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Are you a true Weight Weenie?

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View Poll Results: Are you a weight weenie
Weight doesn't matter.
17.65%
My weight doesn't matter.
1.47%
My bikes weight doesn't matter.
30.88%
I have lowered the weight of either myself or my bike so that I could enjoy cycling.
50.00%
Voters: 68. You may not vote on this poll

Are you a true Weight Weenie?

Old 11-09-21, 06:02 PM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by indyfabz View Post
Do these panniers make my bike look big?


Lol.
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Old 11-09-21, 06:53 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by base2 View Post
I'm not saying anyone should be doing anything.

It's easy to buy a lighter part. Many people do it.
It's easy to tell someone the best gains are to lose kilo's off themselves instead. Many people on this forum have said as much.
It's hard to actually follow through on that advice.

Thus far the poll results are better than half have done either the bike or self option. The comments indicate about half of that half have done or resulted in doing both.

I suspected that few in the "general" sub other than myself have lost weight for the sole exclusive reason of not breaking their bike. You seem to forget I had a rightful place in the Clyde/Athena sub for quite some time.

The comments section is brilliant for letting people elaborate on their answer. I was/am banking on it.

To your point: Not 1 single person has ticked the "My weight doesn't matter" box. Clearly the poll takers feel personal weight does matter.

Reasons total "weight doesn't matter" could range from a big guy on a 'bent to a skinny guy on a TT bike, or any variation thereof. Both of those cases aero trumps other any/all considerations. It's a fair & valid point of view. Aero unquestionably matters more.

Reasons "bike weight doesn't matter" could be ticked by people that feel an emaciated 12 year-old on a Worksman Newsboy is going to enjoy cycling just as much as a clyde on a carbon wonder bike that needs a tether to keep the bike from floating away to the clouds. As noted in post #22 a small percentage of the total attributed to the bike may be unnoticable. The threshold for that is individual. The point being: cycling is fun & that persons ruling priority. That too is a valid point of view.

I'm seeing a lot of hand-wringing from you.
Do as I say, not as I do, maybe? Interesting. 🧐
You don't seem to understand the point that I'm making. At all.

Let me be more clear - everyone understands that body weight matters and only trolls pretend that others *don't* understand this. These are the idiots that pop in to threads to say brilliant stuff like, "rather than buy a lighter wheelset, just take a big dump before your ride, hur hur hur."

As far as your attempted shot at me - uhhh... okay. Not sure what you think I'm advocating, but you're surely wrong.
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Old 11-09-21, 07:29 PM
  #28  
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I’m more of a weight Bratwurst…
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Old 11-09-21, 07:31 PM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by base2 View Post
Lol.
I think it looks small compared to that tree.
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Old 11-09-21, 07:43 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by indyfabz View Post
Do these panniers make my bike look big?


They make your bike look overweight.
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Old 11-09-21, 08:04 PM
  #31  
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I think weight weenie-ism is an end in itself, and doesn't need any delusion that it will make you faster, or even that cycling will be more enjoyable.

At the extreme, skinny or fragile tires and their harsh ride or frequent flats would make cycling less enjoyable.
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Old 11-09-21, 08:16 PM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by WhyFi View Post
You don't seem to understand the point that I'm making. At all.

Let me be more clear - everyone understands that body weight matters and only trolls pretend that others *don't* understand this. These are the idiots that pop in to threads to say brilliant stuff like, "rather than buy a lighter wheelset, just take a big dump before your ride, hur hur hur."

As far as your attempted shot at me - uhhh... okay. Not sure what you think I'm advocating, but you're surely wrong.
Why do you think I think others don't understand that? Is that really what you thought the whole point was?
That's asinine.
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Old 11-09-21, 08:48 PM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by base2 View Post
Why do you think I think others don't understand that?
Uhhhh.... the lengthy and off-target response, the train wreck of an OP/poll and a direct statement from you?

Originally Posted by base2 View Post
They can be & usually are regarded as mutually exclusive.


But, ya know, just ignore me and carry on - I'll bow out as this is obviously not the most fertile ground to till. Have fun!
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Old 11-09-21, 09:59 PM
  #34  
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I am definitely a weight weenie -

I want all of my 60cm (+/-2cm) complete with pedals bikes to be sub25.00 pounds. Though I have made some exceptions.



