Bike weight-does it really matter that much?

rhyko7

i have only been riding mountain bikes for 20 months or so, but have got quite fit and decided to do a couple of enduro races this year, i normall come inside the top 25% which i guess is quite good.

i ride a 2007 32 lb Giant Trance with 130mm forks and a short stem-its my AM bike, i have got a HT aswell but its a jump bike which ive only ever ridden xc on-doh!

im wandering how much difference the weight makes, if say my bike was 6 lbs lighter how much quicker would i be?

im considering building up a Giant Anthem to race on next summer where i plan on being much fitter, do you think this would be wasted money or would it really make me a few minutes quicker per hour?

any opinions welcome-im quite thick skinned lol

likewoah

I dunno...I have a Remedy that is 32lbs too but wonderd if it would be good to get around 28lbs.

Going metric I weigh 85kg, my bike weighs 14.5kg. So total weight around 100kg. (ignoring clothes & rucsac)

Drop 6lbs, thats 3kg

Bike goes from 14.5 to 11.5 = 20% lighter
Total = 97kg of mass to shift now = 3% lighter

So overall, you're 3% lighter. Is that worth worrying about? Maybe if you're racing. 3% off 60 mins is just under 2 mins. But don't know if it works that way simply compared to weight.

Psychlogically, I've found lighter bikes feel faster. But maybe that's more because the bike is proportionally a lot less compared to your own weight. Before you were 5.8 times heavier than your bike. Now you're 7.4 times heavier.
It can cost a lot to get there though...so....ummm...I dunno....hope that helps

adb1006

It matters in certain places IMO. For example, rotational weight such as wheels/tyres. Shed a couple of lbs there and you'll notice it much more than lighter bars/stem/seatpost etc.

VWsurfbum

a simple thing, i changed from running 2.2 fast rolling tyres (i thought) to 1.8's apart from being supremly quicker they are also lighter.
as for loosing weight off the bike chassis etc is expensive and unless you feel that your in a position to challange for the tittle position then go for it?

ride_whenever

geometry is more important that weight, a spark weighs what, 23-24 lbs, so about 2/3 what yours weighs... Yes it's a lot, but you'll beat an unfit person on one, even riding a dh bike with a massive seatpost.


Getting fitter will help more than losing weight. However, you always could use a nice race bike!

joshtp

ride_whenever wrote:

geometry is more important that weight, a spark weighs what, 23-24 lbs, so about 2/3 what yours weighs... Yes it's a lot, but you'll beat an unfit person on one, even riding a dh bike with a massive seatpost.


Getting fitter will help more than losing weight. However, you always could use a nice race bike!

+1
weight will make a diferance, however not so much that its worth spending a small fortune on, unless you take racing mega seriously. and its as much down to geometry/ride characteristics as anythin.....
rotating weight does make a dif tho, even changing to lighter inner tubes will help turbo boost your riding.

MrChuck

I'd say yes- sometimes! When I got my Giant XTC SX it was quite lardy, and as bits wore out/broke I upgraded them. Some things didn't seem to make too much difference, but there did seem to be a point where it suddenly became 'better' to ride- less sluggish, easier to get off the ground, and generally a lot sprightlier and fun to ride. But I wouldn't expect similar real-world benefits if I carried on and got the lightest bars/seatpost etc.

So weight does make a difference, but losing it isn't necessarily going to transform your ride.

supersonic

I'd say yes. I seem to have a threshold where the weight becomes really noticable. Also weight off the bike feels less than off yourself due to the way we move the bike, and the proximity of the mass to our muscles.

stubs

Light wheels and tyres seem to make a noticeable difference anywhere else on the bike lighter components dont seem to do anything noticeable apart from make you feel faster.

I have a pair of cheapo no name wheels I got off ebay fitted with Continental city slicks for road riding they weigh about a pound a wheel more than my good wheels and you can really feel the difference when you first jump on the bike.

xtreem

I say go for it.

Your weight should not count, it's stupid how pepole consider the weight of the rider, imho.
For example if you loose 10kg, which is a lot, does that means that you'll be faster?
NO!

But if you loose 1kg of your bike weight, now that will improve your time.

Example:
It takes 2 hours for me to go from home to the hut on the mountain from where I start my descend.
It takes 2hours and 15min to get to the hut, when I drag my fullface at the back.
I know that's not a part of the bike, but 1kg of extra weight makes me 15min slower.

So if you aquire a lighter bike, and improve your fitness you'll probably
finish in the top 10 or 5, depends how much riders are in those 25%.
But if you're racing just for fun, it's not necessarily for you to get a lighter bike,
but if you have the money, I say BUY one.

rhyko7

Cheers guys

The general consensus seems to be that if I take it more seriously and think I can get into the top 25 or so then its worth going for it.
Thing is I was made redundant and am not used to not having money, my last job was really well paid so spending money on a bike wasn’t a problem, but not sure I can get my career back on track until near the end of recession, until then I will have to find a crappy job. :oops:

I have turned my current bike into an AM bike, because I ride DH tracks on it, unfortunately this means its heavier and not very fast on xc.

My plan is to have one bike for all round playing and then one lightweight fast xc bike for long rides and races.

It’s not something I will do until about March, I really should get a job soon, im giving up on looking for a career and will settle for a job soon.

I want to get a 2nd hand Giant anthem in good condition, which should cost about 750-1000£ I reckon.


Im currently building up a training bike (hardtail) for road and light xc use, ile sell that if I get an anthem and may swap my trance frame for a reign too.

Anyway thanks for all your opinions, I was just trying to justifying getting a new bike for next summer lol.

