Your situation, as does competition cycling, calls out the importance of bike weight consideration for specific reasons. I don't have to pick up my bike at all, I cycle on level ground and seldom stop between the start and end of my 12 mile commute. I prefer comfort for my daily bicycling routine over the benefits of bragging about speed gain or weight weanie reduction.


Also I'd guess that carrying a heavy load in a backpack requires far more effort than that required by the few extra pounds for the suitable equipment that allows the bicycle to carry the same load. Not to mention the sweaty back factor.

I was worried about the weight at first but quickly came to see it as a training aid. I often strip the bike down to bare minimum (~24lb) and go for a blast. It's like being turbocharged! ...that's when I go hunting for team-lycra'd roadies ;)

I'm saving my pennies and in about 12 months I'm going to get a seriously light road bike purely for fast road riding.... lots of carbon, lots of speed :D

Ha ha that's 4 sure...trying to be a weight weenie. Not there yet. Less wt means easier manuvering, easier to pedal.

Bike 1 45lbs aluminium hybrid - heavy rims, fenders, 2 bottles - that's all
Bike 2 38lbs carbon/alum - Rack+ trunk, fenders, seatbag, 2lb battery, front, tail lts, Rolf V wheels, 2 bottles
Bike 3 22lbs carbon - Rack, home-made battery bag, flat kit, fenders, front, tail lts, 2lb battery, B. Race light wheels, bike lock, 1 btl

Each bike gets lighter. I don't need heavy wheels and a ton of extra equipment. I've got it down to an ultra light pack, and impose a wt limit of 10lbs. Still rain gear, keys and wallet add up.

I ride an '74 Raleigh International most of the time. When I strip it down for group rides and centuries in the summer it's about 27 lbs. That's with a pump and 2 waterbottles and a seat pack holding patchkit, tube, multitool, couple of cliff bars, cel phone, keys, and glasses case.

For commuting I add fenders, lights, rack, and pannier with more tools, wallet, and work clothes. It weighs about 40 lbs. loaded for bear.


I also have an old mountain bike with a 7 speed gear hub and 2.5" slicks for foul weather commuting in the winter. It weighs over 50 lbs fully loaded.

I'm probably the odd-ball in the group, since I ride in sunny California. I commute 31 miles round trip, two days a week, on my 19 lb Trek 2300 road bike in full spandex. I use a Chrome messenger bag to carry my laptop and clothing (no shoes or other bulky stuff). I will ride in slight drizzle, but not in any real severe weather. I guess I'm a weenie. I am considering buying a hybrid for seriously rainy days, but since I'm only commuting two days a week by bike, I can usually just work around the rainy days.

- Warren

I've got an 80's centurion fixed-gear conversion that's got to weigh around 20 lbs. Add a cheap rack (2 lbs), bag of clothes and food (2 lbs.) and U-Lock (8 lbs), and I'm in the lower end of the 30's. I still need to get a blinky and a headlight though.

Up here I'd have to work around the rainy months. :rolleyes:

Wow, it doesn't look a pound over 30. My commuter looks a lot more loaded than that and I thought it was a pig at 32.5. (bags unloaded) My old commuter and current mountain bike is 35.

You fixie types must not live with hills... There are hills around where I live that would kill you with that gear combo.

You need something like a 36-30 to climb these. Going downhill would be fun too... :eek:

That is some bizzare setup there with the rear lights... Just a suggestion as I thought it was the coolest thing I ever saw... put a small white light on your back pole and have it aim at your back. This lights you up so motorists see more than just your array of lights, they also see a human.

Saw a guy with a light from a rack aimed at his back... it really made him visible, and the refection off of his hivis jacket from the light, really stood out.

This doesn't take much of a light as you are not trying to "light the way" or any such thing... perhaps a small LED flashlight would be enough just to illuminate you the rider.

It's true, my commute is relatively flat. The hardest part of the commute is getting out of the parking garage at work! 42x16 is hard to do from stopped to ramp.

Novara Safari, with 1 Pannier that I never leave home without containing my work ID tools, and lock, but not my change of clothes came out to 38.9 pounds. Also have 2 bottles , 2 fenders, 2 tiny LEDs, and 2 racks ( I am to lazy to take the front one off between tours).

