Bike weight Body weight

Mettan

In relation to climbing - is it useful to loose body weight before upgrading your bike ie your wheels etc? - through weightlifting & eating I got to 14 stone and can comfortably come down to 12 stone (currently 13.4 through riding) - obviously one can upgrade in tandem with losing body weight, but just looking for some thoughts on this.

Thanks

geoffnelder

Hello Mettan,

In what way would losing a stone here or there affect the choice of a new bike? Ironically, the heavier you are the more energy is used uphill and so the more weight you'd lose - assuming calorie input not rising to compensate.

You might think being heavy should make whizzing downhill faster but physics tells us (unlikely though it seems) that weight has nothing to do wth the speed of falling. On the other hand our heaviness might help overcome friction more - nothing is easy!


Geoff

Alex_Simmons/RST

Losing non-power producing weight, provided it's healthy to do so, done in a sustainable manner and/or you can afford it, along with improved fitness through training is the most effective climbing performance enhancement you'll get.

Obiously dropping body weight is cheaper than buying new bike bits.

If you can get to 12 st then you'll lose the weight of a bike! I'd be doing that first, or perhaps set an interim target and reward yourself with a bit of bike kit when you reach it.

Think of it in terms of power to weight ratio. Higher the ratio, the better for climbing.

Special K

GeoffNelder wrote:

Hello Mettan,


You might think being heavy should make whizzing downhill faster but physics tells us (unlikely though it seems) that weight has nothing to do wth the speed of falling. On the other hand our heaviness might help overcome friction more - nothing is easy!


Geoff

...in a vacuum

in real life you'll accelerate faster than the sparrows you'll ride with though reach a similar terminal speed.

yoffi69

i'm a fat git who loves riding mountain bikes 8)

so last week i took delivery of a 2008 zaskar team in carbon fibre.

20.8lb about the same as my forearm

Mettan

Thanks guys - so basically losing bodyweight and then possibly a wheel/tyre/pedal upgrade ie rotational items - I'm thinking of upgrading my wheels to a pair of Shimano Tiagra R500's - £60 for the pair - they're only budget ones but should be better than the ones that came with my bike - after I've got them I'll resell my original ones.

feel

Streamlining is very important in reducing friction due to air resistance. Practise making your head very pointy - bashing it between two books might help

AndyGates

Srlsly, losing a stone of belly makes a ton of difference. A nice bike is a nice bike, but the difference between my £500 roadie and a £1500 bike would not be the same as the difference between my 105kg megabelly and my 90kg regularbelly.

geoffnelder

Words of wisdom, Andy. At 87kg and only 5'8 I feel the difference going uphill whenever I'm clever enough to lose a kg or two.

My main fear is now my winter fat coming along. And it's been with me for 3 years!

Geoff