Bike weight

albob

Hi,
Following my earlier Letape 2010 thread I was thinking of buying the Cube Streamer 2007 triple from chainreactions. They give the weight as 8.8Kg. I didnt think much of it until I went to a bike shop today and had a feel of the 2007 Trek 1.7 equivalent (dont think it was called the 1.7 last year). Anyway it was feather light. Looking online I am finding it hard to find weight specs for bikes but there was a quote from someone about the new Trek 1.5 "A 1.7kg bike for less that 1000e....amazing" or something like that. 1.7Kgs!!! Is that right?
What would a good (~3000e) bike weight and how would 8.8kg compare? I have been trying to find something around the house weighing 9kgs all day to get a feel for it!:rolleyes:
I know people suggest training on a heavy bike and then one will really benefit from a lighter bike but I cant afford two bikes!
Thanks

kenmc

well someone is lying.
the lightest bike out there at the moment is the scott addict ltd.
790g for the frame, 6kg complete.
http://www.kudubikes.co.uk/shop/102/149/index.htm

albob

Thought that. Maybe they were referring to frame, or could have been a typo. Anyway, what does 8.8kg sound like? The cube would cost me ~800e. I could get a ~0.5kg lighter bike but with 105's or Tiaghas rather than the Ultegas on the cube. Obviously weight is important but .....oh I dont know.

TinyExplosions

Cycling Plus has the Addict Ken linked to on test this month, and theirs was 5.95 kilos, but UCI sanctioned races have a minimum limit of 6.8Kg, so I doubt the Trek is down there... I would image there's not that much difference between the Cube and Trek

kenmc

personally i'd go with the ultegra for the sake of 1/2 a kg. That's one bottle of water difference. without meaning to be rude, it'd be way cheaper for you to lose 1/2 a kg of body weight than to upgrade from the 105 to the ultegra.

rubadub

kenmc wrote: »

it'd be way cheaper for you to lose 1/2 a kg of body weight than to upgrade from the 105 to the ultegra.

Yep, cut your hair and take a dump before heading out and you save yourself a few grand:D

DurtyMurty

Unless you're into serious racing, anything under 9 kg feels pretty light. I lifted the carbon framed Lappiere RCR 900 in cyclesuperstore recently and was really impressed with it's light weight. Spec says 8.2 kg so if you're anywhere near there have a look. Mind you, it's in a different price league

Lappiere, Focus and Cube seem to be the most willing to give weights - the rest hide behind a cloud of "difficult to specify due to different components"

Don't try to compare it with 8.8 litres of milk, bags of flour etc. You can only guage a bike's weight by lifting a bike

BlackMirror

DurtyMurty wrote: »

Unless you're into serious racing, anything under 9 kg feels pretty light. I lifted the carbon framed Lappiere RCR 900 in cyclesuperstore recently and was really impressed with it's light weight. Spec says 8.2 kg so if you're anywhere near there have a look. Mind you, it's in a different price league

Lappiere, Focus and Cube seem to be the most willing to give weights - the rest hide behind a cloud of "difficult to specify due to different components"

Don't try to compare it with 8.8 litres of milk, bags of flour etc. You can only guage a bike's weight by lifting a bike

Bike weight is the most overrated aspect of bicycle performance.

niceonetom

i just got a cube streamer and i'm very pleased with it. i really bought it for the drive train (full ultegra compact double) rather than the frame and it's fairly obvious by looking at it that the frame isn't quite as sophisticated as some others. the tubing is double butted but there's not much of the complex profiling that you see on higher end frames. it feels good though.

i would doubt there's more than a couple of hundred grammes between the trek and the cube, and some of that would be in the finishing kit. the cube comes with a aluminium seatpost which feels heavier than the carbon fibre one on my other bike. the saddle that comes with the cube is rubbish.

i'm hugely impressed by the ultegra set though. it's a big step up from tiagra - i've never tried 105.

albob

Was there much setup with the cube? I see that wiggle deliver the bike more or less ready to ride. How do chainreaction bikes come?
Would you think the cube 2007 is the best bang for the buck out there at the moment?

niceonetom

not much. had to put the handle bars on, saddle, seatpost, griptape and pedals (not provided). then connect the brakes and tune the gears in.

none of this is hard, and the internet is a great source of 'how to's. even a 'ready to ride' bike will need to be tuned up if you want to trust it. if you plan on getting out and doing some miles it's well worth teaching yourself how to do as much of your own maintenance as possible.

i think i did pretty well with the cube. it's a good bike and the ultegra running gear is great. that said, the euro is so strong that there are many serious bargains out there in sterling at the moment. no matter what bike you buy you will sooner or later see a better bike for less money, that's life.

albob

When you say "connect the brakes and tune the gears in", can you elaboprate (sorry for being so annoying!).
For the brakes is it just connecting the cable and deciding where I want the pinch point is.(dont know what the technical term is!)
I assume gear cables etc are all already connected? Is it then just the indexing I might need to play with. Do you know of any good links for explaining this? I have tried looking myself but perhaps I dont know the correct terminology to be looking up.

niceonetom

albob wrote: »

When you say "connect the brakes and tune the gears in", can you elaboprate (sorry for being so annoying!).
For the brakes is it just connecting the cable and deciding where I want the pinch point is.(dont know what the technical term is!)
I assume gear cables etc are all already connected? Is it then just the indexing I might need to play with. Do you know of any good links for explaining this? I have tried looking myself but perhaps I dont know the correct terminology to be looking up.

yeah, just connecting the cables and indexing/limiting the gears. this video more or less explains the process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzvfCaIbyQ

Quigs Snr

My new Cervelo R3 SL frame is 771grams (measured) in a 51cm. Sadly it won't make me go any faster though. Bike weight is not such a big deal once your bike is within reason. The bike I am replacing with the Cervelo weighs 6.2kg in full race trim, but really I am equally as quick on my old Trek 5500 at 7.7kg and show no difference in average speed between the two. Maybe over a long, steep climb there might be a handful of seconds, but really thats only if you are already at peak performance yourself.

The man makes much more of a difference at the domestic racer / leisure rider level. 2 kgs from your gut will make you much quicker than 2kgs from your bike. Don't worry about it too much. That said if you can get a similarly equipped but lighter bike for the same ballpark cash, then thats what I would do. I spoke to a guy today with the Focus you were looking at. Very nice.

Home:Ballyhoura

kenmc wrote: »

the lightest bike out there at the moment is the scott addict ltd.
790g for the frame, 6kg complete.
http://www.kudubikes.co.uk/shop/102/149/index.htm

Now I think its the BH G4, 5.4kg @ €13462.87!!! :eek:

DirkVoodoo

You seem to be resurrecting all these year old threads today.

Look at how happy tom was back then!