Another bike weight question

fatdaz

I am looking at investing in a new "best" bike for next summer and, after having ridden a self built a Winter bike with disc brakes a bit, I like the confidence discs give me, particularly descending. I've been looking at the Bianchi Infinto CV disc and I love the look of the bike and the write ups. Forgetting that I can get more bike for my money with some other brands my question is more about the relative weights of the disc and non disc versions. My Winter bike is steel with 105, 28mm Conti 4 seasons and TRP disc brakes and comes in at somewhere between 10 and 11kg whilst my current Carbon Bianchi is under 8kg. I'm 87kg so a couple of kgs extra bike weight shouldn't make much difference. I find, however, that the Winter bike is harder to get up to speed. I don't think its in my head, it feels slower to accelerate and my Strava stats are generally down on rides on the Winter bike vs the Summer. Looking at the Bianchi I have my eye on, the disc version is a little over a kg heavier than the equivalent non-disc version. Logically I assume this isn't going to make a difference and the difference I find between my Summer and Winter bikes are more down to frame material, wheels and tyres than the 3kg of additional weight. A couple of mates with Canyons have got it into my head that a 6.9kg Canyon will feel as different from the 8kg Infinito CV disc as my Summer bike does from my Winter.

I know I'll be comfortable and stable on the Infinito disc, forgetting the cost argument is there anything in the weight discussion?

Brailsford Bad

No.

You'd be better to go on a diet and lose weight.

fatdaz

I hear that - working on it. I should have said I'm 87kg down from 110kg 10 months ago

marcusjb

You can't get around the physics of it, but most of us would hand on heart struggle to feel a kilo difference between two bikes (on the assumption that the two bikes were identical in every other way). The 8kg bike would be slower up the hills than the identical 7kg bike, but other than analysing our strava data afterwards, few of us could really tell the difference on the road. On the flat, it makes little difference once you're up to speed.

If you know you are going to be comfy on the Bianchi, go for it!

And great work on the weight loss, that's an impressive amount so far!

Dippydog3

Thats pretty much identical to my weight loss.

My summer bike is 8kg, 23mm Gp4000s mark 2. Ultegra brakes.
My new winter bike is 9kg, disc brakes 32mm Roubaix crap tyres.

I really, really cannot tell the difference in speed. I have Strava PB's on the new bike in worse conditions than my summer PB's. Conditions vary so much in terms of wind, drafting, temperature, traffic, nutrition, clothing .......

Its not the bike. Its you.

Comfort at the amateur level is everything. If you feel good, you will last longer! As they say....

iron-clover

With the modern selection of disk brake bikes around you won't have a problem.
The majority of disk specific road bikes are also designed for some light off roading and are beefed up accordingly, which are a lot heavier at the lower price points ("Strong, light, cheap- pick two") but now there are the road bikes that can take disks with only a minor frame weight penalty- such as the Bianchi.

Yes, disks will always weigh more than rim brakes, but it's only a few hundered grams at the center of the wheels- you won't notice it much. And because you're not wearing out your rims under braking you can use much more expensive and lighter rims which you don't have to worry about wearing out, which is where you find most of the gains.

The overall increase in weight is negligible when compared with bike and rider combined weight, and with light wheels you almost certainly won't feel it.

Bar Shaker

It's not just the weight of the discs, the forks and seat stays also need to be significantly stronger to take the loads imposed by the disc calipers. Because of the lever arm effect, these loads are many times higher than those of rim brakes.

My alloy full suss MTB is 11kg so that's a heavy road bike!

ugo.santalucia

I think 8 Kg is about right for a road bike... you can go 1-1.5 Kg lower, but you enter a world of hidden cracks, persistent creaks, intrinsic fragility and low durability (especially with Canyon!). Yes, a sub 7 Kg bike is still something you can brag about if you cycle outside the golden triangle (that's the imaginary area around Richmond Park, where anything under 10 grand is a winter bike at best), but you already have an 8 Kg bike, which even by today's distorted standards is a light bike. For reference I am 15 Kg lighter than you and my bike is a feather under 10Kg when I use race tyres and I don't generally feel at a disadvantage, except on those rare occasions when I enter a sportive that has 3,000 metres of climbing or so. On those days I could do with a 7 Kg bike, but any other day I prefer my solid and reliable steed. To give you an idea, the last time I did a similar ride was September 2013... :roll:

arlowood

Reflecting Ugo's comments above you could do worse than consider another couple of options that have impressed the reviewers at Cycling + (current Nov issue)

Namely the Cannondale Synapse Ultegra Disc (8.42kg - £2495)

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/can ... e-ec071017

and the GT Grade Carbon Ultegra (8.63 kg - £2600).

http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk/gt-gra ... -bike.html

Both rated 5 stars in the test but the 'Dale just edged it.

Also with the notional change saved over the price of the Bianchi (?£6000) you could probably shave a few hundred grams with a nice set of handbuilt disc wheels. The stock wheels provided on either bike weigh around the 3.2 kg mark according to the stats in the review.

duckson

I think the Rose DX (alu) and CDX (carbon) will be ones to watch, i personally think the Di2 CDX will come out at mid £2k.

http://girodilento.com/rose-bikes-2015- ... e-reviews/

CDX is based on the non-disc Team CGF frame.

fatdaz

Thank you for the advice. As per my original post I am well aware that I can get more bike for less money I'm just panicking before I spemd a shit load of money

fatdaz

And Ugo - I promised you a photo of my self build Winter bike as its got a set of your wheels on it. I'll get a photo sorted