycling whatever.
When you put it of you back you will notice a difference when doing the same thing when you had it on your back.
Example 2: Imagine 2 identical cars and one is lighter than the other. The lightest car runs more fuel efficient than the heavier one.

According to the articles they say that a light bike and a bike (or the parts on the bike) that is heavier (about 1 to 3 kg's) there is no practical gain or anything that you will notice when riding either bikes.
I find that hard to believe and there for i would like to know if any of you gals can help me with this q'n.

My personal info is that i ride a specialized allez alu bike, i'm light build, i ride always allone and on flat roads (there are no hills where i live) with the wind (head/tail/side) as my companion. I don't do competition and my usual ride is anything between 50 and 80 miles a day.

To sum it: will i notice any diffirence on the road or my performance when i would theoretically would switch to a light(er) bike than i now have.

Can anybody throw in some light regarding this issue based on articles or on practical experience.

Lets hear it.

Whenever I ask DH about this he tells me that I'd be better to skip my bowl of icecream than to buy a lighter bike :)

I would think it depends on how heavy the bicycle is to begin with, and how much weight is actually being taken off.

The bottles on your back are heavy with water and when you take them off you feel a big difference. But if you were only carrying a vial of water in your back jersey pocket, how much difference would you notice? Enough to pay an extra $1000 to lose it?

Some people might notice that vial and be willing to upgrade to get it off their back. Others wouldn't know it was there even if somebody removed it so they could compare the before and after.

(This is all purely conjecture. I don't do numbers and I'm not even a good rider. Yet!)

Bike weight can be a very sensitive issue for some. Some people spend A LOT of money to reduce their bike weight by GRAMS. Personally, i agree, it is much cheaper to deal with our own body weight before the bike weight (and better for youe health too! a bonus!) But that can be difficult for some people to ehmm, swallow :rolleyes:

Some cheap ways to reduce bike weight - around the wheel, the tires and tubes (ie outer circumference) will affect the rolling resistance and angular momentum more than the hub, which is actually more expensive to "lighten up" So spending a little more of a lighter tube and tire will help.

You can spend a little more on seat post and handlebars to save a bit of weight.

I find anything else after that, and you are starting to spend big $$ on little weight savings.

I lost 13 pounds last year and found a HUGE difference on the bike. and my bike was actually HEAVIER than it was because my husband "pimped it up" and put on heavier wheels (as it turned out) than were on it originally. But i was riding faster because of my lighter body.

Smile
Han

I chuckle at some of the weight "savings"...For example, when I'm buying a saddle, the last thing I consider is the weight of the saddle. Trust me, with my tush, a savings of 150g is just not going to be noticed :o

That said, I can see a difference between riding my 30lb hybrid and my 22lb road bike. However, it isn't the weight, it is the hybrid tires are heavier and have more rolling resistance.

The weight tends to only be a penalty climbing and starting up. Once you're moving well, it is the wind resistance you are fighting. The bicycle's greatest adversary is slicing through the air and, well, it isn't so much the bike that gets in the way as the rider.

Even with respect to climbing I read a statistic that said that a 5 lb weight penalty adds only 30 seconds to a 5km climb at 7%. If you're a racer, then playing weight games make sense. If you ride for enjoyment, find the bike that fits and you like to ride and, when all things are equal, then choose the lighter component (e.g., han-grrl's suggestions).

I'm not an experienced cyclist by any means, so can only comment on a comparison of two bikes, one being my son's mountain bike and my own racer. Son's mountain bike. Once round the block and yours truly has rubber legs. In a nutshell, it kills me. On my racer I can cycle for quite a few miles (getting better all the time:D ). The racer is a much lighter bike than my son's mountain bike - and it is very noticeable. In my case, it is not due to body weight as I weigh 6 1/2 stone (about 91 lbs - you could say I'm a flea weight). I had one of those luggage racks on the back of my bike and took it off last week as I didn't like or use it anyway. Even taking that off I found made a difference to my bike. I actually wonder what it would be like to ride a bike even lighter than the one I've got. Also just discovered there is a fairly new dedicated bike shop in town. Guess where I'm going tomorrow;)

As Thorn said, the weight difference will be noticeable mostly in climbing and acceleration. Since you live in the flats, your difference will be in how quckly you can accelerate your bike. A racer would refer to that as "jump", how quickly you can accelerate into a sprint. Or how soon you can reach full speed from a stop. How responsive the bike feels to your immediate input. And most of what you feel in acceleration is from the bike's "turning weight", the weight on the rims and tires.

