KeepItSteel":koh5f1gc said:
im not looking to cause controversy, I just think its lazy to argue that you dont need a lighter bike, but that you just need to be fitter.
its almost anti-high-end-bike snobery
I'm not against light bikes - far from it. My point was simply there's no real point in
obsessing about how to shed small amounts from an already trimmed down, light bike.
At some point, it will compromise it's longevity and robustness. Over the years, I've seen so many weight-weenies obsessing about trimming, literally, grammes from their bikes, when they could easily stand to lose half a stone in bodyweight - that's all I'm saying.
Once you've put your bike on a diet, it's time to stop obsessing about it before you weaken it, to the point where it starts to cause issues whilst your using it. Better
at that point to consider whether the bike isn't the only thing that could do with going on a diet.
KeepItSteel":koh5f1gc said:
A lighter bike is easier to lift and easier to haul and easier to accelerate on than a heavier equivalent, no matter what your proportional weight/fitness level is. Thats physics in action.
True - there's no escaping physics. But when your bike has already been lightened, and you're obsessing about
grammes when most could easily stand to lose several
pounds in bodyweight, those bananas can't be swept under the carpet of bike weight-weenie-ism, either.
KeepItSteel":koh5f1gc said:
pick apart my opinion if you like, but lighter bikes just feel better and are less tiring to ride over distance.
I like light bikes - don't get me wrong - but nothing is more helpful over a ride distance, than being fitter, and having lost a few pounds, where it's needed. And it puts into context, obsessing about grammes on a bike, to losing a few pounds in bodyweight.
My first true mountain bike was around 26.5 lbs, stock (91/92 DB Apex). My current one (95 DB Apex) around the 24 lb mark, stock. Probably a little lighter, now due to tyre and inner choice, and a small number of other things (handlebars and the like) that are slightly lighter than stock.
Now sure, I could obsess about replacing components, and saving a gramme, here or there - or I could accept, that I could easily stand to lose half a stone, and always improve my fitness.
If you're ultra competitive, and permanently in shape, and competing in timed events, regularly, then obsessing about the weight of your bike and it's components - to the same degree as your bodyweight - makes sense. But for the dilitents who get obsessed about how heavy their bike is, when a few pounds of their own scales wouldn't be missed, is truly missing the wood for the trees.