Qwertyportne

Update: found a Scott Addict 10, normally $4500, but it had sat in a shop for more than a year, so the owner gave it to me for $2500. What a difference this bike is making in my riding enjoyment. Almost 7 pounds lighter than my Allez. All things equal (training, fitness, hill repeats...) those 7 pounds were immediately noticeable. It's even easier to get and out of my truck and up the stairs to my condo. Love it!

Maelochs

Based on personal experience ... which is really worthless, since i didn't see it on a cycling website, but only actually lived it---dropping six pounds is a Huge deal.

You won't feel it That much on hills, and you won't feel it that much after five minutes on the bike ... but you will, somehow, feel it.

After riding bikes in the 23-30-pound range all my life, I got onto a 16.5-pound CF bike and it seems so much more responsive ... it seems to do everything more easily. So .. I built another one, with a different frame and fatter tires, and it still makes some difference. And regularly ride much heavier bikes as well, so there is contrast.

Get the Emonda and you will Love it.

People can do all the math, use all the on-line calculators, all that ... but people who talk about how the bike feels will all tell you lighter feels better. I could not care less about shaving .001 seconds off a climb or adding .01 mph to my average speed ... and climbs depend on my fitness on a given day, which always changes ....I can about how i feel on the ride, from moment to moment.

i don't know you or anything about you... but i cannot recall hearing a single person say they dropped six pounds off their ride and regretted it.

CliffordK

Yeah, all of the above.

But, personally, I do like a nice bike. I can't say if I'm faster, but it feels nice.

In another thread, I was discussing not being happy with the rolling of Michelin Protek Cross Max tires on my Jamis Coda conversion.

I tossed on some Ultegra wheels + 23/25mm tires. Whew, night and day difference. I still have a little tuning to do, but good tires and wheels can be very noticeable.

delbiker1 

I believe that part of the equation that comes into play is a mental perspective, If you think and feel like you are faster on a specific bike or bike set-up, you are probably going to be. If you really want to work an equation to specific numbers on the difference that weight makes, a power meter needs to be used in that equation. There are so many different variables that exact, true numbers are really difficult to come up with. In my opinion, comparing the same climb on two different rides, one while raining and one with no rain, is probably just going to show that you cannot ride as fast in the rain, more weight, more rolling resistance, more drag/friction and probably more mental fatigue.

TimothyH

I don't know.

I understand the math and don't doubt the calculators but really think they oversimplify things. 6.6 lb is a big difference, especially if the rider is light to begin with.

For those only slightly overweight, losing 10 lb will make you a better climber. I'm 5' 10" and could feel a big difference when I went from 200 lb to 190 lb. Climbing was the first place I noticed the weight loss. Many others have said the same thing on these forums.

If some of the 6.6 lb weight loss between the Allez and Edmonda is in the wheel system then it has the potential to make the bike feel completely different. I changed tires and tubes, lost over 1/4 lb right at the rim and could feel a difference.

I wonder what strapping a 6.6 lb weight to a 16.6 lb Trek Edmonda would feel like.


-Tim-

Marcus_Ti

I'll say this...I took my racks/fenders off my Bigfoot rig over the holidays and for the nice weather....About 10# of excess hardware on the bike. Made my stable Ti workhorse gravel/touring bike feel like a rocket ship.

Maelochs

Things really have changed around here. Thirty-one posts and no one has told him CF bikes asplode and kill their riders?

Have we stopped caring?

Marcus_Ti

Given the news today of a Pinarello actually asploding and starting a bush fire...seems unwarranted:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlton.../#49d12eb7d91f

Koyote

sdmc530

CliffordK

WOW...

And the advantages of carrying liquid CO2 too!!!

How much did he miss the KOM by?

CliffordK

Perhaps one should ask whether one should be doing century rides on one's fat tire cruiser.

Because it is "just as good" as the CF bike?

daoswald

There was a hill that was absolutely killing me getting up it, at the start of the season. By the end of the season it was hard but not awful anymore. The four things that made the difference:

• I purchased a rear cassette that got me three more teeth (from 12-25t to 11-28 in back).
• I rode that hill 3x per week, sometimes doing repeats on it.
• I lost a lot of weight off the engine -- more than you could purchase in upgrades (more than the weight of my bike).
• I got my weekly mileage to the 115-140 range.

