Bike Weight. Retro vs Modern

NeilM":37cibhby said:

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.

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Come along now: anything sub 20lb and retro is heroic. What strikes me is the very small difference between the two. That kind of weight penalty is easily neutralized by a rider's experience and suaveness.

Think ONCE also used 'stealth'd' Klein Quantum frames at some point late 90's too.

Sad thing is that my 2 year old Basso weighs less than everything else I have in the garage ........ I think

Takes me back to when Peter Post was determined that Raleigh would get the 1 hour title.....we had the reps showing us Magnesium alloy bits for the fabled bike Must have a google at how much that weighed

Shaun

doctor-bond":1gju66r3 said:

That kind of weight penalty is easily neutralized by a rider's experience and suaveness.

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Well, I may have the suaveness, but my son definitely has the experience, at least on the road.

Don't get me wrong; I am happy with the Concorde build, and with the change of one or two components, especially the Miche seatpost, I could get it to 18.5lbs, but it was the sheer contrast that took me by surprise.

That said, I am not about to rush out to spend a fortune on a new ultralite bike, as I now have two road bikes, which is plenty.

Although, the new Raleigh Militis looks pretty cool......

My ribble weighs 9kg dead atm.
Planned upgrades are on the way and with the new parts i'll save 80g in the brakes, 60g in the bottom bracket. I could run lighter tyres (I will next time round as it's soon to be a summer only bike) and tubes to save 1-200g

Quill stems and steel forks make a lot of difference to the overall weight of the bike - a carbon fork and an aheadstem would make a hell of a difference. Unfortunately a fork change would affect the handling too. Saying that, if the right Ti quilll stem appeared at the right price i'd be all over that.

If i felt like being silly, super record is 500g+ lighter than the centaur stuff I am using.....

Was poking through that rather nice french book "the Golden age of Handbuilt bicycles" last night. Sub 20lb was possible pre war and 15lb minus tyres was happening. They were weighed without tyres in the various trials as light ones were often only availible on the sly after the war.

My fastest 10 miles TT was done on a 8.9kg Reynolds 653 bike with early 90's group. I'm finding it hard to break on my 7.4kg modern carbon bike with modern Ultegra/Microshift group despite the 1.5kg difference.

otherself":15bz0fk6 said:

My fastest 10 miles TT was done on a 8.9kg Reynolds 653 bike with early 90's group. I'm finding it hard to break on my 7.4kg modern carbon bike with modern Ultegra/Microshift group despite the 1.5kg difference.

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I'm thinking there may be a slight age difference though?

I suggest you go into a half decent bike shop and pick up some of the bikes that are retailing for up to about a grand. I did this the other day and it made me feel a lot better about the weight of my bike.

I'd like to pick up a lighter set of wheels, and possibly switch to carbon forks and ahead stem this year. The former to loose a bit of weight, the latter so I can play a bit with stem length and different bars and also loose a bit of weight.

gregs656":1wtfzxi8 said:

I suggest you go into a half decent bike shop and pick up some of the bikes that are retailing for up to about a grand. I did this the other day and it made me feel a lot better about the weight of my bike.

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That's a good point, I am comparing a 20 year old steel framed bike with a three your old top of the line carbon bike, or in financial terms, £350 vs £4,500 :shock:

I'm also aware that my seatpost could double as a decent boat anchor and that the Shimano 600 / Mavic Open wheels are not the lightest in the world. So at least a handful of grammes can be shed at some point.