My money is with Steve Palinscar. This reminds me of a long debate/argument I had with a coworker at the bike shop. My coworker, Greg, insisted that an 18lb road bike was way faster than a 20lb road bike. That's a commonly held position, as we all know. I pointed out what I believe to be true that losing 2lbs off your body is equivalent to losing 2lbs off your bike. That's another commonly held position, as we've all heard and read a dozen times. This is where the debate got weird.
Greg insisted that 2lbs off the bike is 10%, and therefore is equivalent to losing 10% of the rider's body weight. an 18lb bike is way faster than a 20lb bike because it is 10% lighter. A 180lb rider is way faster than a 200lb rider, because he is 10% lighter. So it is more effective to lose a pound off the bike than it is off the body. I tried to counter his argument with the absurd example. If mid climb, you took your full water bottle off your bike and put it in your jersey pocket, would you feel an instant rush of speed because the bike got 10% lighter and the rider got 1% heavier? Greg insisted ABSOLUTELY YES, you would feel a burst of speed. The debate devolved from there. Greg insisted heavy shoes and light pedals is way faster since the pedal is part of the bike and the shoe is a part of the rider. He explained that cleats are special, where the weight is shared. My head exploded shortly thereafter and the argument ended. On Monday, January 14, 2013 11:10:01 AM UTC-8, eflayer wrote: > > now that is an interesting proposal. i'd bet against you on that one > though :) > On Monday, January 14, 2013 6:24:34 AM UTC-8, Steve Palincsar wrote: >> >> On Sun, 2013-01-13 at 20:13 -0800, eflayer wrote: >> > I was surprised the OP did not think that pounds of extra weight might >> > not be responsible for the go fast feel of his go fast bike...even >> > though by some standards both are relatively heavy. But 4 pounds is 4 >> > pounds. I was suggesting weight is a significant factor in the gestalt >> > of how a bike rides and feels to the rider. >> >> I don't think so. Does your bike feel different when ridden with full >> vs. no water bottles, or with full vs. empty water bottles? I doubt you >> could make any guess at all about the state of your water supply from >> the way your bike feels. >> >> Frame stiffness, now that's a totally different story, and one that is >> largely independent of weight. Different tires can make a bike feel >> very different, too -- and again, not because of any weight difference. >> >> I'm confident if someone loaded the water bottles on your Specialized >> with lead shot to bring it up to the weight of your other bike, it would >> still feel different and better to you. >> >> >> >> -- 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/-/c6xP4xRO-q0J. 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.
