pseudobrit

So I'd been planning a build up. Custom steel with Campy Chorus. Pegoretti or Franklin or something else with S&S couplers to make travel easier. I was getting close to finalizing my choice and putting a deposit down on something, but was definitely going for a nicely built bike that would ride well without worrying too much about weight or getting caught up in gear mania.

Then I jumped the gun and signed up for the Everest Challenge. I'd been planning for next year's training and losing weight, but hit my target weight (145; I'm 6' tall) so damned early I wondered what I was waiting for.

Suddenly, I'm the owner of a CAAD9 Optimo 1 because weight suddenly became a high priority. The stock bike clocks in just under 17 pounds without pedals or cages (I have access to a large postal scale).

Now, I always figured the guys who spent $100 each on 18g Record cages or some such were nuts or just silly. I mean, I had a pair of $7 Delta cages that advertised at 40g each. Is saving 44g total worth that much coin? I didn't think so. Until I put those Delta cages on the gram scale yesterday and found them to be more like 63g each. That's over a quarter pound for the pair!

So I did the sensible thing, panicked and succumbed to the weight weenie voice inside my head. I just last night bought a pair of tune Wasserträger Skyline Kevlar cages that weigh 4.5g each, straight from Germany. $60 each. Somehow even in the light of day I am still able to justify this purchase, because – hey – I could have spent $200 on those boat anchor Campy cages, right?

God help me.

Lecterman

Ya did good. No worries. Cannondales rock!

Fig335

That a pretty cool cage. Can it actually hold a water bottle?

pseudobrit

It weighs less than a slightly used kleenex. Does it matter?

SmoothRide

It holds water without snapping?

Ew. Weight weenie. Try a 300g lead cage and tell me how much you loved it. Avoid the flakes. They make the water taste funny.

ElJamoquio

As a guy who had to dodge several bottles today (and a freakin' frame pump?!? In a race???), I hope your 'cage' holds said bottles.

ggg300

you sir have lost "it"


"it" = money

"it" = grams

"it" = your grip

Psimet2001 

Sick....hope it doesn't snap the first time you hit a bad set of train tracks and there is a full bottle in it....


I'm not saying....I'm just saying. (sorry aham)

Longfemur

You know, people do tour and climb mountains on much heavier touring bikes. Shaving a few grams here and there at great cost is totally meaningless. I'm sure you know what a gram is. In Canada, a gram is about one Smartie. If in the U.S., not sure if you have those, but probably about two M&M's (and that's actual candies, not bags). I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't notice one bit even if I was carrying several boxes of smarties on the bike.

Psimet2001 

I put it all in perspective one day when I realized that the large bottles I used added almost 1 pound more to the bike than the short bottles did.

That's a lot of M&Ms...

s0rcerer13

if you really want to lose a couple of extra gram of weight, you should consider cleaning your bowels

https://www.ehow.com/how_2021351_clea...se-weight.html

Ti-tillIdie

There are some things that are worth trying to shave grams from.... but I decided a long time ago that my bottle cadges aren't one of them.
Any advantage those give you will be negated the first time a bottle pops out and you have to spend 2 minutes running back to get them. Though, if you never ride your bike and only hanging it on a scale then I guess those are cool.

SmoothRide

Endurance Magazine had an article about the Hydrotail, which weighs 50g. However, it was placed behind the seat post so it encountered less drag. Apparently they claim -1:30 per hour.

FrankBattle 

pseudobrit,

You have lost your flipping pseudobrit mind.

Get help. 4.5g? Is that a typo? The snot I blow out on my after-work ride weighs more than that. Truthfully, weenieism's only worth it past a certain point .. though, I myself have succumbed (not as bad as 4.5g bottle cages though), I must say I am lighter in the wallet but not necessarily faster uphill. The recepient bike, however, is nice to look at. Shame it doesn't fly uphill any faster.

idcruiserman

Damn yer skinny.

ElJamoquio

Perhaps you could trim away some fibers with scissors or something - maybe get it down to 4 grams?

v1k1ng1001

I am sad for you.

scuzzo

hey want to really save grams... dont ride with water bottles, then you would not need cages, plus the bike looks a lot faster with out those blocky water bottles. I mean once you add 2bls of water is are 30 more grams going to matter a that much? but what ever makes you happy.

bjkeen

Well, look, if you're going to do that kind of thing, it's ok, as long as you do it on just one of your bikes. That's my point of view.

Psimet2001 

You could just ride with your bottles in your jersey....

pseudobrit

So had I. So had I.

I employ a very high fiber diet and go through about a pound of flax meal every two to three weeks. By race day, I'll be down to 140 lbs or less. I'll be on par with Rasmussen in terms of lbs/inch.
But Lord help us, someone will be along any minute now to tell me it's easier to lose the weight off the body than the bike...

thelazywon

Smartest man here. Or at least most practical.

Retro Grouch 

I love it!

So you pay $1,000 more to get a bike that weighs a pound or so less. Then you take the money that you saved and use it to buy do-dads to hang on your bike and bring the weight back up to where it was in the first place.

Yeah, we all do it.

JPradun

Actually, you'd do better gaining 5-10lbs of muscle and being able to power up the hills. I dropped to 147 (and i'm only 67.5" tall) and lost a good 10 watts off my threshold from when I was 155lbs.

With that being said, you need a lighter stem and probably bars...after you upgrade the wheels. The stock one is heavy as ****

pseudobrit

Up an 8% grade, an extra 10 pounds of muscle (140 v. 150) would require an extra 15-17 watts of power to maintain an 8-10mph pace. This race is a pure climbing event with almost no flats. I don't need raw wattage as much as I need a low power/weight ratio.