Heavy Bike Rationalization

While I don't agree that your bike is actually lighter, it is lighter as a % of body weight. I laugh
when someone is worried about having a titanium spindle because it's three oz lighter on the bike.
To me, lugging a 200lb+ body up a hill is the biggest weight on the bike. Losing 20 or 30 lbs would
do far more for performance than 3oz on a titanium gaget.

With this aim in mind, my goal is to try to lose between 30 and 50 lbs by next bike season. In
addition to improving my on wheel performance, it would substantially improve my blood glucose
levels. In addition, the faster and longer I can ride, the more fun it will become. Biking is the
only exercise I don't hate! (Everytime someone says, "I love going to the gym, I say - I hate it,
but I have to."😉 I'm a couch potato at heart.

This effect is even more pronounced with income. Someone making $25,000 a year only needs to make 35
K to be well off, but someone making 50K needs 100K to be prosperous.

"(Pete Cresswell)" [email hidden] in

Quoted message said:

Message-id: <[email hidden]> writes:

I weigh 215#. My bike weighs 32#. 32/215 = 15%

Somebody else weighs 160. Their bike weighs 26#. 26/160 = 16%.

Therefore I have the lighter bike.

??
--
PeteCresswell

"(Pete Cresswell)" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I weigh 215#. My bike weighs 32#. 32/215 = 15%

Somebody else weighs 160. Their bike weighs 26#. 26/160 = 16%.

Therefore I have the lighter bike.

??
--
PeteCresswell

Your bike weight does not change if you stay on the earths surface (c:

I don't really see why body weight, and bike weight have any direct correlation. Someone who is big
and strong may have an easier time riding a heavier bike than a scrawny wimp with a lighter bike,
but body weight often has little to do with that. I've seen a lot of 300# porkers who can barely
make it up a flight of stairs.

I've never seen the point in getting a lighter bike, at least, if you're into biking for exercise. I
like nice steel frame bikes, and it doesn't bother me that I get a work out when I ride. If you want
things to be easy, might as well just take the car.

C.Q.C.

Jonathan Kaplan said:

To me, lugging a 200lb+ body up a hill is the biggest weight on the bike. Losing 20 or 30 lbs
would do far more for performance than 3oz on a titanium gaget.

Some of us don't have the luxury of dropping more weight from our bodies, having maxed out that
option already:

tinyurl.com2atnwOpen ↗

Now the weight loss options get expensive.

--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA terrymorse.combikeOpen ↗

BretCahill said:

This effect is even more pronounced with income. Someone making $25,000 a year only needs to make
35 K to be well off, but someone making 50K needs 100K to be prosperous.

Ah, but if you get a 10 percent raise, and later a 10 percent pay cut, you're worse off than
you started.

But if you gain 10 percent in body weight, and later lose 10 percent, you're better off than
you started.

Art Harris

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 11:43:29 -0500, "Jonathan Kaplan"

may have said:

...Losing 20 or 30 lbs would do far more for performance than 3oz on a titanium gaget.

As long as it's not muscle mass which is being lost; dieting alone, without exercise, tends to strip
muscle as well as (if not faster than) fat. But I wholeheartedly agree that for the non-competitive
rider, high-priced gram-shaving on the bike is often just plain silly.

Quoted message said:

With this aim in mind, my goal is to try to lose between 30 and 50 lbs by next bike season.

Talk to a physician about realistically achievable goals in this area. 6 to 8 pounds per month is
what I've heard as a level that can be reached without hazardous practices. In 6 months, you could
probably be in the range you seek.

Quoted message said:

In addition to improving my on wheel performance, it would substantially improve my blood glucose
levels. In addition, the faster and longer I can ride, the more fun it will become. Biking is the
only exercise I don't hate! (Everytime someone says, "I love going to the gym, I say - I hate it,
but I have to."😉 I'm a couch potato at heart.

Time for a recumbent? Best of both worlds?

(Meant in jest, but...there's a guy near here whose bent has a custom seatcover made from the
upholstery of the recliner that he credited with being his former place of residence from the days
before he decided to lose some weight. He has both the bent and a conventional bike, but the bent
has a seat which provided him with the opportunity to carry part of "an old friend" around with him,
so he had the cover made.)

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Yes, I have a killfile. If I don't respond to something,
it's also possible that I'm busy.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

"(Pete Cresswell)" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I weigh 215#. My bike weighs 32#. 32/215 = 15%

Somebody else weighs 160. Their bike weighs 26#. 26/160 = 16%.

Therefore I have the lighter bike.

??

Dear Pete,

If my calculations are correct . . .

26/215 = 12.1%

215 pounds > 160 pounds

. . . then you should take that bike away from the little fellow.