With or without the thicker rubber strips?

Not bizarre at all on 10' wide 55mph roads with lots of traffic. The raised lights are for the benefit of the vehicles who cannot see through the vehicles immediatly approaching me from the rear; day AND night. I'd mount the lights even higher but wouldn't be able to park it in my own garage.

Thanks for the suggestion but I don't believe it would make me any more noticable at the distances required.

I just put my fully loaded commuter on the UPS scale in the warehouse of my company--63 lbs!

That's a Trek Multitrack 700, with two panniers loaded with work clothes, dress shoes, my standard repair kit, and rain gear. On top of that there's my laptop and paperwork in the briefcase. Up front there's a stem bag and two sets of bar ends.

Oink.

Oh dear, I'm embarrassed. When I got my Trek 4300 two years ago, I just had to have the classic milk crate attached to a rack on the back. To me that said "utility bike" like nothing else. I couldn't afford a high-end headlight, so I made my own and powered it by a five amp-hour sealed lead-acid battery (heavy), and the only way I could think of to attach it was with a wooden box (heavy) bolted to the frame. I weighed the whole contraption this morning...60 pounds.

And that's just the bike. In my backpack there is stuff that could just as well be on the bike, namely, lunch, a little covered clipboard for papers and such, rain gear, for an additional 14 pounds.

Some nice day I'm going to ride just a raw bike. I bet it will feel amazing.

Just weighed mine yesterday -- 45 lbs. Does it qualify as a porker, too? ;-)

It's a Trek Navigator 200, and was weighed with a rack, water bottle, Bug pannier (a light load today, with only clothes and shoes), my lock, and my seat bag (tire irons, C02 cartridge, spare tube, energy bar).

Cheers,
Jonobie

I did the milk-crate on the rack thing for a couple days, to see how it felt. It's amazing how much a milk-crate weighs, is what I found out. Felt like I was dragging an anchor. I went back to the trunk bag and it's a little better. Love getting to ride it without anything on it though, feels like going from a minivan to a sport-coupe.

http://conventioncostumes.asyoulikei..._001.thumb.jpg

This above bike I rode as a commuter for 8 years, and it weighs at least 35lb unladen, possibly more. I rode out with a dude on a 'bent that he said weighed out at 40lb and he felt that my bike weighed at least as much as his. My old Trek is a whole lotta steel lovin'.

I don't ride it as regularly now that I have my road bike, but I still ride it to work a couple of days a week just to keep in good shape--I was afraid I was getting lazy riding the road bike all the time.

I always hated when I had much cargo to carry when I rode this bike all the time...it would feel like every breeze, every rise in the road, and every stoplight was out to get me, personally.

My commuter is fairly light. A fixed gear with kevlar belted tires an small LED lights for good weather. An old Trek 400 fixed gear with fenders and more powerful LED lights for bad weather. The former is probably 22-24lbs the latter maybe as high as 27lbs (both are steel frames over 60cm size).

However a coworker who also commutes has a real porker. His weighs over 65lbs before loading it with a laptop and clothes for the commute. He rides a recumbent delta trike (Sun EZ-3AX) with Marathon Plus tires on all three wheels. He has a dual halogen head light with bottle cage battery, two additional front headlights, two rear lights, a front fairing, a 15 gallon plastic tub mounted to a steel frame behind the seat for luggage, 3 disc brakes, 3x9 gearing and then he adds the actual cargo.
Craig

Hey Guy,

your in good company, I havnt wieghed it yet but my Surly cross check has got to be in the mid - high 30 lbs range.

B17, spd , blackburn expidition rack, 2 cages, hefty tool kit, carradice nelson, mini frame pump, handle bar bag, fenders, a triple, pretty soon a set of dual headbeams and a strobe + the batteries...

shoot, ill be adding even more wt when my new wheels come in, I ordered a set of velocity dyad with a 40 h rear/ 36 front.

tanks can be good!!

though I have to admit Im putting all the parts I stole off My 531 frame road bike that I used to originaly build the XC back on the road frame so I can have a nice light saturday or ride around the park bike.


have a great weekend

"john"