Do You Care About Weight?

[tulip]

That's a nice bike, Aggie, and I love your new(ish) avatar! I have to chuckle, though, when people get so concerned about the weight of their bikes. True, lighter bikes make some difference sometimes, but as you and others have said, lighter people make more of a difference. I notice it--if I were to ride a featherweight carbon bike at my current weight, it wouldn't make as much of a difference as if I were to lose the 10 lbs that I've let pile on over the past year and ride my steel bike.

Once I lose those 10 lbs, then maybe I'll consider a lighter bike or components...but probably not since I'm not racing anymore.

Just sayin'.

[bellissima]

aggie, more power to you on getting a lighter bike. If you are racing your bike weight is important, also if you are a petite or light rider is even more important. Remember that weight to power ratio is the key for better climbing and most races are won on the hills. I do see the loose the weight argument, but I’ve also had a heavy bike before and when moved to a lighter bike, the improvement was immediate! Also the feeling of riding a light bike is awesome.

[Cataboo]

I try to balance weight with money with how much extra fat I have on myself.

My road bike is about 16 lbs and I then probably put about 4-5 lbs of accessories on it (water bottle cages, rear bag with tools & spare, pump, bento bag, lights). I could make that bike lighter by going to tubular wheels or dura ace components, and maybe I can shed a pound or two from the bike.. That's an outlay of probably a thousand or two or more to make a bike 2 lbs lighter... a bike that I put 5 lbs of accessories on and ride with way too much cellulite on me. So spending the money to get the bike lighter makes no sense. If I happen to see something lighter at a cheap/great price, I do buy it to swap on (a shorter seatpost, a carbon stem, what not).

I recently upgraded the fork on my mountain bike. My old fork was from like 1998. My new fork has lock out, disc brake whatevers, and is 6 ounces heavier than my old fork. I did while I was at it swap out to a lighter cassette (sram red's had been cheap on chainlove or something), put lighter tires on it (a friend that went 29er had given me all their old 26 tires), and took off the suspension seatpost and put a straight seatpost that I already had on it (it was hard getting the height right on the suspension)... So overall i did end up going lighter, but I did it at minimal expense. I'd love new wheels for the bike or a new crankset (that's what I'd need to really lighten it further) - but budget wise, it's not in the cards. If I see something pop up that will lighten it at a great price, i will probably grab it.

If I need something for comfort riding, I don't care how much it weighs, it's going on the bike. My ergo grips are probably heavy on my mountain bike - but hey, they let me ride with less hand issues.

[withm]

A very wise friend of mine has always stated that the day he starts worrying about the weight of his bike/wheels/ ______ (insert bike part here), he would stop eating Snickers bars.

[scarah]

Upgrading wheels will make quite a difference, the weight in the wheels rotates and takes a lot of power to keep them rotating. Loosing weight off the wheels and tires you use, will make a lot more difference than upgrading things like a stem, handlebars etc.

I have recently built up a 9.5kg hardtail, in comparison to my 12.5kg anthem it climbs like a dream. A major difference is that the wheelset and tires are significantly lighter, as well as the more efficient power transfer without rear suspension.

So my advice, upgrade wheels but you can slowly upgrade other parts if you feel like it later.

[gnat23]

A very wise friend of mine has always stated that the day he starts worrying about the weight of his bike/wheels/ ______ (insert bike part here), he would stop eating Snickers bars.

Hah! I call that the "Cheeseburger Rule". Sure, I could spend $300 to get rid of 200g from the bike, or I could just stop eating so many cheeseburgers.

It costs a decent amount of money to get the bike to a decent weight. After that, my rule of thumb is that once you get to about 20lbs on a road bike or 30lbs on a cross-country suspension mountain bike, figure $1000 per every pound removed after. (Maybe it's an exponential curve, too, given what the new McLaren Venge is going to cost...)

That being said, I have several ridiculously light bikes, and I *can* feel the difference. Not just in effort to climb, but in rotational momentum when you remove the weight from wheels and pedaling motions. Losing two pounds off the wheels feels much MUCH different than losing two pounds off your self.

-- gnat! (That, and it's kinda fun to watch people nearly launch your bike into space when they pick it up to put on a roof rack.)

[Aggie_Ama]

My husband is waiting on the same bike you recently added to your stable Gnat, it is going to be so insanely light compared to his Stumpjumper FSR 26er. I do love my Epic and even being the same weight as my Fisher it feels faster. Cannot wait to get the Industry Nine wheels in and shave over 2,000 grams off the clunky DT Swiss Wheels it has right now. Plus the DT Swiss don't do tubeless very well and tubeless is a must in Texas. I have had to re-add Stan's twice because they just don't seal as well.

[gnat23]

Cannot wait to get the Industry Nine wheels in and shave over 2,000 grams off the clunky DT Swiss Wheels it has right now. Plus the DT Swiss don't do tubeless very well and tubeless is a must in Texas. I have had to re-add Stan's twice because they just don't seal as well.

2000g == 4.4 pounds gone baby gone! Oh heck yah you are going to love the I9s sooo much! Don't be surprised if you accidentally pop a few wheelies the first times out.

Your hubby is going to love his new toy! Make sure you guys get out and play in the dirt as much as possible!

-- gnat!

[Aggie_Ama]

I think there is also a difference when you race. On my road bike I don't care, I ride it for fitness. It actually helps to have the extra weight if I want to do intervals. My mountain bike I like to go up and over things easy, I like to be head of the pack. So weight matters there.