Hard Fit....

[Argos]

Hey there buddy. Lotsa polls, eh?

Could you, not in the form of a poll, structure a question for us that includes all of the materials you are interested in and what sort of issues you are running into?

Your polls are Vague, and I'm sure there is a good discussion somewhere in there.

I will tell you that at a certain quality level, the weight levels are never such a wide swing between frames being chosen for similar purposes......

Even if you are considering a Surly Steamroller v. a Scott CR-1

[Hard Fit]

Sorry for all the polls, but I couldn't think of any other way to do it. I was just curious to see if cyclists (at least on this forum) who ride a certain material bike frame, tend to be more or less weight conscious in their choice of a bike. I was trying to put it in a manner in which I think most of us buy a bike, ie. on the total weight. I am sure all of us at one time or another have gone to a bike shop and used weight as one determining factor in whether we were interesteed in a bike or not. I was also interested in seeing if there was some weight difference that we just say is too much. Or is there a weight in a bike that is just too heavy?

Really, I just thought it might be interesting.

[dave thompson]

It's been my experience reading this forum during its existence, that most all of us are not that weight conscious. Our bikes weigh what they weigh. We have a tendency to buy a bike that does what it does, whatever that may be, outfit it the way we feel best and don't concern ourselves too much about weight. Look at the number of us that use Brooks saddles, which are not high on the weight weenies chart.

I think that many of the forumites have more than one bike and their bikes may be quite different from each other. My example is an Ottrott and a Saluki. Two bikes different in purpose, characteristics and weight as night and day. I don't ride the Saluki around thinking 'dang this is heavy!', because the intended use of the Saluki is not as a fast bike. I would venture a guess that most normally equipped road bikes owned by the folks here would weigh between 17 ~ 21 pounds. My steel Kirk (60CM) fully road ready and equipped with triple running gear and a Brooks saddle weighed 21.75 pounds. My similarly equipped Ottrott, road ready, weighs about 19 pounds.

I don't recall any of my bike purchases being predicated on what it weighed. There are too many other factors to consider, with weight being far down on my list.

[The Spider]

that's it...most forum posters seem to have a purpose to each bike...or a theme...it could be "Italian masterpiece"; "handmade in the US of A", or 'grand tourer' and the frame and components are built up to make the picture.

Weight seems to form a small part of this picture.

Purity, purpose, performance...not pounds!

[scrooge]

Sorry for all the polls, but I couldn't think of any other way to do it. I was just curious to see if cyclists (at least on this forum) who ride a certain material bike frame, tend to be more or less weight conscious in their choice of a bike. I was trying to put it in a manner in which I think most of us buy a bike, ie. on the total weight. I am sure all of us at one time or another have gone to a bike shop and used weight as one determining factor in whether we were interesteed in a bike or not. I was also interested in seeing if there was some weight difference that we just say is too much. Or is there a weight in a bike that is just too heavy?

Really, I just thought it might be interesting.

An observation:
Actually, I suspect that many people that post here don't go to bike shops and buy complete bikes--therefore, complete bike weight is not so much an issue when selecting which bike to ride. My sense is that this crowd buys frame and forks alone, then picks out whatever little parts they want (with a particular focus on wheels) to make the bike they want. Therefore, weight is not so much an issue in the overall bike since the bike will tend to have the bits and pieces the said rider already prefers. Does that make sense?