if you were to loose say 6lb from your body or from your bike, which would be the most noticeable?

Bike because you’d do it in one go whereas with your body it would be over time.

not necessarily, avdave, if you lost it in an accident with some farm machinery, for example, it would be pretty quick and pretty noticeable.

similarly, if you lost the 6lbs from the bike by taking the wheels off, that would be quite noticeable too.

Unless, of course, someone else took them off your bike while you were in hospital following the incident with the farm machinery.

Will depend entirely on how the weight was lost. If you lose body weight by increasing your fitness, that will make a huge difference. If you replace a cheap POS bike with a much better bike, that will make a huge difference. If you lose body weight just by starving yourself, you will be weak and the difference probably won’t be positive. If you replace a burly DH oriented bike with a lightweight XC bike, it will climb faster and suck on descents.

In general though, losing body weight by training is the best thing you can do IMO.

In terms of physics, the bike, because it’s closer to ‘unsprung’ weight.

In reality your body, because there’s a finite amount you can lose from the bike however much you spend. My target it to loose at least the weight of my new hard tail by Easter, you can’t buy a 0lb bike however hard you dremmel the rear mech and cut down the seatpost! and you won’t ‘just’ loose 6lb, you’ll gain 6 weeks of concerted training effort and healthy eating (which probably makes about the same difference).

I don’t notice being ~3 stone lighter, I do notice a previous PITA hill is now a challenge to beat other people up it rather than just a challenge not to walk!

One way would be more noticeable in your bank balance, unless you’re talking about liposuction.

I don’t notice being ~3 stone lighter, I do notice a previous PITA hill is now a challenge to beat other people up it rather than just a challenge not to walk!

Nice! Well done!

I don’t notice being ~3 stone lighter

I’d notice that more than the accident with the farm machinery as I imagine losing 3 stone would leave me dead!

In terms of physics, the bike, because it’s closer to ‘unsprung’ weight.

In reality your body, because there’s a finite amount you can lose from the bike however much you spend.

Something like this. Plus things like lighter tyres will roll faster too, but there will be more likely to be compromises on losing weight on the bike.

The correct answer of course is both. As long as you don’t remove the wheels and/or essential parts of your body. If you’re doing it through surgical means, I reckon tonsils, a kidney, half a liver, and your appendix, and one bollock could be taken off without adverse impact on your riding (allowing a short recovery period).

Off the body will be more noticeable, as you get to appreciate it off the bike as well.

Anyhow, it’s not an either/or situation, is it? For every pound you lose you could match it on the bike.

Don’t eat for a month. Spend the food money on carbon bottle cages.

Win
Win

Depends on whether you weigh 10st or 15st as to how noticeable 6lbs will be . Losing 6lb from the bike will be a challenge on any decent bike that’s suitable for its purpose, and more expensive but also more noticeable I reckon.

Off the bike will feel more noticeable. But off the body will make you quicker.

well i kinda did the flip-reverse of this…

I’ve bought myself a 5kg running vest, so instantly gained 5kg..

Went for a 10km run with my partner on saturday, and though it didn’t feel vastly different, from teh off I could feel the extra strain in my thighs.,. and normally i’m fine after a 10km run, but my thighs were killing me (and still kind of are!) after…

I might stick it on for a MTB ride and see how that goes…

I know this doesn’t really answer your question, but I COULD then stick a 5kg weight on my bike, and see how that rides…

in fact, give me time and I’ll do it!!!

DrP – 71kg fighting weight…

If you’re trying to ride a rigid MTB fast on rough terrain, the answer is generally going to be the bike because it’s mainly a question of unsprung vs sprung mass.

If you’re trying to get up a tarmac climb quicker or easier then the answer is generally going to be the rider because it’s mainly a question of potential energy and the rider’s likely to have more to lose.

If you’re Jockey Wilson riding a Storck or Gandhi riding a Supermarket Special with panniers, then the answer’s going to be different.