Carl Fogel

Carl Fogel <[email hidden]> wrote:
: If my calculations are correct . . .

carl, are you really so unsure of your ability to divide 26 by 215? i double checked your work and
you did ok (12.0930232558... actually) -- fyi, i used a calculator which takes all the difficulty
and uncertainty out of it.
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

: If my calculations are correct . . .

carl, are you really so unsure of your ability to divide 26 by 215? i

double

Quoted message said:

checked your work and you did ok (12.0930232558... actually) -- fyi, i

used a

Quoted message said:

calculator which takes all the difficulty and uncertainty out of it.

Carl used his own calculator. It is very large, often inaccurate, and inefficient, but still
good to use.

Dave

(Pete Cresswell) said:

I weigh 215#. My bike weighs 32#. 32/215 = 15%

Somebody else weighs 160. Their bike weighs 26#. 26/160 = 16%.

Therefore I have the lighter bike.

Well, sort of. Heavier is still heavier though, for both bike and body. Given equal fitness, the
lighter person will still probably be able to climb better.

There seems to be a sweet spot in human size, for optimum power to weight ratio. It's apparent in
bicycling, running, rock climbing, and other endurance sports. Top athletes rarely fall outside a
certain size range -- you never see a 6'3" champion marathon runner. It seems cyclists can be bigger
than runners or rock climbers, but there's still a limit. Top (male) runners always seemto be about
5'8" -- interestingly, average size for an adult male.

Matt O.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Matt O'Toole said:

(Pete Cresswell) said:

I weigh 215#. My bike weighs 32#. 32/215 = 15%

Somebody else weighs 160. Their bike weighs 26#. 26/160 = 16%.

Therefore I have the lighter bike.

Well, sort of. Heavier is still heavier though, for both bike and body. Given equal fitness, the
lighter person will still probably be able to climb better.

There seems to be a sweet spot in human size, for optimum power to weight ratio. It's apparent in
bicycling, running, rock climbing, and other endurance sports. Top athletes rarely fall outside a
certain size range -- you never see a 6'3" champion marathon runner. It seems cyclists can be
bigger than runners or rock climbers, but there's still a limit. Top (male) runners always seemto
be about 5'8" -- interestingly, average size for an adult male.

Cycling is an interesting discipline in that it is much less morphologically restrictive than most
sports, at least in terms of height (you still can't be fat).

That said, different sizes of riders generally become different types of riders. The big ones become
sprinters and time triallists, the small ones become climbers, and the medium-sized ones with
enormous VO2 numbers and a taste for lactic acid become Lance Armstrong.

One notable thing about cycling is that it's about the purest endurance sport of all. There are
considerable tactics at play in most road races, but little technique needs to be learned: you turn
the pedals, you train, and you go. It's not like, say, most team sports, where technique is as
important as conditioning.

There are technique and form considerations in cycling, but the amount of training time a
cyclist spends working on technique stuff (body position, pedalling style, the nuances of
sprinting, TTT procedures, etc.) is small compared to the time spent on conditioning (also known
as training rides).

--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

"Matt O'Toole" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

(Pete Cresswell) said:

I weigh 215#. My bike weighs 32#. 32/215 = 15%

Somebody else weighs 160. Their bike weighs 26#. 26/160 = 16%.

Therefore I have the lighter bike.

Well, sort of. Heavier is still heavier though, for both bike and body. Given equal fitness, the
lighter person will still probably be able to climb better.

There seems to be a sweet spot in human size, for optimum power to weight ratio. It's apparent in
bicycling, running, rock climbing, and other endurance sports. Top athletes rarely fall outside a
certain size range -- you never see a 6'3" champion marathon runner. It seems cyclists can be
bigger than runners or rock climbers, but there's still a limit. Top (male) runners always seemto
be about 5'8" -- interestingly, average size for an adult male.

Matt O.

Dear Matt,

Endurance sports are for little people.

Leona Helmsley

If that's true, then we're all in big trouble- the fat cats will never have enough money, and so
nothing will ever trickle down (except sh**).

BretCahill said:

This effect is even more pronounced with income. Someone making $25,000 a year only needs to make
35 K to be well off, but someone making 50K needs 100K to be prosperous.

David Reuteler <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Carl Fogel <[email hidden]> wrote:
: If my calculations are correct . . .

carl, are you really so unsure of your ability to divide 26 by 215? i double checked your work and
you did ok (12.0930232558... actually) -- fyi, i used a calculator which takes all the difficulty
and uncertainty out of it.

Dear David,

Unfortunately, the strain of the original calculation exhaused the battery in my calculator, so a
disclaimer was necessary.

Luckily, I knew that I could rely on others to follow in my footsteps and double-check my
conclusions.

Science depends upon repeatability.

Merry Christmas!

Carl Fogel

Pete-<< I weigh 215#. My bike weighs 32#. 32/215 = 15%

Somebody else weighs 160. Their bike weighs 26#. 26/160 = 16%.

