Not that i’m looking at one, but just had canyon’s email advertising their new 4.85kg road bike built with ‘real world components’.

Combined with the slew of other sub 5kg bikes from manufacturers which can’t be raced – is there a point to it other than willy waving? I can only see bad things happening if I got on a bike that weighed sub 5kg when i’m a healthy 85+. (but some of these bikes are rated up to 100kg) It’s just going to explode at the first pot hole, shirley! Or are the bikes that good the UCI needs to look at weight limits again?

One would probably assume that the majority of people who could afford the kind of money these bikes command but not actually want to race them would never use them to their full potential.

Would anyone else just be bricking it constantly on one or would you ride the arse off it?

They still have to pass the same European tests so if I had one is just ride it.

They’re tested the same as the normal weight road bikes so you’ll be fine. A couple more kilos you can devote to pies and beer IMO

I cannot for the life of me see why you would want a bike that is so light it is not allowed to be raced.

I wonder if you can fit mud-guards and panniers as I guess most will be used by uber-rich commuters

I cannot for the life of me see why you would want a bike that is so light it is not allowed to be raced.

Because very very few people who buy road bikes will race, let alone those who buy top end <5kg ones… My new road bike will be under the weight limit. Most road bikes over about £4k probably are!

I’d have no qualms whatsoever about riding something that light, although I think there are some places that a bit of concession to comfort doesn’t go amiss.

Gives you a bit of wriggle room to fit an electric motor on the sly.

ferrals – Member

I cannot for the life of me see why you would want a bike that is so light it is not allowed to be raced. No one’s weighing your bike at an amateur race, surely?

Maybe if you won….

Nah, they don’t, and I guarantee there are people winning local crits on ‘underweight’ bikes. It’s all a bit daft really although it has driven innovation in new areas – power meters, aero-ness etc.

Just ask all those Ferrari/Lamborghini/Porsche drivers why they’ve bought a car that’ll do 200mph when 0.0001% will ever get that close to it.

Basic willy waving innit.

I thought most pro bikes were under the weight limit anyway and they just stick weights on to make up the difference. Allows they to use lighter/heavier wheels etc. Or is that another urban myth?

Garry_Lager – Member
ferrals – Member
I cannot for the life of me see why you would want a bike that is so light it is not allowed to be raced.

No one’s weighing your bike at an amateur race, surely?
Maybe if you won….

Haha yeah valid point!

Each to their own innit…

I know I wouldn’t benefit from or be too worried about owning a sub 6.8kg bike, but I am very definitely not the target market…

For those who are I can see the appeal, either a low base weight to add power meters, sensors and other gubbins to and hit the race Weight target, simply buying a racing advantage and hoping the comissaars don’t check, or else plain old bike geekery/reveling in what money can achieve these days…

All reasonable enough if that’s your bag, and the general filter down effect means us bottom feeders might just be able to have a go with thesesilly light things, via the 2nd hand market someday. It’s all good…

bluebird – Member
I thought most pro bikes were under the weight limit anyway and they just stick weights on to make up the difference. Allows they to use lighter/heavier wheels etc. Or is that another urban myth?

I thought “ballast” was banned, but it raises an interesting point, add extra “functional components” to drag the mass up, or build light and put weight wherever you want…

The fact that the UCI limit can easily be beaten is kind of a good thing, it gives engineers something to play with, Di2 probably wouldn’t have been such a good proposition if it had pushed bikes over the limit, similarly the case for getting discs on to race bikes will benefit from the weight thing being a non-issue.

The only thing I would like to maybe see is the UCI drop the overall bike weight limit, but simultaneously set minimum weight figures for certain key structural parts I.e. Frame, fork, individual bare wheels, bar and seatpost perhaps, so that the weight savings compromises are then targeted elsewhere…

I like light bikes so they appeal to me. I don’t race and I don’t willy wave (no-one I know even knows what bike I have)
I do however limit what I spend so I have light bikes on a budget. My MTB is fairly light for an mtb at 8kg and I would have to spend a lot of money to get it a lot lighter so it hits the mark for me.

If you’re into bikes, you can have a bike better than your pros for a fairly achievable sum and just enjoy it for what it is probably as part of a collection.

If you’re into cars, good luck with doing the same.

Not my thing and I sometimes wonder if my roadie might feel a bit better if there was a touch more weight in the front, but I can understand the appeal.

They still have to pass the same European tests so if I had one is just ride it.

As they are German I bet there is something dodgy in there that lets it be very light yet still pass the tests…

My £2k road bike (with semi-deep rims) is under the limit. Has never been raced, though I did plan on doing so when I built it.

I didn’t say you had to spend £4k to get under the weight limit… Good contribution though, thanks.

I thought most pro bikes were under the weight limit anyway and they just stick weights on to make up the difference. Allows they to use lighter/heavier wheels etc. Or is that another urban myth?

Used to, Trek had some very neat expanding wedges that fitted in the BB axle – keep the weight low. They changed the rules a couple of years ago so it now has to be ‘functional weight’, as having an underweight bike with some weights in completely undermines the limit itself.

Ultegra cassettes which don’t creak like DA ones are now more common. Alu bars and stems are commonplace and so on.

my road bike weighs in at 11.3kg 😀 my mountain bike is 11.5kg 😀

Im 20Kg overweight 🙁 so if I had a 5kg bike Id still be fat.

My £2k road bike (with semi-deep rims) is under the limit.

That’s very impressive, if it’s new.

My MTB is lighter than my winter road bike, and some of my fastest times up road climbs are on my MTB with 2.25″ tyres at 25psi. Doesn’t make as much difference as folk want to believe!