A bored at work ramble

[johnniecakes]

Just a ramble going through my head. There is a thread elsewhere about butting Ti tubing which got me thinking about my weekend. I carried by Ti Dean out the door thinking about how light it feels compared to a few others I also ride. Then I proceeded to go back into the house and grab 2 full water bottles, a phone, a pair Northwave shoes, my helmet, seatbag with tube and inflator, the blinky rear light and the small ID wallet I carry. The irony of all had me thinking about my nice light bike and then all the additional weight that the other stuff added. When I think about it from non cyclist view I chuckle about spend lots of dollars on bike to save weight that gets coupled with a 165 Lb rider and 3-5 Lbs of other stuff. The 2 or 3 pounds saved on the bike is 1 to 2 percent of the total weight of the package. For a non-competitive rider seems silly to spend the money, which I do happily and frequently.

[Kirk007]

Agreed. Grams are grams at some level and on long climbs I think there's at least a teensy bit of mental advantage to being confident that you've lightened up the bike, but having climbed Ventoux, Stelvio, Gavia and dozens of smaller climbs in France and Italy last month, I can confidently say that for most of us saving a few grams on the bike is trivial compared to the rider's fitness, weight, age and genetic gifts.

[Clean39T]

True story. Folks obsess over grams on their bike, then think little of the weight of their kit, shoes, helmet, food, water, bottles, repair kit, or smart phone...

To wit: https://cyclingtips.com/2017/05/elit...eight-weenies/

"At just 55g, the Elite Fly Team water bottle boasts a 24g advantage over a standard Specialized bottle, and its comparable pricing more than satisfies the $1-per-gram rule by which many weight weenies abide."




** note the Vecchios bottle..

[Andy sti]

What if I've maximized my fitness and weight?

For my normal riding the weight doesn't matter - to an extent. For racing it does, however. We have a road race that finishes with a 50ish min climb. 1 kilo can be a 1 min difference.

[Spaghetti Legs]

I try to have a large BM before important rides.

[peanutgallery]

Please report to the corner office ASAP

Originally Posted by johnniecakes

Just a ramble going through my head. There is a thread elsewhere about butting Ti tubing which got me thinking about my weekend. I carried by Ti Dean out the door thinking about how light it feels compared to a few others I also ride. Then I proceeded to go back into the house and grab 2 full water bottles, a phone, a pair Northwave shoes, my helmet, seatbag with tube and inflator, the blinky rear light and the small ID wallet I carry. The irony of all had me thinking about my nice light bike and then all the additional weight that the other stuff added. When I think about it from non cyclist view I chuckle about spend lots of dollars on bike to save weight that gets coupled with a 165 Lb rider and 3-5 Lbs of other stuff. The 2 or 3 pounds saved on the bike is 1 to 2 percent of the total weight of the package. For a non-competitive rider seems silly to spend the money, which I do happily and frequently.

[johnniecakes]

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

Please report to the corner office ASAP

Again ??

[russd32]

I could not agree more. For non-racers like myself who could stand to shed plenty of weight there is really no sense in fretting over gear weight. Any high quality bike/part/gear will be lightweight enough that it's not going to be my limiter.

But....shiny stuff is fun so I won't act like I've never spent more to get less.

[bicycletricycle]

I guess lighter is always lighter. If you decide this is important than go for it.

[Lanternrouge]

Originally Posted by russd32

But....shiny stuff is fun so I won't act like I've never spent more to get less.

True dat. This "shiny" stuff is just bling for bike dorks. It's cool is a perfectly valid reason to get something ATMO.

[93KgBike]

Even cargo-bikes have a gram-saver category if you can believe it; while there may be cargo-bike races, I don't think cargo-bike racer is a label that can exist; the sponsor would have to be chaos itself.

[nmrt]

I absolutely do not subscribe to this x% of the total weight line of thought.
You can be 500 lbs but a bike that is 19 lb will feel much different than a bike that is 14.5 lb.

End of story.

[Kirk007]

Originally Posted by nmrt

I absolutely do not subscribe to this x% of the total weight line of thought.
You can be 500 lbs but a bike that is 19 lb will feel much different than a bike that is 14.5 lb.

End of story.

I don't think the original observation was concerning 4.5 pound differences as opposed to the small incremental differences that we can obsess over and that can get lost in the noise of the rest of the kit/accesssory package.

EE brakes are a good example I think (I shelled out cash for a pair so I have some skin in this example). While lighter than Dura Ace 9100, and pads marginally easier to replace given the absence of the set screw, the dollar/gram/effectiveness equation really doesn't make sense to me.

Nothing against striving for lightness but when talking grams rather than kilos I think the difference is insignificant given everything else going on for most riders, at least it is for me. Andy's example - when racing and with long climbs or a hilly course, is to me the most common example of where it could matter to the average Paceline rider.

[Peter P.]

Originally Posted by johnniecakes

... For a non-competitive rider seems silly to spend the money, which I do happily and frequently.

It's also silly for the competitive rider.

[FlashUNC]

Weight doesn't matter until it does. Aero doesn't matter until it does.

Really just comes down to when it matters for you.