BOYDIE

Id put mt money into a good set of wheels and lightweight tyres/tubes.Ive done this after a while on most of my past rides,this rotational weight makes a big difference to the acceleration of the bike than almost any other upgrade.

But remember light weight tyres/tubes are prone to snakebite/punctures.And a lighter weight bike can, IMO seem skittish on some terrains.

boneyjoe

can definitely recommend going for something lighter; will almost certainly improve your times immediately, by I'd say about 5-10 mins per hour

TonyWard

To look on the bright side, I think I'd be faster with a heavier bike but without a job than with a light bike that I don't ride very often because I'm at work!

gezzza

boneyjoe wrote:

can definitely recommend going for something lighter; will almost certainly improve your times immediately, by I'd say about 5-10 mins per hour

Really how much lighter are we talking to save 10 mins??

xtreem

1-1.5kg

TonyWard

I really think that the chances of you saving 10 minutes in an hour with a 1.5kg weight saving on your bike is way, way off. I don't think you would save 5 minutes with a 10kg weight difference - depending on how much climbing there was over the hour and how much you and your bike weigh to start with.

stubs

TonyWard wrote:

I really think that the chances of you saving 10 minutes in an hour with a 1.5kg weight saving on your bike is way, way off. I don't think you would save 5 minutes with a 10kg weight difference - depending on how much climbing there was over the hour and how much you and your bike weigh to start with.

If you knocked 1 to 1.5 kg off your wheels you could save a few minutes on a climb. That weight saving anywhere else would make about that much difference (holds thumb and forefinger 1 cm apart). Weight off your wheeels particulary the rims does make a difference in my experience.

TonyWard

Not sure about how much you would save but 1.5kgs off your wheels (and presumably it would need to be tyres/ tubes/ rims not hubs) would be some weight saving!! Unless you were riding with lead rims to start with

ride_whenever

except you don't actually get faster from lighter wheels, you just accelerate a lot faster. Case in point, swapping heavy wire beaded slicks for lighter folding mud tyres. Much better acceleration but lower top speed. However light wheels are nice because you are spending a lot of time accelerating out of corners etc. Light forks are nice too, the difference between my sids and my toras at the same length is like night and day for trail riding, just because the front end comes up much easier so you can float over stuff so much more easily.

boneyjoe

I agree that 1.5kg won't do too much. I've trimmed about 2.5kgs off my previous bike with the Scott, and that seemed to give me an immediate 5-10mins improvement, depending on various factors. In particular, the longer the race and more climbing involved = more advantage. Original poster's bike came in at 32lbs, which is really quite heavy for xc / enduro racing, and something around 20-25lbs would be much better and a lot more fun!

gezzza

Xtreem wrote:

1-1.5kg

Really

well Ive gone from a GF Sugar 2 (27-28Lb) to a Scott spark 20 (24.5lb) and then dropped 3lb off that (which is your 1-1.5Kg) to 21.5lb and my times really haven't changed that much, yes i have got quicker but thats down to training.

The light weight is nice the bike feels more responsive and it feels like it accelerates alot quicker, but i think thats just me, its certainly not as stable on the ruff DH now

ride_whenever

On really light bikes, the idea over rough DH stuff is to float over and around it, rather than ploughing through it.

boneyjoe

Totally agree with that last post. You definitely need to work on riding technique to get the most from a lighter bike over the technical stuff. I find this a nice challenge, but no doubt others prefer the bike to do the work.

captain8track

I think it depends where the weight is, to be honest a well balanced heavier bike might sometimes both feel lighter and be more aggressive then a lighter not so balanced.

I would say that it's a bit individual, I had a sub 8kg's XTC with a carbon fork that was really fast on the road, but when I added a suspension fork I opted for a steel frame, and felt that it was better balanced and also faster. this is more a full suspension problem, I have lately been riding an heavy FS and feel that I get really tired sometimes and can't explain it, it's probarly the extra weight...

El Capitano

My thoughts…

I like having a light bike. I think it helps you go faster. Whether there is any truth in this, I don’t know, but I certainly feel that bit faster, the lighter the bike is.

Over the years, I’ve spend stupid amounts of money making my bikes as light as possible. I still do to a certain extent (latest being £20 for four Ti Caliper bolts to collectively reduce the bike’s weight by 8g), however there are a few things you should be aware of:

Lighter doesn’t always mean better. Up until September, I had a set of 2002 Rockshok SID forks on my NRS. They weighed 1189g. Very light. However, they didn’t work that well compared to the 1859g MX Pro’s they replaced. I have since replaced them with 2009 Reba SIDS. Granted they’re heavier, but work soooo much better. In a similar vein I bought some of the Neoprene grips from Posh-Bikes, weight something like 7g each. Again, very nice to look at and weigh, but useless to use in real life. Then there’s the Maxxis Flyweight tyres at 330g each that won’t take the abuse of a road ride, let alone be used for XC racing. I could go on and on…

There’s the old saying “Cheap, Light, Strong, pick two of these”. Light stuff, that isn’t extremely fragile, isn’t cheap…

Your component selection will also depend upon what and where you race. I normally do 12 and 24 endurance events as part of a team, or in pairs. I’m therefore more interested in the contact points being comfortable rather than lightweight – SDG Bel Air saddle at 280g rather than the Sellia Italia SLR at 135g etc etc…

I’ve had a sub 20lb XTC, which was awesome, but weighted in at 22lbs in race mode. I now have an NRS, which I’ve got down to 22lbs and now built back up to about 24.5 (there’s pix in the Rides section). Yes, I may shave a few more g off it, but I’m now careful where I do it from.

There is a huge amount of information on the Weight Weenies website. However, looking at some of the “Star Bikes” I doubt many of them actually see any dirt…