Live weight or dead weight

[Pale Rider]

Is live weight the same as dead weight?

I don't think so.

In my experience, losing two or three kilos from the weight of the bike makes a big difference to the ride.

But losing two or three kilos from my admittedly not particularly svelte frame makes very little difference.

So my conclusion is dead weight is harder to lug around than the equivalent amount of live weight.

Right or wrong?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

And yet for some odd reason, kids are so much easier to carry about when they are asleep than when they are awake...

(for me it is the opposite - loosing it from me make much more difference than from the bike). It is also cheaper...

 

[Mo1959]

I can only compare with how I felt last summer when I was around 8 stone 4lbs and how I feel just now at 8 stone 13lbs. I definitely find my cycling harder work and really must get it back down.....and as Emma says, it is so much cheaper than buying a new lightweight bike!

 

[young Ed]

not sure on live vs dead but i do know that rolling vs stationary weight is a big difference
your wheels are a rolling weight and your frame is a stationary weight and due to some physics a 500g lighter wheelset will affect your performance more than a 500g lighter frame
thus why so many people up grade wheels
Cheers Ed

 

[jazzkat]

As Ed say's often if it's from the bike the bike will 'feel' different - more responsive/twitchier.
But...... I know having lost a good bit of weight that I fly up hills now compared to how I used to ride them.

 

[Kies]

Changed my wheels recently and the bikes feels livlier, but i find cycling harder after mysteriously gaining 10 lbs over winter .... It's getting easier, as the weather has improved

 

[Kies]

Changed my wheels recently and the bikes feels livlier, but i find cycling harder after mysteriously gaining 10 lbs over winter .... It's getting easier, as the weather has improved

 

[Steady]

I've never tried to make a bike lighter, but I have tried to make my heavy self lighter, and last year I did noticed a significant speed difference after a winter of no cycling, but dropping 5kg, and I was noticibly going up hill quicker.

This year I swapped for a lighter bike so any speed gain is just cheating to say it was weight off me.

 

[400bhp]

It'll be more to do with the centre of gravity and the shift of it when losing weight from here or there.

 

[winjim]

I would think that any loss of weight from yourself would come with the additional benefit of increased general fitness and muscle tone.