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OK, so I'm having this discussion, erm ... argument with my wife. Both of us are pretty overweight, but I cycle a lot and as such, have the strength in my legs to offset (a bit!) my paunch.

My wife doesn't have that, and so we're right now getting ready for a cycle tour in Central America next year.

Yesterday, we cycled ten miles. She was on her tourer, a steel, Surly LHT with mudguards and pannier racks front and rear. I don't know how heavy that bike is exactly, but I estimate between 33-37 lb. I was riding my Giant Defy Advanced 3, which comes in at 17 lb.

Now, my wife wasn't exactly on the point of collapsing, but she was aware that she was exerting herself.

I was strolling along on the Giant, hardly even breaking a sweat except for the bit where my small backpack was against my body.

So we're cycling along, and Mrs Me was struggling a bit on the hills.

'Tell you what,' I began. 'If you had a lightweight carbon bike, you'd love it!'

'It wouldn't make a blind bit of difference,' she retorted. 'It's much more important to lose weight from me, than from the bike'.

There then started a bit of a heated discussion. Heated, but of course, respectful.

I agree that losing weight is important, but to state that the weight of the bike isn't that important, is - in my opinion - nonsense.

'Well then,' I said. 'Let's get in touch with the Tour de France guys and tell them to bin their carbon fibre bikes, and just start doing the Tour on steel tourers!'

What do you guys think? Would it be worth her while getting a light road bike? Not necessarily a top-of-the-range carbon fibre racer, but maybe a lightweight alu commuter?

Plotone

A bike that is 20lbs lighter would make an instant difference, sure.
But your wife is right, in the long term, it is more important to lose weight and gain fitness.

The guys riding the Tour are as lean as can be (you noticed that, yes?).

I am neither a sports physiologist nor a physician; I'm just some guy on the Internet

Marcus_Ti

If you're fit and have strong legs, the machine doesn't matter.

Would a lighter stiffer bike handle better (your point in the argument)? Of course. Would it magically make your wife able to keep up with you (Your wife's point in the argument, and ultimately the crux of the matter)? No.


Strong legs will always be able to drop weak(er) legs regardless of the bikes involved.

Maelochs

Sorry, but as far as real-world riders go ... rider weight is Vastly more important.

Think of it in terms of percentage. I weigh (let's pretend) 250 lbs and ride a 25-lb bike (well, bike weight is pretty accurate.) I take 5 lbs off the bike and the total package is now 270 lbs ... pretty much the weight of a couple water bottles lighter ... except I need that water. So ... about two percent reduction?

On the other hand, I lose 50 pounds of fat (still pretending, obviously.) Even with the heavier bike, total load is now 225 pounds. Twenty percent reduction, approximately?

Losing weight is relatively cheap. Taking five pounds off a bike means spending a good bit of cash ... or buying a new bike, which costs a couple grand ... and that 17-lb CF bike would be worthless for real touring (fine for credit-card touring.) Losing 50 pounds is hard but it improves every part of life, not just the riding ... and not only does it improve every aspect of physical health, it improves metal health--will power, self-image, sense of success ...

Yes, mathematically every ounce off of bike or rider returns increased performance. Stripping the paint off your frame will make you faster. In real-world, observable effects .... you will feel the same on a bike ten pounds lighter after an hour on the bike. You will feel like Superman after losing 50 pounds, on and off the bike---and hills will be vastly easier to climb.

one4smoke

A lighter bike will make a small difference for her, but weight loss will make a big difference.

DorkDisk

From my experience, body weight is crucial. Lower body mass is better for cycling performance as long as the power output is the same. It's pure physics.

If you want anecdotes, here's one: A while ago I dropped to sub 130 lbs single digit BMI, which is pretty low for a 5'-10" male. I've been cycling for 25+ years constantly and even raced offroad in my 20's. When I dropped the weight, I instantly noticed how light and powerful I felt (ten years younger.) Endurance was higher, Power output remained the same but the 15 lbs I dropped was instantly noticable. I dropped the weight rather quickly, over a period of about one month so the result was fairly noticable. I felt very nimble on my 28lb mountain bike, but on my 20lbers it was even more so evident.

A cyclist who burns fat and maintains his/her muscle mass can only benefit. Bike weight matters also but in this relationship, its about the human. In the long run, if a lightweight bike motivates someone to ride more, what's the harm?

