What difference does a light bike make?

Haha! That's harsh! I do enjoy telling people their bikes weigh more than they think, but I tell them the honest weight.

What difference does a light bike make?

I weigh 200 pounds + even 10 years ago I was 175 maybe 180.

The main difference a light bike makes for me is a walk home. Lighter wheels, thinner bits and stuff just break on me.

If your 12 stone I expect a light bike is a great thing to have but I'm not so it isn't.

folks allways do njee its weird as i said my asr is around 23 pound.
folks always pick it up saying stuff along the lines of whats that then? 19..20?
power of marketing maybe?

Yeah everyone does expect their bike is lighter, you've only gotta see from the optimism in some of the posts on here!

Just been out all afternoon in the mountains. Had to lift my bike over 6 fences not to mention some steep hills.

Light is good.

Light is more versatile.

Light is right.

Heavy is for flatlanders.

When I read anti-weight weenie posts, I often wonder if the difference is that some people have seriously steep hills in their area and others don't.

LOL at that… You do know where I live right now right… As for your 'light is more versatile, how many 1-1.5 m high drop off on rocky terrain do you think a super light bike is going to sustain…?

I have a 5lb variation between my lightest and heaviest bike and I would say I can't really tell the difference climbing. I guess if you already have sub 14% body fat, your bike's set up well and you have the budget then buy some lighter parts. If not there are better ways to get faster.

One area that does confuse me though is wheel weight: Weight at the rims is supposed to be worth twice the weight on the bike but what about inertia? Surely once up to speed the inertia means that the wheels go over rough stuff with less loss of speed. So unless you ride on very tight start stop singletrack (leigh woods) wheel weight is no different from any other weight on the bike? There is lots of arguments about climbing wheel weight on roadie forums and just like this thread there is no concensus there either.

juan – Member
…how many 1-1.5 m high drop off on rocky terrain do you think a super light bike is going to sustain…?

Horses for courses. I'm not talking about superlight flexi-flyers. I'm talking about lightness suitable for the bike, ie get it as light as is sensible for that sort of bike.

If you are riding drop-offs a lot, then hopefully you have a suitable bike. Presumable you are riding it up the hills. Would you really be happy doing that if it was heavier by say 3-4kg?