I looked all this stuff up out of curiosity and practicality after lusting after a Specialized Aethos all night. Saving two kilograms of major bike weight costs about 2000 dollars per kilogram once you get the major weight off. And what does a person actually get for it?
https://cyclinguphill.com/time-saved-weight-loss-bike
According to cyclinguphill.com (a guy obsessed with weight after losing a hill climb by 0.9 seconds (which could turn anyone into a “weight weeny”) the generally accepted estimate for time savings is two seconds per 100 meters climbed per kilogram of weight. That’s one minute every 3000 meters per kilo. Alpe de Zwift (modeled after the real Alpe d’Huez) is 1018 meters. Mt. Mitchell, the highest climb in all of Eastern US is 1767 meters. So for each minute saved I’d need to drop 1.7 kilos on Mitchell, almost four pounds. My Marrakesh touring bike weighs 12.42 kilos, a little under double what the highest end climbing bikes weigh (about 7 kilos with pedals). So my heavy touring bike takes 3.18 minutes longer to finish Mitchell. That’s all!
Hell, I could take one minute less at the aide station to make it up. Boom! I just saved 3000 dollars! This is why people who put out that kind of money without being pros look, um, stupid. (The pros already look stupid but for other reasons.) People who beat those rich non-pros on bikes that weigh four times more and cost 1/10th the price look amazing. That’s what I want to be: frugal, smart, fit, balanced, and dedicated; not rich, stupid, pudgy, over-worked, and casual. Put another way, NO POSERS! ;)
See how stupid all this focus on weight is?
Weight off the bike doesn’t fucking matter unless you are an ultra-elite and in that case there are far cheaper improvements that every pro has to do first, and some of them are even out of reach for some pros because of their genetics. Spoiler alert: they have nothing to do with the bike. Weight is far less important than aerodynamics, which are far less important than rolling resistance, which is far less important than base fitness.
The good news is that I have the genetic advantage to be a great climber. I have the right height, power potential, and body geometry (long torso, short legs). I suppose I should thank my semi-pro gymnast father for that. Right now I weigh 85 kilos (down from 94 on Feb 3). I have definitely noticed a major speed increase when outside. Imagine lifting a 25 lbs dumbbell. I had one of those strapped onto my body that whole time. It’s also the reason I can do 10+ pull ups again. With 60 kilos being a healthy goal weight for my height I still have two of those dumbbells strapped to me that I need to lose. If I were paying for that weight savings in terms of bike weight that would be worth 50,000 dollars. I love the idea that I’m saving literally 1000s of dollars by losing actual weight instead.
My genetic fitness potential as an endurance athlete is also high. It’s the reason I’ve always gravitated toward endurance sports. I can already tell my mitochondrial response has really improved (you know, the reason we do mostly Z2 base training). My FTP is also up to 216 from 176 when I originally tested giving me way more performance improvements that have allowed me to cut my Alpe de Zwift time from three hours to 83 minutes. That’s more than an hour! That kind of savings makes it seem so silly to worry about 3000 dollars per minute saved on a “better” bike. I should break 60 minutes easily once I get the weight down to 70 kilos (about 3.2 w/kg).
Yep, working on fitness is so much better at improving my times than spending a single dollar on anything that doesn’t directly assist with improving my fitness including weight reductions and aerodynamics.
For example, my Garmin Rally meter cost 700 dollars but the accuracy and motivation to do my training have dramatically increased. So in terms of dollar per minute saved that power meter is downright cheap, even when I add the right pedal for another 700.
You can extend this idea to everything that improves fitness:
If I could put a dollar per minute of time saved climbing Mt. Mitchell then all of these things would prove to be much better financial investments.
In summary, investing in actual fitness over cheating physics is really important to realize when first getting into cycling (or returning to cycling). It is hugely tempting to think a flashy bike will help (and in some ways it does if it motivates the person to actually use it). But not unlike unused fitness equipment that collects dust that flashy thing doesn’t matter if that person doesn’t use it or doesn’t use it well. It is always better to ride a cheap bike more frequently than to use a flashy bike every once in a while.
Enough ranting, time to train.