Originally Posted by
JonathanGennick
Looking back, there is less than I had remembered:
1. "From what ive seen apparently it doesnt make much of a difference to shed weight on the bike if you are overweight"
2. "Than, when you reach your target weight, reward yourself with a lighter bike." -- implying of course, that one should not buy the lighter bike first
Maybe I was just in a mood when read the thread the first time through.
My answer of "do both" still stands though. There's no reason to see the issue as having to choose between one or the other. If I can buy a lighter weight wheelset today or loose a few pounds over a month, there's no reason not to buy the wheelset today and lose the weight anyway.
I agree that both are benificial. I read the following in a magazine years ago: 2 lbs off a 20 lb bike is a 10% reduction in weight. Could you make a 10% reduction in weight off your body and still be healthy? If yes, then the bike is not what is holding you back.
There is also the law of diminishing returns: Turning a 35 lb bike into a 30 lb bike is not too difficult, while turning a 30 lb bike into a 25 lb bike is more of a challenge. Turning a 25 lb bike into a 20 lb bike, or a 20 lb bike into a 15 lb bike, is tough, and there may be trade offs in durability or safety as you do it.
Turning my 260 lb body into a 208 lb body won't be too easy, but the side effeects are actaually positive, not negative.