PeteHski

Whatever you think, it is insignificant for your actual performance and very easily calculated.

For example it’s worth about 6 seconds over a 10 km 8% climb, which I am sure is insignificant for pretty much everyone.

rekmeyata

Exactly, and really all most of us do on this forum is to ride for our health, even IF it took 5 minutes longer, an exaggeration, for us to complete a 30-mile ride vs someone on a 13-pound aero bike that cost $15,000, do we really care? The time I would have to work to save the money to buy a $15,000 bike is far greater than the 5 extra minutes spent riding! Unless of course I made $15,000 for every minute that I worked then I wouldn't care.

Improving your engine, losing body weight if necessary, is far more important than 8 ounces of weight on a bike. If you're really that concerned about weight, chuck one of the bottles full of water that weighs 24 ounces, and just bare it till you get home; good grief, you could lose more weight than 8 ounces by taking a dump before riding, heck if you pee before you go you lose around 8 ounces!!!

So yes, I do think that for the average rider who wants to ride for health benefits 8 ounces is extremely insignificant. Even Grant at Rivendell has been preaching this same thing for many years.

rekmeyata

That Habanero you have is an excellent bike, like you said, there is no reason to dump it for something lighter, besides, your bike is made of Titanium, so it probably weighs around 17 to 19 pounds depending on how it was equipped, to save 2 pounds you would have to spend a lot of money to find a bike that would weigh between 15 to 17 pounds. On top of that, your Habanero frame will outlast any of those lighter CF bikes, by not just a few years, but by several lifetimes!

I have a bike with over 150,000 miles on it, a steel frame bike, I raced and trained all over mountains in S California on that bike for roughly 130,000 of those miles, and the frame is fine, even the components never broke, it's still rideable though I retired it. So your bike with 80,000 miles is as you say, middle aged, the components are middle age, the frame is still an infant!

Heck, you could probably lose close to 2 pounds by just spending money on a new wheelset!

datlas 

Agree that the frame should last a long time. I have no real interest in pitching it, but am frustrated that newer group sets are not supporting rim brakes.

rekmeyata

So, buy NOS older group set that is. All you really are questioning is the calipers, there are plenty of currently made rim brake rims being made, so no problem there, and there are companies still making rim brake calipers, so not sure what your thinking of where the problem is. Shimano R7000 105 groupset has rim brakes, as does Ultegra 8000; SRAM Rival is another; you can even buy separately made components as well if you want high end.

smd4

It’s significant to me, then. Not just because of performance, but something to shoot for. $300 for half a pound reduction, not to mention better fit/finish and maybe reliability? Yeah, I’d pay that price.

rsbob 

Not that I go out and price group sets but was very surprised that the difference was ONLY $300. My unwashed brain guessed it would be something more like $500-$800 but then I am ‘used to’ Campy prices between gruppos which are astronomical.

base2 

To all who say: "Weight just doesn't matter." Why is it then that no one takes off their seat post, and finds the nearest funnel, fills the frame with lead shot before replacing the seat post and riding away happily, knowing that the ride experience will be unaffected in any way?

Seriously. I have yet to meet anyone of "go poo before a ride" camp that will intentionally add weight to their bike for the purpose of some perceived benefit. Even if it is for the sole purpose of proving a point. I know lots of bikes that are incidentally 30 or 40 pounds. They don't ride like high performance race bikes.

If you really think weight doesn't matter to the riding experience, hook up a kids trailer with 50 pounds of free-weights, fill the frame with lead shot, pump the tires with a bunch of water and find a local brisk paced group ride. Do an A/B test. Report back here that there was no change to the ride experience whatsoever. 'Cause Imma know you are still full of that poo you (now secretly wish) you'd left before the ride.

You anti-weight-weeies: I call your bluff.

datlas 

A pound or two does not matter much. Obviously adding several pounds will start to matter a bit more. Volunteering to add lots of weight is just silly.

SkinGriz

“Is it worth???…”

That is impossible to give a perfect blanket answer for. It’s entirely subjective to each person.

smd4

Does to me.

My old steel bike with clinchers weighed 22.5 pounds. I’m never going CF, so the frame is a constant. Over the last few years I’ve enjoyed the sub-hobby of making my bike lighter. Weight weenie? Sure, if you’ve gotta label me.

But I’ve had a lot of fun figuring out where I can save some weight. Managed to drop a pound, and have enjoyed every minute and every purchase.

PeteHski

WTF??
We were talking about a 200g difference across the entire group set. So let’s not confuse that with filling the frame with lead and adding a trailer with 50 lbs of weights.

base2 

So weight does matter, then?

smd4

I’m waiting too…

PeteHski

Not in the context of this thread topic when comparing 105 vs Ultegra ie less than 200g

Do you honestly think you would be able to tell the difference in a blind test of that weight difference?

smd4

Better parts aren’t just about weight. Simple advice: Buy the highest level parts you can afford.

jadmt

I guess when I ask the question I was not really thinking about weight, but quality, look, feel etc. I did end up feeling for me the differences was probably worth the extra coin to me, without ever riding a bike with either one how crazy is that.. I do remember back in the old days I liked dura-ace over 600 or ultegra.

smd4

Not crazy at all! I’m totally with you. Don’t let the cheapskates win! This forum is dominated by old guys who are afraid of new things and are cheap by nature.

rsbob 

Please define the age cutoff for old guys. Over 40-50-60-70-80? And is dropping $2K on a wheel set cheap?

genejockey 

This is like the old joke, the punchline of which is "We've established what you are. Now we're just haggling over the price."

genejockey 

Also, what gets cut off? That's pretty important too!

rekmeyata

Wow, talking about being melodramatic!

base2 

I say this knowing full well that testimonial is the weakest form of evidence. But yes, absolutely...with caveats. A/B test with a 400 gram Redshift seatpost and a 97 gram Darimo seatpost. The difference is quite noticeable when throwing the bike around dancing on the pedals. 300 grams high up & swinging about.

Same difference between a 4 liter Cranktank 4 mounted low at the crankset and a 4 liter MSR Dromedary bag hanging off the top tube in a Revelate frame bag. Essentially a 0 grams difference in this example. The behavior difference of where that 4000 grams is placed is obvious. Even in seated normal riding.

Competing examples of how much and where placed. Both yield noticeable differences in riding experience.

Why carry around more than you need to? Every gram saved is a gram that can be spent on a more important capability elsewhere. As one singular example: 200 grams of groupset weight not spent, affords that many more energy bars or gels for free. That's 6 free hammer gels every ride & the miles those gels power for zero performance penalty. 6 gels power a lot of miles.

ClintCAAD

If you can afford it, then yes. 105 is perfectly fine and you wouldn't know the difference.
But aesthetically, Ultegra looks and feels a little bit more premium

PeteHski

You are just waffling now. Nobody can tell a difference of 200g distributed throughout the whole group set.

Your comparison with energy gels is next level silliness. Totally absurd.