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Currently that arguement is raging between my nephew and eldest daughter both early 20's........he is insistant that it all makes you fitter and healthier have a big 35lb bike, she is stating fitness will come on any bike it is about a training regime.....so in preperation of being the arbitor any views?
If you can cover the same ground in the same time frame - the person on a heavier bike will be "fitter" by definition - they are having to work extra hard to move the great weight along.
too subjective imo
Yes.
A mate of mine bought as his 1st bike, a Marin Quake cos it was cheap but weighed about 2 tons (not you Ton). Anyway he rode it for a year all over the Dales & NYM but always lagged behind (except on the DH's where he absolutely flew) Then he bought a 5 which weighed about 15lb less & had not so bouncy shock & forks & now he flies up as well as down & I can't keep up with him!
The other side is that if I had a lardy old bike I'd be less likely to ride and therefore not get fit at all. 😉
they are both right in a way, as xiphon says, if he wants to get a properly fit then a decent regime will make way more difference than a heavier bike.
Except the
isn't really all that much when considered in the context of all the weight that's being moved.great weight
The difference between a 35lb bike and a 25lb bike is 10lbs, or 4 kg.
It's not a large percentage of an all up weight of 80-90-100kgs. It will [i]feel[/i] differently, but it's still not a great deal.
Bit more at play than just weight - my DH bike is 5-10lbs heavier than my pedally full sus, but much much harder to pedal uphill because of angles, suspension, etc.
As someone said above, it probably will make you fitter, but the wrong tool for the job will more than likely put you off altogether.
No, obviously it won't make you fitter riding a heavier bike.
Training properly will make you fitter.
There are too many variables.
A 35lb bike with skinny, high pressure tyres will be more efficient than a 25lb bike with soft, fat tyres.
The weight of a bike should only ever be considered in the context of the complete riding package; ie the bike, rider, camelback, etc. If the rider is carrying an extra 20lb, then what's the point in trying to pay extra for a lighter bike?
Stop worrying about it, and enjoy riding!
Of course a heavier bike makes you fitter. That's why the folks who book uplifts for their MTBs are in such great shape and pro tour riders are all fat biffers.
going with zilog when they ask me...still arguing
Hmmm is Duffer being serious about the tyres or just trolling...
[i]No, obviously it won't make you fitter riding a heavier bike.
Training properly will make you fitter.[/i]
But by riding a heavier bike (with the other stuff that George mentioned) & different gearing etc, shirley that is a form of training?
Anyway, my mate got fitter, & thats a fact!
Of course a heavier bike makes you fitter
njee will be along in a minute to tell you you're wrong. 😉
the question is a heavier bike may increase your strength but not work your VO2 as much.............intensity is the key here ......apparently 😕
If you have a lighter bike and can move it faster then you should do more work and therefore get fitter than lumbering around on a heavy bike slowly. There is also a school of thought that riding a lighter bike more quickly gives you better handling skills - why bother training on a heavy bike if you are unable to take advantage of the higher speeds allowed by a lighter bike ?
I don't make any attempt to save weight on my winter road bike. Full bottles, saddlepack, guards, lights etc. The aim is to be ride the same hilly loops at the same pace as on my summer bike. It's a subtle difference (bike weighs ~6-7lbs more) but it works me a bit harder over long rides.
I've also come back from bikepacking trips of 10-12 days and after some recovery time, found my SS climbing was better. Partly down to the volume of riding during the trips, partly the weight on the bike adding to the work done and building some strength.
So weight's only a part of it but it can be useful resistance training. Agree with vondally, it may not make you fitter but it should make you a bit stronger.
But by riding a heavier bike (with the other stuff that George mentioned) & different gearing etc, shirley that is a form of training?
Anyway, my mate got fitter, & thats a fact!
Is this a troll? 😀
Yes, training on a heavy bike with funny angles is good training.....for riding an inappropriate bike.
But if you spent 10-12 days SS climbing you would probably also find your SS climbing was better at the end.
Ride a tandem, with a kid on the back. Ride up hills. Heavier bike will make you fitter as you need to do more work.
If I tried to spend 10-12 days of 10-12hrs+ a day on a SS in proper hills I'd be broken after 3, loaded or not )But if you spent 10-12 days SS climbing you would probably also find your SS climbing was better at the end.
I did think that after I posted. 🙂
[i]Is this a troll?[/i]
You tell me, but I didn't start the thread did I?
