Bike weight

(Southern Girl) said:

How important is bike weight
for riders who will not be racing?

The amount that weight will slow you down on a steep climb is a bit
less than the ratio of weight fraction. So if you and your bike weigh
150 lbs and you add 3 lbs, that is a 2% weight increase, and it will
slow you down maybe 1.5%. If you could climb at 8.0 mph before, now
your speed will be ~7.9mph. I don't think you will notice that, and it
won't effect your enjoyment in the slightest.

When you are riding on flat ground the extra weight will have
essentially no effect at all. So... IMO that is a fine bike weight,
and there is no reason to spend more money to get something lighter,
unless there are other reasons why you'd like to do so.

Southern Girl said:

I have read many of the posts and this group appears to be oriented for
serious cyclists. I hope you will indulge a newcomer.

It's the regulars that flame each other around here.

Quoted message said:

I will be riding in charity/group rides on rolling hills in lengths of
25 to 50 miles. I am riding for fitness not for speed or competition.

The bike I wish to purchase is the Jamis Coda Comp. According to the
Jamis website it weighs 24.75 lbs. Is that a good weight for rides of
that length and terrain or is too heavy? How important is bike weight
for riders who will not be racing?

I rode my first double metric century on a bike that was well over 45
pounds (including tools and water bottles) and managed to make it up
some rather steep hills without standing (not that it was an option). 25
pounds is not that heavy, unless you are a "weight weenie".

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

(Southern Girl) said:

I have read many of the posts and this group appears to be oriented for
serious cyclists. I hope you will indulge a newcomer.

I will be riding in charity/group rides on rolling hills in lengths of
25 to 50 miles. I am riding for fitness not for speed or competition.

The bike I wish to purchase is the Jamis Coda Comp. According to the
Jamis website it weighs 24.75 lbs. Is that a good weight for rides of
that length and terrain or is too heavy? How important is bike weight
for riders who will not be racing?

How much a bike weighs, in the vast majority of cases, only matters on
the scales at the bike shop. In the real world it doesn't make much
difference. What matters *more* is whether the bike fits *you* and
*your* riding style. The nicest bike in the world won't do you much
good if you dread riding it.

Have you test-ridden this bike? Have you even seen one in person?
Shopping for a bike on the Internet is a lot like shopping for
clothes: unless you know *precisely* what you want, the possibility of
getting something wrong is quite high.

My recommendation: get to know your local bike shop. Ask for
recommendations from knowledgable cyclists for bike shops that are
willing to work with a newbie. Asking questions takes time and effort,
but it'll save you a lot of grief in the long run.

FWIW: I was out for a longish ride (88 miles) today. My bike weighs
about 32 pounds bare, and it's got about 10 pounds of accessories
attached to it. I weigh 220 pounds on a good day. Do I wish I weren't
hauling around all that weight? Well, yeah... but I doubt I'd be any
faster if I were on a 20 pound bike. I really don't see how I could
have enjoyed it more- I had a wonderful time.

Jeff

Jeff Wills said:

...My bike weighs about 32 pounds bare, and it's got about 10 pounds
of accessories attached to it....

Hey, I resemble that remark (32 pound bike with 10 pounds of additions)!

Quoted message said:

Do I wish I weren't
hauling around all that weight? Well, yeah... but I doubt I'd be any
faster if I were on a 20 pound bike....

Well, the only situations I am aware of where a 20 pound (or 15 pound
for that matter) road bike would be faster than Jeff's bike would be
urban riding with frequent stops, very long mountain climbs on steep
grades, or rides that are mostly on unimproved surfaces.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

In article <[email hidden]>, Alice-in-
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I have read many of the posts and this group appears to be oriented for
serious cyclists. I hope you will indulge a newcomer.

I will be riding in charity/group rides on rolling hills in lengths of
25 to 50 miles. I am riding for fitness not for speed or competition.

The bike I wish to purchase is the Jamis Coda Comp. According to the
Jamis website it weighs 24.75 lbs. Is that a good weight for rides of
that length and terrain or is too heavy? How important is bike weight
for riders who will not be racing?

Amazing how many long, babbling answers a person can get here to a
simple question. The simple answer is that the weight of the bike makes
very little difference if you are not racing. 24.75 lbs is a reasonably
light bike.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

How important is bike weight
for riders who will not be racing?

The amount that weight will slow you down on a steep climb is a bit
less than the ratio of weight fraction. So if you and your bike weigh
150 lbs and you add 3 lbs, that is a 2% weight increase, and it will
slow you down maybe 1.5%. If you could climb at 8.0 mph before, now
your speed will be ~7.9mph. I don't think you will notice that, and it
won't effect your enjoyment in the slightest.

