How much should a road bike weigh?

Clearly there is no maximum weight for a usable bike. But you only have to take a quick glance at this thread to see that a lot of TR users are willing to invest a lot in both time training, but also in their equipment.

Clearly a $10k bike is not essential, but it is very very nice. A $300 bike is likely going to be not very very nice. So, there’s some tipping point in there where your hard work on the trainer, is not directly translating into enjoyment on the road because of your equipment. That theoretical line is going to be different for everyone based on many factors. If you live in a hilly area where you’re frequently putting out a lot of effort getting over the climb, or prefer group rides that surge a lot, you’ll appreciate the reduction in weight more (from your body and your bike). If you are in an area that’s flat without a lot of accelerations, it will make a lot less difference.

If you’re in reasonable shape physically (which you probably are if you’re racing) and have been doing training for more than 6 months, then a very heavy bike may in fact be the lowest hanging fruit for improving performance. A CAAD12 105 can be had for around $1,200 and weighs just under 18 lbs. In my opinion, this is around the entry point for group rides and a bit of racing without feeling like your equipment is holding you back.

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I judge competition that I don’t know at a race by their position on the bike, not the bike itself. So just slam your stem and downsize the frame and you’ve got me fooled

Oh also - by their legs

It depends how you look at the data. The 12 sec advantage per mile on a 7% grade is assuming the bike is 3lb lighter. In most cases when people are spending £1000’s on upgrading their components to lighter carbon fibre components they aren’t saving close to 3lb, so they’re only actually gaining a few seconds at most. This is important for people making a living on their bike, as it could be the difference between making a breakaway or not. For the rest of us mere mortals, I’m not convinced.

:grinning: I can relate to this. I now look around thinking “who else has put themselves through the pain of Carter+3 in the lead-up to the race”!

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I don’t think a few lbs matters much on a road bike.

On a mountain bike, however, when I upgraded a couple of years ago, I dropped the weight of the bike by 4-5 lbs, and it had a very noticeable impact on making the bike easier to maneuver on rocks, roots, ledges, etc. A lot I think due to weight loss in the wheels.

There’s a lad in the local club that rides a banged up alloy bike, probably weighs a tonne - Can anybody keep up with him? Nope!

Honestly, i think if you’ve got a working bike, it’s all in the legs.

Does that stop me from wanting to spend money on new shiny lighter parts? No… I’m currently trying to talk myself out of spending £xxx to lighten my bike by about 500 grams :roll_eyes:

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My 15 lbs Emonda ALR definitely feels way snappier up climbs than my 20 lbs Crockett. If I’m pushing for Strava times even seconds count, so I normally like climbing better on the Emonda.

That being said, 20 lbs for a road bike is pretty acceptable in my opinion. However, if you’re ebay savvy you can get a light bike for not much money. I was able to build up my Emonda for about $1,500. I only paid $400 for the frame and the put it together piece by piece by winning ebay bids. I’m a red cassette away from being into the 14s right now. Not saying that will make me any faster, but it’s fun to count the grams and tweak this and that to get the weight down.

I also have a theory that bike weight makes more difference to a smaller rider like myself. The 5 lbs difference in weight works out to 3.33% reduction for me at 130 lbs, but only 2.5% reduction if I was 180 lbs.

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Whereas I changed/upgraded and went up about 5lbs and noticed pretty much no difference :smile:

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