Originally Posted by
Happy Feet
I get it.
However, without a power meter one does not really know how many watts they are putting out. All they have is perceived effort.
Exactly. Said another way, you're going to ride as hard as you're going to ride. If you ride harder on the heavier bike, then you'll get a better workout. If you're already riding as hard as you can, the heavy bike will slow you down. The heavier, slower bike might cause you to ride longer, but then again you could always have ridden the lighter bike further/longer to make it up. No matter how you look at it, the difference in workouts is YOU not the bike.