If I touch up all the patina I may exceed 25 pounds - or be forced to remove the front mudguard.
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Old 11-09-21, 10:51 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by WhyFi View Post
Uhhhh.... the lengthy and off-target response, the train wreck of an OP/poll and a direct statement from you?

But, ya know, just ignore me and carry on - I'll bow out as this is obviously not the most fertile ground to till. Have fun!
Essential Meaning of mutually exclusive
[size=18px]: related in such a way that each thing makes the other thing impossible : not able to be true at the same time or to exist togetherWar and peace are mutually exclusive. mutually exclusive events[/size]

Edit: Synonym: Incompatible.

It seems you have never met a 6 foot 2, 250 pound landscaper that utterly destroys hill climbs. Or a 6 foot 3 inch, 350 pound dude that destroys his Santa Cruz Hightower everyday & has every KOM at the local mountain bike park.

Weight of either person has absolutely nothing to do with either of their performance.

The weight of a Billy fat-A has nothing to do with how fast his 'bent goes.

The weight of Pogacars TT bike isn't why he won the Stage 5 TT race at the 2021 TdF.

So, yeah, 1 trait is not necessarily related to the other trait in practice. i.e.: weight of self, weight of bike & performance are (edit: not) mutually exclusive. So, a poll of attitudes & actions.

I really don't understand what you think I'm on about, but beware of your prejudices. You are confusing causation with coorelation & believe I don't know the difference. Deriding me as someone who makes snarky proclaimations of "leave a poo before riding." or some such nonsense.

FTR: People aren't so stupid as to believe == equals anything. I'm insulted you think I think anything is so simple as 100 grams off a crankset equals 100 grams allowable on a waistline, or any such ridiculous equivalent.

You've got me wrong.
Nevermind with you.
(edit: picking nits instead of reading what I so obviously mean. It's no wonder this place is known as Bicker Forums)

Last edited by base2; 11-10-21 at 12:37 AM.
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Old 11-09-21, 11:48 PM
  #36  
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Idk if I'm necessarily a weight weenie. But going from 149lbs to 132lbs made a MASSIVE difference on the bike. I climbed faster and could get more aero. Plus I liked how I looked more. Win, win, win.

well... my sprint went down after I lost weight. I think being heavier helps.

I'm now back up to 138 and my proper weenie weight is probably closer to 128lbs. So I probably should get back on it. At some point...
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Old 11-10-21, 12:31 AM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by base2 View Post
It seems you have never met a 6 foot 2, 250 pound landscaper that utterly destroys hill climbs. Or a 6 foot 3 inch, 350 pound dude that destroys his Santa Cruz Hightower everyday & has every KOM at the local mountain bike park.

Weight of either person has absolutely nothing to do with either of their performance.
Serious, non-argumentative question: Do you think either of their performance would change if they were to gain weight?
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Old 11-10-21, 12:51 AM
  #38  
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I really believe you posted your survey in the wrong forum. You should post on the Road Bike forum where many take weight reduction seriously. This is a general forum for trikes, recumbents, cross-country trekers and people who carry everything including the kitchen sink, ‘just in case’. Yes there are those on the general forum that take weight seriously but the audience here is too broad and not UCI limit conversant.
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Old 11-10-21, 12:59 AM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by Rolla View Post
Serious, non-argumentative question: Do you think either of their performance would change if they were to gain weight?
I doubt it.
It certainly couldn't help unless it's free riding out of an airplane.

