Originally Posted by
lmk5
Thanks. I guess that 6lb. weight drop (>25%) does translate into some performance gains. My present bike is 27lbs. and the bikes in my price range (Trek Domane) are about 22 lbs. I wonder how much difference I'd feel, all else being equal.
Bicycles from the most quality to the just about the lousiest quality are pretty efficient machines converting your up and down leg movements to linear distance traveled.
Weight pretty much only matters for times you are accelerating or climbing up hills. More weight slower accelerations. More weight more effort to climbs hills. If your hills are miles of steady climbing, it becomes apparent real quick what a lighter bicycle does for you. If you only have rolling terrain with 20 to 40 feet of elevation change, you might not notice the difference quite as quick. But you will notice that at the end of a longer ride that you have more energy left.
If you are a cyclist that likes to ride hard and fast, you'll likely notice the differences quicker than a those that are just out for a leisurely enjoyable ride.
The effects of traveling with weight are cumulative, so for longer rides the benefits of less weight will be big, just like being aero pays large benefits on longer rides.