Touring - Why is my Windsor Tourist so heavy!?

I have a 54cm windsor tourist.. great bike.. always thought it was on the heavy side. Walked into REI and checked out their 56cm LHT and CC.. WOW those bikes felt like they were at least 10 lbs lighter! Sure, mine had plastic fenders, pedals, an aluminum rear rack, and a greenfield kickstand.. surely those weights added up can't make up the weight difference right!? I also didn't think there would be that much weight difference between the naked frames..

I wonder if the windsor was shipped with cheap heavy rims.. Any ideas? What would likely by the components making up the weight difference?

Weighing a bike by just lifting it, is too subjective. You need to weigh the bike with a scale. Park tools makes an expensive digital scale for this purpose, but you could also use a less expensive luggage scale. My LHT is quite heavy at 33 pounds. Fenders, racks, 2.0 touring tires, and Brooks saddle add a lot of weight.

Got a scale?
strip it down weigh just the frame, then weigh each part as you put it all together,
then you will see the final weight is a sum of all the parts..

IDK, maybe they used thicker wall tubes , from cheaper sources ,
to bring the price down to attract customers
who just shop for lowest price..

It's deceptive just lifting a bike up by hand, and especially so when your Windsor is not beside the LHT or CC for an immediate comparison. You need to check the weight with a scale and with both bikes in identical condition (ie, either stripped or fully accessorised).

I think you may be mistaken. My Windsor is lighter than an LHT if the weights people post for their LHTs are even close to accurate. I think every report I have read of an LHT weight was over 30 pounds and usually in the 32+ pound range. My Windsor weighed 29 pounds including racks and a 1 pound seat bag of tools and spare tubes. That was with heavier 32mm tires so it is probably a bit less now that it has 28 mm gatorskins on it.

I think the LHT frame is at least a little heavier. The LHT is heavier duty and has longer wheelbase so I would be very surprised if that was not true. It would not surprise me if the Cross Check frame was a little lighter than the Windsor frane, but probably not very much if it is.

In most cases a major portion of the weight difference between bikes is in the tires and accessories folks bolt on. Tires can make a big difference. Even in the same size something like the marathon plus can add at least two pounds to the bike. If you go for a tire like that in a larger size the difference can be even more. The range of weights of racks is pretty wide as well and can amount to a substantial difference, A set of Surly racks weigh something over 5 pounds other choices often can be half that. Most fenders add about a pound and a half for a set. Even the choice if inner tubes can make a difference especially if you are carrying a couple spares.

Here is how I weighed my Tourist.
Bike stand holding a $8 luggage scale from Wal-Mart.

http://inlinethumb17.webshots.com/10256/2857556720037547136S600x600Q85.jpg (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2857556720037547136SkvnFY)

Yeah i guess the individual accessories on my bike can add up the weight diff.. But this is not the frst time i lifted up the surlys at the store. Everytime i did it, and then comparing it to my windsor at home, the windsor felt significantly heavier, more so than the sum of the accessories.. But guess i could be wrong.. I was just seeing if there was a known component, if of cheap quality, would introduce significant weight difference

boogman, I built my tourer, but not with a nod towards weight, but rather reliability and on a budget that allowed me to determine if I wanted to tour I could keep what I had a feel good about the build, or if it wasn't for me I wasn't into the project too deep. The biggest weight offenders are the wheelset and the tires. I could probably lose close to three pounds by changing what I have, but I really don't see a reason to do so. From the thread regarding touring bike's weight it seems, IIRC, most when equipped with racks, pedals and water bottle cages averaged out in the 30-32 pound range.


The Windsor, from what I've read, has a very good reputation, except for the wheelset which is possibly from where most of the price point saving was made.

Brad

The Windsor, from what I've read, has a very good reputation, except for the wheelset which is possibly from where most of the price point saving was made.

The wheels are probably the weakest point in the spec for this bike other than the lack of a low enough granny gear, but I have done a good bit of touring including a TA and some other longish tours with mine and still have the original wheels on it. So they are at least adequate if not optimum.

The biggest weight offenders are the wheelset and the tires.

There's also significant weight in the frame itself, components, and racks. The touring bike I built around Nashbar's aluminum frame and Ultegra components weighs in at 23lbs ready to ride (but without racks, luggage, and water bottles). Granted some of the missing weight comes from the wheels (Synergy OC rims, XTR hubs) and tires (Vittoria Randonneur Hyper 700x35) but there's probably several pounds attributable to the frame, components, and lack of racks. Inexpensive steel racks, for instance, are often very heavy.

sstorkel, True, but boogman is comparing his steel bike with another steel bike. Your bike is lighter than my Cannondale, BTW.

staehpj1, The Windsor was on my short list if I couldn't have found a Cannondale within a reasonable amount of time. Just like my Cannondale, if there is one major improvement to be made I feel it's the wheelset. Probably like you, my wheelset is all sorted out now WRT tension and true'g and acceleration isn't so much part of the T bike's mission statement. ;)

Brad

sstorkel, True, but boogman is comparing his steel bike with another steel bike. Your bike is lighter than my Cannondale, BTW.

All steel frames are not created equal. Different alloys, different tube wall thicknesses, different joining methods (lugged vs. fillet brazed vs. TIG welded) etc. can mean that there's a noticeable difference in weight between two steel frames.

Touring bikes are usually heavier because they have to beef certain structural points on the frame to be able to carry great amounts of weight.

To make it go downhill faster?

With extra strenght comes extra weight.......weight weenies make lousy tourers.....all they do is complain.....:)

I was just seeing if there was a known component, if of cheap quality,
would introduce significant weight difference

Its the Doughnuts ! :lol: