Bike Weight. Retro vs Modern

I am just on the point of completing my second (ever) road bike, a Concorde Astore. Before I wrap the bars, I wanted to make sure I had the brake levers in the right place, so asked my (roadie fanatic) son what he thought. He said he thought they looked fine, but went and got his Boardman ProC for comparison. As hoped, my brakes are fine.

At this point I picked his Boardman up, to put it on the other side of the room and was staggered at how light it was. I picked up my bike, then his and back an forth, utterly amazed at the weight, or lack thereof.

I then weighed both bikes, and the Concorde is around 18.75 lbs with the Boardman at 16.5 lbs, that is a bag of sugar difference.

Now I accept that the Boardman is a top flite racer and the Concorde is rather mid range, even with my modern (SRAM Force) build, but two pounds is a heck of a difference.

Still looking forward to my first spin on the Concorde though, after all, you can't weight character

hmmmm off top of my head with heavy wheels my Cervelo was early 15lb and a old trek 5200 was early 16lb the 1993 Master I havent weighted but without a doubt much heavier but as Strava proves just as quick!!

Dread to think how heavy mine is. Nothing compared to the fat lump riding it though. Probably why I have never weighed any of my bikes.

Ordinarily I'd be chuffed to bits with a sub 20lb build. I guess it was just the contrast between the two bikes.

Then again, the Concorde owes me about £350, which is a fraction of what the Boardman cost. Plus, just think how much extra power I am producing in order to tow my extra bag of sugar around the countryside....

Real men ride retro's :twisted:




Slowly

modern vs retro modern will beat on lightness but not in looks that retro has so not surprised there

I will bring my scales along to the next rides!! Always a heartbreaker !!

daj":1pq7huh8 said:

I will bring my scales along to the next rides!! Always a heartbreaker !!

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Bikes first... and then the riders

As with most things it is down to how much you spend. Interesting though that the TdF etc has a minimum weight (6.8Kg) that you allowed to build to. That kind of weight seems insane.

I'm mainly a MTB person so my Specialized Allez feels featherweight to me, in reality it is bang on 9Kg or around 19lb.

A bit depressing actually as I've never weighed until about 5 minutes ago, just hope my bathroom scales are wrong.

My 92 Trek 2300 is now 7.89kg with cages but that is also with alot of modern kit on it. Still friction shiting though. Old bikes can be quite light. By the time I am finished with it will be 7 kg.

It would not be too hard to reduce the weight of your concorde to be lighter than the boardman. However would it make it more enjoyable to ride, I don't know.

i think fit and position on a bike are more important than the weight.a nice set of light weight wheels will make all the difference to your retro ride neil.on a different note the ,before the uci put the limit on weight the ONCE team had some titanium frames made . they where super light and used for only a couple of mountain stages then scrapped.when i mean light i mean so light that the downtube walls where that thin that they dented from stones pinging of the front wheel going down alpine passes.