Road bike weight

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Prove this to yourself: Run up a flight of stairs. Then run up a flight of stairs carrying a wheel. Finally, run up a flight of stairs carrying a spinning wheel. You get the idea: The weight of the wheel, spinning or not, has very little effect compared to what it takes to accelerate your body.

The other and more important reason the effects of rotation matter little is because we don't accelerate much. If you are doing kilos on a velodrome, then worry about it. Maybe. But in the typical 40K bike leg, we accelerate exactly once, with an additional partial acceleration at the turnaround. You can't even measure the effects.

 

Incorrect. You're accelerating all the time in order ot maintain the same speed. Each time you rotate the cranks is considered an acceleration.

 

But your experiment with running up a flight of stairs with a wheel is flawed. You climb he stairs using your legs - that is the only thing (in addition to your total weight) governing your acceleration. On a bike, your legs are powering wheels, which have their own weight and potential energy. You're driving another item in order to get the acceleration. If the wheel was, say, 20kg it would make it that much more evident.

[rouxtjie]

Well that sucks..

 

Are you allowed to talk to a random stranger during a race?

Again No...but you can touch them funny enough....on the shoulder while you are drinking.

 

But not a peep hoor

[jcza]

Pointless arguing - proven again and again that Aero is much more important that weight on a roadbike. (including wheels - provided of course that you're using examples within reason. Comparing similar bikes, wheels etc and not comparing a 20kg buffalo bike to a 6kg Cannondale)

[DIPSLICK]

SIMPLE, would you rather be slipping someone or have 2 extra bottles on board???????

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Pointless arguing - proven again and again that Aero is much more important that weight on a roadbike. (including wheels - provided of course that you're using examples within reason. Comparing similar bikes, wheels etc and not comparing a 20kg buffalo bike to a 6kg Cannondale)

 

There you go. That monster of a caveat. If you're talking of a difference in weights of 500g then absolutely, weight wouldn't play that much of a role. But you never said that, did you... Fact is, weight matters more than aero. UNLESS THE BIKES ARE OF COMPARABLE WEIGHT. In which case, weight is STILL more important than aero.

[The_black_stig]

playing around the online calculator, any decrease in weight (per kg) will only increase your travel time by 0.5 to 0.7km/h (and an improvement of finishing time of only half a minutes)

 

bottom-line, if one wants more speed, work on their FTP first.

[rouxtjie]

SIMPLE, would you rather be slipping someone or have 2 extra bottles on board???????

Is this a trick question Dips...like Oprah Winfrey, Carika Keuzenkamp, Boy George

 

marry one, shoot one, spyker one?

[rouxtjie]

playing around the online calculator, any decrease in weight (per kg) will only increase your travel time by 0.5 to 0.7km/h (and an improvement of finishing time of only half a minutes)

 

bottom-line, if one wants more speed, work on their FTP first.

Ah but the faster you go, the more wind resistance affects you....AERO!!!!!

 

But yes....forget weight...train more, eat less

[Iwan Kemp]

Read this article by Cervelo discussing Aero vs Weight - http://www.cervelo.c...ht-vs-aero.html

 

Cool article, but it's not a study. It reads to proof that you don't have to feel you take a weight penalty on THEIR aero frame as it weighs as much (or less) than some "std" frames from competitors."

[jcza]

There you go. That monster of a caveat. If you're talking of a difference in weights of 500g then absolutely, weight wouldn't play that much of a role. But you never said that, did you... Fact is, weight matters more than aero. UNLESS THE BIKES ARE OF COMPARABLE WEIGHT. In which case, weight is STILL more important than aero.

No weight does not matter more than aero but I will leave you to it. Go do more research.

[DIPSLICK]

Is this a trick question Dips...like Oprah Winfrey, Carika Keuzenkamp, Boy George

 

marry one, shoot one, spyker one?

:whistling: :whistling:

[Iwan Kemp]

SIMPLE, would you rather be slipping someone or have 2 extra bottles on board???????

 

i'm not sure i'm old enough to answer that...

[jcza]

SIMPLE, would you rather be slipping someone or have 2 extra bottles on board???????

Depends if you're on a 26r or 29r

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

No weight does not matter more than aero but I will leave you to it. Go do more research.

 

It matters more up until the point that aero becomes the primary concern. Thereafter, aero matters more. But not to the point that weight can be ignored completely. At low speeds, weight matters mostly. Aero has little to no effect. At higher speeds, aero matters more, yes. But weight still needs to remain comparable and respectable. Thus, it matters more.

[rouxtjie]

Depends if you're on a 26r or 29r

Recumbent....hahaa

 

Het jou katvis.....

[Butterbean]

I love the weight argument. Have a good mate who is obsessed about weight on his MTB, but still doesn't win.

 

Look to the pros.

 

Mountain stage? Same frames, lightweight wheelset.

 

Flat stage? Aero frame, deep as a springs prossie wheels.

 

Yes, we say that, in a race, you're in a bunch so aero doesn't matter. But consider your last race. How often were you in the bunch? And when you get dropped, do you want aero or lightweight??

 

Also consider the average SA race profile. We have comparatively flat races vs Europe. We don't have alp d huez, so why worry about weight that much??

 

I'm heavy, and my bike is built with both cost ad reliability in mind. When I train consistently, I keep up with anyone on the hills, yet the flats I can dominate.

 

You decide, but I think super light bikes are only really worth it in the mountains, and even then, unless you're a 60kg pro, you're not going to use the advantage to its full potential.