How much weight to factor in for grease and lube?

[Pan]

After weighing all the pieces of my bike the weight was to be 8167 grams however with grease, the bike was 8.27kg. How do I know if I'm over or under lubing and greasing the bike?

[ross]

10-15g tops i would say from a guesstimate. The differences in the weights are likely to be inaccuracies in your scales - especially if your scales don't weigh 10ths of a gram, for every item you weigh at 152g for example, the actual weight could be 152.45g and the scales are rounding down.

[madcow]

I have a spreadsheet that I use for estimating weights on builds and on that sheet I use 22 grams for lube, air and electrical tape (used for holding cables to the bar.) My builds usually come out almost spot on with the estimates from the spreadsheet. Ross is right not having at least .1 gm resolution on a scale can add up to quite a bit.

There are possibly a few pieces you may have forgotten to weigh as well. Electrical tape, cable tips, tubular glue etc...

[RyanH]

I was going to post the other day the effects of living near the ocean after pulling off a tire and packing it down only to find it gurgle with water. I wonder how much compressed air weighs in humid environments?

Methinks I should be pumping my tires right after I run the AC all night and it's bone dry in my place.

[Pan]

There are possibly a few pieces you may have forgotten to weigh as well. Electrical tape, cable tips, tubular glue etc...

You're right about electrical tape and cable tips. Bolts and nuts for various pieces too and chain catcher. My build is not as light as everyone else's unfortunately but I'll find places to work down.

[CEVelo]

Is this for real? Put the flamesuit on. Let me understand this, you are concerned about the weight of lube and grease on a 8+kg bike?

If the bike weights 8.27kg, the sum of parts is just that, 8.27kg. Any more or less lube or grease wont make ANY meaningful weight difference at all (I doubt you can make that much lube stick to the bike, unless you apply extreme amounts in odd places)

[mvogt46]

CEVelo I had a little giggle too, but then realised we are on weightweenies after all!

[Marin]

Agreed, worrying about lube weight @ 8+ kgs is not the highest priority.

Still an interesting topic though. My "fully functional" build (wide 50mm profile clinchers, 11-28 steel cassette, oval chainrings, padded seat, no extra-fancy parts) currently weighs 6.1kg, and I don't really want to swap anything out, but would love to see 5.99 on the scales

[ophiravina]

I don't really want to swap anything out, but would love to see 5.99 on the scales

than recalibrate the scale with a 100 gram weight on it

[HammerTime2]

My "fully functional" build (wide 50mm profile clinchers, 11-28 steel cassette, oval chainrings, padded seat, no extra-fancy parts) currently weighs 6.1kg, and I don't really want to swap anything out, but would love to see 5.99 on the scales

than recalibrate the scale with a 100 gram weight on it

Don't cheat with the scale. However, do remove all the grease and lube from the bike, weigh the bike, get the scale shot, then put the grease and lube back on and ride it.

As for me, I am content to know I could do that, and am happy leaving the grease and lube on the bike.

Note: Instead of, or in addition to, removing the grease and lube prior to weighing it, you can semi-cheat with the scale by using a scale calibrated for sea level, and performing the weighing at the highest elevation you can.

Note that this can work AGAINST racers subject to the 6.8 kg rule whose bikes get weighed at the end of a mountain top finish, unless the scales are calibrated for that elevation. At the 1855 m elevation of the mountain top finish at Risoulin on stage 14 of the 2014 Tour de France, this would be worth about 4 grams on a 6800 g item vs. sea level. I.e., assuming no measurement error, and a scale perfectly calibrated at sea level, a rider would need to be riding a bike weighing at least 6804 g at sea level , in order to pass a weigh in at the finish. I wonder if anyone, teams or UCI, worries about this and take it into account.

[dmulligan]

I think we have reached peak weight weenie.

[kame]

I think we have reached peak weight weenie.

No, that would be inflating the tires with Hydrogen gas.
(Lighter than Helium, a two-atom molecule so it probaby doesn't leak through the tube/tire as fast, but flammable).

[11.4]

Is this for real? Put the flamesuit on. Let me understand this, you are concerned about the weight of lube and grease on a 8+kg bike?

If the bike weights 8.27kg, the sum of parts is just that, 8.27kg. Any more or less lube or grease wont make ANY meaningful weight difference at all (I doubt you can make that much lube stick to the bike, unless you apply extreme amounts in odd places)

Seriously. And madcow has an allowance for air in the tires?

I think we've identified some riders who need to purge before riding.

[addictR1]

I have a spreadsheet that I use for estimating weights on builds and on that sheet I use 22 grams for lube, air and electrical tape (used for holding cables to the bar.) My builds usually come out almost spot on with the estimates from the spreadsheet. Ross is right not having at least .1 gm resolution on a scale can add up to quite a bit.

There are possibly a few pieces you may have forgotten to weigh as well. Electrical tape, cable tips, tubular glue etc...

madcow, is that a spreadsheet you can share so i can use as template?

[stormur]

Is this for real? Put the flamesuit on. Let me understand this, you are concerned about the weight of lube and grease on a 8+kg bike?

If the bike weights 8.27kg, the sum of parts is just that, 8.27kg. Any more or less lube or grease wont make ANY meaningful weight difference at all (I doubt you can make that much lube stick to the bike, unless you apply extreme amounts in odd places)

With exception for TT bike

"people" usually overtorque and overgrease....