Well, I made the mistake of purchasing a fish scale and weighing my bikes recently... The lightest I had was ~20 lbs, fixed gear at that, and there I was thinking it was crazy light. But they are all ~ 59 cm frames and threaded steerer forks with tall stems, fattish tires, and no krazy karbon bits (even the pair of carbon wheels I have are super deep and weigh ~1,500 g). Guess what – my fastest times up some local "climbs" are on the lightest of my bikes, especially when I am running the aero wheels. No surprises there. The nicest "feeling" bike is my fixed gear – until the week that a dirt road gets re-graded, and then the skinny 30 mm tires make it a bit too... under-bikey. An
Anyhow, I think it's fun to consider what weight savings can be obtained. People have almost always made the mistake of conflating safety with weight or comfort with weight or reliability with weight. If you read Henry Ford's biography, he talks about this quite a bit, and one of the greatest things he accomplished for breaking that conventional trade-off was to use lighter, yet stronger steel alloys. The cars got lighter, they became more reliable, less expensive to operate, etc. Much the same thing happened when people started drawing lightweight steel tubes for bicycles – using heavier-walled gas pipe does nothing to help your bike be more enjoyable, comfortable, or reliable. Same with pneumatic tires – lighter weight, more comfort than solid rubber tires. So, let's consider the extra weight carried by some of the "comfort / utility" driven components and decide if it's worth it... Some ballpark numbers, give or take: Kickstand – 0.5 lb to take it off – I rarely find kickstands increasing my enjoyment of cycling. Tires – 0.3 lbs for lighter (35 mm) tires – lightweight tires *can* be more comfortable and faster rolling! Dyno – 0.6 lb to switch to regular front hub – hey, 3-10 watt savings in drag right there! Lights – 0.5 lb to switch to battery powered LEDs – same brightness, less weight, less bulk, occasional charging, why not? Bars – 0.5 lb to switch to lighter (e.g., straight bar) – some people find non-sweepy bars more comfortable, believe it or not! Saddle – 1 lb to switch to modern plastic / carbon saddle – some modern saddles are remarkably good! Seatpost – 0.25 lb for lighter options – as long as it doesn't brake and puts your saddle in the right position... Cranks – 0.5-1 lb to switch to lighter crank & bb (e.g., SRAM Red) – it just works. Cassette & Derailleur – 0.5-1 lb differential for some combos – lighter bike, now you can pedal bigger gears for those hills! Everything else on a "diet" (brakes, headset, bell, skewers, levers, shifters, etc.) can be futzed with to get another pound. So, I think you can get things lighter weight, down to about 24 lbs, with those substitutions, and it wouldn't even cost you any net extra, if you sell the items you substitute – may even come out cash positive. William Lindsey has a thread about making his Legolas sub-20 lbs with conventional components. The only real difference from his build and what the above substitutions would produce is that the Legolas frame & fork & stem combo would shave ~2-3 lbs more of yours. But just having lighter and skinnier tires will make it feel a lot sprightlier. - Max "going fast is also fun!" in A2 On Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 6:41:38 PM UTC-4 Roberta wrote: > Jason, > > I often wonder how much of my lightening up project (I only did what was > practical) that brought me so much more joy in riding was that I got better > rims and tires, so the bike just rode better. Many people in my original > thread pointed that out. I'm still glad I did the full project, but none > of us here are weight weenies--we ride Rivs, happily, after all. > > Roberta > > On Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 5:49:06 PM UTC-4 Jason Fuller wrote: > >> Very nice! I had the same thing happen with the Nitto parts bin :) >> >> Weight plays a surprisingly small part of the experience of riding a >> lighter bike. Most of the benefit of the lighter tubing is how it performs >> due to the thinner wall thickness (resulting in a "snappy" feel from light >> flexing), and the geometry differences between the two. The few ounces >> saved in the process are quite secondary. >> >> That said, the same logic tends to apply to other parts - even though the >> mass difference might not do a lot by itself, it can result in a quicker >> action (ie a derailleur with less inertia to its moving parts) or better >> feel (ie less rotating mass in your wheels, reducing the gyroscopic effects >> fighting your steering input) >> >> On Tuesday, 26 July 2022 at 04:45:30 UTC-7 Steve Cole wrote: >> >>> Deepak, >>> What a wonderful ride. I have both a Homer (Toyo) and an Atlantis >>> (MIT). I love them both. First, I wonder whether the under-25 pounds >>> figures you have seen are for Toyo (1st gen) or Waterford (2nd gen) Homers. >>> They had different geometry and used different tubes that may explain the >>> gap between your 28# and the 25# yo've seen. >>> >>> Second, I often think about replying to questions about how one might >>> cut the weight of their bike but have never replied. I strongly believe >>> how one builds their bike, the components they select, should reflect its >>> intended primary use. If going as fast as you can (e.g., racing) is >>> paramount, cutting weight without sacrificing strength, handling or safety >>> is sensible. On the other hand, as is the case for me, if you ride for >>> exercise, fun and health, I can't think of a good reason to look for ways >>> to pare the bike's weight. How much bike/rider weight you push around, as >>> Grant Peterson has noted, is mostly a reflection of the rider's weight even >>> in your case. In addition, pushing around a 25# bike is a weight savings >>> to you of only about 1.5% of total (bike+rider) weight. While this is >>> pretty negligible, the added weight should be better for health, strength, >>> stamina, etc. Not much better, I admit, but this thinking has stopped me >>> from focusing on weight and not the joy of riding. >>> >>> I don't know whether this is any help. I hope so. >>> Steve Cole >>> Arlington, Virginia >>> >>> On Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at 5:19:01 AM UTC-4 brendonoid wrote: >>> >>>> Your Homer looks perfect and I would second everything that Roberta has >>>> just said. >>>> Looking at your build in that photo the only things you could lose >>>> weight on are all utility comfort things. >>>> The saddle, Dyno, kickstand and brass bell are all weight saving >>>> opportunities but also things that I personally would consider 'worth the >>>> weight'. >>>> >>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/ba62bdfd-a6d7-4d76-97d0-6d2b7412d0dan%40googlegroups.com.