My pal didn't take my advice when he bought the bike & I told him it wasn't the most suitable bike for what we ride, which is mainly Yorkshire Dalesy stuff. But here's proof that he did take the wrong bike (for about a year till he could afford something else!)...
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8121/8661348358_7345b326cf_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimmygrainger/8661348358/ ]008[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/jimmygrainger/ ]jimmyg352[/url], on Flickr
He got fit. (or did I mention that already?)
Why waste money making your bike heavier when you could simply eat more and improve your fitness like that?
In the Eighties, Women and that, used to put weighted ankle and wrist bracelets on when doing excercise so that it had further benefits and so sports shops and Sunday supplements could sell us more rubbish.
[img] 
[/img]
Surely we should all be strapping bags of sugar to our bikes instead of all this weight-weenie nonsense?
But here's proof that he did take the wrong bike (for about a year till he could afford something else!)...
Which one's his?
Which one's his?
😀
Not sure, but all I know is that I work harder to keep up with the pack on my Zesty, than I do on my XC bike.
right so we have a set of unfit identical twins
twin 1 rides the light bike for 10 miles each day in 45 mins
twin 2 rides the heavy bike for 10 miles each day in 45 mins
which twin is the fittest after two months of this riding
[i]Which one's his?[/i]
The heavy one. The other one weighs 28.85lbs. 🙂
Getting a bike you love riding and want to ride everyday and for hours at a time will get you fittest.
Heavy bikes are unpleasant to ride IMO
Surely the pace of the ride is important - if you're putting out 200W it won't matter if your going slowly on an anvil, or screaming along on a carbon wunder bike.
If you're riding as a group moving at the same speed though, the guy on the anvil will be stronger and fitter, but won't notice it until he gets on the carbon bike.
Not sure, but all I know is that I work harder to keep up with the pack on my Zesty, than I do on my XC bike.
This.
Having started last summer on a 13.8kg entry level HT and riding with mates with higher end, lighter HT's I was always the 'rear gunner'. I've just got a new HT which is around 11.3kg and all my mates are amazed at the difference in me, as if I'd been on an intensive training course.
Well in a way I have - to do the same route as them for 9 months whilst trying to keep up I must have put in half the effort again that they did.
Yes, you will get fitter on a heavier bike as long as you are doing exactly the same route at exactly the same speed as a lighter bike is.
rob jackson - Membertoo subjective imo
Agree with that^^ and SupportedinaplusonewhataSTWstoopidtrollingquestion kinda way... 🙄
Not really, you only carried 2.5kg more on the old bike. Enough to feel, but not a big enough difference overall. So take more credit for your gains yourself ) the riding has got you fitter, the new bike effect and a few other performance gains it offers has added to it.to do the same route as them for 9 months whilst trying to keep up I must have put in half the effort again that they did.
the origianal question was do heavier bikes make you fitter...defo not a troll or subjective.....
heavier bikes increase or give additional strength but not fitness, weight training in a gym can make you stronger and will oincrease your fitness but will not increase your VO2/aerobic capacity to the level of specific aerobic capacity. Crossfit is something else...
Heavier bikes as a training choice ...not really...but a big chain ring than you race with may well help Tinker Juraz trained with larger gears to give more endurance.
so imho heavier bikes will not make you fitter but will inrease your muscle mass......
rolling resistance now that is a whole new thread............. 😆
A heavier bike won't make you quicker, but it will wear you out quicker.
Best riding buddy regularly beats me everywhere on a moosive Foes fly with boxxers upfront. I hate to think what he would be like on a lightweight hardtail. Oh and he's 1x10 with a 36 tooth chainring, i hate him tbh.
he is insistant that it all makes you fitter and healthier
'fitter' and 'healthier' are two different things and one doesn't result in the other, lugging a heavy bike around could just make you stronger - and neither fitter or healthier. I'd say the pursuit of fitness is often detrimental to health, either through risk, or wear and tear or any number of other factors. Given the number of pages that threads about injuries run to, the way many of us cycle might make us fitter in a competitive sense but not healthier if the accrual of injuries curtails our longer term mobility and in turn our ability to maintain a healthy degree of activity.
Badlywireddog - you my friend are a genius. 40 years of pie eating have rendered me an Olympian by default. I feel kinda guilty but that's natural talent for you.
