Road Cycling - How much does less weight help?

Hello I am relatively new to road biking I’ve been riding for about 2 years. I have also been doing some tris here and there. My current bike weights about 25 pounds and it is 13 years old. I am a growing boy so I haven’t wanted to spend money then out grow that frame and get a new one. So I ride on a 58cm even though I am 5' 9''. Well never mind about that. How much would it help my climbs and riding to get a bike around 17 lbs considering that I weight 110lbs.
All in put is helpful thanks.
Adam

weight matters when you are overcoming the inertia of a bike -- climbs, accelerations, sprints. you won't notice much difference at speed.

this is an enjoyable read:

http://www.rickdenney.com/october_1999.htm

At 110 lbs I would surmise two things. First, you would benefit by adding some weight to your body. Need to build up some muscle mass. Two, any weight that you save on your bike would be greatly exaggerated by your low body weight, every pound you shave off your equipment would have a greater effect percentage wise than some one with a higher body weight.

Check out analytic cycling (http://www.analyticcycling.com/WheelsClimb_Page.html) to run some different options for bike and wheel weight. At 5'9" and 110 pounds you must be as thin as a rail. I've always thought of myself as pretty slim at 130 at your same height, but you must really be thin.

At 110 lbs I would surmise two things. First, you would benefit by adding some weight to your body. Need to build up some muscle mass. Two, any weight that you save on your bike would be greatly exaggerated by your low body weight, every pound you shave off your equipment would have a greater effect percentage wise than some one with a higher body weight.

False,he would not benifit his cycling ability gaining muscle mass!! before you spend the cash on a lighter bike put in more time on the bike, what you will get out of that money can't buy.being 110 lbs nothing wrong with that, it's about power to weight ratio. i know a 120 lb woman that out climbs CAT 1 men!!!
she climbs over a very steep mountain in her big chain ring!! sitting down!! my self and others have to stand in are small chain ring to make it over. so bottom line muscle mass will slow you down!! work on your Aerobic fitness.

False,he would not benifit his cycling ability gaining muscle mass!! before you spend the cash on a lighter bike put in more time on the bike, what you will get out of that money can't buy.being 110 lbs nothing wrong with that, it's about power to weight ratio. i know a 120 lb woman that out climbs CAT 1 men!!!
she climbs over a very steep mountain in her big chain ring!! sitting down!! my self and others have to stand in are small chain ring to make it over. so bottom line muscle mass will slow you down!! work on your Aerobic fitness.

wow! 110 pounds is light. I agree that adding weight will likely not get you over the mountain any faster. At 13, you should still be growing and you will add more weight, don't worry it will happen. I know someone that is 110 and he can out climb everyone in our group. But he can't stay with us on the flats...and taking weight off your bike will not help that. As long as your bike fits you, keep riding it, at 13, you should out grow your bike soon enough. :rolleyes:

I think his bike is 13 years old, not him. From his introduction thread he's somewhere around 15-17.

I think his bike is 13 years old, not him. From his introduction thread he's somewhere around 15-17.
Thnks for pointing that out I am 14.

"At 110 lbs I would surmise two things. First, you would benefit by adding some weight to your body. Need to build up some muscle mass. Two, any weight that you save on your bike would be greatly exaggerated by your low body weight, every pound you shave off your equipment would have a greater effect percentage wise than some one with a higher body weight."

The reason that I am so light is that I don't have any muscle mass in my uper body. I have found that I have not needed it for biking. If my mucle mass in my legs was lessened then I would easily weigh less then 100lb. At my school I am always thought of as being weak because of my visible muscle mass is low. But I just don't see why added mucle mass alover your body would help. Unless you just mean lower body muscle mass.

You can run your own calculations. See:

http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

For my weight range (bike, body(176lbs) and hydration pack + gear), a 5 pound weight reduction gained 5% more speed on a 7% grade for the same power output. You can work backwards with the model and estimate your power output from you parameters and the speed you normally run. Then you use that power output to look at how weight will impact on speed. Note, the tire selection is critical as it impacts frontal area.

This model was actually very close and slightly conservative when I traded off changing from my big touring tires/wheels to my 25 mm road tires and narrower rims. It predicted about about a 2 mph gain. I got at least that average and much more in top speed and when pedalling into a head wind. I believe that was because the frontal area was reduced by 1/2 square foot.

Note the wheel/tire changes saved about 5 lbs.

A lighter person would gain more from a 5lb reduction when climbing than me simply because 5 lbs is a larger percentage of the toal weight.

Al

My current bike weights about 25 pounds and it is 13 years old. I am a growing boy so I haven’t wanted to spend money then out grow that frame and get a new one.