At this point I don't have much more weight to lose... a few more pounds possibly but I'm already a little below the middle of the "healthy BMI" range. I could upgrade from my aluminum Synapse to a carbon ride, but I probably won't. I like my bike. I could swap out my drivetrain -- the existing one is showing its age. I may do this, and if I do, I'll try to pick up a couple more teeth at the big end of the cassette. But that's becoming less compelling as I get more fit.

Buy the carbon bike if you feel it will give you a nicer ride, and make you happier on the bike so that you ride more. If it were me and I already had a perfectly good bike, I'd probably put the money toward another bike in a totally different category of bike to expand my universe of possible rides.

canklecat

Sounds great! Especially the lugging upstairs bit -- I'm still nursing a busted shoulder and every pound matters, which is why I'm planning to get rid of my 40 lb errand bike.

The geometry and ergonomics look good on that Scott. Reminds me, a couple of friends and a former shop owner have talked about what good values the Scott bikes are, kind of sleepers in this area where most shops carry Specialized and Trek.

I've ridden only one carbon fiber bike, a 20 minute test ride on a Specialized Tarmac last summer (hey, if you gotta ride only one, might as well be one of the best).

Huge difference compared with my old school 25 lb steel road bike.

Not only was the lighter weight a factor but the stiffer frame made at least as much difference, especially when I climbed out of the saddle. My steel road bike has a flexible frame that's comfortable on rough pavement but it gets noodly when I stomp the pedals -- I can see and feel it on the road and on the indoor trainer.

The Tarmac didn't flex. It felt like every bit of my effort was going into forward motion. Combined with the lighter weight it felt like the bike was doing half the work for me.

And it seemed comfortable for such a stiff frame -- I suspect the 700x28 tires were a factor in that. My bike just barely can handle 700x25 and prefers 700x23. Unless I run 'em soft and squishy and slow the narrower tires feel a bit harsh on some bad pavement and chipseal, although it depends on the tire.

scotton

"Ryan, dressed in Spandex clothing sporting the Dogma brand name, was later taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with minor burns."

That is the most oddly specific piece of info I have seen in a news story in a while. I'm honestly sitting here trying to figure out the motivation behind the first part of this sentence.

BlazingPedals

^^^ This. Speed is always important, even to non-racers; but mostly a new, lighter, more responsive bike is always more enjoyable. If you can afford it, go for it!

Marcus_Ti

I think the point was (further) comedy. Just about everyone not a cyclist laughs at people in cycling kit. And the idea of someone on a moped (that just caught fire) wearing it is rather, well, funny on the face of it.

Maelochs

Let this be a warning to non-cyclists---get your own style of clown suits, or you will burn in the fires of .... bad fashion and bad transport choices? Leave the spandex to Real cycliists.

CliffordK

And, pray tell, what is a "Real Cyclist"?

BrocLuno

Yeah, lugging it up stairs and in/out of rear rack can be a big thing. If it's easier to use, it'll get used more

Maelochs

People in spandex who don't get their shorts burnt off when their electric motor explodes?

Finally, I can be a "Real" cyclist.

Not a "Serious" cyclist" yet, alas.

Why do you ask? Are you an Unreal cyclist ... like the guy riding transcontinental on the Walmart bike? (https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...-question.html) or are there different categories of Unreal cyclists? I didn't see a definition in the Velominati.

Sorry, i am new to all this.

Slightspeed

On a recent club ride, while riding my 26 lb. steel Super Course, one of my bike buddies asked me about my Brooks saddle. He was thinking about getting one but had never ridden one. I asked if he wanted to trade bikes and give if a try. He was on his newish Specialized carbon Roubaix. We're both about the same size, both using SPD pedals so we switched. It felt like the Roubaix was going to fly off the road, compared to my SC, which I love riding. I also have a Roubaix, similar to his but had never ridden it back to back after the SC. The feeling of lightness was amazing. You can get used to riding any bike, but until you actually try them back to back, you will never know the difference. BTW, as far as I know, he hasn't gotten the Brooks saddle, and I think he was glad to give the SC back.

BrocLuno

Funny, back in the day (late 1960's) when I was riding Raleigh, I never thought of them as heavy at all. 26 lbs ... Then I moved to Peugeot and found myself on something 3 lbs lighter. Felt quite quick and fun.

Now days a 23 lb bike is nothing. The hybrid I just assembled for my wife with front suspension fork is only 24 lbs and I didn't think it was anything special ...

I guess there are plenty of 14 lb road bikes ...

rydabent

Define "real cyclist".

rydabent

Would a cyclist legs know the difference between taking 6 pounds off the bike or 6 pounds off your belly?