Categories: The BikesThe RidesTraditionUnforgettable Rides

Weight Weenies

Parting the waters on a 24 pound bike.

My bike weighs about 6 kilos. It is no waify little thing either, with it having a 61cm frame and and three stories of seatpost. It has beefy tubes, a stiff bottom bracket and steerer, and deep section wheels which are laced 3x in the back and 2x in front. This bike has never made me go faster; only going faster has made me go faster.

Gianni rode Haleakala in the 80’s on a heavy steel frame with a 42T chainring and a 23T cog in the back. He rode it wearing a cuttoff sleeveless t-shirt; an offense which, had I known when we started this site, I would have put him on probation for. Then he did it again several years later on a titanium, campa-equipped steed with a compact and wearing proper kit. He rode it in about the same time, also proving that you go as fast as you want, not as fast as your bike is.

Gianni Bugno (different Gianni but possibly the source of inspiration for Keeper Gianni’s name), won back-to-back l’Alpe d’Huez stages on a 24-pound steel Moser, beating lighter carbon TVT’s to the punch both times.

Riding light bikes is fun, but they won’t make you go any faster. Pushing harder on the pedals does.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

unversio says:

Jun 26 2015 at 10:55 am

@frank

@michel02

gert jan theunisse had a training wheel filled with lead, for training purposes needless to say…it worked! (-:

Fucking GJT was such a legend!

O, fuck, why did I sell a Bart Voskamp TVM Gazelle Champion Mondial that I was about to build. Hanging this image in my "service course" to view each day -- my mind would've been set right each day.
unversio says:

Jun 26 2015 at 11:06 am

Same Bison-Kit Squad too!
DeKerr says:

Jun 26 2015 at 12:42 pm

Had the interesting experience of pushing on the pedals hard enough to blow the 16 tooth off my rear cassette (Dura-Ace 11 Speed).

While it's most likely an Mfr defect I still enjoy the idea that I was transferring so much Rule #10 through the Gun Platforms that I managed to fuck up my bike.
Nate says:

Jun 26 2015 at 1:12 pm

@DeKerr

I did this to a Chorus rear cog. I think it was the 15. Hit the bottom of a climb at speed and sur la plaque. Heard a tinkling sound, it was four pieces of cog hitting the pavement. That was pretty gratifying.
RobSandy says:

Jun 26 2015 at 1:16 pm

Also, can we pass something extending Rule #24 to weight as well as distance/speed? I haven't a fucking clue what lbs mean. I'm sure none of the pros weigh their bike in anything other than kgs.
Matt says:

Jun 26 2015 at 2:28 pm

@frank

@michel02

gert jan theunisse had a training wheel filled with lead, for training purposes needless to say…it worked! (-:

Fucking GJT was such a legend!

That's fucking gangster.
unversio says:

Jun 26 2015 at 2:53 pm

Gert-Jan Theunisse certainly defends Frank's choice to mount his control levers -- level.
Mikael Liddy says:

Jun 26 2015 at 4:38 pm

@DeKerr

Had the interesting experience of pushing on the pedals hard enough to blow the 16 tooth off my rear cassette (Dura-Ace 11 Speed).

While it’s most likely an Mfr defect I still enjoy the idea that I was transferring so much Rule #10 through the Gun Platforms that I managed to fuck up my bike.

Interesting, that's not the first report I've heard of a DA 11sp cassette failing, from memory @Piwakawaka did something similar recently.
piwakawaka says:

Jun 26 2015 at 6:15 pm

@Mikael Liddy

@DeKerr

Had the interesting experience of pushing on the pedals hard enough to blow the 16 tooth off my rear cassette (Dura-Ace 11 Speed).

While it’s most likely an Mfr defect I still enjoy the idea that I was transferring so much Rule #10 through the Gun Platforms that I managed to fuck up my bike.

Interesting, that’s not the first report I’ve heard of a DA 11sp cassette failing, from memory @Piwakawaka did something similar recently.
frank says:

Jun 26 2015 at 8:29 pm

@Nate

@DeKerr

I did this to a Chorus rear cog. I think it was the 15. Hit the bottom of a climb at speed and sur la plaque. Heard a tinkling sound, it was four pieces of cog hitting the pavement. That was pretty gratifying.

If anything makes you feel like a stud, that does.

I was tearing the pawls off the earlier revision of Zipp freehubs On the local 20% leg breakers and I'd walk into the shop post-warranty telling the lads that one of these days I'd teach Fabian how to pedal a bike.