OpenTube

Does Bike Weight ACTUALLY Matter?

GMBN Tech

65,792 views

Owen The Bike Nerd dives into the cult of 'lightweight' aka 'weight weenies' and asks whether weight obsession is holding back your ride experience. From tire contact patches to suspension kinematics, we explore why that spec-sheet number might be the least important thing about your next bike!

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⏱️ Timestamps ⏱️
00:00 - Intro
00:30 - The History of the Weight Obsession
01:34 - Why Weight Is the Metric We Obsess Over
02:39 - Lessons From the Car Industry
03:40 - Strong, Light, Cheap - Pick 2
06:13 - If Not Weight, Then What?
06:18 - Tyre Contact Patch
07:15 - Stiffness and Compliance
09:03 - Suspension Performance
10:28 - Geometry Is King
11:56 - The Industry 'Weight' Trap
14:38 - Is the Industry Changing?
15:27 - A Framework for Your Next Upgrade
15:34 - For Climbing
16:44 - For Descending
17:43 - For All-Day Riding
19:30 - How to Break the Weight Obsession
21:27 - Conclusion

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What is the best ride-changing upgrade you've ever made, and did it actually make your bike lighter? Let’s hear your thoughts below! 👇

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20 Comments

@gmbntech Creator 4 months ago Pinned

What is the best ride-changing upgrade you've ever made, and did it actually make your bike lighter? Let’s hear your thoughts below! 👇

@samharris82 3 months ago

My Epic brain shock failed just before a 3hr XC race and I was forced to ride my Ibis Ripmo. I put the XC wheels, tires, and cockpit from the XC bike on but it was still 30lbs. Not only did I win the race but I PR'd segments I'd ridden 100 times including climbs! I could just go straight over stuff instead of weaving and felt much more refreshed / stronger in the last hour than I ever have before!

@brackbernhard9834 4 months ago

frame: weight does not matter much - wheels: weight does matter absolutely, the best way to improve your bike and your fun with it, by quite a margin

@neilrichards7649 4 months ago

Cockpit on my trail bike - swapped from carbon low rise bar to alloy 35mm riser and thicker grips. Better climbing position, faster climbing and more control on descents. Arms and hands less fatigued. Also, feel less anxious over the likelihood of the bar snapping landing bigger drops.
Not sure of weight addition, but not lighter for sure.

@ricardosalcedo2824 4 months ago

Would love to see a video about "marathon bikes."

@Jay-me7gw 4 months ago (edited)

I can tell you, I went from some crank bros aluminum wheels to XMC1200 carbon wheels on my Evil The Calling, and the difference was very noticeable to me. I could really feel it in the air where I have to be a lot gentler throwing whips and flicks because the bike just moves so easily.

I now put light weight wheels and tires on my Chevy Bolt. Dropped each wheel/tire combo from 20.5 kg to 16.5 kg and that was also very noticeable in every way. Acceleration, handling, braking, etc are all improved.

So, as far as I am concerned, wheel/tire weight is absolutely something you should focus on if you care. The reduced rotating mass and reduced unsprung mass will absolutely improve how the bike rides and handles.

@kawczykwid 4 months ago

Amazing presentation skills. So clear and professional! Amazing work guys

@Gerard-nz8cf 4 months ago (edited)

Owen, UDAMAN. You should be in Hollywood being a narrator for Nature shows and doing voices for Pixar animated Movies.☮

@raulmartinez5511 4 months ago

Awesome video, I fully agree with every single point. Love the Propain Hugene!! probably my next ride 🙌

@jlore6344 2 days ago

Keith Bontrager is a legend, nice to have that shout-out for him. He used to be quite the racer too. Back in the day, he often raced in a local series (he often won or was on the podium on his singlespeed against all of us on geared bikes!) His articles in magazines on geometry, fit, handling etc. were gold as well.

@marcdemichele2689 4 months ago

Tire pressure and cockpit adjustments have been the biggest game changers by far for me.

@Meg_A_Byte 4 months ago

The camera work and the presentation skills are insane! Beautiful compositions, interesting long movements, uninterrupted monologues, and of course the message itself. Amazing work guys!
As for the question - you are absolutely right, if a 300g heavier component makes your ride 20% better, but only 2% heavier, then it's definitely worth it.

