Weight...

[luccosleeps]

hello again,

Bike weight has always been a huge factor in biketrials and many riders (including me in the past) obsess about getting the bike as light as possible.

However many riders have all these extremely light bikes but themselves weigh well over their optimum body weight. not saying their fat at all, far from it, but theres absolutely no point in my view worrying about the diffference between a 200g difference between two tyres when your 3000 - 4000g heavier than your ideal bodyweigh. Especially if you drink a fair bit or have an unhealthy diet.

also body strength can make a massive difference to performance on your bike, doing press ups reguarly for example.

these two can be summed up by your 'power to weight' ratio.

Ryan leech is a great example. hes not a big guy and hes really quite skinny but very very strong, his fitness and high power to weight ratio contributes a great deal to the stuff hes able to do on the bike.

Be interested to know what you guys think and whether you do any fitness/strength work to improve your riding.

cheers

[luccosleeps]

Come on guys and Girls, someone must have an opinion?

[human_furball]

Yeah I have a slight obsession with the weight of my bike for example I am gettin carbon bars not because I have heard they are good because they are lighter.

I think it does make a difference as to how heavy the bike is and if you make it as light as possible it is always going to give you that slight advantage. The other thing with helps me is I have a good diet and I have a high matabalism (it means I can eat loads and not put on weight) which also helps me.

So in my opinion weight does matter, the lighter you are the more likely you are to kickhop that extra inch and it could mean life or death (if you are jumping a building or a canyon or a fat guys mouth with burgers tied to your bike ).

Chris

[Camster911]

(if you are jumping a building or a canyon or a fat guys mouth with burgers tied to your bike ).

Chris

Lol, nice one mate.

[wilky_mod_legend2]

IMO people make weight such a big deal when its not i have a 'zona' and its a tank, but still i can throw it about literally, iam not bothered on weight, my bike is heavyer than most stocks, but to be honest i dont care,

Cheers

Wilky

[Lee Cable]

IMO the wieght of the bike tends to correspond with the strength of the rider. If the rider has a good weight:strength ratio. then he/she will tend to prefer a decent wieght bike. Whereas if the rider is slightly lighter and doesnt have a such a good stregnth:wieght ratio then he will prefer a lighter more whippier bike. Myself i prefer a light whippier bike, what does this say about the strength:wieght ratio?

From Lee

[Ash-Kennard]

my bike is lighter than quite a few mods, but that was by accident, when I bought the components I bought them for strength, they just turned out to be light too.

[Lee Cable]

my bike is lighter than quite a few mods, but that was by accident, when I bought the components I bought them for strength, they just turned out to be light too.

same, well sort of. As just took it being light as a bonus. But anyone that knows me, will tell you that i am wieght orientated(sp?). This lighter the better! In every sense!

[luccosleeps]

I'm suprised this topic didn't get much attention. Maybe it's abit too much for the littlens to understand.

[Tom1989]

this argument has been argued over since the birth of trials, the key is to get the balance right.

if you are a heavy rider due to over eating and you use weights to get fit, you will just get heaveyer because muscle weighs more then fat, and if you choose uber light parts the strength will decrease in the parts and so the heaveyer rider will have more chance to break them. So basically in an ideal world you should pump some iron and get a strong steal bike

[Billy]

hello again,

Bike weight has always been a huge factor in biketrials and many riders (including me in the past) obsess about getting the bike as light as possible.

However many riders have all these extremely light bikes but themselves weigh well over their optimum body weight. not saying their fat at all, far from it, but theres absolutely no point in my view worrying about the diffference between a 200g difference between two tyres when your 3000 - 4000g heavier than your ideal bodyweigh. Especially if you drink a fair bit or have an unhealthy diet.

also body strength can make a massive difference to performance on your bike, doing press ups reguarly for example.

these two can be summed up by your 'power to weight' ratio.

Ryan leech is a great example. hes not a big guy and hes really quite skinny but very very strong, his fitness and high power to weight ratio contributes a great deal to the stuff hes able to do on the bike.

Be interested to know what you guys think and whether you do any fitness/strength work to improve your riding.

cheers

I'm absolutely positive I've read that exact same thing somewhere before? Where did you get it from? It's driving me mad trying to think where I've seen it before!

[sUm]

You make a very good point about bike weight not being everything, physical strength of the rider is a huge factor. The thing is that you just can't deny the advantageous feeling of riding a bike that is lighter than what you're used to (assuming it still actually feels strong).

The reason I feel bike weight is such a great factor in how comfortable you feel while riding is because for a lot of trials moves, weight (and thus your bike) can be a hinderance. At this point you could argue that if you use your bike properly, it should be beneficial and not hinder you performance at all. But just consider a simple move such as backhopping, or sidehopping. Once again, I cannot deny that technique and physical strength play a main role in how well you perform these actions. The fact of the matter is, though, that you have the ability to jump only so high. And if you are trying to jump with this foreign weight (your bike), your body will not be able to jump as high as you would without it.

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that to your body, your bike can in some aspects of trials be a lot like fat; extra weight that is not useful for added strength. So we can see that it makes sense to use a light bike, but the optimum condition will be when this light bike is coupled with a fit, strong owner.

Edited April 23, 2006 by sUm

[planet x alan]

the weight on my bike doesnt bother me one bit i used to use middleburns and the axle went snap so i decided i would go 3 peice. i find with a heavier bike you throw it around a lot more and build up your stamina, strength etc

[JT!]

physical strength of the rider is a huge factor.

Is it though? Or is technique?

I think when you see people go big power moves, like gaps and sidehops etc there's very little physical strength compared to technique.

If you had twins that both rode trials, one went to the gym and one didn't. Would there be any real difference in performance? Hell, if you big and muscly you might even weigh more and making yourself at a dissadvantage.

[luccosleeps]

Is it though? Or is technique?

I think when you see people go big power moves, like gaps and sidehops etc there's very little physical strength compared to technique.

If you had twins that both rode trials, one went to the gym and one didn't. Would there be any real difference in performance? Hell, if you big and muscly you might even weigh more and making yourself at a dissadvantage.

You don't necessarily go to the gym to build muscle, you can go just strengthen what muscle you do have and build on stamina.

I reckon physical strength does play a big part really and in that i don't mean having huge muscles, you can have huge muscles and still not be very strong, its about using what muscle you have and optimizing it aswell as having a healthy diet is where you will achieve getting the most out of yourself.

[JT!]

You don't necessarily go to the gym to build muscle, you can go just strengthen what muscle you do have and build on stamina.

I reckon physical strength does play a big part really and in that i don't mean having huge muscles, you can have huge muscles and still not be very strong, its about using what muscle you have and optimizing it aswell as having a healthy diet is where you will achieve getting the most out of yourself.

I completly dissagree.