Where have all the Weenies gone?

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

Moderators: robbosmans, Moderator Team

TimW
Posts: 536
Joined: Sat May 09, 2009 1:52 pm
Location: England, UK

by TimW

The reason I like these forums, is that although they may no longer mostly be about weight, there are some really good detailed technical discussions and people who do know their stuff when it comes to various topics. Also you do still occasionally get some pretty cool customizations of parts and bikes.

drainyoo
Posts: 789
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:56 pm

by drainyoo

Yeah, the technical discussions are great, and I don't want to see them go, just miss the great WW discussions that used to flood these forums.

I also don't see WW as a trend. It's a bug that will always stick around, I still have it after 7 years. Building a light bike is more than just about the performance of it, it's a sub-hobby of cycling. I will probably never ride in a serious race, and a light bike probably doesn't benefit me at all, but at the same time I love trying to get the weight down. It's a challenge, and the journey you take makes you appreciate the bike more. Plus, it's a learning experience. I've learned so much about how a bike works by trying to make it lighter.

We have reached a point where more over the counter parts are much much lighter than they were 5 years ago, but at the same time there are still areas that haven't been explored.

by Weenie


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realoriginallike
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2013 5:28 pm

by realoriginallike

Let's not underestimate the now widespread acceptance of and improvements in SSRIs :wink:

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tymon_tm
Posts: 3665
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2006 4:35 pm

by tymon_tm

the WW stuff is a lot like powerfull supercars - you can get them anywhere for a fracture of price they used to be offered a decade ago. Porsche 911 (993, form the 90's) with an automatic gearbox would reach 100kmh in ~6.5 seconds. you can get a similar performance figures from an Audi A4 with a 2-liter, 4 cylinder engine. cost? around 40k euros. 40k gets you today where only a few would have gotten just 15-20 years ago. that's just insane! same with bikes - enter a random bike shop, order a top of the range bike from any given producer, and most likely you'll get an uber-light UCI-illegal bike. without drilling the seatpost, tuning deraillures etc. and the brands such as Merida tend to sell their stuff in the autumn as low as ~30-40% below MSRP!

one doesn't simply require any sort of wisdom, skills or experience to ride a WW bike today. just a handfull of cash (that wouldn't buy you a set of Zipps a decade ago) and a computer connected to internet. weird as this might sound, i personally don't find anything special about super-light bike stuff anymore - any rookie can get that. but riding such a bike the way it's ment to be - that's a completely another story
kkibbler wrote: WW remembers.

drainyoo
Posts: 789
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:56 pm

by drainyoo

You can buy a very light bike right out of the box, but there will always be ways to make any of these bikes even lighter. That's what WW Is about. And most rookie would have no idea on how to do it or where to start.

donald
Posts: 294
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2005 11:32 pm
Location: san francisco ca. usa

by donald

I agree drainyoo. I like reading about anything weight weenie light. I have won many races and also on club training rides, have reached the top of most big climbs 1st, 2nd or 3rd and do feel that my weight weenie bikes were a big help in that. My bikes were always 7 to 10 lbs. lighter than those I competed against. It wasn't to be better than someone else, for me it really is more enjoyable to ride a lighter bike and its fun to modify parts. If my bikes had not been reliable, it would not have been much fun all these years. This site is called Weight Weenies for a reason.

drainyoo
Posts: 789
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:56 pm

by drainyoo

I agree.

It also begs the question why the mods aren't moving threads out of the Road forum that have nothing to do with weight. The forum is described as "Discuss light weight issues concerning road bikes & parts." Very little of that type of discussion happening in the Road forum right now.

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kac
Posts: 361
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 5:31 pm

by kac

Sometimes it's hard to contribute without anything profound or original to add; that's the case with me. In any event, expert weenie or not, I really enjoy reading this forum and participating from time-to-time.

KAC

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velonista
Posts: 42
Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2014 9:47 am

by velonista

drainyoo wrote:I agree.

It also begs the question why the mods aren't moving threads out of the Road forum that have nothing to do with weight. The forum is described as "Discuss light weight issues concerning road bikes & parts." Very little of that type of discussion happening in the Road forum right now.

I'm thinking about starting a thread with the title, "Where have all the pedants gone?". Is that OK with yoo? I just wanted to get your permission first since it's apparent that yoo want to wrest final say-so from the admins so that yoo can dictate what people are allowed or not allowed to post.

drainyoo
Posts: 789
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:56 pm

by drainyoo

Um, no. I haven't suggested that at all. I'm not trying to dictate what is posted, just asking why there are so many off-topic threads in the Road forum that have nothing to do with weight. After all, this is a Weight Weenies forum. That's the primary focus of this site, and I'm just pointing out that a majority of the topics are very general, and have nothing to do with the WW topic.

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djconnel
Posts: 7917
Joined: Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:57 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA
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by djconnel

All the grey-beards saying "I'm over weight weenism" is moot. They should be replaced by newbies looking for creative ways to optimize their bikes. It's about the details.

I think the culture here has changed. Discussions of weight are almost always ridiculed, or at best ignored.

That said, I recently bought a custom randonneuring bike, which is on the wrong side of 10 kg. But weight's not the motivation there: it's about commuting, light touring, and self-sufficiency. I could have spent the same money and lightened my racing bike by a few hundred grams, and it would have barely improved my life at all. This, on the other hand, provides substantially expanded ride options.

BikeAnon
Posts: 399
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2014 6:36 pm
Location: NY USA

by BikeAnon

I took the belt-sander to the side-plates of my multi-tool today.

65 grams, down to 49 grams.

Does that count?
Last edited by BikeAnon on Sun Mar 30, 2014 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

makoti
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:33 am

by makoti

I'm a newbie at all this. Getting my first carbon, lightweight bike, so the idea of making it as light as possible is of great interest to me. However, both my steel bikes, without any efforts, weigh less than the bikes that were "superbikes" when I started riding (8.4 & 8.8kg w/o pedals). It does kind of make me wonder if it isn't a fruitless pursuit. Eddy could STILL probably pull his old, heavy bike out of the shed & kick my butt.
But I still want to get the new one under 6.8kg. ;-)

nickl
Posts: 140
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2013 12:37 am

by nickl

drainyoo wrote:I agree.

It also begs the question why the mods aren't moving threads out of the Road forum that have nothing to do with weight. The forum is described as "Discuss light weight issues concerning road bikes & parts." Very little of that type of discussion happening in the Road forum right now.


Oh god no. I've never seen a forum where threads get moved as often as in here - it makes it so hard to keep up follow them most of the time I don't bother.

I'd like to see more discussions, not less!

For me WeightWeenies was about good engineering for bikes, and weight was just one part of that.

goodboyr
Posts: 1487
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:56 pm
Location: Canada

by goodboyr

Shouldn't complain about this forum. Its heads and shoulders above the gang mentality over at RBR.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



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