Thoughts about road bike weight

[Ming the Merciless]

My biggest 'issue' with upgrading my 2011 Trek Madone is weight of current road bikes.

My Madone with DuraAce wheelset are both nearly a decade old now, the bike with 105 shifter + Ultegra mechs shift perfectly every time, and even after a recent 'off' everything still just works. The wheels still run true, and make the all important 'clack clack' noise when freewheeling to tell everyone your serious about your cycling .

The weight for the bike (58cm) including pedals + bottle cages.....7.8kg, and to my eye it still looks fantastic.

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I've been thinking about upgrading (don't we all), and the 2020 Domane looks lovely, though actually surprisingly similar in profile to my 2011 Trek??

https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/road-bikes/trek-domane-sl6-review/

But here is the real kicker, the cost of new bikes versus weight gains. Like you I was bought up with idea lighter = better, its the first thing I look at on any bike. I paid £750 for the Madone second hand back in 2013, the wheels were second hand for £300, so just over £1000 10 year ago. If I sold it now I would probably get £500 for it, a new Domane in decent spec is £3000+, so for a total cost increase of £2500 I get a bike a weight 2kg+ MORE

Now I get disc brakes weigh more, and aero weigh more, but paying so much extra cash for a heavier bike is something my brain cannot compute, the only option for me is to get a SLR branded frame, but than am into near five figure sums for a pedal bike.......Bare in mind my current Trek works perfectly and its still my legs which slows me down not the bike. Infact recently I've just hit my aim for the summer, to average 18mph over rolling terrain.

So instead of dropping £3k+ to swap out my decade old road bike for a HEAVIER new bike I've got old of a Ultegra crank set (used ofcourse), and will source some Ultegra shifters to put on my used bike with an aim of getting the weight down to 7.5kg, at which point that'll do me for next summer .

I think the 'best value' new bike is the Boardman 8.9 carbon, under £1k, lighter than a £3K Trek, with the money saved buy some good wheels (it really dose make a subjective difference!!) and your have change left over.

https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-slr-8-9c-2020-review/

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Two 750mL bottles of water and up to 9.4kg. Add a puncture repair kit, pump and spare tubes you are up to 10kg. Carry some food, up to 11kg. Plonk you on top up to 81kg or more etc..

 

[si_c]

Two 750mL bottles of water and up to 9.4kg. Add a puncture repair kit, pump and spare tubes you are up to 10kg. Carry some food, up to 11kg. Plonk you on top up to 81kg or more etc..

Ha for me add 97kg, plus tools, pedals etc and total weight on a 9kg bike is about 110kg, versus 108kg on a 7kg bike.

 

[gzoom]

Two 750mL bottles of water and up to 9.4kg. Add a puncture repair kit, pump and spare tubes you are up to 10kg. Carry some food, up to 11kg. Plonk you on top up to 81kg or more etc..

Still doesn't change the fact a £4K+ brand new Trek road bike weighs nearly 33% more than a Trek road bike from 2000....Its similar to cars now weighing more than cars from 2000, the difference been car engine outputs have gone up to match/keep the power/ton ratio the same but as far as am aware most of us aren't generating any more power from our legs now compared to in 2000 .

eBikes do make up the difference in weight though .

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Still doesn't change the fact a £4K+ brand new Trek road bike weighs nearly 33% more than a Trek road bike from 2000....Its similar to cars now weighing more than cars from 2000, the difference been car engine outputs have gone up to match/keep the power/ton ratio the same but as far as am aware most of us aren't generating any more power from our legs now compared to in 2000 .

eBikes do make up the difference in weight though .

or that the weight makes bugger all difference other than shortening the lifespan and cost.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Still doesn't change the fact a £4K+ brand new Trek road bike weighs nearly 33% more than a Trek road bike from 2000....Its similar to cars now weighing more than cars from 2000, the difference been car engine outputs have gone up to match/keep the power/ton ratio the same but as far as am aware most of us aren't generating any more power from our legs now compared to in 2000 .

eBikes do make up the difference in weight though .

Car weights going up is a scandal but that’s another thread.

 

[fossyant]

Wheels and tyres most important.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Ha for me add 97kg, plus tools, pedals etc and total weight on a 9kg bike is about 110kg, versus 108kg on a 7kg bike.

Indeed on a climb that takes an hour you might be 1 min quicker. On a 5 min climb, 3-5 seconds faster. Whoopee do.

 

[HLaB]

Listening to a podcast last night and the speaker said, if you can lose 2kg off the bike you'll gain seconds over 40km, but lose that same 2kg off the body you'll gain minutes 👍

 

[nickyboy]

Listening to a podcast last night and the speaker said, if you can lose 2kg off the bike you'll gain seconds over 40km, but lose that same 2kg off the body you'll gain minutes 👍

What a load of bollox. The only way this works is if the 2kg in bodyweight loss is accompanied by a substantial increase in fitness. Otherwise 2kg is 2kg

 

[HLaB]

What a load of bollox. The only way this works is if the 2kg in bodyweight loss is accompanied by a substantial increase in fitness. Otherwise 2kg is 2kg

I think he put it down to change of body shape and a smaller cda.

It was this guy and he got a pretty impressive cv/ client base.

https://scientifictriathlon.com/podcast/

 

[cougie uk]

I do like how my summer bike feels after a winter of heavy tyres and full mudguards.

Only thing is after 10 mins or so on the bike I've become accustomed to the weight. Same thing going back to the heavier winter bike.

Weight isn't the be all and end all. Not sure I've even bothered weighing any bike of mine.


You can't tell if you're bottles are full or not as you ride so that's a kilo to a kilo and a half that you'd never notice.

 

[Ridgeway]

Give me some aero vs weight saving any day (the chant of an unfit, over weight fella).

Pretty sure my bike now is about this -------------- heavy (honestly no idea) but i know i'm well over weight and well under fit however it's decently aero and on group rides is see the benefits in 80% of the riding, that uphill stuff however is only going to improve when my watts p/kg goes up.

Bike weight is not your only friend

 

[BalkanExpress]

The most important thing is to ride whatever makes you happy, especially if you are riding to get fit as this can be hard work and you will want to keep motivated.

Better a bike that weight a kilo or so more but which you want to ride even when it is cold and wet, than something lighter but which ends up on the shed all winter because it does not bring a spring to your step.

This is of corse totally subjective: try and get some test rides and go for the one that puts the biggest grin on your face.

 

[StuAff]

It's system weight that you need to think about, as others have stated. I've done a lot of climbing on bikes ranging from 12kg (and with a hinge in the middle) down to 7 or 8kg- and more often than not a fair weight of baggage as well. Not a problem with low enough gearing. Climbed Ditchling Beacon yesterday morning on the last stretch of the FNRttC from London. On my Litespeed, 9 or 10 kg at a rough guess, plus a pannier with all the usual spares etc, plus my work clothes (worked Friday night). Needed the 34x32 bottom gear, but that's what it's there for…

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Give me some aero vs weight saving any day (the chant of an unfit, over weight fella).

Pretty sure my bike now is about this -------------- heavy (honestly no idea) but i know i'm well over weight and well under fit however it's decently aero and on group rides is see the benefits in 80% of the riding, that uphill stuff however is only going to improve when my watts p/kg goes up.

Bike weight is not your only friend

Overweight riders are inherently less aerodynamic than slimmer ones. I say that as someone who could lose a stone myself, although I'm never going to be fast regardless as I'm not built like a racing cyclist even if I was at optimum weight.
Losing weight off a bike may make no difference to it's aerodynamic performance, but losing weight off the rider always will, regardless of whether they ride an aero bike or an old-school steel one with round frame tubes.