@dubsound2722 4 months ago

I upgraded my wheel set and the cassette and saved over 1 kg of rotating mass. This changed the dynamic of my heart tail substantially. With 95 kg of body weight I now changed to a stiffer tire casing ( exo+). Weight went up a little but the ride quality improved a lot. I can ride with less pressure and control got better. Substantially less wobbly tire feel.

@ÉireFirst26 4 months ago

Great to wake up Sunday morning to a gmbn video... & a good one too.💚

@jackiegammon2065 4 months ago (edited)

There are several different reasons that I say weight is an issue, but the main reason I say that is that I hear it in my shop all the time! Now, if you're an entry level rider or someone just getting back into the sport, it is a big deal and can be quite disappointing for that group. More than likely, that group already has an older bike that is lighter than today's bike. Now if you're starting out again, that may be a part of the population that is simply repairing their bike rather than buying new. On the other hand, I think if folks truly get into riding, than newer bikes with larger wheels, more travel in their suspension and disc brakes may be something that they look for. In the meantime, we have a group of people that simply want to ride and do not want a heavier bike, especially when loading the bike, and the industry is missing this group and the potential sales from them.From my experience, these are folks that quite often spend a fair amount on their bikes and all of its gear, and we are missing them. I'm sure that across the country/world, there are many groups that may or may not agree, that isn't the issue.... missing generations of people is a problem. Owen: I totally agree with your video, but I think the missing piece here is that we more than likely are talking about 2 different groups of people. Some of the folks that I am talking about are a bit older, very athletic and enjoy more than one sport. They buy good quality equipment, ride all sorts of terrain, but perhaps ride more blue/green trails as opposed to thinking about riding more aggressive trails. That does not limit these folks, as they may ride more aggressive trails, but it is not their only focus. Cycling is a part of their fitness program, but maybe not the entire piece. They are well educated, eat well and travel to enjoy their pursuits, and they may often do hill repeats at their local ski mountain, but will ride more aggressive trails. They are not pigeon holed into one thing or another, as their focus in the sport during that season and changes when the weather changes again. Maybe it's a New England thing, here in the US, but I see it in the cycling and the ski world...often times because of one age group trying to keep up with another group but certainly not always. Thanks again for your video!

@mattipeltola4394 4 months ago

Well presented, interesting points 👍

@yellowglider 9 hours ago

Great points!!! But I’d like to say that the “Cheap/Light/Strong” mantra has been around in the mechanical industry for ages, way before Mr. Bontrager…

@chrisvincent1189 3 weeks ago

Excellent video, probably the best GMBN has done so kudos. There was a lot more that could be delved into, but would go on and on to the none engineer riders, be utter boring!
When I did my electronics at college in the 90s, I had to do a piece on engineering, so I picked Mountain Biking. What a mistake!!
What I found blew my mind. I delved into all aspects and what I found was interesting but complex. Materials, the variant materials of carbon polymers, carbon metals, ali metals, then the mix of them all, dampeners of suspension, wheels, tyres... There was soooo much, I didn't finish the piece as I ran over by 3 months, but it was huge!
I'm not gonna go into it all as I'll be here for hours myself! But, so things that was an absolute game changer in mtb, was the brakes! Weight, suspension, ergonomics, etc etc meant nothing, if you couldn't stop! The development of the hydraulic brake, was the BIGGEST improvement of mtbing.
And as to your comment of power to weight ratio, you had to taking braking into consideration. Having a 4 ton vehicle with an 8 ton power house was great... but now stop the thing! So bring the weight down and improve the braking systems, and this is where tyre contact comes into play, wider tyres assists better braking and better stability (as mentioned). This is why EMTB bikes have bigger brakes, to help slow you down. Hence my comment of power to weight ratio above.

Now to what improvement I made on my bike is, SPANK Vibro rims and bars. Wow talk about removing those pesky micro vibrations, mass improvement, but added weight. It's an enduro bike, who cares!! 😂

@dcv9460 4 months ago

Awesome Info! 😎💯👍

@Syss123se 4 months ago

Ride changing upgrades: saddle and handlebar. Both heavier than original but made all the difference in actually being able to enjoy the ride.. Now I can ride all day long without discomfort 😍 Weight on a MTB matters when lifting the bike over and over. I've been out in the woods after storms more than once and parts of the trail looks like giants are playing Mikado with the trees. Sometime around lifting the bike over the fourth tree in 50 meters I'm happy that at least the bike is carbon 😂