Does weight weenism annoy people?

[GZAmk2]

For me, Weightweenies was always and remains a tech forum. Years ago the rarest, most exotic tech was super lightweight exotica, handmade by a professor type character in their garage.
If you've been on the forum forever, as we have,
The issue this forum faced is the transition from that artisan, often self-built bike lightness into "I just bought the most expensive Cannondale/Canyon/whatever and its 5.6kgs". Whilst I think there are still truffles of interesting tech, so much of it now is about why the new Trek is better than the new Specialized, or even, god forbid, why SRAM actually works, which is just boring.

BANG ON

[UpFromOne]

...
in my brief time here I haven't seen anyone dump on cheap parts or proclaim light expensive parts make them any faster.

I officially proclaim that light bikes make me faster.

[Protsi]

I've never really had any isues with it myself, I can see the point people make about cutting a few grams here and there and the silliness of potential risks going too far to cut weight. I used to be a Weight Weenie back in the early 90's when I had more money and I was single, I was also hooked following greg LeMond who was so adventurous and innovative.



The other thing I notice on here too is the ridiculous money spent and shown on here just to save a few grams, now that's fine as yes it's WW's but if I was to question it I would expect to be either totally ignored or ridiculed for it...there's quite a bit of entitlement here...

I'm not a WW, but I find it fascinating the lengths, and money people spend in order to lose weight from their bike/bikes. Which is why I'm on here, as I like to see how the projects develop.

I don't race, but I still don't want a heavy bike, but just changing the stem, seatpost and wheels will suffice for me. When spending money on a bike, or trying to lose weight, my view is 'is it value for money & will it make me appreciably faster?' Will buying a £5,000+ bike with Di2/Etap make me lots faster than a £2,500 bike with Ultegra/Force? Not really, as much as I like new tech.

Nicely said.


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[Alexbn921]

This is what it really comes down to. Raw jealousy. I saw a thread on Reddit recently where people were piling on all the "idiots" who weren't pro cyclists but had the gall to buy anything more than 105. One guy even bragged about seeking out anyone with a top level groupset and trying to pass them with his Sora bike just to feel better about himself.

I don't get it. I don't need to be a race car driver to enjoy a Porsche or an architect/general contractor to like a nice house. Live and let live!

I had a guy on a Yellow Pinarello Dogma Chris Froome edition refuse to let me pass him. Then he chase me back down and pass me only to get dropped again. He did this 4 times while I was just keeping a steady pace on the climb. The final time he waved his hands and gestured me threw. Some people are just weird.

[MiddMan]

I think bringing down weight is always a plus, to a point. However, I'm still not convinced that über-lightweight materials and components necessarily translate into performance gains or, more notably, have the same safety and stability. But in terms of getting things down to 6.8kg I'm all for it.

As others have suggested, this forum has evolved over the years and is not exclusively about what is the lightest. Nevertheless, I've found it to be a great place to learn from people expertise and meet those who have similar interest and passion for cycling.

[cheapvega]

I don't think it annoys me, but I am starting to kind of get over it now that I've basically got my build under 6kg

I think I have enough parts to start cobbling together a cheap aero-ish build. If I'm faster on it I might sell my WW build

[nickf]

This form is a wealth of knoledge. But I'm still a WW at heart. My next build is extralite bits, tune, and mechanical sram red. But these are parts that are tried and true for me. I feel like extralite is reasonably affordable, plenty durable, and also performs well. While I love Darimo components ( I do have a seatpost from them) their bar and stem combo is far past the g per $ limit for me 760 euro ouch. Same for THM, Lighweight, schmolke. While I do check their stuff out I just don't see the value. I think that's where the WW haters crop up. These crazy asking prices triggers the haters, not really the weight.

[eurostar]

It's not my main reason for buying WW components, but part of the pleasure is annoying the crusty brigade. They get so indignant! I love it. I've been annoying them since I bought a 753 frame at a time when only a few well sponsored pros had them. A performance gain isn't necessary if you don't race. You just need pleasure in owning and looking at shiny, well made things. Your bike should be such a joy that it lives in your bedroom where you can admire it daily.

[misteryellow]

The annoying part to me is when it becomes more about having a bike that no one else has than about riding. I also feel that certain 'improvements' are simply too marginal to matter. This then developes in blind consumerism. Cycling is already a pretty wasteful/non-sustainable industry so this annoys me.

[MrCurrieinahurry]

Jeeez this thread wasn't for internal annoyance of a member of our community

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[misteryellow]

Jeeez this thread wasn't for internal annoyance of a member of our community

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Was that meant for me or as a general remark? Whatever the case, to reflect upon one's own attitude about WW is of merit too.

[MrCurrieinahurry]

Yea mate but only as a joke

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[misteryellow]

Yea mate but only as a joke

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You're a moderator so your seriousness is always implied

[TiBikeNut]

I’ve always been a ww. And I don’t care. But I never been given much grief about it.

I used to be into exotic ultralight stuff like m2 racer pedals or tune saddles.

Recently it seems harder since bikes have built such integrated systems and I went with sram etap and couldn’t swap out other parts like kcnc chains or cassettes + I was on a budget.

But two years in I’m looking around for lighter disc rotors, calipers, inner tubes and tires.

But the ww in me will never die…I just grew up … now I’m stripping weight on my car. Came w/ less sound deadening, light weight gorilla glass, door straps instead of handles….. This summer I’m losing 20 lbs on lighter exhaust parts. Next I’m replacing battery to save 40 pounds.

But now saving weight is just one element of the ultimate goal of going faster.

Rolling resistance, friction, geometry, aerodynamics, biomechanics, etc….. all matter and all help.

I got a Roubaix and it’s definitely faster with bigger tires and suspension. But it’s also a lot lighter than my focus mares cx.


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[neeb]

My pernennial gripe with people who don't "get" lightweight bikes is how many of them simply don't seem to understand that while you can't notice a 50g weight saving, you can notice a 1.5kg or 2kg difference, but to achieve that you need to save 50g many times over. It just doesn't make sense to them why you would spend money to save 50g, because there is no immediate advantage in that alone.