Velo News on Bike Weight

[Fullylugged]

GPP has said as much on the Blug before, but it's nice to see it in the Zeitgiest as well. If a 160 lb rider on a 22lb bike wants a 10% improvement is climbing speed, you need to drop 18 lbs! Going from a Bombadil to a Pinarello Dogma won't get you there. (I don't think. It might be close).  Going on a diet and riding a lot of hills will though.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/08/news/bike-weight-myth-fast-bikes_339880

[Daniel D.]

But different things add up.  I mainly cruise my touring bike around everywhere now.  But on a local 3.7 mile climb that's a good benchmark where traffic is not a concern, when I dust off thy old ower end scott road bike my time will be  6-10 minutes faster than on the touring bike.  Some combo of position, weight, and pedals....  But the touring bike is so comfortable and fun to descend on I ride it more.

[Peter Adler]

If that 160 lb rider is much over 5'6", dropping to 142 lb will not improve his climbing speed. It may, however, prevent him from being able to get out of bed.

Peter Adler

who at the age of 18 went from 155 lb to 119 lb with undiagnosed Type 1 diabetes, and was most definitely not stronger when he finally crawled into an ER in

Berkeley, CA/USA

On Sunday, February 15, 2015 at 5:41:33 AM UTC-8, Fullylugged wrote:

[Kyle Brooks]

I read that article on VeloNews -- really just an excerpt from the book, "Faster" which is one I think I'd like to read. In any case, I wrote something about this idea on The Retrogrouch Blog last year. Not scientific, but just a comparison between two of my own bikes and my commute to work. The two bikes are pretty similar, but one is loaded up with bags, racks, fenders, lights, etc. all of which probably adds 15 lbs or so. I normally use the loaded one for my work commute, and it normally takes me about 50 minutes to ride the 13 miles to work. I achieved my best time, however, on the lighter bike -- 45 minutes for the same commute. However, that day, I had also managed to hit nothing but green lights the whole way to work. When I managed the same feat, all green lights, with the loaded bike, I came awfully close - 46 minutes. Again - it's more anecdotal than scientific, but in the end, I concluded that there are probably a lot of other things that make more difference than weight, and that being the case, it hardly makes sense to obsess about grams. If fenders, or racks/bags can improve our comfort and convenience, then they're worth whatever weight they add. It seems to me that a lighter bike "feels" faster, but the difference is more perception than reality. 

if interested, here's the link to the full article: http://bikeretrogrouch.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-tale-of-two-bikes.html

Kyle Brooks

Akron, OH

[Garth]

    Enjoy the ride  .  . . . regardless ;-)     The funny thing about "weighting" for Perfection - the perfect ride , the perfect moment , the perfect bike , the perfect body  .  . . .  . .is that it never really comes .  Oh yes . . . it seems to for a little while .  . . . but it quickly fades and the  "weight" continues  . . . . lol .   

   Heavvv-vy  . . . . sigh .  .  . . . 

   Fear not . .  . . fear nothing !  

 Ever noticed . . .  in Love . .  . .  time stands still and is ever "wait-less" ?    Material-ity feels weight-less ?     Yes . .  .  .  to ride for the Love of BEing Life itself nothing matters but the Joy of it . 

[Patrick Moore]

Kyle: I read your blog regularly; please start publishing twice a day.

Regarding bike weight: my own experience with a motley array of different bikes of different builds and qualities has been that weight is relatively unimportant when it comes to feeling (note that word) "spritely" or "lively" -- a notion that involves ease of pedaling and cadence in a given gear, so it's not purely mental smoke. I had an old Herse that was a tank as to weight (guesstimate 28 lb) but that from the first pedal stroke felt "fast". My erstwhile Sam Hillborne, no heavier, "felt" much slower; and even the very light framed, tout 531 '73 Motobecane didn't feel as spritely; very same tires, IRC Tandems, 30 mm. My current Ram, also not light at ~26 lb, feels fast, though this one has Parigi Roubaix tires on it. 

I wish I had an explanation for this phenomenon. I hesitantly guess that fit and geometry affect this perception.

One exception to the "weight no matter" rule: my Riv fixie gofast, at 17 1/2 lb and with 370 gram rims and 200 gram tires "seems" easier (measured by gearing -- slightly higher than other cruising gears at 75" -- and cadence) to push up hills; in fact, every time I decide I don't need a gofast and what I'll do is convert it to rack, lighting, 35+ mm tires, I ride up some hills and decide, "Damn! This is too good to relinquish!"

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[Patrick Moore]

OMMMM!

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[KB]

Thanks for the kind words, Patrick. Blogging part time - roughly 3 times per week - seems to be about all I can manage currently. About the different "feel" of those different bikes -- seems to support that there is more to the picture than just weight -- and it's hard to pin down what it is. Jan Heine has written a bit about the feel of different tires, as well as "planing" and how a bit of frame flex can make a bike feel fast. But even those things might not totally explain it. Just gives us more to think about.

Kyle Brooks

Akron, OH

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[bo richardson]

nice paint might be a factor
i remember a world class racing car driver who said
a good coat of turtlewax was good for 2mph at the top end
165 to 167 mph.
I remain confident that the nice thick paint on my Ram is a
contributing factor to my weekend 45 mile ride times remaining
somewhat consistent and even improving a bit over a five year period.

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

My thoughts on the matter:
http://hiawathacyclery.blogspot.com/2015/02/dont-worry-about-bike-weight.html

[KB]

Well said

Kyle Brooks

Akron, OH

On Thu, Feb 19, 2015 at 10:47 AM, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thil...@gmail.com> wrote:

My thoughts on the matter:
http://hiawathacyclery.blogspot.com/2015/02/dont-worry-about-bike-weight.html

[ted]

dead horse

[Chris Chen]

IT'S NOT DEAD YET KEEP BEATING

and when we're done I have a bike shed to paint, need help choosing colors!

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[Justin August]

SPLATTER PAINT MTB STYLE

-J