Hot answers tagged weight
22
Keep your front brake. It does the most work, it will stop you much faster than your rear brake ever could hope to. Take a look at a motorcycle, the front brakes are always much larger than the rear. Whenever you brake, on a bicycle, motorcycle, in a car, more weight is transfered to the front wheels, so the front tire has more traction to stop you with.
...
15
Other than the obvious fact that your better quality (and better handling) bikes tend to be lighter, there's no real correlation between weight and performance (other than a modest effect on acceleration and the obvious effect on hill climbing).
But you can generally (with some exceptions) assume that a bike that is quite a bit (like 2x) heavier than others ...
11
I had the same issues riding on pre-built 26" mountain bike wheels. I'm 6'5" and weigh ~400lbs, so I break stuff left and right (including frame welds). I have found two things that broke my wheel-breaking streak.
The first thing I found was the Surly Pugsley and the Endomorph (or Larry) tires that fit on it. The 26"x4" tires are massive, and absorb any ...
11
This research claims around walking 334 kilojoules of energy expended for a 1.6km walk
Using the same 1.6km distance, if you cycled at 20km/h at 70watts (arbitrary but vaguely-plausible numbers), you would be involve around 20 kilojoules being "sent to the pedals". Assuming you are about 20% efficient, that would be 100kilojoules burned
For that distance, ...
10
It's something that should be experienced. Go grab an old school beater bike (like my old MTB that weighs 35lbs), ride it for awhile. Then, stop by a bike shope and see if they'll let you test drive a nice lightweight bike (usually on the order of 16-20lbs). You'll be astonished at how much more FUN it is to ride the light bike due to the responsiveness ...
10
I worked as a physician (not anymore nowadays, got into medical systems design), and I can guarantee you that either people and health professinals overemphasize the importance of the weight as if it was a single "magic number" regarding health, and it is not.
Body fat percentage, cardiovascular endurance, muscle and joint flexibility, dietary habits and ...
8
We can generalize the main areas where one can load weight as such:
Front rack vs. Rear Rack
High (on top of rack) vs. Low (in panniers)
The most commonly accepted points for load distribution are as follows:
Keep dense, heavy items low to the ground. The lower you & your bike's center of gravity is, the more easily you can keep yourself upright. ...
7
The rational side of me says that over the short distance you're talking about, walking would cost more energy than cycling. The caveat here of course is how fast you walk.
However when I first got back on my bike (and I was pretty overweight), I started off cycling between the train station and my office. It was something like 2 miles each way, and used to ...
6
This is an extremely bad idea, and it may or may not be illegal where you live. It's pretty common for the law to require you to be able to lock up both wheels on flat dry pavement.
Regardless, both brakes are important, and you shouldn't remove one for something a silly as weight reduction. The contact patch on your tires is small enough already without ...
6
Obviously the prices seem to support the idea that aerodynamics matter
more than a few hundred grams of weight, but at what point does the
added weight offset the gain?
An exact calculation will depend on the total mass of you and your bike, your speed, the wind, its angle, whether you're climbing, on the flat, or descending, and the speed you're ...
5
The answer I got was 2x -- adding one ounce (or gram) to the wheel at the outer diameter (ie, the tread) is equivalent, in terms of force/energy needed to accelerate, to adding twice that amount to the bike frame.
The answer was a bit involved and takes careful reading to fully understand, but the answer can also be explained with this thought experiment:
...
5
For commuting, a heavier bike might actually get you overburned if you ride everyday. I have a 18kg bike (full-fledged mtb converted to city bike) and a 10.5kg bike (steel 10 speed converted to fixed). I use both for commuting, depending on weather and mood.
Specifically when I carry some stuff on the rear rack (then the bike is even heavier), compared when ...
5
I am a big guy. Usually 230-270 lbs. (Alas currently at the high end).
I feel your pain. My solution has been to get a 32 or 36 hole hub and rim, with the heaviest gauge spokes they make.
Once you go to this level, it is 'heavy' and light weight racers will point and mock you, but it will stop breaking spokes.
Until I did this on my two regular road ...
4
There's been a number of questions about how to improve once you've plateaued with your current training regime. None of them specifically deal with weight training but they are all about improving strength and endurance on the bike.
The commonly accepted answers (and usually championed by wdypdx22) is Interval Training.
