Originally Posted by
Hermes
And if one holds the speed the same with the lead filled water bottle, torque, at the same cadence, increases. So adding weight to the bike can fine tune the torque at a particular cadence.
That's what gear ratios are for. The only real difference with the lead filled water bottle is a lower climbing speed for a given power output. That and a negative effect on handling as you mentioned. It would also make the climb effectively longer due to the lower speed. Or another way of looking at it is that it makes the climb effectively steeper. As you say, it's all a bit meh.