madhouse

I weighed my commuter complete with trunk bag full of cloths, fenders, lights and rack. My stock 19 lb bike now tips the scale at 40 lbs!!!

I’m torn: My road bike conscience keeps saying “lighter and faster is better”, the 20 lb over-weight conscience says, “Who the He!! Cares, you are doing this for fitness, it’s just added resistance, better for conditioning!”

What gets me out of bed an hour early to commute is the knowledge that I need to get in better shape. What keeps me on my bike is that once I’m ridding my competivness comes out and I race my average speed, the top of the hill, the little dog at the top of the hill… I’ve even raced my shadow. So having a lighter, faster bike is somewhat important. I spend half of my commute in my aero bars!

Bottom line, I have made my bike more efficient, trying to take the Work out of Workout. Who else is guilty of making a bike lighter and faster for better conditioning?!?!?

ItsJustMe

One LBS owner was making fun of my Giant, saying "I could have sold you a bike that's 8 pounds lighter than that.
I replied "I've lost 20 pounds since buying that bike, and if I had to pay your $600, I never would have bought a bike at all."

Just lose 20 pounds and call it good.

pinkrobe

There's a quote from Greg Lemond that quite a few people on here use as a sig: "It doesn't get easier, you just get faster" or something like that. I don't make my bike more efficient to make it easier to ride, I make it more efficient so I can keep up with traffic better. I push just as hard on my skinny-tire SS as I do on my spike-tire winter bike, but the difference in speed is at least 10 km/h. The faster I go, the safer it is.

davidmcowan

I've been on my heavy commuter all winter and just recently bought a road bike. I hit a hill the other day that several other road bikers happened to be going up. They were all out of their saddles mashing away and I was able to stay in my seat and zip way past them. HERE IS TO THE HEAVY COMMUTER!!!

huhenio

Eh ... you finally figured out what makes a climber RAW POWER TO WEIGHT RATIO!!

halfbiked

Reminds me of a dude I met while backpacking. Most of us were in the 'lighter is better camp.' He was not. Then he related a story about how he & a buddy, on a long tour - might've been coast-to-coast - started by competing over who could pare their load down to the absolute minimum. Then they flipped; it turned into a competition over who was humping a heavier load over the next pass - they'd pick up every wrench on the side of the road, etc.

All of which may or may not relate to your point and/or question. But it made me think of the dude, who's name I've forgotten. Anyone know a biker in Iowa with a flaming 8-ball tatooed on his forearm?

derath

I try to keep my commutes as light as possible. Duplicate heavy items at work (shoes etc). But I almost have to. Once I get in good enough shape my entire commute will be 27 miles each way. I will have to be fast.

-D

Steev

Pushing some heavy tank of a bike may give you a better workout, but a light fast bike is just so much more fun to ride. I compromise by riding my road bike most of the time, but swap onto the clunker hybrid to cart in a week's worth of clothes etc.

Eggplant Jeff

Amen... That's how I felt when I swapped my studs for skinny tires and ditched my lights (bright enough I don't need 'em now). I was flying!

AndrewP

I have switched to lighter tires and I leave my lock and most of my work clothes at work. I dont think the weight you are carrying will make much difference to your speed, unless you are going up big hills. Reduced weight will improved the handling of the bike. Reduce the weight of the lunch you are packing and you will get an additional pay-off over the long term.

madhouse

I've tried that... I just make more trips to the vending machine.