Canberradude

Hey all,

Like most obsessed cycling nuts, I check out a few different forum sights as I imagine others do as well. I guess my question is, are some of these guys on weight weenies or anyone who has to build a 13 pound bike really normal or are they totally insane.
My most confusing things are - 1) carbon (ax lightness or tune) saddles
Surely these cant be comfortable! I ride an slr which is hard enough but saddle sores are just not on my agenda. Is it physically possible to finish a decent (80-130km) ride with one of these just to save 100gr? As I have never tried one maybe people who own one can help out and give honest opinions.

2) Cutting seat posts, handle bars etc to save weight
Can people that ride these types of bikes really feel confident descending at 80km/h and not worry that their handle bars or forks or seatpost or indeed whole bike will not break or crack because they are pushing the limits of whats safe?

I even seen a post asking about putting peices of rim tape only over the spoke holes instead of the whole way round! Rim tape only weighs about 20gr!

Don't get me wrong, Im not one of these steel is real bike loving people, I love carbon like everyone else but Im just interested to see if I am the only one out there who ponders these things.

Maybe I'm reading too much in to it and WW's just build these super light bikes because they have the money so why not.

cydewaze

I think for them it's about bragging rights or something.

I gave up caring how much my bike weighs a while back. I'd much rather have something solid under me at this point. It's easy these days to get a sub-20 lb bike without trying.

Besides, everytime I reduce the weight of my bike, I just get fatter to make up for it.

TreyK

I can see someone that's been training hard and eating right, that's hovering in the mid single digits with their body fat that wants to save everything they can for racing. What I don't understand is someone who is 10 or more pounds over an optimal weight worrying about a carbon water cage just to save ounces. They would be better off getting their nutrition in order and dropping ten pounds of body weight. That 10 pounds would have a much more profound effect than the water bottle cage. Some don't want to be that stringent. If that's the case and it's more like tricking out a custom car then, hey, more power to them. It's their hobby/interest and they can do what they want. But I can't go with the weight for racing when you have somebody that hasn't gotten the engine itself in perfect order first.

TexasGuy

I see you 15.3lbs bike and raise you 25 lbs. *hands the Weight weenie his Mongoose XR-100 with Nashbar resealable tires. TAlK AbOUT HEAVY. The guy will have a heart attack

the locust

i am 5'9" 120lbs on a good day with singe digit body fat and i could care less what my bike weighs as long as its under 30lbs no amount of weight savings is going to get me up a hill i cant get up now and i am not loosing races by that little.

DannoXYZ 

Those carbon seats really aren't that bad. They have enough compliance that it actually conforms to your butt due to the weight. I grew up riding BMX bikes with hard-plastic seats. Anything's an improvement ...

Ajay213

What's dangerous here? You only need X amount of seat post in the tube to be "safe", anything more than that is extra weight. Basically the same with bars, get in the drops and figure out where you will naturally put your hands, leave a little extra margin and chop off the rest. There's nothing "unsafe" about either of those mods, if you go around your bike and get rid of the "extra" stuff it can add up to a semi-decent amount of weight considering it doesn't cost you anything to get rid of it.

And as the post above shows, a lighter bike can make a big difference when trying to fight gravity. And a better way to show the above is 345W @ 10mph up that hill on a 30lb bike, that drops to around 310W @ 10mph on the 15lb bike, just to give an idea of the effort involved.

Andrew

shimanopower

ooooo.... cutting up the rim tape.... i didn't think of that! has anyone tried that?

terrymorse 

For someone your weight, going from a 30-lb to a 15-lb bike saves 10%. Figure about an 8% speed improvement in climbing. That's huge.

krazyderek

i'm not a weight weenie, and i haven't tried a carbon seat, or cut my bars, but i can appreciate a lighter bike. Coming from a 22 or 23lb kicker road bike to my trek was alot better ride, hills where made easier bla bla bla.

I think alot of people that do it, and that may race, do it mostly for what's going on in their heads. Say race day you slap on some aero wheels that are 300g lighter then your normal ones, and their more aero, you're going to feel a bit of a difference, and that's going to affect your attitude and confidence, even push you that much harder.

Another aspect is that this is how invoation is often born. Who know's maybe one day a WW will get the idea to build a frame with the seatpost woven in, or welded on, it would reduce weight and probably increase stiffness aswell since that whole area could be redesigned with no seat tube clamp and absolutely no excess seat tube, it could be alot smoother, aero, and lighter. Then just design a new seat clamp with slight amount of vertical adjustment. It would take frame sizing to a whole new level, all in the search driven by weight.

ya i know... while we're at it, let's solve world hunger, and everyone can fly around in their hydrogen powered sky car to leave the roads to the bikes

biker7

As Terry said, a light bike matters more if you are also a light rider because light riders generally have less watts of power however maybe even more powerful relative to their weight. But it is power relative to bike + rider weight that matters. I am not a weight weeny...even close. Anybody that tries to optimize only one aspect of their bike in general...in this case component weight without an eye toward cost/benefit or strength etc doesn't see the whole picture but that's OK. Cycling for virtually all here is a hobby and we indulge or hobbies among other reasons to escape the rigors of life and at times be frivolous by intent.
George

SpongeDad

As good a description of bikeophilia and OCP as I've read.

biker7

Thank you bro...fellow junkies think alike.
George

DannoXYZ 

I used to have a triple-beam balance (scale) in my dorm room. Everyone thought I was a drug-dealer. I just told them that it was for weighing my bike parts!

jslopez

those extra savings come in handy as you take down your bike down from your car and settle at the local coffee shop so you can talk about your bikes the whole day (in full bike kits ofcourse)...

thewalrus

Of all the strange weight-weenie ideas this is the one that makes most sense to me - it's not violating anything's structural integrity, and you do save a bit of weight. Given a choice between:

1) Silly-light 75-80 gram 23mm tube & full rim tape

or

2) Normal 105-110 gram 23mm tube & tape squares over each spoke hole

I'll choose #2.

I think I've mentioned it before but it seems a few weight weenies are a bit flabby - does it make sense to start shaving grams if you're 6'/190lbs and your doctor would say you should weigh 165-170?

If I had more money than time, I'd probably built a weight-weenie bike as a fun project - 80 gram carbon saddle, etc etc. I wouldn't ride it very far of course.

thewalrus

This has been done with Giant's top of the line carbon frame for the T-Mobile team - the seatpost is an integrated part of the monocoque frame, and must be cut with a special tool to fit the individual rider. It's for sale in europe, but not in the USA. I saw a quote from a Giant fatory rep that it would create a liability nightmare if people bought $3000 frames and cut them to the wrong size. I think the Trek TTX is the same idea - but it uses about a 60mm long seatpost which allows some up/down adjustment at the top of the monocoque seattube.

krazyderek

re: thewalrus

cool pics?

Monument Man

if i wanted to build a sub 15 lb bike, it would basically be an exercise in engineering and an appreciation of unique and creative thinking as applied to bicycle physics and material strength. kind of like a guy who works on a car in his garage hoping to get that 500 horsepower chrome engine working - hey he's not really going to get a better result than the nissan he's got parked in the driveway, but it's a really fun way to spend time.

Wildwood 

I would love to have the time and the budget to build a 13 lb bike with pedals and water bottle cages. It would not be my century riding bike, but it would be a great ride for 25 - 30 mile outings in the hills/mts. Realistically though, anything under 22lbs if fine for me. Since I've got several road bikes with different characteristics and materials (steel & full carbon) -- but Ti is next on my list.