Once a weight weenie forever a weight weenie? am I cursed?

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andreszucs
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by andreszucs

AJS914 wrote:Maybe you'd like an actual gravel bike? I like my purpose built bikes. I have an S-Works Crux that is just so fun to ride and it's pretty darn light.
Not really. Where I live (Boulder/CO) I’m either building endurance and for that I’m just riding the flats on the road or climbing a mountain, so this bike is plenty good for that. If I decide the go on fire roads I’m very likely to connect with technical trails so I would use my full suspension XC bike. The beauty of this ROAD bike with a suspension fork is that I could face extra challenges if I encounter them, and again, it adds safety at all times on crappy asphalt as well.

My special interest on a 14.5lbs bike is that it would help a lot with my PR on the mountain that I climb near my house on a weekly basis.


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Last edited by andreszucs on Sun Jun 02, 2019 9:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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andreszucs
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by andreszucs

JerryLook wrote:I think weight weenieism is something you can never really be cured of. I’ve been making things lighter since my first sports car, then my first motorcycle, and now my road bike.

I have two bikes now. My main road bike (13.5 lbs) and an older Cannondale (around 23 lbs) that is my rain bike. When I ride in (very flat) coastal Florida, I notice very little difference between the two. My average speed stays about the same.

When I ride in hilly areas, that’s where the 10 lbs difference makes a huge difference.

Even though I don’t really care to spend money to upgrade my rain bike, I’m always thinking of what extra parts I have laying around, that I can swap on it to save some weight.

It truly is a sickness.
It’s so comforting to know that I’m not alone! Haha

I mean, 19.4lbs for a road bike with 100mm suspension is darn good! I should be settled with, why I am being obsessed to save weight to the point of writing this thread?!?!



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andreszucs
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by andreszucs

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Hexsense
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Location: USA

by Hexsense

I partially cured of weight-weenieism.
By taking other priorities over weight.

I once had 6.5kg carbon bike.
Now:
Allez Sprint Disc because i want disc brake (and stiff and aero yet affordable+readily replaceable in event of crash).
Sram Red groupset -> Ultegra Di2, because i want sprint shifter buttons.
Single sided left carbon arm power meter + Sram Red BB30 crank -> much heavier spider-based power meter because i want total power measurement.
Very light fork expander to normal looking yet more secure one because i want peace of mind.
Soon: changing 130g stem to 200g Venge Stem because it supposed to be stiffer.
And so on, there are so many things i now prefer to optimize for more than weight (stack height of shoes for example, Specialized shoes are light but they are relatively tall so no go for me).

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$mokeyJoe
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by $mokeyJoe

Hi,

Like 10y ago i was really into that WW'ism and i was always seeking after those last grams that i could shave off my bikes. At a moment you come to a point where you reach a limit and the only way to shed some more weight is to make sacrifices on how to use your bike. In other words, you begin to think: well, if i ditch suspension i can shed some weight off and i'll learn to ride my bike without suspension. You begin to ride with tyres which are less grippy. Maybe you choose a compact crank so you can use tinier chainrings. I mean, there's no ending anymore unless money comes into. Then you begin to realize that you aren't riding that bike anymore as much as you used to because you're alwys "working" on it.

Well, i can say that i still am some kind of WW but not that much anymore as i used to. That was a hobby an sich! Now i'm competing in road races and timetrialing and yes, it gives me more happyness than searching after parts and best deals for shedding some grams off. I don't bother anymore to have a bike <6kg. A roadbike around 6.5kg is also light enough for me. I don't need to think about "what if..." I just take my bike, ride and race it like i want and if it breaks or get's damaged in a race, i go to the shop and buy a new one. I don't say that i'm happy with a standard bike as i do like to change components and/or personalize my bike with some aftermarket components but i won't sacrifice the usage of my bike to get it lighter.

So i was cursed but i've healed! :mrgreen:

But i wish everyone who rides bikes, a lot of enjoyment and happyness! If it's with a porky or a WW bike...as long as it doesn't belong in the Freak-topic! :lol:

Happy trials/riding!

Edit: I'm 42y now... :lol:
*Light is beautiful*
BMC SLC01 5900g ... Litespeed Vortex 6300g ... Merida Carbon Lite 7000g ... Velocite Selene 8000g ... Argon18 E114 +/-8500g ... Trek 1500 9500g

RTW
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by RTW

Did a WW build in 2006. Loved it. Riding Tubulars saved a load of weight. No barrel adjusters saved weight. Glued on carbon 'bar plugs' saved weight. I really enjoyed the process. BUT the next bike was a little less extreme. The BTP bottle cages went. Super light QRs were pretty bad, so I stopped caring about them. Etc etc.

It isn't that I am not interested in weight and I want to remove excessive and unnecessary weight. But my definition of unnecessary has changed. I am more of a function weenie now.

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mendiz
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by mendiz

A sub6 kgs road bike is not just weight weenie, is a perfect bike to compete in any race pro or amateur. For me when there are compromises like Aerolite pedals, carbon chainrings, or Tesa handlebar tape. For me function is first but with the less weight possible. I don'like not stiff wheels for example.
I agree with Juanmoretime, right now is Aero weenies but with several spacers and chest in the wind, yesterday a bike shop said me that discs have more aerodynamic than rim bikes
You don´t stop riding when you get old, you get old when you stop riding.

