Weight Weenies gettin' fat

Is it just me, but I know a lot of cyclists, and in that crowd there are a few weight weenies - but I reckon it's the ones who worry most about their bike's weight are the ones with the biggest guts.

Any thoughts. I guess it's easier to lose some weight of your bike than it is off your body.


Ps - most of the cyclists I know are just recreational riders (like myself), racing WWs are a different story.

Well, no. Not all weight weenies are alike. In fact, the common misconception is that weight weenies assume they'll get some performance gain with bike weight loss. Iffin' you go to the Weight Weenies forum, you'll find that very few there actually believe that. Most, it seems, do the weight weenie thing as sort of technical exercise or because they're gearheads and tech geeks.

I guess I'm a weight weenie. My scoot is right at 15 lbs for a 57.5cm Moots Compact. My 42 y.o. corpus has 170 lbs inside a 6'1" frame. Porky I ain't.

FWIW, there's so very little performance gain from a weight weenie bike that's raced. Very little.

I think the premise for this thread is a little off base, just like the idea that recreational riders tend to wear knee-high black socks and 25 year old Bell helmets.

FWIW#2, very few of the people at Weight Weenies are overweight.

[QUOTE=alienator]Well, no. Not all weight weenies are alike. In fact, the common misconception is that weight weenies assume they'll get some performance gain with bike weight loss. Iffin' you go to the Weight Weenies forum, you'll find that very few there actually believe that. Most, it seems, do the weight weenie thing as sort of technical exercise or because they're gearheads and tech geeks.I think the premise for this thread is a little off base, just like the idea that recreational riders tend to wear knee-high black socks and 25 year old Bell helmets."]

Yes I think I will have to agree, I was being way too general - I was just having a ***** about one particular person I know. He is in the category what I was talking about, but after I read your post I realised he was the only one.
I'll get something new and say hey check out my new "bars, stem etc and if it's not carbon, I get the answer, "Yeah, not bad, pretty heavy though".

I just had enough and needed to *****. I apologise if I offended anyone. Generalising like that is never beneficial.

JJ

No offense taken. I know those sorts of people, too. I walked into an LBS that I'd never been in before, one day, with my bike. A salesman complemented the bike but then went on to say that my tires were awefully heavy. Uh-huh. I looked around their store and noticed the tires they sold were veritable pigs compared to mine. Besides....nitpicking about tire weight is kinda lame.

i'd guess that many of the people that can afford the most expensive, and therefore light equipment are professionals and have good jobs. which means they're less likely to be in good shape. jmho of course.

Thats very true cheapie. I know one guy with a Orbea and another with a high end Rocky Mountain bicycle. They are both a bit overweight. I understand though because they both own their own bicycle shop.

I think another problem is people who have really light, expensive bikes tend to not want to ride them that much to avoid wearing them out. I commute on my bikes almost everywhere and I'll admit it doesn't take me long to take a beautiful bike and make it...less then beautiful.

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No, how expensive your bike is and its weight is largely determined by your disposable income. Young racers usually don't have a lot of money and they ride a lot, so they look at people with nicer bikes and think they don't deserve them. When you get a decent job you find out that spending six or seven grand or more on a bike is not a big deal. The world is full of people with ATVs and boats and RVs who spent more money but get less use out of their toys.

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It's much easier to lose weight off my body than my bike.

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Losing it off the bike is a matter of swiping a credit card. That's easier than riding and eating right. (ignoring the fact there is a limit to the former, but in general).

I see a lot of overweight professional types here on the bike trail. Usually they have 3K+ investment in a carbon bike with all the bling. Orbea and Cannondale are common. They all pedal with what I call 'frog legs'.

When I was a 20 yr old 139 lb racing machine my bike was 15% of my body weight and I flew up hills!! I am now 41 years old and 148 lbs and my bike is 11.4% of my body weight!! I would have liked to have had a weight weenie bike back then whe i was fast, but I dont think there were many 15 lb bikes back in the late 80's that were any good (not Ti flexy POS, or mega expensive).

I WOULD be a weight weenie if I had more expendable income for sure. But I wouldnt bother going any less than UCI rules. I DONT do UCI races, but somewhere deep down in me feels like I am cheating if I show up to a USA Cycling race with a 13 lb bike. Not that I would be, but thats how I would feel. Not to mention my 17.5 lb bike (with Powertap, <17.0 without) never feels heavy to me.

But on the other hand I believe racing is about maximizing everything without compromising safety and reliability. You have to finish a race to win a race!! So I slowly make 50 g reductions as budget allows. Next up is a lighter stem, Powerchordz, light weight cable housing. Maybe by next season it will be 15.5 lbs or so!!

Did anythng I just said stay on topic?!?!?!?!

bump

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