TLDR; buy her an expensive new bike

mongol777

Switch bikes with her for one ride and see for yourself how big/small is the difference. If you will do it unbiased and put in as much effort on her LHT as you do on your Giant - I would guess difference will be minimal.
Difference in times on similar geared bikes but different weights are very insignificant for me personally (for example between my sub 18lbs climber and fully loaded 30+lbs xcheck). But that's me - not a racer, know my comfortable pace, etc.
When I ride with my wife she can be on her light road bike, geared more for speed and I am able able to keep up with her on my Krampus, geared for trail climbing, single speed (I just spin like a madman most of the ride :-)). By next season she'll probably whoop my ass as she si making good progres this season.

canklecat

Is that how you're going to tour? On a lightweight road bike with 700x25 tires and a small backpack? If so, then your setup is right for you.

If I could afford a professional support team and sag wagon to carry all my stuff, that's how I'd tour as well.

Liz33

My husband took me to a park to rode my bike eight years ago. He was in his super nice bike, one of those that weigth very little with skinny tires (I'm sorry I don't know much about bikes and what things are called) I rode the cheap bike I had gotten at Wal-Mart , I think it's a mountain bike...a lot heavier than his. Anyway, he with his strong legs and his light bike was having a very hard time waiting for me. I just couldn't keep up, I was overweight back then (I'm still are) and it was just super hard for me. I tried my best and l did seven miles with him that day around the park. After that day, I had knee pain for years and I hated the idea of going out in a bike. It took all the fun away. He kept saying it was because I didn't have the right bike and even though I know that a different bike would be nice, it made me very mad that he wouldn't just accept that I was very out of shape and that I didn't have the strength to do that trail in the way he was expecting. It made me very angry that he would assumed that something was so easy to do that the bike was the problem and not really the fact that what he thought was easy was very hard for me. I didn't argued with him but I built resentment over the experience that day and his lack of understanding.
I think you guys are doing something great sharing a nice activity together as husband and wife and I think you are very nice looking out for her and wanting to get her a better bike and all. I would say that if you can afford a nicer bike for her, please go ahead and buy it for her, but do it in a way that she doesn't feel that you are not listening to her needs and her problems (being overweight) don't make it look like "oh now you have a nicer bike, now you'll be able to keep up" because it could make her feel that you don't really understand what she is struggling with. Sometimes, it's not about what we think the person needs, it's about what the person believes they need. It would be a shame if a little issue like this end up effecting your relationship like it did mine and still up to this day I don't want to ride a bike with my husband ever again. You both should be able to enjoy it without expectations or judgment and encourage each other always, don't let a bike issue make you turn the focus from what's really important.
Also, I was reading that the bigger the effort one makes riding a bike, the more calories you burn. Keeping the heavier bike might help her too for now to make more effort and lose more calories. That's why I'm keeping my cheap Wal-Mart bike to go out now , it's heavy as hell lol and eventually as I get more into shape I'll look into a nicer lighter bike.

PaulRivers

I think your wife is closer to right. I don't think the Surly could be more than 5lbs heavier than your bike, all other things being equal. If you wanted her to start off with a lighter bike for initial training, take off the panniers and any extra weight.

A few extra pounds is an extremely minor difference on a bike. Add up the weights - let's say the Surly weighs 25lbs. You mention you're both overweight, but let's stick with an average weight, say 200lbs. The difference between your bike and hers is 225lb vs 230lbs. Even if you're right and her bike weighs 10lbs more, that's 225lbs vs 235lbs - 4% heavier total weight? The percentage of weight just continues to become more irrelevant as you add stuff to the bike - panniers, water, gear, etc.

The reason the Tour De France guys ride lightweight bikes is because they have nothing else to do to try to gain an advantage. They're already biking 6 hours a day or whatever in training. Their bike weight is the least important thing they do for speed - it's just pushed a lot by bike manufacturers who have an interest in selling lighter more expensive bikes.

Weight is almost meaningless on the flat, it mostly only matters when accelerating or going up hills (but you gain an advantage going down hills if you're heavier), but being that she had a relatively recent bike I don't think it matters much either way.

The biggest thing for her is to get her whatever motivates her to train. In my experience bike weight has less of an effect on a woman's speed than whether she thinks the bike and her biking gear is pretty and she likes it. (I'm not talking about racers obviously, but girls trying to get into shape or just looking for something to do for fun). Whatever makes her more motivated has the biggest impact.

The biggest problem I think you face is feeling frustrated being way out ahead of her or faster than her. From personal experience, I would say that the most useful thing to do might be to go out and by yourself a new bike - one that's slower. Big fat knobby slow mountain bike tires, a rear shock that just eats your efficiency (get one you can lock out so you can get rid of it if you get tired or when she gets into better shape), etc so that you feel like it's a hard ride for you and you're not just drifting way out ahead of her.

