Although I do not dispute that weight plays a part in how a bike *feels*, unless your Rivs weigh close to 30 lb or you weigh closer to 100 than 200 lb, those few pounds is only a very small percentage of the total bike+rider+accessories weight, which is what's important in a purely physics-based examination of performance factors. My experience is aligned with Jan's - I don't believe bike weight plays a primary factor in performance, at least at my level. Fit (aggressive vs. relaxed) and its associated rider position plays a much larger role in overall performance. As an example, my Della Santa and Independent Fab differ by probably 5 or more pounds (partially due to component mix), but both allow me to "mix it with the boys". And yes, long 8-12% roads are (unfortunately) common around these parts.
Stating this does not exclude me from being a weight-weenie though, as my chest of Ti hardware will attest to. :) On Sunday, January 13, 2013 4:03:26 PM UTC-8, z-man wrote: > > Agreed. I normally ride anywhere from 66-69cm bikes. I love my Rivs for > the ride quality. But if I'm doing a metric or a double-metric century > w/thousands of feet in climbing on New England hills where there's a lot of > 8-12% grades all the time, I'm taking my Roubaix (64cm, 18.2lbs), or a > Seven (67cm, 19 lbs), or a Calfee (69cm, 19.8lbs w/disc brakes). If for no > other reason that I can ride at a fast clip, but still enjoy the company of > others, occasionally pass some people, and never quite run out of gas. This > mostly comes into play on any long climb, where, even though I'm old, tall, > heavy-ish, and relatively slow, I can get by w/ Cytomax as fuel and keep > the cool kids in sight. > > IMHO, lighter is always righter. > > RGZ > > Sent from my iPad > > On Jan 13, 2013, at 9:54 AM, eflayer <eddie....@att.net <javascript:>> > wrote: > > You might try a 16.5 lb Specialized Roubaix and let us know what you think > about that :). Mine weighs about 4 lbs less than my lightest steel bike. I > still like steel a ton, but for pure fast club road rides, the Roubaix is > more fun in most ways. > On Saturday, January 12, 2013 9:33:04 PM UTC-8, Scot Brooks wrote: >> >> I spend about equal time on my Sam Hillborne and my Soma Double Cross. To >> abbreviate the way they're normally set up, the Sam's got a 40/24 12-36 >> drivetrain, 35c Soma New Xpress tires, front rack/basket/Shopsack. The >> Soma's got a 48/34 11-34 drivetrain, 35c Schwalbe Marathon Racers, front >> rack, front and rear Sackville bags. >> >> Anyway, I always assumed that my Soma was kind of a lightweight go-fast >> bike with it's fancy Tange Prestige tubing and slightly more aggressive >> geometry (shorter chain stays anyway). Compared to the Sam, it just takes >> off like crazy and *feels *incredibly quick and nimble. Lo-and-behold, I >> got one of those hook scale things today, and the total weight of each bike >> was 35lbs for the Sam and 31lbs for the Soma. >> >> I thought it was the weight that explained the difference in feel, but >> clearly that's not the case. Both are equally pleasurable to ride, but >> there must be far more factors involved in the overall "feel" of each bike >> than I might have guessed. >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/4hz-iWJpuXMJ. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com<javascript:> > . > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/RppDIOcEO8cJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