If you can get 6 lbs of your and it’s still fit for purpose it will feel pretty different, 30/24 lbs is a lot. I’ve recently lost more than 6 lbs of my body and feel more or less the same. It’s only when I look at Strava segment times that I notice the difference.

The other advantage of loosing body weight is it makes losing bike weight cheaper. You can run lighter rims, thinner tyres, carbon bars and seatpost, less padded saddle, smaller brakes. ~Strong / light / cheap pick two, well if you don’t need strong then you can just swap the “enduro” wheels for “trail” wheels and save weight at net zero cost.

Nice! Well done!

It’s over 2 years so not that impressive really, and haven’t made too many changes. No latte and muffins at work is the only real change, but I still eat a lot of junk, see my other thread!

Weirdly my fastest time up said horrible hill isn’t my most recent. So my power/weight has stayed broadly the same, I just don’t feel like I’m dying anymore! The hill in question is about 25 minutes long for most people (top 10% of however many thousands on strava anyway), and ramps up gradually, it’s probably only the last 500m where you would worry about the bottom gears of your cassette. The difference I’ve found is that when I hit that ramp I’ve got just enough in the tank to drop a few people rather than be the one clinging on at the back.

thisisnotaspoon
what hill is it?

I’ve bought myself a 5kg running vest, so instantly gained 5kg.

Oh FFS a weighted running vest and a beard, are you the reason Broadwater Green was closed off by armed police the other day?

thisisnotaspoon
what hill is it?

Pishill in Berkshire (longest hill in the UK apparently, just not very tall)

Ha!!
Depending on the light, I do look a bit Taliban/SAS!!!

DrP

6lb off me would require a distinct reduction in my pie intake, I’d certainly notice this.

6lb off my bike would require a distinct reduction in the wife’s holiday intake, she would certainly notice this.

I’d notice it off the bike more.

I’m a serial bike swapper and have owned light xc bikes and things like a Trans AM that had its own orbit. Oddly the heavy bikes felt more confidence inspiring when going fast (and were better at crashing, take that tree!). Whereas the light bikes always felt fragile. Probably psychology plus my questionable bike handling skills.

In short I’ve never actually considered it. As long as the bike is fun and looks pretty. Therefore I’m going for weight off me!

6lb off your own weight is a better idea in terms of fitness. You then have a heavy bike to train on which will require more energy encouraging more weight loss.

6lb off any of my bikes would most likely render them not fit for purpose.

6lb off me would leave me at 137lb and a BMI of 19. It would make me bloody quick up a hill. But probably only the one as I’d fall over at the top from lack of fuel reserves.

Practically, you’d notice 6lb off the bike more in ride feel, 6lb off you in timed results or over the course of a big day out.

TBH, i think losing it off your body is probably the best bet… MOST people are carrying a bit of extra weight, and losing 3kg would be straight forward enough, and have better fitness and health benefits..

Personal anecdote… probably the fittest and fastest I’ve been was about 2016, when after a 2 week all inclusive holiday I LOST 5kg And got down to 65kg (lovely food, didn’t feel the need to stuff my gills, was hot..low appetite etc)… I was shredded, and was worried I’d lose fitness/strength, but actually I was just as strong, and obvs my wattage/kg ratio went in the right direction!

I’m currently JUST below 72kg, and though am still feeling fit, it’s mainly gym stuff that’s gained the weight (and Xmas gin!) so probably not as fast on the XC bike….

Ideally I wanna shred down to 70kg (just by losing 2kg of fat) and then I’m back in the zone….

DrP

If you are north of 10% fat, which includes myself again for the past ~17 months but I’m heading back in the right direction, off you.

I’ve lost ~5.5Kg since my heaviest point last year and at least 1% fat, I feel so much better for it (albeit my cycling stats have improved over the past ~5 months too).

My fatbike weighs ~5Kg heavier in “full fat” mode compared to 29ers and nice tyres/tubes, it’s rideable but hills are much more of a slog.