On a technical level she's right - her getting into shape is a much bigger factor than the bike weight, especially training for touring. The only things I would maybe suggest for her bike are:
1. Getting a bike fitting. For around $50 most shops will make sure that her saddle height is right, stem length is right, simpler stuff like that, if it was wrong it can make a big difference in the amount of power you can easily put out.
2. Look at if the tires could be replaced with some better (only if the tires it came with are bad I'm not sure what it comes with)
3. Not carrying excessive gear when you start out training. Like long term you might want to train with full panniers, but start off with just the basic necessities.

But mostly she just needs to ride, and feel accomplished and good about doing that. You might best facilitate that by getting yourself a noteably slower bike so you don't feel like you aren't really working on the rides.

wolfchild

Why not just get stronger and more fit instead of worrying and arguing about weight ??

CliffordK

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You don't mention your and your wife's height and weight, but morbidly obese can be far different for someone who is 5 foot tall than for someone who is 6 foot tall.

And, say a 20 pound difference in the weight of a bicycle might be a larger percentage of one's overall weight for someone who is 180 pounds vs someone who is 280 pounds.

Losing weight, of course, is important for general health. But, there are lots of strong heavy cyclists that can do well on the level, but run out of steam when climbing hills.

As far as the bikes, the 17 pound bike may be of generally higher quality and more efficient than the 37 pound bike. And losing 20 pounds won't make up for the better tires, wheels, hubs, handlebars, and other bits and pieces in the fast road bike.

I'd encourage you to get her to try a bike of equal quality to yours. Or perhaps put her on the road bike while you ride a MTB or LHT (with cargo?)

You might also consider a tandem to allow you to work together.

JanMM

I don't disagree with what you are saying and congrats on the weight loss, but 130 pounds/5'10" is 18.7 BMI, at the lower end of normal weight. (NIH) Very desirable value, as opposed to a single digit anorexic/skeletal reading.
A lighter bike makes riding easier, but losing weight makes everything easier. Lighter bike and body weight loss is best of both worlds.

DorkDisk

To be honest I don't remember the actual number, which is why I say "sub 130." I also don't remember the actual BMI number, which is why I also give a vague range. I may be wrong on the BMI, low single digit sounds crazy low. I did get really skinny though, clients thought I got cancer, my family did interventions. Size 28 jeans were too big in the waist

FrenchFit 

We have been there. Wife can tackle bigger hills and long grades with a lighter bike, lighter wheelset. Fitness? Doesn't matter all that much. But, when riding with her I'll pick our heaviest upright bike, it's a good core workout and upper thighs as well, especially in a headwind.

1989Pre 

She obviously loves her ride and knows what she wants. Admire her.

PepeM

Let her ride whatever she wants.

mrFreel

To put a different perspective on this debate I add the following. I have a18 lb Trek Domane 5.2 and a Trek 520 touring bike that weights 28 lbs. these are actual weights I measured not factory figures. There is a BIG difference in the responsiveness of these two bikes and the effort it takes to ride the same speed on the same route. I would guess that when I ride putting out the same level of effort there is about a 2 mph difference. Yes getting in better shape and loosing weight will help but there is a big difference between the response, performance, and purpose between a touring bike and a go fast road bike. If you want to maintain peace then ride comparable bikes when you go out riding with your wife.
Mike

mongol777

Very much agree - took us several years to get where we are today and even though I still have to wait for her on some rides I LOVE our rides together. And this season I think is the boiling point - she gains confidence, speed and endurance everyday and she finally gets enough of it to understand that speed and being able to keep up does not matter. What matter is enjoying your ride.

Machka 

A lighter bicycle makes a small difference.

A lighter rider makes a big difference. Especially if that rider not only loses weight but exercises while doing so to build strength.

I ride several different bicycles of different weights and there's not really all that much difference between them. But when I lost 55 lbs last year ... that made a difference.


BTW - a helpful tip: If she wants to get stronger on the climbs, tell her to start climbing stairs. That also made a huge difference for me.

exmechanic89

I agree with this. I would also add that riding a bike that weighs a few pounds less will make little difference when you're carrying a lot of extra weight on your body. Save your money and lose the weight instead. Not trying to be harsh, but that is the reality.

bransom

The physics say it's about total weight rather than bike weight but I know I *feel* faster on my carbon Diverge than I do on my heavy steel Randonee touring bike. Let her try a lighter bike. She may love it and that's worth whatever the bike costs.

bruce19

Bike Weight - Smart Cycles - Norwalk, CT

fishboat

Weak & incorrect argument on your part...at which point you lose credibility. Sarcasm like that just ramps up the discussion into, in your words, just plain nonsense. Basically..your argument isn't about cycling and bikes and weight..it's about other issues. I might suggest..adjust your attitude into a more supporting tone or you may well get "released" to ride your light bike wherever you like, as fast as you like, spouting any opinion you like...and the process will co$t you the equivalent of a boat-load of CF bikes.

Machka 

See this for some numbers ...