Backpackers rightfully place alot of emphasis on pack weight, but that weight is carried on the person's body, straining shoulders and backs and stressing knees when hiking downhill. Plus, every step results in a bit of up and down movement, so the weight is lifted a couple inches with each step, even on the level. With a bike, the weight is carried on the wheels, and the weight gets lifted only on an uphill.

I think your body weight in relation to those you are riding with counts for more then the weight of the bike. However, if you are already as thin as you can get then the bike is the one that must lose weight. Or you could just work on getting stronger, as a woman your muscle weight gain should be minimal compared to the benefits you reap from those few pounds. Also remember that gearing is very important to speed on flats and climbs. Pick the wrong gear and a 14 pound bike is going to feel heavier then a 20 pound bike geared right. So much of the cycling we do is based on our individual bodies not the 1000 different bikes and weights.

I agree that the main difference is in climbing, and that in any case the aerodynamics of you + bike is more important than the weight on the flats.

I agree with Limewave's DH theory: it's better to eat less icecream (or one less toast) than to try to shave grams.

However, the lighter you are, the more difference it makes. A 5 lbs difference is 5% of a 100-lbs person's body weight. You wouldn't that person to loose five pounds. That's the thing with racing cyclist, especially pros. You wouldn't want these guys to cut in their own weight, they'd disappear!!

In other words: your mileage may vary.

Adding to the chorus, not to worry too much about the weight of your bike.

I had a friend who raced. One day out on a training ride, he came upon this guy. Pulled up next to him and tried to strike a pleasant conversation and the guy was not too amused with my friend. My friend noticed that the fat-tub-o-lard had a lightest of everything on the bike. And they were climbing hills. The guy appearently was really rude to my friend, so my friend said "hey I know what you can do to go faster" to which the guy said "huh?" My friend grabbed the guys seat post shook the jerks bike pretty hard and said "LOSE SOME WEIGHT" and sprinted up the hill. My friend was a seniors CAT-2 at the time.

If you are bit overweight. Skip that icecream, treats...

If you want to "jump" out of a corner, then you will notice a difference with lighter mass wheels as DebW says.

I think its silly to use titanium skewers, titanium bolts and what not. If you are that rich I guess you could be dumb about spending money.

BTW, I told my friend that what he did wasn't nice. Just enjoy the bike you have lose a pound and you'll be saving thousands of $$$

Speaking of whjich I need to lose ahem cough cough pounds...

Good reply's ;)

Many times it's good to read other people opinions it keeps me standing firmly with two feet on the ground/pedals.

Although it is tempting for obvious reasons to 'update' the bike to unrealistic level it's the daily practice from so many and there experiences that gives a good eye on how it really works.

I'm am light build and can shave of a few pounds although it is not what i seek to do and my fat level is on the low side of what is considered ok. So there i don't find the gain, and eating the nice, but wrong things in life that put's on the pounds is again not on my menu so there for my q'n was with a reason.

I do know that i can gain more muscle, and this is what i try to put in in my daily fitness which will hopefully benefit my in riding. My riding is just for fun although very seriously i don't ride working day's and it is strictly weekends or just one day in the weekend i try to ride with different l levels of intensity to bring in the variation to keep things fun and hopefully some gain in performance.

Although wheels are a big factor to make/brake the balance of a bike they are not the magic stick in getting faster as many of you said.

One thing that keeps coming back is that the human factor is the biggest gain in performance and when that is to a level where little gain can be found maybe just maybe the eye can be turned to the bike and see if there is something to be found and very important at what price.

Thanks everybody for sharing your thoughts on this issue i'm back on planet earth again :D