Pym
Having a heavy bike won't make you stronger. You'll just use lower gears
disagree, the weight of the bike has much less to do with how much muscle power is needed to peddle it compared to the gearing.so imho heavier bikes will not make you fitter but will inrease your muscle mass......
Doing more work over a sustained period of time will make you fitter / stronger / what ever.
As said before, int the grand scheme of things the weight of the bike has very little effect on overall speed IMHO.
Granted it's very nice to have a nice light bike with blingy bits, light wheels and fast tyres........... but if on that bike you push a bigger gear at a reasonable cadence, you will be doing more work and get fitter anyway.
Its not the bike but how much pain you're in that makes you fitter... So to speak.
been thinking about this a lot recently? we've been talking about it in the shop, as we all ride road bikes and xc trail bikes now...
I don't think I was ever fitter, than when I was heavily into freeride and riding 40lb long-travel bikes.
I would not push up the hills, I would ride up the hills. I would commute on them. I would ride them everywhere. I built up serious muscle bulk, aerobic fitness and strength.
I went to Glentress for MBUK's "Slopestyle Competition" and rode from my B&B in Peebles to the very top of the bike park on a Banshee Scream in Glentress carrying a full-face helmet, body armour and food / drink supplies, without breaking a sweat. And then spent 8 hours competing at the event.
look at this photo:
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since stopping freeride? my XC trail bike weighs 24lbs, my road bike considerably lighter. Both are much easier to pedal and ride. Has my fitness decreased due to the lighter bikes? probably...
I am still having fun riding, and that it all that really matters to me 🙂
All things equal,I think weight makes a difference ,but all I really care about ,is that first ride on my summer bike after a winter on the CX,brilliant 😀
When I swap to my heavy bike I just get slower 🙁
Has my fitness decreased due to the lighter bikes? probably..
You probably don't ride as much, you probably don't even train for anything.
I am actually riding more than ever, because I don't work 6 days a week or commute long distances anymore
I never "trained" when I rode FR bikes, I just rode them to where I needed to get to (usually to a train station, and then taking a train, and riding from that station to the venue)
these days? I even run several days a week, do weight training and ride road and mountain bikes every other day. I am certainly doing more mileage.
whatever this has to do with heavier / lighter bikes I don't really know; I apologize I am not a professional trainer? My current bikes are certainly much easier to pedal than my FR bikes.
I'd guess you;re probably fitter than you were then!
Fitness doesn't decrease becasue you ride a lighter bike.
I ride my bikes for more because they're lighter and more fun to ride. And I ride them further because they're easy to ride.
My commuter's intentionally hard work though, because my commute's fixed length and I only do it for the little extra fitness. If I made it lighter/faster, it'd either make my commute shorter or easier and either is a bit pointless.
Wouldn't lugging a heavier bike give you more power ie build muscle power, but you are more likely to run out of steam sooner?
Some would argue that an Orange 5 is too big a bike etc etc for the Yorkshire Dales
IMO it pretty much boils down to whether you could be bothered to ride the heavy/slack bike the same way you would the lighter and more appropriate XC machine. Most people for casual rideouts and not training, wouldnt bother. I would see myself convincing my buddies to ride the local uplift stuff or pushup venues! Strength might increase in different places, but I doubt fitness would.
Its like the argument of better MPG cars saving you money. We now have a car doing 15mog more than our old car. We dont save money. We drive it more!
If all other things are equal then i think a heavier bike wil make you fitter as you are working harder both aerobically and physically which can only result in you being fitter.
[quoteso imho heavier bikes will not make you fitter but will inrease your muscle mass......
Isn't that one in the same thing?
Wouldn't lugging a heavier bike give you more power ie build muscle power, but you are more likely to run out of steam sooner?
Only if you ride it at the same speed as the lighter one. Otherwise you just go slower.
Really, this took two pages.
Riding for a fixed time and speed the heavier bike will make you fitter. But only up to a point unless the speed is regularly moved up.
Riding based on power output there will be no difference, 200watts is 200watts, 300watts is 300watts. You'll just go further/faster on the light bike.
This is why training training gains are vastly improved when using power meters. And it doesn't matter what bike you use, fitness is based on how hard you're prepared to work.
Its hard to gauge. On one hand, riding a heavier bike will mean you burn more energy getting from A to B, but you do so slower.
