The differences between the real and the claimed weights

[Portti]

The research team of MC Kramppi Scientific Bike Research Center has analyzed the differences between the claimed and the actual weights of mountain bike components. The summary of their research report can be found down below. The complete version of the report can be found on the MC Kramppi homepage (www.mckramppi.com/en/weight_differences ... rences.htm).

The analyses concentrated on finding the answers to the following questions:

1 What is the average difference between the real and the claimed weights of the components? What is the distribution of the weight differences?

2 Which manufacturers are the biggest optimists? Are there some manufacturers that claim their component weights to be higher than the actual weights? Which manufacturers are the most accurate?

3 On what type of components the weight differences are the largest?

4 Which individual components have the biggest weight differences? On which individual components the actual and real weights are exactly the same?

The analyses were based on the weight data collected from the Weight Weenies database. The basic data included weight data for 3,754 components, but only those components which had both the real and the claimed weight data were included in the analyses. The number of those components was 1,150.

The claimed weights of the components were most often inaccurate because in less than 10% of the cases the real and the claimed weights were exactly the same. The average weight difference was 2.5%. There was a weight difference of more than 5% (either way) in 28% of the cases.

The analysis of the weights by manufacturer revealed quite large differences on how accurately the manufacturers claim the weights of their components. Among the most optimistic manucfacturers were: Bontrager (+8.5%), Extralite (+6.5%), RockShox (+6.3%), Marzocchi (+6.1%) and ITM (+5.8%). One of the most accurate manufacturers was the giant Shimano which claimed its component weights within 0.2% of the real weight on average. Other reliable manufacturers included Continental, Schwalbe, tune and FRM. The analysis also revealed 8 manufacturers which claimed their component weights to be higher than the real weights. Among those manufacturers were Hutchinson (-1.5%), SRAM (-1.1%) and tune (-0.2%).

The component weight differences were also analysed by component type. This analysis revealed that manufacturers tend to claim the weights of for example the suspension forks (+5.1%) and disc brakes (+4.7%) to be much lower than the real weights are.

[ger]

Thát's why we have our own listings here!

[bladteth]

Forks manufacturers sometimes weigh their products w/o some parts and therefore real weights may be (a lot) different than advertised. On their webpage RockShox mentions that claimed weights are w/ 160 mm steerer - it is probably shorter than anyone can use and a bit of a deception (obviously it is written in tiny letters somewhere on the bottom). Apparently Marzocchi weighs their forks w/o oil and RST w/o steerers at all.