hsea17

Any input welome
hsea17

HelpSingularity 

Eddy Merckx supposedly said instead of upgrading bikes, ride up grades. I think that advice is still valid.

But if you're angling for a new ride, well, I'm in no position to judge. Life is short.

79pmooney

Yes. Lighter bikes are easier for us old guys to hoist onto the pegs for storage.

hsea17

Yes, but seriously sometimes when I go down the stairs before 6 am with a bike in one hand and shoes in the other (fortunately only from the second floor), 9Kg + is heavy enough and I don't even want to mention the walk back up. Well I don't know if that excuse holds up to get the better half to open the safe and more likely she will recommend saving for a wheelchair

hsea17

big john

Regardless of one's age, a lighter bike will accelerate a bit faster and climb a bit faster. Whether those things are a benefit to you only you can decide. If you're just riding alone probably not.

A nice, new bike will make some people excited to get out and ride more, however.

Your bike isn't especially heavy, btw. One of my road bikes is a few pounds heavier than that and my main ride is just a pound or so lighter. You can, of course, buy a bike of the shelf that is under 16 pounds, depending on $$$ and how far you want to go.

skidder

Besides the portage up-and-down a flight of stairs, what do you want to accomplish by buying a new (or newer) bicycle? From your opening post it sounds like you're using the current bicycle to keep in shape, but any goals beyond that? As HelpSingularity mentions above, finding some hills and pedaling up & down those will help with better conditioning. I'm quite happy with my current collection of bicycles, which are all less than 'top-of-the-line', and would be considered somewhat heavy and slow, but they do what I want them to do and are reliable.

easyupbug 

I come from a cycling family and at 72 need to keep up with the kids and grandkids when we visit. We are snow birds and have places in road bike friendly locations, only complicated by my arthritis that on some bad days has me in a recumbent trike. Published studies have shown that when it comes to building muscle moderate weights can be as effective as heavy weights. In the last 2 to 3 years I have stopped riding my beloved vintage/classic road bikes (+20 lbs) and now riding only titaniums (-20 lbs) as my back/hand/wrist arthritis seems to prefer them to steel or carbon, can not explain it but the compliance/vibration is different. These being lighter have decreased times on my training routes. I don't do stairs but did some cyclocross and if I had to I would us the carrying methods we did or the multitude to straps, etc. made to carry folding bike for office workers, one daughter has a nice strap between the ST and DT on a bike she commutes with and carries into her office.

terrymorse 

When I was in my early 40s, I had a heavy touring bike (about 11 kg). I rode that thing for tens of thousands of miles, and millions (yes, millions plural) of vertical feet.

My ride buddies told me I should get a lighter bike, but I resisted for several years. When I finally broke down and got a fairly light bike, it was like night and day. Climbs were easier, and it was winning all the sprints against my ride buddies.

I'm in my 60s now, and I have become a full on weight weenie. My bike weighs about 6 kg, and I love riding it.

My advice is to start small. Get a nice, light, slightly aero carbon wheel set with low rolling resistance tires, and use them on your current bike. You will feel the difference. If you decide to get another bike, you can use those wheels on it.

pbass

I've never put a bike's weight at the top of my list. I'm 62 and ride two different steel gravel bikes. One is a singlespeed. They are not light, but I Iove a good steel frame first and foremost. I ride them everywhere, including where I used to mountain bike, and I call the singlespeed my "gym on wheels" - between pulling myself up rocky pitches to the occasional hike a bike when it just gets too steep, I'm getting an all-body workout with that beast. Not everyone's cup of tea I realize, but man, my upper body is way stronger and more muscular the more I ride the ss (especially offroad).

50PlusCycling

Lighter bikes usually have more advantages over heavier bikes than just less weight. They tend to be built with better materials and with better components. They are also quicker-handling and more responsive. And, in my opinion, they are better looking.

rsbob 

Just buy it.

PeteHski

Bike weight is unimportant when riding at steady speed on flat roads.

