Originally Posted by staehpj1

True, but body weight is at least sprung a bit if you have some of the weight on your legs instead of on your butt. I ride that way and additionally un-weight a bit over the bumps. At least get body weight onto your flexed legs on the bumps. Given that, I think body weight can be much less damaging to wheels than gear weight.

Don't get me wrong, body weight still matters, but at least you can limit it's impact on rough surfaces and bumps. Gear weight is just there all the time and all of it's shock is on the wheels.