Therefore I have the lighter bike. >><BR><BR>

My biz partner has a 16 pound bike, I have a 19 pound bike but I weigh 60 pounds more than him. I
could lose 1.5-2 'bike weights'(20 pounds each), like taking 1.5 bikes offa my back.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

insure-<< I laugh when someone is worried about having a titanium spindle because it's three oz
lighter on the bike. To me, lugging a 200lb+ body up a hill is the biggest weight on the bike.
Losing 20 or 30 lbs would do far more for performance than 3oz on a titanium gaget.

With this aim in mind, my goal is to try to lose between 30 and 50 lbs by next bike season. In
addition to improving my on wheel performance, it would substantially improve my blood glucose
levels. In addition, the faster and longer I can ride, the more fun it will become. Biking is the
only exercise I don't hate! (Everytime someone says, "I love going to the gym, I say - I hate it,
but I have to."😉 I'm a couch potato at heart. >><BR><BR>

Reality, what a concept.....

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 vecchios.comvecchios.comOpen ↗ "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"

"(Pete Cresswell)" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I weigh 215#. My bike weighs 32#. 32/215 = 15%

Somebody else weighs 160. Their bike weighs 26#. 26/160 = 16%.

Therefore I have the lighter bike.

??

I happen to think the bike-weight-as-percentage-of-body-weight equation is important (though my
perspective would lead me to title this thread "Light Bike Rationaliztion"😉. Roadies please note
MTB slant.

On any given ride I might hit one of those transcendent hours where I feel like I'm flying over
the landscape invincibly, capitalizing perfectly on each turn, drop, and climb. I probably won't,
but I might. Such hours are what keep me biking. Can they happen on a relatively heavy bike? Sure.
Are they more likely to happen on a well-made featherweight bike? Yes! Experienced riders don't
fork over thousands of bucks for a lightweight bike just to impress their friends. The phenomenon
is way too enduring for that. Let's face it, it's much more fun to right a light bike, and most of
us ride for fun.

I'm a trail rider who weighs 130 soaking wet with my shoes on, and I happen to be among those that
think that mountain bikes are overbuilt for people my size and smaller. I think that the drop-out
rate in our sport would be lower if more people in this group (which notably includes the majority
of women) could ride a bike whose weight was the same proportion of their body's weight as the bikes
the Clydesdales ride are of theirs. (It would be especially nice if we could do it without spending
a month's salary in the process; our light bikes don't _need_ to be quite as rigid because we're not
applying as much force to the frame, and they certainly don't need to be as indestructible.) My 28
pound bike is nearly a quarter of my weight. My friend who has a 26 pound bike but who weighs 210 is
riding a bike that's only 12% of his weight. If you don't think that he has a heck of a lot more
control over his bike when negotiating obstacles than I do over mine, you're dreaming.

Forget about how much weight you have to pedal up hill; just think about inertia. If the bike is
starting to tilt right at a good clip and I want it suddenly to start moving left, how much easier
is it for me to make that happen with a 22 pound bike than a 30 pound bike? _WAY_ easier. If you
don't believe me, start swinging an 8 pound gallon of milk in one direction and then try to reverse
its course quickly. If you are a big guy, have one of your small acquatainces try the trick and see
how he or she does. It's not about strength or attitude, it's about physics: That swinging milk jug
is going to have a bigger effect on my body just because I have less mass.

- Tony

Tony Scilipoti:

Quoted message said:

Experienced riders don't fork over thousands of bucks for a lightweight bike just to impress their
friends.

Yes, many do.

Quoted message said:

If you don't think that he has a heck of a lot more control over his bike when negotiating
obstacles than I do over mine, you're dreaming.

If you think otherwise, you're exaggerating.

Quoted message said:

Forget about how much weight you have to pedal up hill;

Can't. That's the main effect of weight on bikes, together with braking distances.

Quoted message said:

just think about inertia. If the bike is starting to tilt right at a good clip and I want it
suddenly to start moving left, how much easier is it for me to make that happen with a 22 pound
bike than a 30 pound bike? _WAY_ easier.

"Suddenly start moving left"? Unfortunately, you too have to think about inertia and physics. In
changing the direction of travel of your moving bike, you're restricted by the steering, which is
also affected by the trail conditions. Off-road (and most road conditions), a heavy bike can change
directions just as quickly as a light one can. Do you seriously think 8 lbs (or any weight)
difference is going to make your bike twist and turn like the Road Runner?

Quoted message said:

If you don't believe me, start swinging an 8 pound gallon of milk in one direction and then try to
reverse its course quickly.

Please do tell how you can change directions on your bike like this.

Quoted message said:

Therefore I have the lighter bike.

Yes, you do.

You also have the heavier gut.

My senior project at ODU: Google Groups, then "dgoncz" and some of: ultracapacitor bicycle
fluorescent flywheel inverter Equipped with BoBike Mini removable child seat, too!