Interval Training.
It's a ...
4
I have the same bike, and have done a little loaded touring (though not recently, as my health no longer permits it). I find that keeping the load low and balanced is the key.
On the front it's important that the load be tightly attached, since if it is loose at all it will tend to wobble and resonate and can make the bike unmanageable on a rough surface. ...
4
You should pick whatever bike and style of riding you will enjoy enough to ride, and find practical to do frequently. For some this may mean daily commuting, others may find technical mountain biking more to their liking.
Buying a heavy/clumsy bike is counter-productive, as you will not enjoy it, will not ride it as often/far, and will quickly tire of it. ...
4
It depends on how vigorously you walk or bike. Like, this article looking at long-term weight change said people did better with "increases in moderately intense exercise, including biking, brisk walking, jogging, swimming and hiking — but not to slow walking (less than 3 miles per hour)." So, if you walk slowly, biking or walking quickly would be better.
...
3
I'd say no sweat -- the bike can handle you and another 100kg, so long as you don't go off-roading with it or some such.
The wheels appear to be 36-spoke and plenty wide, so they can easily handle the weight. The frame is a standard diamond, the strongest design you'll find. No fancy suspension to bottom out or break. Barring a manufacturing defect or ...
3
Single-butted spokes are what you need, such as Sapim Strong. Used on tandems and heavily-laden expedition touring bikes. That also means hand-built wheels, naturally.
3
After my last rear wheel bent under my weight, my LBS hooked me up with a 36-hole rhynolite (rinolyte?)-based wheel. It has done pretty well so far. I am 260-270lbs.
Your riding style matters. If you slam in to curbs it's a lot harder on the wheel than if you pop over them.
Build quality matters. Machine-built wheels strain the components while building, ...
3
Everyone's different. You don't give a hint as to what your body weight or BMI is, so we don't know if you're overweight or anorexic or "just right".
Do note that, in some people, intense exercise can cause you to "lose interest" in eating for a period of time, but usually after about 2 months this effect abates and your appetite returns.
Unless you feel ...
3
I think it depends on the course you're riding. Professionals will have multiple wheelsets and use different wheels depending on the course they are riding for the day. Weight really only makes a big difference if you are climbing or accelerating. So for a course with a lot of climibing, where aerodynamic drag is at a minimum anyway, they will often ...
2
You will find that your body will probably stabilize at a healthy weight, the weight you are losing is fat, as you cycle more you will likely build up muscle weight as well.
Unless there is something really wrong with your diet or you want to remain chubby then you don't have much to worry about.
If you want to build more muscle weight you should probably ...
2
Depends if you're riding a mountain bike or a road bike. Ultimatley I'd think that the wheel isn't built right. A good rule of thumb is that if you break 1 spoke replace it. If you break a second one have the wheel rebuilt. A good wheel builder should be able to build a normal 3 cross wheel that can handle anyone able to ride a bike hard.
2
The answers that point out handling might also be weighed against some other practical qualities, like how you use and store the bike. As cyclists, we spend a lot of time picking the thing up, sometimes shouldering it, sometimes loading it down, sometimes carrying it up stairs or high curbs.
I have a long recumbent, an Xtracycle, and a Trek 7200 road bike. ...
2
Squat is very good for leg strength. You can do it at home with weights, like your dumbbells, though 15lb is pretty light. You might want to procure a barbell to progress the weight resistance.
Also, it's a good idea to check with a trainer in a gym to learn how to do it correctly.
On the bike exercises are probably better if you ride less than 14 ...
2
I would recommend training with power and working with a coach. It will be faster and more efficient than trying to figure out how to get stronger on the bike than from a forum like this.
ps. I currently train with power and have worked with coaches in the past. The structured workouts have definitely helped me get stronger on the bike and able to race on ...
2
A "light" bike these days is around 16 lbs. Getting down to that kind of light weight involves a lot of optimizations-- it is not just the frame, but also the wheels, cranks, handlebars and everything else. The end result is something that is very nice but quite expensive. You won't want to leave a bike like that alone on a public street even with a good ...
2
On a road surface you will be fine - try not to jump any kerbs ;-)
Compared to the force when a bike with even a light rider goes over say a pothole or a jump the static load from a 120Kg rider is small.
You might want to check the spoke tension reglarly - those are the parts that will suffer most.
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
