Cwaters

I'm new to mountain biking again and new to this forum. I just bought a used Trek and was wondeing about bike weight. I searched here but mostly the threads are about RIDER weight. (one reason I bought a bike again)
Question:
What's heavy for a steel hard tail? What's the normal range and what's really light?
I was watching the "Tour" and saw that Lance's bike was something like 16# by rule and I figure mortals' bikes will be heavier but how much is too much?
Thanks,

Cory

Team853

It depends on how serious a rider you are. My steel hardtail weighs between 26 and 27 lbs, and I'm fine with that. I could drop almost two pounds if I bought a SID, but I don't race so it's not a big deal to me. I'm a firm believer that unless you race competitively you'll probably see more benefits by losing 10 lbs off your body than you would by spending serious coin to shave a couple pounds off your bike. Having said that, XC hardtails generally weigh between 24-29 lbs, depending on the frame material, components, etc. You can obviously get lighter ones (Weight Weenies has some as light as 16 lbs!) but you'll pay for the weight savings. You can also find much heavier hardtails, if you opt for the freeride/dirtjumping variety or a department store special.

GreenFix

My steel hardtail is under 30 pounds with mostly deore components, a coil shock, a front disk, and 32 spoke rhyno lites. Like team 853, there are many places I could drop weight, but I do not race, and I have found that the components I have perform very well.

You did not ask, but if you want to see a real performace increase combined with weight savings it is best to loose it off your wheels. I have a relatively heavy wheelset, but they are lighter than the low end hoops I was riding before, and I run relatively light weight tires (saving weight on the outer part of your wheels is more effective than towards the hub).

My road mike weighs about 10 pounds less than my mountain bike (I only mention this becasue it sounds like you are comparing a mountain bike to Lance's road bike).

edit If you want to see my bike it is here: https://www.bikeforums.net/mountain-biking/52508-steel-trek-rescue.html

Team853

Agreed. If you get lightweight rims (provided you're not too heavy and will treat them right) and lightweight tubes and tires you'll notice a substantial difference over shaving the equivalent amount of weight off of the rest of the bike. Lighter wheels are faster to get going, faster to stop and will really improve almost any bikes performance. Just be careful though, because light rims won't stand up to the beating beefier rims will take.

Overall though I'd try to avoid worrying about the weight of your bike. The industry is very focused on weight, but for the average rider it doesn't make that big a difference, in my opinion. If you own a heavy bike, ride the crap out of it, lose 20 lbs off your body and then evaluate whether you feel spending the extra cash on a lighter rig is worth it. At the very least, you'll be in better shape and a new, lighter bike will feel that much lighter!

DocRay

Also keep in mind even if you do lose the 10-20lbs by training, your weight in a two hour run will vary by several pounds. For a 180lb guy on a 25 lb bike +/- 5 lbs is only 2.5%.
I think you'll see that the best bikes concentrate on efficient energy transfer and reliability over weight. Lowering rotating mass with light wheels helps for climbing, acceleration and braking, there is a real difference.

Cwaters

I'm not a serious rider and don't plan to be. My goal is to have fun, get some cardio work-out, and maybe loose a bit of this sediment I've gathered.
I'm not really that concerned about the weight of my bike rather, I wanted to see where it was in the grand scheme. And I did know I was compairing a super duper road bike to normal mountain bikes. I just didn't have any other reference for bike weights.
I don't think I'll be buying any puny lightweight wheels either, even if I don't find some trails with boulders and stumps. I've destroyed enough rims in my time to know that might makes right where wheels are concerned. In fact, I don’t see myself replacing any parts that work just fine to gain a few grams. Just don’t have that kind of money. If it’s broken, I might opt for a better one though
My Trek 930 (hopefully pictured below) is about 30 pounds according to the bathroom scale using the time honored “weigh yourself then weigh yourself with object” method. We won’t say how much the combined weight was thank you very much. I just bought it from a co-worker who got it from a roommate who apparently didn’t ride it much. $140. Not bad eh?


Thanks for the replys ya'll

Cory

Team853

That's a real nice ride, and it looks like it's in great condition. I'd say you got yourself a steal at $140!

GreenFix

That is a great ride. I ride an older 930 frame, and have a great time on it. Enjoy the ride.

a2psyklnut

The bike appears to be in great shape. Probably bought, ridden twice and then stored. Good find!

That bike is toward the low-end of the Trek line and will have cheaper heavier parts on it. Not a big issue though. You'll have a blast riding it.

If and when you consider upgrading, I think you'd be better off spending money on a decent fork. The fork that is on it, is low-end. I buy a new fork before a new set of wheels.

I'm not saying the fork sucks, but IF and WHEN you decide to upgrade a component, the fork will make a noticible difference in performance.


L8R