Road Cycling - Please help with a weighty issue !

Is there any performance differential in terms of weight loss between less weight on the rider or less weight on the bike (we will leave the wheel factor and rotational weight out of this for now).
The reason for this question is that I seem to be going more and more obsessive with trying to trim weight off my Cannondale road bike, to gain comparable performance to my other riding club members bikes. I haven’t got hundreds of pounds or dollars to throw at my bike so I can rule out just buying the best parts available.
The other factor is that I am 5’7” and 146 lbs, with very little fat to lose. So there can be little advantage to gain there as any further weight loss from this point generally leads to less strength for me.
Therefore am I being totally obsessive by spending hours on end sawing of excess seatpost, trawling through component listings trying to find bottle cages that are 10 grams lighter etc etc etc ! My Cannondale is only the 2004 R500, I have got a better and lighter wheel set on it, I want to just forget about the weight and just enjoy the bike, but would hate to think I was giving away a performance advantage.

Spec as follows : -
CAAD 4 frame
Campagnolo wheel set about 1850 grams
Mix Tiagra and 105
And Truvativ touro chinset.
Total weight complete about 19.8 lbs

no difference. your bike isn't the lightest, but i'd suggest investing your money in a training book or two... they can help way more.

sd

no difference. your bike isn't the lightest, but i'd suggest investing your money in a training book or two... they can help way more.

sd

So theoretically if a fellow club rider who was considerably taller than myself and therefore 160 lbs (14lbs heavier than myself) who was of identical riding ability and fitness was to ride with me. We would only be able to ride at the same pace and with the same advantages if I were to ride a 34 lb road bike (leaving the wheel factor out) ? Is this true ? It seems hard to believe. As I feel I would bust a gut trying to stay with him !

Plugging some stuff into Analytic cycling (http://www.analyticcycling.com/WheelsClimb_Page.html) shows that losing weight on either the bike or yourself will yield the same results. However, I'm not really sure if their calculator is accurate or not.

I am no scientist but when I went from a heavy alu bike to my nice lite carbon bike it was a world of difference. In part I am sure because of the wheels and that "ignored" rotational weight :-) But I notice a lot of things like much faster acceleration, easier to handle when climbing out of the saddle, etc. Does it make me much faster? Probably a tiny little bit. Does it make it easier for me to push harder and therefore go faster, you bet!

So theoretically if a fellow club rider who was considerably taller than myself and therefore 160 lbs (14lbs heavier than myself) who was of identical riding ability and fitness was to ride with me. We would only be able to ride at the same pace and with the same advantages if I were to ride a 34 lb road bike (leaving the wheel factor out) ? Is this true ? It seems hard to believe. As I feel I would bust a gut trying to stay with him !

yes. no difference. but your assumption is unlikely; a taller rider, say, 5'10, who weighs 160, is probably more muscular and has more leverage.

sd

I don't agree totally with the fact that it's the same. Weight distribution on a bike is also important. For example, the inertia of a wheel makes it more desirable to put effort in reducing their weight rather than the frame. Even more than that, the farther the material from the hub, the more significant the weight effect...

So I'd say that while a pound off the frame can roughly be equal in effect to a pound off the rider, a loss in wheel weight means more...

Actually, you'll get more benefit from fat loss if you were on the pudgy side. I lost 20 pounds (6 to go) and the difference was dramatic. My heart now has to support many fewer miles of arteries as well as provide the energy to just move the weight around. I also recover much more quickly since there's a lot less body to rejuvenate. I'm still on the upper end of the BMI range for my height and I can still grab some excess loose fat on my midsection, so I'm not finished yet.

I'm also in the process of lightening my bike. I'm riding an old ('84) clunky touring bike so I have a lot of excess bike weight. Lighter wheels and tires made a huge difference. Soon I'm upgrading the frame. In your case with a modern road frame, a frame upgrade won't buy you much. For me it will help by almost 6 pounds.

Al

For an interesting discussion of the effect of wheel weight, see:a
http://www.analyticcycling.com/WheelsConcept_Page.html

Actually, you'll get more benefit from fat loss if you were on the pudgy side. I lost 20 pounds (6 to go) and the difference was dramatic. My heart now has to support many fewer miles of arteries as well as provide the energy to just move the weight around. I also recover much more quickly since there's a lot less body to rejuvenate. I'm still on the upper end of the BMI range for my height and I can still grab some excess loose fat on my midsection, so I'm not finished yet.

I'm also in the process of lightening my bike. I'm riding an old ('84) clunky touring bike so I have a lot of excess bike weight. Lighter wheels and tires made a huge difference. Soon I'm upgrading the frame. In your case with a modern road frame, a frame upgrade won't buy you much. For me it will help by almost 6 pounds.

Al

I agree with you whole heartedly. however, the original poster just said that they are only 146 pounds, without a whole lot of fat to lose. so in that case, taking weight off the bike could be helpful when climbing and accelerating.