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Less body weight vs. less bike weight

Greg LewisGreg Lewis
in General Training Discussions

As far as riding the bike only..........Is there any comparison in loosing "XX" pounds of body weight as being similar to lightening up the bike by "X" pounds.

For example....is loosing 10 pounds of body weight is similar to spending a fortune and loosing 1 pound of weight off the bike?

Comments

  • John WithrowJohn Withrow
    As far as I know a pound is a pound. Weight is much more important for hilly terrain when climbing. Aerodynamics is much more important for most triathlon courses. So most of the $$ you spend on your bike for triathlon goes towards making it more aero (deep dish wheels, disc cover, aero helmet, etc, etc, etc.) and not simply lighter. I ride a P5 with every aero gimmick you could possibly imagine, and fully equipped on race day it is an absolute tank (weight wise) when compared to my road bike. It easily weighs 4-5 lbs more than my road bike, but it is definitely WAY faster...

    For climbing, W/Kg is what really matters, and the Kg should be the rider plus the bike setup. And it is much easier (and as you pointed out cheaper) to lose 10lbs of body weight (for most people) than is to shed a few pounds from your bike setup. But in my opinion, there is a fine line for weight loss. I certainly want to lose every ounce of fat I can... But if rapid weight loss causes my FTP to fall at the same time, then my W/Kg will roughly stay the same or even fall... Ideally I lose weight and my FTP stays the same (or even increases). This not only has the benefit of allowing me to climb better, but the higher FTP also allows me to be faster on the flats. Double bonus is that there is a direct correlation with weight loss to faster running paces as well (you don't get this when you "buy" your bike weight loss with lighter components for instance).
  • Coach RichCoach Rich

    Weight is weight but reducing body weight will have MUCH higher returns on bike but especially more on the run. It's also far, far less expensive. Spend an afternoon with Google or Amazon and do the math on taking a tri bike from 20lb to 16lb...if that's even possible (Withrow?)

    In short Light (you) is Right

  • John WithrowJohn Withrow
    Since you asked, yes it is possible, but you better get your limit raised on your AmEx first... I present to you a 15.7lb Cervelo P5: http://www.tririg.com/articles.php?id=2013_03_Cervelo_P5_Build

    Actually for several thousand dollars more, they could have gotten that thing down to 14.7lbs if they had put a set of Lightweight Meilstein Obermayer wheels on it which are only 975g per pair: http://lightweight.info/us/en/meilenstein
  • Peter GreaggPeter Greagg
    In addition to the points John and Rich make, there is also the body's improved ability to work hard, particularly when it is hot and humid, if you are leaner.
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