Bicycle weight vs your weight?
07-08-11, 07:43 AM
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Bicycle weight vs your weight?
I assume every one wants well built low weight bike to gain better performance.
Lets say if you loose 10% of your weight (assume weight loss is pure fat and no muscle loss), would you gain performance (like climbing, speed etc) from the same bike as overall weight is less?
Lets say if you loose 10% of your weight (assume weight loss is pure fat and no muscle loss), would you gain performance (like climbing, speed etc) from the same bike as overall weight is less?
Last edited by sam12; 07-08-11 at 07:55 AM.
07-08-11, 07:55 AM
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You wouldn't gain performance necessarily. Someone could go get liposuction and lose 20+ pounds, doesn't make them any more fit than before.
It's also much easier on the wallet to buy a 20-25lb titaniam/aluminum bike than some carbon-fiber 15 lb road bike if you have more than 10 pounds to lose. Let's face it, most of us could afford to lose some weight
It's also much easier on the wallet to buy a 20-25lb titaniam/aluminum bike than some carbon-fiber 15 lb road bike if you have more than 10 pounds to lose. Let's face it, most of us could afford to lose some weight
07-08-11, 07:56 AM
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Why every one try to go for most expensive (better bike, light weight) than losing weight and get may be little less expensive bike to have similar performance?
07-08-11, 08:06 AM
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When you buy a lighter bike you lose weight and you dont have to worry about your bike having too many cheeseburgers and gaining it back.
07-08-11, 08:11 AM
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I assume every one wants well built low weight bike to gain better performance.
Lets say if you loose 10% of your weight (assume weight loss is pure fat and no muscle loss), would you gain performance (like climbing, speed etc) from the same bike as overall weight is less?
Lets say if you loose 10% of your weight (assume weight loss is pure fat and no muscle loss), would you gain performance (like climbing, speed etc) from the same bike as overall weight is less?
07-08-11, 08:12 AM
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07-08-11, 08:16 AM
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Perhaps not, but if you're lighter, you're going to be able to sprint and climb faster and therefore be able to ride more aggressively and that helps you get into even better shape. Also, weight DOES matter on flat roads, so let's be clear about that. I get that a few pounds aren't going to be noticeable, but a rider IS moving all the weight and it takes more work to move more weight.
07-08-11, 08:17 AM
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Yes. I lost an extra 5-6lbs from my usual riding weight over the last two months by ramping up my riding ahead of the death ride tomorrow, and climbing hills has become noticeably easier. Speed on the flats is no different.
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07-08-11, 08:20 AM
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I can lose the weight difference between my bike and a really cool carbon fiber bike during one "sit" in thw AM 
07-08-11, 08:21 AM
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I know it's hard to believe, but there are people on this planet that are NOT fat. In fact, they are slim and they can't afford to lose body weight.
07-08-11, 08:27 AM
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07-08-11, 08:45 AM
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I assume every one wants well built low weight bike to gain better performance.
Lets say if you loose 10% of your weight (assume weight loss is pure fat and no muscle loss), would you gain performance (like climbing, speed etc) from the same bike as overall weight is less?
Lets say if you loose 10% of your weight (assume weight loss is pure fat and no muscle loss), would you gain performance (like climbing, speed etc) from the same bike as overall weight is less?
So until you get to the point where you are too light and starting to lose power, cutting body weight will have a greater effect than cutting bike weight.
More importantly, cutting body weight reduces aerodynamic drag as set forth above and will make you faster on the flats. Again, not as significant as in climbing, but 10% reduction in body weight will increase your speeds on the flat, even with no change in power.
Add in that unless your already at your ideal weight a decrease in weight will likely make you more fit, your ability to sustain putting out power will increase.
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07-08-11, 08:52 AM
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I'm just not willing to substitute fruit or cottage cheese for fries.
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07-08-11, 08:57 AM
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You wouldn't know it by walking around Disney World. Seriously, at what point will "scootering" surpass walking as the preferred means of getting around?
07-08-11, 09:00 AM
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You gain more performance loosing the weight from your body for several reasons: 1) your body doesn't have to support the extra body weight (that extra 10% of weight has to be oxygenated etc.) 2) you'll be more aerodynamic 10% lighter, with less frontal area, and it will also likely be easier to get in a more aero position.
So until you get to the point where you are too light and starting to lose power, cutting body weight will have a greater effect than cutting bike weight.
Incorrect. Cutting any weight, bike or body, will make you faster on the flats. For one thing all that weight has to be accelerated, and no one rides at a perfectly constant pace. The difference is not as great as climbing, but there will be an effect.
More importantly, cutting body weight reduces aerodynamic drag as set forth above and will make you faster on the flats. Again, not as significant as in climbing, but 10% reduction in body weight will increase your speeds on the flat, even with no change in power.
Add in that unless your already at your ideal weight a decrease in weight will likely make you more fit, your ability to sustain putting out power will increase.
So until you get to the point where you are too light and starting to lose power, cutting body weight will have a greater effect than cutting bike weight.
Incorrect. Cutting any weight, bike or body, will make you faster on the flats. For one thing all that weight has to be accelerated, and no one rides at a perfectly constant pace. The difference is not as great as climbing, but there will be an effect.
More importantly, cutting body weight reduces aerodynamic drag as set forth above and will make you faster on the flats. Again, not as significant as in climbing, but 10% reduction in body weight will increase your speeds on the flat, even with no change in power.
Add in that unless your already at your ideal weight a decrease in weight will likely make you more fit, your ability to sustain putting out power will increase.
07-08-11, 09:05 AM
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Interesting... All you hear on here (OVER AND OVER AGAIN) is that weight does not matter in the flats. I can tell you that I have not become more aero as a result of going from 185 to 155 lbs. Are you serious???!!! I can understand if you go from Mabel King or Nell Carter size down to a svelte road rider.
The 185 lb rider does 23.7mph on flat ground. The 155 lb rider does 24.5mph on flat ground. Not an order of magnitude difference but measurable.
https://www.noping.net/english/
And as a matter of simple logic, aerodynamic drag is a function of frontal area, and the drag coefficient. If your height remains the same, and your weight decreases, your frontal area will decrease, without even considering the likelyhood that less gut will make it easier to hold a lower position.
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You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
You could fall off a cliff and die.
You could get lost and die.
You could hit a tree and die.
OR YOU COULD STAY HOME AND FALL OFF THE COUCH AND DIE.
Last edited by merlinextraligh; 07-08-11 at 09:10 AM.
07-08-11, 09:07 AM
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Interesting... All you hear on here (OVER AND OVER AGAIN) is that weight does not matter in the flats. I can tell you that I have not become more aero as a result of going from 185 to 155 lbs. Are you serious???!!! I can understand if you go from Mabel King or Nell Carter size down to a svelte road rider.
I think Merlin put it pretty clearly: loosing fat (not muscle) will make you faster on the flats, but not nearly the difference it will make on hills.
07-08-11, 09:08 AM
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