I know that most of you on here always say it is the engine and not the bike and I totally agree. My question is how many of you are secretly weight weenies. How many of you have that special ride in the garage that you would love to weigh as little as possible without compromising the ride too much. Do you lust after that 150g seat post, those 185g bars or those 380g forks.
Does this addiction only apply to your road bike or does this addiction apply to all your rides.
I know there are a lot more people on this site that have this addiction than they really want to admit.
I have to say this “I am a bike addict and a weight weenie”. It feels so good to get that out. I also have a good collection of runners and swim caps (have to throw that in there as it is not all about the bike)
I am an uncloseted shoe weight weenie! I wear relatively heavy Kayano’s to train in, but when it’s race time, I’m all about weight. Being that I’m qualified as clydesdale, this is likely silly, but still, gotta have the light kicks. If I could find them, I’d race grass courses in my old white Nike track spikes that I used to race cc in. Loved those shoes, but my Asics magic racers aren’t bad. Too poor to be a bike weight weenie even if I wanted to be.
Now that I have a dedicated tri bike and road bike the weight obsession has begun- Currently I am on a serotta Nove and it is getting carbon cranks for christmas it has easton circuits, carbon bars are next then we shall see or yea I ordered an SLR carbonio. After the upgrades I will let you know the weight. my guess 16.5 lbs?
I’ve got a Trek 5500 road bike with DA 9 speed, Bontrager Race X-Lite wheels and Speedplay pedals. Tips the scale just over 16 lbs. (Might go under 16 if I’d clean it.) I dropped some coin on Zerogravity brakes and an FSA carbon compact crank. Thumbs up on the crank decision. Thumbs down on the brakes. Weren’t worth the money.
I don’t think one qualifies as a weight weenie if a) they’re fit … with a low body fat percentage and b) they live in or near hilly or mountainous terrain that they ride with regularity. If one meets those criteria, they’re justified in lightening their wallet to lighten their bike.
Same here. The Dual is getting some of the parts that were on my Giant (Ultegra). The Giant just got a F99 stem, Easton Carbon bars, Easton forks, a new Carbon seatpost and some new Xero XR 1 rims. Should be getting pretty light.
Have to agree. Living on the West Coast there is a hill around every corner near my home. I have a 400 meter hill that is 24% grade. That is a great hill to work on climbing. Also have the North Shore Mountains to climb that take a lot longer to climb.
If you’re a logical thinking person weight isn’t a huge issue within reason. Go on the analytic cycling site and plug in a few numbers if you have any doubt. A lb or two won’t make that much difference.
Compared to aerodynamics, weight isn’t very significant for performance except on steep hills and even then you still have to consider it’s about your weight plus the weight of the bike. It’s a lot cheaper to lose a couple of lbs off your body than the bike. You also run into the possibility of “stupid light” components that sacrifice reliability.
It doesn’t make a lot of sense IMO to spend a lot of big $$$$ to save a few hundred grams. My P2K is about 20/21 lbs and my Lemond road bike about 18.5 lbs. No need to fret about getting lighter.
You are right, from a purely objective standpoint. I kind of evolved into getting my bike as light as it is, I didn’t set out to make it as light as possible. Just that when presented a choice between replacing a component with a heavy one or a light one, I chose the light one. I could have gone lighter, but I was worried about durability.
Oh yeah, the road bike is the only one that this applies to. my TT bike weighs around 20-21 lbs, and my other road bike weighs 23lbs.
edit: just weighed the TT bike, it is 19.5 lbs with cheap Rolf Vector wheels and wire beaded tyres. It will probably be a bit lighter than that with the trispokes.
i just bought a new road bike and it’s already hovering just about 16 lbs w/ everything. can’t wait to weigh it with the new wheels/crankset/seat post/ and new group.
I’M OBSESSED.
specialized tarmac (full carbon frame and fork)
alien carbon seat post
easton ascent wheels
dura ace 10 group set/cranks/pedals
specialized s works stem and handlebars
specialized toupe saddle (sub 150g)
I agree about the replacing of parts. I am taking a bunch of parts off of the Giant and they will be either going on the Dual but most of the parts will be going on my new cross bike. I could have bought some lower quality parts for the cross bike but thought that I would upgrade the parts for the Giant and put the olders parts on the cross bike.
I am pretty lucky as most of the people that I deal with for getting bike parts are friends so they do not cost a ton. About a little more than half of retail. Makes upgrading a bit easier to deal with.
My softride power V tips the scale at ~23.5 lbs. (with look ergostem) But I think that this was partially made up for by losing 20 lbs of of my body weight between IMAZ and IMF.
BTW I will be riding a Yaqui Mariola (no ergostem needed due to shorter head tube) in '06. I am sure that it should be lighter.
The weight on the body is falling off with a better more rounded eating habit and when I start to gear up the training again I am sure that I will lose the rest pretty quick. The body is a work in progress just like the bike and the engine.
Starting in January it will all be about power to weight ratio. The body will get lighter, the bike will get lighter and the body will get stronger and faster. Every little bit helps.