Hey Adam- Smart of you to think twice about committing to a high end bike, only to outgrow the frame since you're only 14 and growing. You might consider getting yourself a decent, lightweight wheelset which can significantly reduce your rotational mass. Even if your bike still weighs 24 pounds, if you lose the weight in your wheelset and get much smoother rolling hubs, it will noticably enhance your climbing and sprinting ability. Maybe something from Mavic, Bontrager, American Classic, etc. That of course you won't outgrow. Keep on ridin'!!

- Ralph

"At 110 lbs I would surmise two things. First, you would benefit by adding some weight to your body. Need to build up some muscle mass. Two, any weight that you save on your bike would be greatly exaggerated by your low body weight, every pound you shave off your equipment would have a greater effect percentage wise than some one with a higher body weight."

The reason that I am so light is that I don't have any muscle mass in my uper body. I have found that I have not needed it for biking. If my mucle mass in my legs was lessened then I would easily weigh less then 100lb. At my school I am always thought of as being weak because of my visible muscle mass is low. But I just don't see why added mucle mass alover your body would help. Unless you just mean lower body muscle mass.


Your right muscle mass wont help, to much leg muscle will slow you also. cycling is Aerobic and force the more you ride the stronger you will get on the bike as long as you allow your body recovery after hard sessions.

Going to the gym and doing e.g., weight training *will* help build strength. However, [ECP] endurance cycling performance (e.g., RR, TT, MTB, etc) is *not* limited by strength, unless you have a functional disability.

Force requirements for ECP are quite low, and can be met by untrained, sedentary, healthy, age, gender, and mass matched controls. Additionally, peak power tends on average to not vary between racers and healthy, non-trained controls.

Riding at typical race speeds and powers, can be met by most people (untrained). Strength, is defined as the maximal force or tension a muscle or group of muscles can generate, and thus as described by Hill's Force-Velocity curve maximal force (strength) can only be generated at 0 (or very close to it) velocity. In other words, Hills F-V curve shows that force and velocity are inversely proportional to each other -- at high (crank) velocity, force is very low (or zero), and very high force can only be generated at zero velocity (think of pushing against an immovable object such as a brick wall). At normal pedalling velocity (or even at low cadences e.g., 30 revs/min) forces are very low.

Power (output) is the sum of all the forces that are required to move your bike forward at a given velocity under given conditions. ECP requires low to moderate power, which most people can meet. however, these powers need to be maintained for long periods of time, and it is this that causes the difficulty. In other words, you/i/others can ride at the same power as e.g., Amstrong/Simoni/Ullrich (whoever) on climbs such as Alpe d'Huez, however, we won't be able to sustain that power for as long (unless you're in with a chance of winning the TdF). For example, an untrained person, might last for 30-secs, i can do about 5-mins and obviously, the likes of Armstrong manage it for 38-mins.

Therefore, none of our performance is limited by strength in ECP, but by limits of lactate threshold and VO2max. these are trained by cycling from a period of several minutes to several hours.

Intervals that increase VO2max and maximal aerobic power (MAP) are 4-mins at above 10-mile TT effort. Sustainable power is developed with intervals of one to four x 15 to 30-mins, and you also want/need to do sustained efforts of 90+ mins at a fairly brisk effort.

Hello I am relatively new to road biking I’ve been riding for about 2 years. I have also been doing some tris here and there. My current bike weights about 25 pounds and it is 13 years old. I am a growing boy so I haven’t wanted to spend money then out grow that frame and get a new one. So I ride on a 58cm even though I am 5' 9''. Well never mind about that. How much would it help my climbs and riding to get a bike around 17 lbs considering that I weight 110lbs.
All in put is helpful thanks.
Adam

i 17 lb bike compare to a 25 lbs bike will feel a lot different. climbing, handling, acceleration, braking, sprinting, etc. i'm not sure how it will actually improve your performance, but you will definitley feel the 8 lbs missing.

but, i agree with the others. get a lighter set of wheels first.

At my school I am always thought of as being weak because of my visible muscle mass is low. But I just don't see why added mucle mass alover your body would help. Unless you just mean lower body muscle mass.

Welcome to my past... I never fit into the traditional "ball-sport" model of physical perfection either so I got pegged as weak. However, I could leg press maybe 100lb more than others. Go figure.

It may help you accelerate and climb better, but it won't help you workout.

A lighter bike will definately be more fun, and a bit faster on the hills. You may want to hold on purchasing a lightweight, till you are about 16. I bought my first racer at 14, and had to get a size too big for me. Its OK for size now.
Im also an ultra-light body type, about 130lbs, 5'10. I found that swimming was good for upper body strength and for keeping well stretched, something that cycling just doesnt do.

Welcome to my past... I never fit into the traditional "ball-sport" model of physical perfection either so I got pegged as weak. However, I could leg press maybe 100lb more than others. Go figure.

One of the great things about cycling is that there's a spot for everyone. The monsters can go sprint on the track, and the little guys can fly up mountains at 30mph! :D