How heavy are modern bikes in comparison?

[J.T.]

I must be wrong, there is no way an RTS could possibly be so light, must be the scales... or my eyesight.

Cheers for the info though.

 

[highlandsflyer]

There's nothing particulary light or special about those parts

RC36s may not be the lightest, still light though, but they certainly are one of the iconic forks for good reason!

How dare you!

I sentence you to be banished to a penal colony.

Oh wait...

This subject comes up fairly regularly.

I would say it is much easier to go lighter with retro gear, and cheaper.

However, a lot of the reasons are to do with the different nature of the beast.

If you take bikes of a similar price level and spec relatively, you would not see as much difference.

Modern hardtails with short travel forks and rim brakes, when you can find them, are fairly light.

Thing is, most people buying bikes now want long travel, discs, lockout, blah, blah, blah.

Personally, I find it amusing when I observe unfit or overweight cyclists obsessing over the weight of their bikes.

I see a direct comparison with many musicians I meet who have a house full of gear and can't play by ear.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Yes, I do lighten my bikes, by swapping out steel for aluminium, but that is more to do with the other properties of the metal rather than the weight, aluminium bars for example provide damping for the front end in lieu of a soft stem or suspension fork.

It is a while since I had a set of steel bars. Now that is retro. Tried some CF bars? If you want dampening, that is the ticket.

 

[J.T.]

Personally, I find it amusing when I observe unfit or overweight cyclists obsessing over the weight of their bikes.

I see a direct comparison with many musicians I meet who have a house full of gear and can't play by ear.

That a wee dig at my weight? ha ha

I'm not obsessed with the weight of the bike and how to make it lighter, this weekend I took it to Gisburn forest where I now understand the comment about if it's too light the bike may skit about and that the extra weight may help with downhills, however uphill it was a treat.

I've not built the bike to be as light as possible, it would have cost me far more, I merely pointed out that once built it seems lighter than my mates bikes, none of which are shabby bikes and all are newish. Thanks to everybody who have explained possible reasons why, modern advances in suspension, brakes, safety issues etc.

What I didn't expect was beng questioned on my abilty to correctly weigh my bike and on how truthfull I was being about the weight of it. But this should be expected on any forum I suppose.

 

[WD Pro]

Hi dude,

Out of interest, do you know the frame weight ?

WD

 

[J.T.]

Actually nosorry, I never weighed it when it was stripped down, not gonna be stripping it again anytime soon

 

[highlandsflyer]

Personally, I find it amusing when I observe unfit or overweight cyclists obsessing over the weight of their bikes.

I see a direct comparison with many musicians I meet who have a house full of gear and can't play by ear.

That a wee dig at my weight? ha ha

I'm not obsessed with the weight of the bike and how to make it lighter, this weekend I took it to Gisburn forest where I now understand the comment about if it's too light the bike may skit about and that the extra weight may help with downhills, however uphill it was a treat.

I've not built the bike to be as light as possible, it would have cost me far more, I merely pointed out that once built it seems lighter than my mates bikes, none of which are shabby bikes and all are newish. Thanks to everybody who have explained possible reasons why, modern advances in suspension, brakes, safety issues etc.

What I didn't expect was beng questioned on my abilty to correctly weigh my bike and on how truthfull I was being about the weight of it. But this should be expected on any forum I suppose.

No digs at all at you man, and in fact I am not digging at anyone who is 'into' light bikes either. I personally can't stand going much above 26lbs on a full susser and 22 on a hardtail, so I do pay attention to weight. I don't do serious downhill though, and I am a very 'light' rider, even on full sussers I tend to think hardtail and work round and over obstacles rather than through them.

It only amuses me because a few quid spent in the gym over winter or the swimming pool would be a fraction of what some of the weight weenies spend on a set of pedals.

It is part of competitive cycling to be concerned about weight, but for day to day cycling it is a nice thing to have a light yet resilient bike.

I weigh most things on fishing scales, I don't care about the odd pound here or there, I never bother weighing components as the answer is usually just a Google away.

When I finish a bike off I usually weigh it to see if I am right in whatever guess I made.

One of my pals is an ex downhiller, after a serious injury.

He was still riding around on a downhill bike until I lent him a hardtail, now he cannot see why he was using a 35lbs bike day to day.

Don't take it to heart about weighing things and such, it is just a facet of geekdom that you need to take every opportunity to correct someone.

As far as slights about the wonderful Pace forks and suggesting XT is not a bit special. Well what can you say?

I ran Kleins with full XTR back in the day, and XT is not a kick in the arse off, and much less appealing to the thieving sorts.

Just like most builders offered a top end bike with usually the same frame as its 'lesser' iterations, so Shimano needed a group set for the pros that would set a high tide mark for buyers to aspire to. They made XT for the serious cyclist who got out and rode every chance they got.

XTR = McLaren F1
XT = WRX

 

[Rampage]

BITD weight was quite an issue. Magazine bike tests listed the weight of every component. We're still using the same parts, why not use the lightest you can?

 

[highlandsflyer]

BITD weight was quite an issue. Magazine bike tests listed the weight of every component. We're still using the same parts, why not use the lightest you can?

What was your BITD?

On balance, I remember plenty of reviews that did not mention weight, especially when it came to whole bikes! Often it was a case of contacting the supplier or the manufacturer for detailed specs.

I guess I don't read the mags these days, but it is so easy now to search for the information, anyone who is interested can work it all out. I do think there are a breed of bikers now who are into it just as much for the tech geek as actual riding, or more for the geekery. 'BITD' I think there was a much lower percentage of geeks. 80s in my case.

Using the lightest is balanced against cost and resilience.

I tend to avoid CS bars/stems/seatposts.

Much rather have a couple of extra pounds than poor impact survival. My bikes get thrown in and out of vans and across walls and streams, no time for a seatpost that will subsequently fail without warning.

 

[Rampage]

Not actually sure of the actual years! I would guess 1995-1997.
Bike weight and components would be weighed against their claimed weight.