Not always the case. It's just as important *why* the bike is heavier than
the actual weight itself. I could build up a 24lb bike that would feel very
nice & fast, or a 20 pound bike that felt like a pig. Unfortunately, greater
weight is at least partly a function of lesser-quality parts that may not
work as well.

I would also argue that a 4-pound difference in bike weight (all other
things being equal) makes a greater difference in ride "feel" than should be
the case. When you stand on a bike on a climb and essentially throw it from
side to side, you most definitely notice the decrease in mass making it feel
more lively. Seated, and the difference would be very difficult to tell.

Quoted message said:

When you are riding on flat ground the extra weight will have
essentially no effect at all. So... IMO that is a fine bike weight,
and there is no reason to spend more money to get something lighter,
unless there are other reasons why you'd like to do so.

Looking at the bike in question, I would at the very least ditch the
suspension seatpost and get rid of a pretty good chunk of weight. Better to
get more compliance from higher quality (and possibly wider) tires. I'd also
get rid of the funky adjustable-angle stem, which isn't a very good solution
to the problem of trying to adjust the fit to the rider. Adjustable stems
add a whole lot of weight, increase the likelihood of failure in a critical
area if not kept tight, and swing in an arc that allows you to choose
between either "up" or "out" but not reach & height separately. A competent
dealer should have a large stock of stems and the expertise to choose one
that best suits the rider.

Again, my point is that a bike that's heavier than another may be heavier
due to choices that either aren't relevant to the rider or result in lower
performance.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

(Southern Girl) said:

I have read many of the posts and this group appears to be oriented for
serious cyclists. I hope you will indulge a newcomer.

I will be riding in charity/group rides on rolling hills in lengths of
25 to 50 miles. I am riding for fitness not for speed or competition.

The bike I wish to purchase is the Jamis Coda Comp. According to the
Jamis website it weighs 24.75 lbs. Is that a good weight for rides of
that length and terrain or is too heavy? How important is bike weight
for riders who will not be racing?

Very nice bike for the $$$ IMO. Make sure it fits right, be particular
in that regard. Weight only matters up hills and even then, it matters
only slightly.

Chris

On Sun, 8 Jul 2007 00:09:56 -0400, [email hidden]

(Southern Girl) said:

I have read many of the posts and this group appears to be oriented for
serious cyclists. I hope you will indulge a newcomer.

I will be riding in charity/group rides on rolling hills in lengths of
25 to 50 miles. I am riding for fitness not for speed or competition.

The bike I wish to purchase is the Jamis Coda Comp. According to the
Jamis website it weighs 24.75 lbs. Is that a good weight for rides of
that length and terrain or is too heavy? How important is bike weight
for riders who will not be racing?

Not very important to completely unimportant..

--
JT
****************************
Remove "remove" to reply
Visit http://www.jt10000.com
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"Southern Girl" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
| I have read many of the posts and this group appears to be oriented for
| serious cyclists. I hope you will indulge a newcomer.
|
| I will be riding in charity/group rides on rolling hills in lengths of
| 25 to 50 miles. I am riding for fitness not for speed or competition.
|
| The bike I wish to purchase is the Jamis Coda Comp. According to the
| Jamis website it weighs 24.75 lbs. Is that a good weight for rides of
| that length and terrain or is too heavy? How important is bike weight
| for riders who will not be racing?
|

Your sensitivity to the weight of the bike is a function of two things -
how much you have to accelerate the bike (as in starting up from a stop or
pedaling up a hill), and how much horsepower you can generate.

If you won't be doing much stop-and-go riding and you don't expect to
encounter many hills, the bike's weight won't be much of a factor.
Otherwise, the weight may be an issue if you aren't physically able to
generate much power.

Based on your signature, I'm assuming that you are female. Most of the
posters in this group and guys and, pound for pound, have more muscle mass
and therefore, can generate more power than a female. On top of that, they
are BIG guys (like over 200 lbs) so they can be expected to have a LOT more
power than a typical female. For them, the difference between a 20 lb and
25 lb bike is such a small percentage of their body weight that it has
little importance. For someone like myself (female, 110 lbs, a member of
AARP) that 5 pound difference is noticeable, but not too objectionable,
when I ride around town (lots of stop-and-go) or tackle a hill.

The bike you mentioned looks like a good one for someone who is just
starting out. I'd probably ditch the suspension seatpost to trim the weight
(the suspension is probably superfluous given that the bike has 28mm
tires). And if you really get into the biking thing, maybe next year
consider getting a lighter bike with drop bars.

Jean

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman said:

Well, the only situations I am aware of where a 20 pound (or 15 pound
for that matter) road bike would be faster than Jeff's bike would be
urban riding with frequent stops, ...

So, it's faster to get to the next red light as quickly as
possible ;-) ?

DR

Southern Girl said:

I have read many of the posts and this group appears to be oriented for
serious cyclists. I hope you will indulge a newcomer.

