Bike Weight. Retro vs Modern

[daugs]

I seem to recall in early 80's when was worrying about this and was a skinny 147lb (or 67kg) that 22lb bike was pretty light without spending a fortune and a mtb was over 25lb unless pretty special. My eldridge grade was 26lb...........

I rode fixed at college and one of the advantages was the weight saved. Now the best saving would be a very serious diet which would be equivalent to a weightless bike ?

 

[gregs656]

You can make more noticeable gains in some places than others. The most noticeable difference is going to be on the things that rotate. So 100g saved on tyres for example is going to be more obvious than 100g saved on a seat post - at least when you are rolling, which I guess is when it counts the most. That is why super light forks have such an impact as well I guess.

Incidently, the combined weight of me and my bike is still only about 74kg.

 

[rusty bodie]

interesting to read all the then/ now thoughts going on here and i'm no exception! i can remember pouring over weights of every single component and just how important it was at that time. mind you, then i was 20 years old, weighed twelve stone and was riding the bike every moment god sent and with a bunch of highly competitive like minded and emaciated lunatics!! those were the days...

i have long accepted that figures of sub 20lb retro bikes are difficult to achieve and my reaching twelve stones in weight are probably even more unrealistic! it's all about the fun of the thing and doing what you enjoy doing, regardless of whether you can fit into your old dancing trousers these days or not.
we used to have a saying when we were young and daft: "if you sit on the edge of your bed and your belly overlaps the knicker elastic, you're a FAT BAST*RD!!" now, i haven't even been able to SEE the knicker elastic for the past 5 years, but i'm hoping that my 20-odd pound 753 won't be too ashamed when i step over it's top tube on a sunny day and pretend that i'm 21 and bernard hinault again...after all, what's a few pounds between old friends...

 

[tonyf39]

Very interesting indeed.
I would expect sub 20lb retrobikes not that difficult tbh, my oldest bike a 59cm late 50s Carlton 531 is 10kg/22lbs.

That includes heavy Olimpic platform pedals (+clips and straps), Shimano RX100 dual pivot brakes, std alloy bars/quill stem, water bottle cage, pump pegs and a long cage Golden Arrow derailleur.
The only real concession to lightness are the Stronglight 99 50/36 compact c/set (570g) and a pair of retro lightweight 36 hole clinchers (sub 1700g sans skewers)
I haven't really weighed my gitane GTI triple butted but it is pretty light even with the heavy 8 speed 105 STI's on it.

My most modern race bike (58cm principia Rex Ellipse) recently reshod with Shimano 6700/5700STI's comes in at 7.5kg including cages.
Concessions to lightness are lightish tubular CF wheels, FSA carbon c/set, CF bars & ti/ally chain. I actually made it heavier by swapping out the DA 9 speed shifters/cassette for 105sti's and Ultegra cassette.