Stupid Cycling/Physics/Fatness question.

[PaloAltoCougar]

So as my bride becomes ever more fit with her three 40+ mile rides each week, I'm looking for any advantage to keep up. My bike is a hybrid (of which I know a few here disapprove), but it's an aluminum frame (Specialized A1 Pro) and fairly light. I like the relaxed geometries of a hybrid over a road bike, and it has fairly thin tires so I don't have much to gain there.

But what about weight? I read about gram shavers who look for every possible weight-saving advantage. So here's my question: is a pound saved on the bike the same thing as losing a pound from one's waistline? Is it simply a question of total weight (bike plus rider), or does removing weight from the bike provide a greater advantage than removing it from one's butt?

And by the way, I'm doing some work for a client, Look Cycle, whose excellent president thinks I should buy the bike below (and I'll do it, if he gives me half off):

[RC Vikings]

First off, buy the bike. Second I'm pretty sure a pound off my butt is different then a pound off the bike. If that was true then losing twenty pounds would be like having no bike at all. My guess would be something like ten pounds off the butt is like a pound off the bike. Go old school and drill holes in everything, brake levers, chain rings, and whatever else looks like it could stand to have a hole it in.

[Borg]

Can I buy the bike if he offers you half off?

[creekster]

The quickest way to noitce a weight loss is if it is in a rotating mass (wheels, tires, gears, cranks, rings, stc.).

Not to disagree with The Edge/RC, but I will: otherwsie I think weight is weight. Pound from the butt is like a pound from the frame. If you could lose 20 pounds all at once it would feel about the same as suddenyl risding without a bike. Of course we never lose 20 lbs all at once but when we dangerously drill holes in whatever is available we do lose it all at once so the perception may be that itis more important weight to lose, but Idon't think it is.

I would still buy the bike, however, just becaseu that is how I always answer that question.

[bluegoose]

I should probably wait for creekster to "weigh" in on this one. But he has always been a big advocate of reducing rotational weight. IOW, a pound at the wheels and pedals matters more than a pound on the mid-section. I think most serious bike coaches would agree. In reality, its really just his way to justify expensive wheelsets.

If your goal is to go faster now, especially on the hills, then definitely get a lighter bike, with a stiffer frame and a better wheelset and crank.

I personally would have a very hard time pulling the trigger trying to save grams when I've got 5 or 10 pounds to lose. But thats just me. I'm cheap, what can I say?

[creekster]

I should probably wait for creekster to "weigh" in on this one. But he has always been a big advocate of reducing rotational weight. IOW, a pound at the wheels and pedals matters more than a pound on the mid-section. I think most serious bike coaches would agree. In reality, its really just his way to justify expensive wheelsets.

If your goal is to go faster now, especially on the hills, then definitely get a lighter bike, with a stiffer frame and a better wheelset and crank.

I personally would have a very hard time pulling the trigger trying to save grams when I've got 5 or 10 pounds to lose. But thats just me. I'm cheap, what can I say?

You know me so well. ALmost too well.

[Donuthole]

And by the way, I'm doing some work for a client, Look Cycle, whose excellent president thinks I should buy the bike below

Sweet. Now you are justified in billing him for your time spent in this thread!
<Insert pithy lawyers-suck comment from ERCougar here>

[RC Vikings]

The quickest way to noitce a weight loss is if it is in a rotating mass (wheels, tires, gears, cranks, rings, stc.).

Not to disagree with The Edge/RC, but I will: otherwsie I think weight is weight. Pound from the butt is like a pound from the frame. If you could lose 20 pounds all at once it would feel about the same as suddenyl risding without a bike. Of course we never lose 20 lbs all at once but when we dangerously drill holes in whatever is available we do lose it all at once so the perception may be that itis more important weight to lose, but Idon't think it is.

I would still buy the bike, however, just becaseu that is how I always answer that question.

I would go with what Creek says. I ride the things but I'm not real big on fixing or knowing why they work. When it comes to knowing or tinkering around with them then Creek is the King. Also don't drill holes in stuff, that was a poor attempt at a little bit of humor.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Thanks for the good answers, and thanks RC, for the follow up. Unfortunately, it came a little late and my handlebar and frame now look like Swiss cheese. I should be fine on the highly technical downhill run I'm doing Saturday, though.

[Coach McGuirk]

Lastly, you should buy that bike.