It only becomes a bit more important when you are climbing and only then if you want to be fast. If you went from a 9 kg bike to a 7 kg bike then you would climb a little faster and the bike would “feel” more nimble, but that’s all.

Having said the above, I hate the feel of heavy bikes on the road. But 9 kg is not really that heavy.

Maelochs

I think @skidder sums it up in his tag-line: "Are we having fun yet?"

I like lighter bikes. I am exceedingly overweight. I am the guy everyone references when they joke about spending more to shave grams than to shave calories. I have a pair of sub-7-pounders---all -up, ready to ride, with lights and tools and tubes , cages etc (not "showroom-ready" but road-ready.) My third most favorite ride is my work-rain bike which is ten pounds heavier. It has some nice CF wheels, light and strong and with those wheels (I tried two other sets) is a real joy to ride. I also have on old steel Raleigh, which is about the same weight as the work bike---heavy, in modern terms---but which is also a joy to ride.

Because I am not paid by the hour to ride, how long I ride, how fast, my times compared to other rides, all that---and I track all those metrics on a spreadsheet---Really Don't Matter. By the time I am doing the math (or the Excel sheet is doing it for me) I have already finished the ride. I had the fun, made the effort, saw the sights, lived the life .... I might have set a dozen personal bests and never knownn it or I might have had the slowest speeds of the year. Whether or not I enjoyed The Ride is not related. I might have loved every minute of the slowest ride of the year.

Are my lighter bikes more responsive? Sure ... but after a few hundred yards, it feels like it feels on that bike on that day. I have never thought in the middle of a ride, "This other bike would have been better." Also, I find that according to metrics, How I feel on a given day matters more to my metrics than what I ride. I have done back-to-back rides on new carbon and old steel and had the same times, pretty much ... with a 9-pound weight swing.

So ... if you Want to buy or build a really light bike, for some reason, whatever, go ahead.

It will possibly make you a few seconds faster or a tenth of a mph faster on some rides, if that is a thing for you. It might feel a little quicker in the first few hundred yard, when you hit the gas and it squirts forward .... but if you ride the same bike every day, you will lose that sense of comparison anyway. And yes, a lighter bike, if it fits and meets your needs, can be a pure joy to own and ride. But so can a heavier bike.

What do you want? if you want a higher average speed at the end of the ride .... sure, buy a lighter bike. But anyone will tell you, it is 95% the engine. If speed Really matters, train harder .... Also as we age we slow .... sorry but we know that. At some point there won't be a bike light enough to make up for time .... so that light bike you buy today won't be giving you those same gains after a few years, likely (but maybe ... we are all different.) If you just want to see what it is like, rent or borrow one.

If you don't want to "train" but just want to ride (like me) then sure, nothing wrong with a lighter bike .... but no guarantee you will like it as much as your current ride.

Ultimately ... we cannot take it with us, so we need to do it now .... so Yes. Buy a light bike. Don't mess around, either. get one of those 14.9-lb. S-Works Aethos machines .... Don't go from 9 kg to eight, got to six. Really feel it. After all, the trade off is just that you will have to be buried in a cardboard casket instead of oak or maple. I would do that trade Every day.

If I could justify it to my wife, and if my health let me ride more, I would buy an Aethos just for kicks ... I have no real use, but I love light bikes. I would still be slower than the neighbor's three-year-old on his Big Wheel but i would love the bike even though I was wasting it.

What I would Not do would be to imagine that it would make me faster, or better in any way, or make riding more fun. My state of mind determines if I enjoy a ride, and my fitness determines pace. I cannot buy mental or physical health (or I would .) But I would love to own the bike and ride it.

IMO, light weight is Mostly a marketing ploy. I had more fun on a 46-pound Schwinn Suburban or an almost-as-heavy 3-speed Robin Hood (Sturmey-Archer!!) as I have had on any bike since my childhood. Unless you race weight isn't really an issue ... and lately, even racers are saying aero is more impactful----for racers.

Treat yourself. I just don't want t you to disappoint yourself. Go buy or build a weight-weenie wars steed and thrash it soundly. So long as you are smiling, you win!

