Originally Posted by
waterrockets
I know of a shop owner over in r.b.t who regularly does blind tests where riders are unable to tell if the bottles on their own bike are full or empty while riding it seated. This is true of novices all the way up to cat 2 racers. That's 3.5 lbs, and nobody has ever been able to repeatably figure out if it's there or not.
If you get out of the saddle and swing the bike, you can feel it, but that's not because you're going faster.
That's on the frame, weight on the wheels is different. You would notice 3.5lbs on your wheels.
Plus those 3.5lbs in water might not be immediately noticeable when seating and the bike is moving forward but that's still 3.5 extra lbs that you have to move. It does make a difference to a certain extent. Obviously the less weigh the less of a difference. But which would be easier to ride up a hill, 30lbs bike or a 15lbs bike? Race cars are a great example. There is a reason why they are built very very light. Power to weight ratio. A lighter bike in my opinion will perform better but I'm no expert so...