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Whats A Good Weight For A Bike To Be?


Carlperkins

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Thats got to be one of the most popular/best quotes regarding bikes, of all time.

Yep, it's one I'm quite fond of, and I'm sure I mentioned it to customers regularly when I worked at halfords, problem is, I'm not sure you get to pick as many as 2 at Halfords anymore.

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I'd be happy with around 8.5kg, above 9kg seems heavy to me now after riding with a weight weenie :P

depends what bike...

mod as light as possible :P

stock ^^

24" a bit of weight to chuck around doesnt harm anyone :)

Depends what 24", with an inspired I'd understand. But you can buy an ozonys 24 off the shelf and they're around 8.2kg. The tarty echo build is just too heavy imo.

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I'd be happy with around 8.5kg, above 9kg seems heavy to me now after riding with a weight weenie :P

Depends what 24", with an inspired I'd understand. But you can buy an ozonys 24 off the shelf and they're around 8.2kg. The tarty echo build is just too heavy imo.

was talking inspired :)

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Mine's just below then 10kg mark, I think.

It used to be just under 9kg, but stuff kept braking.

Some heavier tyres and a steel frame later, bike is very durable. Only thing that I've noticed as a hindrance is that I can't sidehop quite as high (only a few inches in it though).

Everything else was/is just the same, once I'd adjusted.

I think, if it's what you're accustomed to, anything under 11kg is fine. Only if you're competing at a super high level will an ultra-light bike come in to it's own.

I'm not keen on the idea of buying things expecting them to break.

Sure, heavier parts will break sometimes, but when a bike is sold effectively saying "if you use this for anything more than a few competitions, don't come crying" it's a different story.

Slightly heavier and stronger parts is the way forward. Just accept you'll have to gain a bit more strength/technique to throw it around as much.

Trialtech forks and a steel frame are the best examples I know.

Trialtech's are around 150g heavier than other forks (mod), but - for me - last almost nine times longer.

Same goes for the frame - went from the Echo (~1.5kg) to the Marino (~2kg). The Echo lasted three months and cracked in 7 places, the Marino lasted 9 months before a crack appeared, which could easily be welded thanks to it being steel. I'd add that I've also ridden the Marino a LOT harder, and she's suffered a lot more abuse than the Echo.

Superlight bikes are not a good development of trials, in my opinion.

Edit: To answer your actual question, I'd say as light as possible before things start breaking with any regularity. This'll depend heavily on how you ride, how heavy you are, how you treat the bike etc.

I'd say for most people, this'd be ~8.5-9 for a mod, and ~9.5-10 for a stock.

Edited by aener
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bike weight is relative to rider and style, if you're a smooth and delicate rider with a fair chunk of experience having delicate light stuff is not a problem, if you're in the 'basher' phase of riding forget about it... i'm lucky enough to have 2 bikes atm, i have a 24 that is made up with numerous strong parts to ensure it always works and can take the abuse as it's my weapon of choice for most rides, and i attribute my inability to do pure trials to my full ability down to the geo more than the weight...

lightweight is handy if you ride for long periods of time, as you're competing with much less resistance, and don't get worn out as fast (handy in a comp where you wanna be riding at your best, nonstop...), but i don't see a massive corelation with weight and performance, think about the 06 deng builds, they weren't light by todays standards, but we rode them bloody well...

anything under 10kg should be fine, or you're weak and should consider making a change to yourself and not your bike... my riding ability increased massively after i smashed the gym for 9 months... i could ride non stop and effortlessly move the same bike so much better...

edit: wall of text...

tldr: heavy bikes are fine, go gym do many squats and deadlifts and stop being a little bitch

Edited by ogre
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My stock is sub 8 but I wouldn't say that having the lightest bike possible benefits your riding greatly. You might be able to ride for longer especially on natural terrain but don't expect to sidehop higher. You might briefly but when you get used to the new weight, you'll be back to square one. I ride a light bike purely because I can in the sense that I'm smooth and fairly light.

Edited by Greetings
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Ive been riding a dual disc (heavy) 08 GU st (heavy) with Zoo! Forks (heavy), maxxis cc rear tyre (heavy), kenda dh tube(heavy) and dual wall rear rims and blah blah blah.

It was heavy. Heavier than my Ozonys, my Ice, my Echo and my Python, and I did nothing but improve on it. Ride it for long enough and you'll be fine.

Hitting the Gym helps. I will be, just so my next bike can be a tad heavier than I'd like otherwise, but I'll be able to ride it the same, and it will last longer, having beefier parts.

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My ozonys was 10.5kg with maxxis tyres just changed to try-all n its now 10.2kg :/. its still light to me but it makes it look heavy to the likes of these weight weenies who seem to get there bike to less than 8kg.

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weight weenies who seem to get there bike to less than 8kg.

I've never understood how they manage that! My bike is close to 11Kg, I don't think it makes moves harder, I'm just crap! :P The only thing I dislike about the weight is the way it's distributed, it's quite rear heavy.

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My rear wheel weighs 3kg on its own.. Pretty phat set up:

Onza wide alex non drilled rim

hope pro2 trial hub

try-all tyre

yeahhhhhh

To those with bikes that weigh 8kg or less... I hope they break with impact damage ;)

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