On the other hand, having a faster bike means you wont get dropped from your group, and so can hang in a push yourself further, and be competitive at the end when the hammer goes down.
I used to ride a plain gauge steel road bike on my commute as it was cheap and easy to maintain. It was heavy as heck though and I always wondered the same thing.
I occasionally lug heavy things like cans of paint in my panniers and always go home the hilly route to get the extra benefit. No idea if it helps at all but it makes me feel like a champ 😆
From some posts on this thread it seems you can go to the gym and lift little weights, and get the same effect as the guys who lift the big ones. Turn down the incline on the treadmill, the resistance on the spin bike, makes no difference.
Seriously, to all the carbon loving weight weenies, no-one's saying that your light bikes mean you're not fit, we all acknowledge that the typical XC bike rider is built like a bunch of twiglets wrapped in sausage skin.
Phil w in the main agree with you but if you are riding a heavier bike willl you not develop an increase in watts?
PS love the banshee scream pic and to some extent this is my nephews view on the world
A guy who i ride with has a similar theory for eating during a ride. He thinks if he trains his body to ride without using energy gels/drinks etc that when he starts to use them at races/challenges etc he'll get more benefit. Dont talk to him much cos he's always miles behind!!!
Well, I sure as heck notice the difference between my 34lb Wolf Ridge and my 27lb Camber, that's for sure. Riding the Wolf Ridge has helped my stamina no end.
That said, I've lost a few pounds of late which makes for the most noticeable difference of all.
In answer to the OP - yes
HTH 😉
in answer to the OP - no
I ride a lightweight rigid steel singlespeed, and a 1x9 heavy utility bike with racks and a trailer attached, usually with two boys and a bike in the trailer..
The singlespeed gets me much fitter, so I would say ride a light bike or a heavy bike - just change gear less
Do you see pics of Brad Wiggin et all training on Rayleigh Grifters?
Nop... they are on thier race bikes using power meters.
klumpy - Member
Seriously, to all the carbon loving weight weenies, no-one's saying that your light bikes mean you're not fit, we all acknowledge that the typical XC bike rider is built like a bunch of twiglets wrapped in sausage skin.
😆
Singlespeed vs heavy bike is a slghtly different proposition though - I commute daily on a SS, but ride a heavy AM bike round the woods. I guess they give you different things regarding fitness/training?
Phil w in the main agree with you but if you are riding a heavier bike willl you not develop an increase in watts?
You gain an increase in watts by pushing your limits. You can do this on a light bike or heavy bike. You'll just be going slower on the heavy bike.
Putting out your max effort on a heavy bike is of no training advantage over putting out a max effort on a light bike.
From some posts on this thread it seems you can go to the gym and lift little weights, and get the same effect as the guys who lift the big ones.
You're analogy only works if by riding a lighter bike the rider is not working as hard. If you work to the same intensity you'll get the same results. You just have to go faster to do so on the light bike.
The resistance on a bike isn't controlled, in the main, by it's weight.Turn down the incline on the treadmill, the resistance on the spin bike, makes no difference.
Can we wrap this one up now? 😆Putting out your max effort on a heavy bike is of no training advantage over putting out a max effort on a light bike.
Hard to say as I lost a LOT of weight in 2-3 months riding my 37lbs Bullit everywhere in the Whistler area. But I think my fitness has improved a lot with a light road bike as you're more inclined to ride it further/for longer as it feels the bike isn't holding you back at all..
NRAP but on the basis that training is done (by the pros at least) on lighter bikes, (road bike, xc mtb), I would say riding a heavier-bike doesn't make you fitter.
All things (speed, distance, cadence) being equal, a heavier bike will make you fitter.
But that's an unlikely scenario.
You gain an increase in watts by pushing your limits. You can do this on a light bike or heavy bike. You'll just be going slower on the heavy bike.Putting out your max effort on a heavy bike is of no training advantage over putting out a max effort on a light bike.
Yep- that's the thread closer, I'm convinced.
If you had said this at the top of page 1 we could all have saved our eyes the effort of all that heavy reading. 😆
Putting out your max effort on a heavy bike is of no training advantage over putting out a max effort on a light bike.
But maybe you're more likely to put out max effort on a heavier bike than a lighter one, especially if riding in a group with people with lighter bikes.
I found the opposite. My heavy bike feels slow however hard I try so I can't be bothered to n push myself when riding it.