I will be riding in charity/group rides on rolling hills in lengths of
25 to 50 miles. I am riding for fitness not for speed or competition.

The bike I wish to purchase is the Jamis Coda Comp. According to the
Jamis website it weighs 24.75 lbs. Is that a good weight for rides of
that length and terrain or is too heavy? How important is bike weight
for riders who will not be racing?

25lbs is ok, but not fab. one thing conspicuously /not/ mentioned by
the "weight doesn't matter" crowd is that weight and bike quality go
very much hand in hand. if you want "quality" in that the componentry
of the bike is better made, fits better, lasts longer and is more
reliable, then yes, weight /does/ matter. go for the highest quality
bike you can afford.

jim beam said:

Southern Girl said:

I have read many of the posts and this group appears to be oriented for
serious cyclists. I hope you will indulge a newcomer.

Quoted message said:

I will be riding in charity/group rides on rolling hills in lengths of
25 to 50 miles. I am riding for fitness not for speed or competition.

Quoted message said:

The bike I wish to purchase is the Jamis Coda Comp. According to the
Jamis website it weighs 24.75 lbs. Is that a good weight for rides of
that length and terrain or is too heavy? How important is bike weight
for riders who will not be racing?

25lbs is ok, but not fab. one thing conspicuously /not/ mentioned by
the "weight doesn't matter" crowd is that weight and bike quality go
very much hand in hand. if you want "quality" in that the componentry
of the bike is better made, fits better, lasts longer and is more
reliable, then yes, weight /does/ matter. go for the highest quality
bike you can afford.

So, a massed produced CRFP frame, being lighter, is inherently "better
made" and "fits better" and will "last longer" than a custom steel
frame crafted by, say Tom Kellogg, Richard Sachs, etc.?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

25lbs is ok, but not fab. one thing conspicuously /not/ mentioned by
the "weight doesn't matter" crowd is that weight and bike quality go
very much hand in hand. if you want "quality" in that the componentry
of the bike is better made, fits better, lasts longer and is more
reliable, then yes, weight /does/ matter. go for the highest quality
bike you can afford.

So, a massed produced CRFP frame, being lighter, is inherently "better
made" and "fits better" and will "last longer" than a custom steel
frame crafted by, say Tom Kellogg, Richard Sachs, etc.?

You're taking liberties with the point he was making. His argument does,
generally, hold up, particularly within a given "genre" (frames built of
similar materials, for example). The higher-quality steel frames (your
example) will quite possibly be lighter. At the very least, they'll reflect
a minimal weight for the task at hand (while it's possible that a
"production" frame might not be spec'd as conservatively and thus more
likely to fail).

A better example of where lighter=better is likely to fall apart would be in
saddles. The extreme case would be a hefty Brooks Pro vs one of the latest
super-super-superlight sexy Italian models that looks so cool but feels so
bad (to many).

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

"Ozark Bicycle" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

jim beam said:

Southern Girl said:

I have read many of the posts and this group appears to be oriented for
serious cyclists. I hope you will indulge a newcomer.

Quoted message said:

I will be riding in charity/group rides on rolling hills in lengths of
25 to 50 miles. I am riding for fitness not for speed or competition.

Quoted message said:

The bike I wish to purchase is the Jamis Coda Comp. According to the
Jamis website it weighs 24.75 lbs. Is that a good weight for rides of
that length and terrain or is too heavy? How important is bike weight
for riders who will not be racing?

25lbs is ok, but not fab. one thing conspicuously /not/ mentioned by
the "weight doesn't matter" crowd is that weight and bike quality go
very much hand in hand. if you want "quality" in that the componentry
of the bike is better made, fits better, lasts longer and is more
reliable, then yes, weight /does/ matter. go for the highest quality
bike you can afford.

So, a massed produced CRFP frame, being lighter, is inherently "better
made" and "fits better" and will "last longer" than a custom steel
frame crafted by, say Tom Kellogg, Richard Sachs, etc.?

Jean said:

Most of the
posters in this group...
are BIG guys (like over 200 lbs)

R.B.T., home of the whopper.

Jay Hill said:

Jean said:

Most of the
posters in this group...
are BIG guys (like over 200 lbs)

R.B.T., home of the whopper.

Hold the mustard!

"Jay Hill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
| Jean wrote:
|
| > Most of the
| > posters in this group...
| > are BIG guys (like over 200 lbs)
|
| R.B.T., home of the whopper.

LMAO....

Jay Hill said:

R.B.T., home of the whopper.

Where /is/ Bill Baka, anyway?!?

Bill Sornson said:

Jay Hill said:

R.B.T., home of the whopper.

Where /is/ Bill Baka, anyway?!?

He and his "Whopper" are off to a new career in adult films.

Ozark Bicycle said:

He and his "Whopper" are off to a new career in adult films.

I thought he lost that in the tricycle accident?