OldsCOOL

My lightest bike is a Trek 760 with full 531 frame and tubular wheelset. It weighs 19lbs and just scoots when hammered. And today it would be considered heavy. Get the bike that turns you on or you just wont ride it as much.

bikemig 

This is more about what makes you happy than any need so go for it if you want. My idea of a light bike is around 21-22 lbs but then I ride old steel racing bikes. I know they're old technology but then so am I, . No doubt new bikes are nicer in many ways but fixing up and riding old bikes makes me happy and that's what this is about.

bblair

If you are looking for permission to buy a new bike, here it is: Go Buy the New Bike!

This coupon redeemable at a Local Bike Shop near you. Offer valid indefinitely.

OldTryGuy

If a new lighter bike = more fun and is easier to lug up the stairs, I'd buy it if I were you.

I'm 72, have PCa (Prostate Cancer) and ZERO TESTOSTERONE, biked yesterday 56 miles on my RANS V squared weighing in at 40+ pounds and worked my butt off in 16+mph winds. Had 1 short 1/2 mile section just 2.5 miles from home and end of ride with wind directly behind so was able to crank it up to 25.4mph. Was more fun than riding my Aero Giant Propel Advanced SL at 17lbs. hitting 36mph.

Buy and enjoy 'cause tomorrow ain't guaranteed.

Biker395 

On paper, considering pure physics, a lighter bike will make little difference in speed. But they have a way of feeling livelier and more pleasurable to ride.

Go test ride one!

Daniel4

I'm 61 and the bikes I ride are all heavy- like 35lb plus pack. If I need to carry a bike up or down the stairs, I just lift by the top tube on the palm of one hand and hold the rest of the bike against my back like a knap sack or performing one half of a barbell back squat. The rest of the work is in the legs.

Who knows in ten or fifteen years?

I'm not concerned with speed. Everybody passes me on the trails and bike lanes.

BlazingPedals

That's a sub-20 lb bike. While it's possible to get one that's much lighter these days, it's far from being 'heavy.' If you want a new bike, go for it; but you'll barely notice 4 pounds' difference from a fancy new light bike when going up a set of stairs.

staehpj1

I'll just say that while yes I think a lighter bike is nice and makes a difference, my light bike is just a bit heavier than the heavy bike you mention. I guess that is because all my bikes were fairly inexpensive and are either fairly of very old.

All that said, buy what makes you happy assuming you can afford it.

RB1-luvr

if you do get a lighter bike, keep the old heavier one. I like that feeling of going back and forth with them and feeling the difference.

LeeG

When I had my bike shop I told customers that focusing on weight matters for liting the bike up stairs otherwise for a non racer it’s somewhat irrelevant. And for a racer it matters if your competition is a few feet away from you otherwise the extremes in light weight come at significant cost and noticeable reduction in durability.
There’s nothing like seeing a training partner leave you in the dust riding on wheels and tires that significantly out weigh yours.
In other words it’s the motor, not the bike.

hsea17

Thanks for all the posts. I agree with all of your opinions. From those who don't believe that a lighter bike makes me faster to those who say "treat yourself and stretch it to the point that you can't take anything with you whether the coffin is made of precious wood or a cardboard box . However in reality I probably lean more towards "it's not about the bike but the engine" I had a friend who unfortunately died a few years ago who had the thighs of a track cyclist and beat the rest of us with he using a old folding bike. But he was a rare example of a natural athlete, whatever the sport. Well, I'm not there, but I like speed on the bike and participate (Goal is to finish every year not race) annually in a triathlon with hills that go up to 20% + gradient but have not yet had to get off the bike as many prefer to save energy so a lighter bike will at least me a plus in that race. However I also start to understand that also my time is limited on this wonderful earth, even if my head are still like a boy when it comes to sport so yes I think it will be a new bike this spring.
Thanks & Regards
hsea17

rumrunn6

sounds like the OP's bike is pretty light, as it is. maybe he needs a heavier bike