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nickf
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by nickf

I'm still all about the weight. Nothing in my bikes are what I would consider making a compromise. Everything has been super durable and offers plenty of stiffness. English V3 is 6.1kg, not uber WW. Supersix is 5.5kg. Hopefully, sub 5.5kg with a new Darimo seatpost and clamp. For me sub 4kg and even low low 5kg range you really start making compromises to reach those weights. I like the feel of a light build, eager to jump when I want it to. In a group ride setting where you will be rotating and drafting the aero benefits don't really help. But in the end, fitness trumps weight and aero. So ride whatever makes you happy.

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andreszucs
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by andreszucs

To me, I thought I was ok having something tolerable but not crazy light, but, I still enjoy exploring my limits by climbing a moutain, there is nothing more satisfying than give it all out pursuing a PR, even if I go 1 second faster from my prior time its still an accomplishment for me and that new position on the strava overall ranking, boy that's good to know! so here is the obvious conclusion; If I'm leaving the house to do a climb for PR, a 14.5lbs bike will help me more than a 19lbs bike.

talltales
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by talltales

nickf wrote:
Thu Jun 13, 2019 5:42 pm
I'm still all about the weight. Nothing in my bikes are what I would consider making a compromise. Everything has been super durable and offers plenty of stiffness. English V3 is 6.1kg, not uber WW. Supersix is 5.5kg. Hopefully, sub 5.5kg with a new Darimo seatpost and clamp. For me sub 4kg and even low low 5kg range you really start making compromises to reach those weights. I like the feel of a light build, eager to jump when I want it to. In a group ride setting where you will be rotating and drafting the aero benefits don't really help. But in the end, fitness trumps weight and aero. So ride whatever makes you happy.
It really isnt worth making sacrifices to gain a few hundres grams. At least not if the sacrifice is in the efficiency departnemt. Loosing a few watts in the drivetrain, bearings or rolling resistance easily negateas any minor weightsavings. For reference assenting at 1000m per hour takes 2.7W per kg, meaning if you can assent at 1000m/h, losing 2.7W for what ever reason, is equal to adding 1kg to your bike ...

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andreszucs
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by andreszucs

Well, looking back at my first post and all that talk about 'maturity', being okay letting it go of being an weightweenie and blah blah blah...it turns out I went full 'retard'!.....and I'm completelly okay being that kind of 'retard'! 8)

Weight is not bad at all for a bike that was put together by casualty. Zipp crank was purchased years ago, same for the pedals. Frame was given to me, a $28 full carbon saddle at only 83.8g, Magura Mt8 brakeset was bought in a bundle of 4 brakeset thru ebay (Two sets of Mt8's and Two sets of Avid's) sold the two avid at a very good price making the Mt8 stinky cheap as an investment. The wheels, the best part, absolutely LOVE ebay! I was looking of any wheelset that could be light, thru axle and xd drive. After weeks of searching, came across this Easton EC90 tubular, they are carbon rims, gorgeous red anodized hubs matching with the frame's red theme, brand new cyclocross tires installed, only $300...jaw dropping. Came to me all dirty, tons of glue mark all over the rim surface, rusted rotor bolts...did my cleaning magic removing all the glue marks, bolt replacement by titanium ones, cleaned the hubs with q tips, there we have a beautiful wheelset with amazing tires installed for only $300, sold my alloy wheelset without tires for $350! The only downside is that I don't know the verified weight for the wheels since I'm lazy to remove the tires just to get the weight! Claimed weight for the tires is around 432g and 439g - https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/compo ... re-review/. so that would put the wheels at around 1449g, don't know what would be the glue weight so the final weight could be even lower.

The bike is light, actually very light and that was effortless to do since the Magura Brakes are saving a ton of weight compared to traditional Road levers. Weight after the break :D

To be honest I do prefer a cleaner look, I tought I could remove the Easton Stickers but they are under the resin, so I would need to scrape the rims.
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Check this out. This solution is more intuitive that you might think: the lever is upside down since more force is required to shift up (cable pull), so using the body weight to press the lever down is very easy, just a tap with the fingers up to release the cable and shift down. Riding on the drop bars is very intuitive, If I'm just cruising with my hands on the hoods I'm ok reaching down to shift, not a big deal at all.
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Overall I kinda like the mix of ages in the looks of the bike: brake cable showing on the cockpit 80's style. Busy looking decals 90's style. Thru axle, disc brakes and 1x by 2010's style.
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Bike is currently sitting at 14.8lbs, of course no add-ons like tail light, hand pump, and bottles...but with pedals. The potencial here is good, I'm still waiting on lighter axles, that will save another 88.4g. Now going to extremes; Frame paint removal (about 70g), scraped rims and sticker removal (about 40g), Tires swap to 23mm road versions (about 250g), that you put the bike at around 13.8lbs....but I'm not going to do that.

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