That whole discussion with WhyFi was because I always took the term: "mutually exclusive" to mean seperate, discreet, &/or unrelated, where as it means related (usually opposites in some sense) & incompatible. English is a serious PIA. I edited my previous response to mark as such.
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Old 11-10-21, 03:01 AM
  #40  
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I combine weight weenieness with common sense. For example, I like light wheels. Light hubs, rims, double butted spokes. But I prefer 28 or 32H over 24 or 20 because the wheel doesn't flex as much and if you break a spoke/nipple on a ride it won't throw the true off so much. A few extra spokes will have no effect on my speed.
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Old 11-10-21, 04:39 AM
  #41  
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I know a number of larger riders who weigh 85kg-90kg and they have zero issues running factory road bike wheels with low spoke counts. Really not worth worrying about spoke counts and buying custom wheels for that purpose if you are at a reasonable weight.
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Old 11-10-21, 05:37 AM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by base2 View Post
did the right thing by removing the weight of 1 bicycle from myself
I like the way this is put. Right now I need to remove a Trek Domane and I need to do that before it gets to the point I'm riding with a Schwinn Breeze.
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Old 11-10-21, 05:37 AM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by wolfchild View Post
They make your bike look overweight.
Had to pack for two weeks starting about 15 miles below the Canadian border in VT. Ran into some unseasonably warm weather at first, but I ended using all my clothing items more than once. Having gotten caught out west at altitude in cold and wet weather without adequate rain gear thanks to last minute weight weenie fever I now err on the side of caution even when touring in the east. I also went to high school in western MA (that photo was taken on campus), so I know how things get up there in mid-September.
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Old 11-10-21, 05:38 AM
  #44  
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Originally Posted by base2 View Post
It seems you have never met a 6 foot 2, 250 pound landscaper that utterly destroys hill climbs. Or a 6 foot 3 inch, 350 pound dude that destroys his Santa Cruz Hightower everyday & has every KOM at the local mountain bike park.

Weight of either person has absolutely nothing to do with either of their performance.
Yeah, but if I want to improve my performance, what I can do is train to get a bit more power - and those gains are limited - and I can lose weight off me, or improve the bike.

What I can't do is change my genetics to become a freak of nature who can still shred climbs at over 110kg. Someone is that guy, sure - that's cool for him, but that really has no bearing on my decisions. It is about the engine seems like a silly argument - someone is always more talented and better, so what? I can only try the best with the engine I've got.

As for the performance difference due to weight, I can see the difference in my climbing times if I have a couple of kilos more or less. It's not big, but being a mediocre climber, I'll take anything 😉
​​​​
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Old 11-10-21, 06:14 AM
  #45  
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The last two bikes that I've built and kept for my own use have had weight minimalism as one of the criteria. This means that I selected components with price, weight, function, and aesthetic criteria somewhat equally valued but in decreasing order of significance. I was purposeful about selecting light weight and affordable components that satisfied the other two criteria.

So, yes, there was an element of weight minimalism to the planning. I also have drilled out the zipper pulls on all of my jerseys.
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Old 11-10-21, 06:25 AM
  #46  
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Weight matters to me; but I'm not willing to spend a lot to lighten what I've got.
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Old 11-10-21, 07:29 AM
  #47  
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I know lighter components help when you ride at night. They also help if you're a smoker.
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Old 11-10-21, 07:40 AM
  #48  
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Originally Posted by Rolla View Post
There are a couple of members here who seem to be fixated on the weight of every component, but I can't think of a more tedious and useless pursuit. I like to ride my bikes, not weigh them, and I know good and well that a few pounds, ounces, or grams won't have any impact on my enjoyment. I'll take durability over gram-shaving any day.

I don't relate to gram shaving, but I think it's basically a hobby with most of them. I look at it like I do stamp collecting--I'd die of boredom, but a lot of my interests are boring to other people, and I think that's true of most people.
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Old 11-10-21, 07:46 AM
  #49  
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I'm okay with buying dura ace or ultegra to keep the weight down on the bike. But there's no way I'm cutting out that extra slice of pizza.
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Old 11-10-21, 07:55 AM
  #50  
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Originally Posted by WhyFi View Post
And you're basing this on what? Your perception?

Also, accepting something is far different from actually doing it. Accepting that body weight is a factor in no ways obligates someone to lose body weight because they bought or want a lighter thingamajig. Sometimes you just want the lighter thingamajig because it's cool, but that doesn't mean that you're dumb enough to not understand that losing body weight is an option, too.



You're either being intellectually dishonest or you don't understand what "mutually exclusive" means. Do you really believe that most people think that losing 100g from their waistline is *not* an option if they buy a new crankset that's 100g lighter than their current one?

I think the scenario he's presenting is losing weight so you can buy and use the lighter thingamajig without fear of breaking it.

The whole thing is rather silly, if you ask me. Of course people who ride competitively at a serious level watch their weight, just as they would in just about any competitive sport. At least some weight wienies are basically emulating or are competitive racers, so why would be surprised that they watch their weights carefully?

I never get the point of these BF polls, why do we care about the numbers? What is being sampled here? Basically, they're all poorly worded questions presented to a non-representative sample. It's a goofy gimmick.
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