A friend of mine recently commented about the appropriate name of my new bike – insinuating that I am a bit of a Diva.
Well, maybe I am. Take, for instance, my list of demands concerning my new bike.
When I decided to spring for a new ride, I was painfully aware that the only option for a proper fitting bike that was an upgrade from what I had was the 2010 Orbea Diva. The full carbon frame with integrated headset and fork retails for $3000 and promises to weigh in at some obscenely light weight.
Now, I am not a weight weenie. I have never, ever had a light bike, nor have I ever expressed the desire to own one. I never owned super light race wheels and I never cared about things like carbon fiber water bottle cages or titanium skewers as a means of weight reduction. My criteria for a bike has always been
1.) it must fit me
2.) I have to be able to afford it
3.) it has to perform in a race
I’ve alluded to my inability to deal with change. I do not like change. I’m the type of person who will use Windows 95 because I don’t want to bother to learn the newer stuff (actually, that’s not true, I’m a Mac person…but when I finally upgraded my iBook G4 to a Macbook in 2007, the guy at the Apple store was shocked to learn that I was still using Panther).
When it comes to change on the bike, I am even less compromising. Even though I’ve changed bikes over the years, my position has remained constant. Since 1997, I have ridden a 50cm top tube with a 0º rise 80mm stem, and 165mm cranks. I use Salsa Short n Shallow 40cm bars and a Terry Damselfy saddle. And I have used Shimano since I started riding in 1997. Sure, I started on Biopace and RX100 and then upgraded to Ultegra, and eventually to Dura Ace, but I am not interested in learning a new drive train.
Selecting the appropriate combination of parts to get my new Diva to a modern day bicycle weight (that would be under 16lbs) was not easy. Because of my strict needs on fit, I couldn’t just buy the lightest parts available -the result would have been a bike that did not fit and was all wrong. For example, I challenge you to find a really light 80mm 0º rise stem. Go for it. Try and find one. Not easy. Now try and find shallow drop handlebars that are super light. Equally difficult.
Some of my equipment choices are simply due to comfort and familiarity – Shimano R540 pedals are heavy, but I like them, and the weight savings from switching to Dura Ace are not worth the price. My saddle is not light, but it’s comfortable. I raced a Selle Italia SLR for 3 years – yeah it was great having a saddle that only weighed 138gms, but my crotch wasn’t that thrilled about it. With my Damselfly I can ride 130 miles in a day and not ever get a saddle sore or numbness…that is worth the extra 125gms.
When the new bike was finally built, we weighed it, and with American Classic Sprint 350 wheels (what I believe are the lightest clincher wheels in 650 available) it comes in at 15.8 lbs (with pedals and cages).
I’m not gonna lie – I was a bit disappointed. After all – the Garmin team Felt bike is rumored to come in below the UCI weight limit at somewhere around 14.3 lbs. Andy assured me that the published weights were exclusive of things like pedals and cages and most likely not accurate.
Last night Andy got his new American Classic Magnesium wheels and promptly put them on his new SRAM Red equipped Felt F1C. His bike weighed 14.8 lbs.
WTF?
How is it that a 56cm bike can weigh less than a 46cm?
Andy pointed out that if I had gone with SRAM Red instead of Dura Ace, I would have a lighter bike.
And this is where I start to get angry. I cannot use SRAM. I hate Hate HATE SRAM. Sorry SRAM, but people with small hands cannot shift the Double Tap technology. I had Rival on my cross bike and I couldn’t shift and had to switch the bike over to Ultegra. People have insisted that it was the Rival and that I would have no problem shifting Red. Last night I put his bike on the trainer and tried shifting the Red. Same problem…too many degrees of lateral swing for my little hands.
This all made me angry and Andy said “look, you could have a lighter bike, but you didn’t want to get the light parts.”
Let me get this straight – for any random guy to get a sub 15lb bike, he only has to be willing to pay the money. He can get whatever length stem and size bars and whatnot and he can have a light bike. If I were to spec my bike with the lightest parts, I would have to ride handlebars that I could not reach, use a stem that is either too long or has the wrong rise, and I would have to use shifters that I was incapable of shifting.
I don’t think so.
So instead, I opt for something that fits, and the result is my bike is an entire pound heavier than a size 56.
It’s just not fair, bicycle industry. Small girls want light stuff too….
March 12th, 2010 | 
Looks very short, and able to climb and descent very fast. I would suggest though, inner tubes Schwalbe SV11 with short presta valves. Air resistance and wheel balance is more important than a few grams.
“Now try and find shallow drop handlebars that are super light.”
The reach/drop for those Salsa Short n Shallows I find reported as 82/144 mm; 3T Ergonova’s are given to be 77/123 mm. There are two carbon versions hovering around 200g and the same shape in alloy at 277g. You would have to like flat tops and flared drops though, and have deep pockets to afford the light ones.
You have list two components right off the bat that would save you over 200 grams – pedals and saddle. Also, check the tubes and tires. You don’t state what you’re running, but it’s quite possible to save ~100 grams there, and rotating weight is where it counts most anyways. Stupid things like bar tape can save a few dozen grams. Andy’s right too, that advertised weights are underestimated. That said, I can understand your exasperation with the bike industry in general, but it’s tough to empathize when you purposefully choose parts that are _not_ light. Andy’s right about that too.
Zen – did you miss the part where I state I choose a saddle that is 125gm heavier than the lightest option because I prefer to keep my genitals in a functioning state? I figure you of all people can appreciate that.
Regarding pedals – I could buy Dura Ace pedals and save some grams, but at that point the $$/gm ratio isn’t worth it.
I use Michelin Pro3 tires and Michelin tubes.
The frustrating thing here is that most people can choose a heavier saddle and pedals and still come in lighter than me.
No, I didn’t miss it. I have a few parts on my scott that I’ve chosen for the reasons of cost effectiveness or comfort as well. $400 zero G brakes versus $75 cane creek (tektro), used zipp 303s for $350, vs a reynolds or mavic $1500 mid level set…I get it. The point is that I can’t complain about weight when I purposely choose heavier parts, for whatever the reason.
FWIW – I’ve been married for almost 16 years. The functionality of my genitals is pretty much a moot point.
Seems heavier than it should be. Was Andy’s bike weighed on the same scale?
My 61 cm Tarmac comes in at 16.4 with PD-6620 pedals and King cages. Bars are light (but 44s) and the stem and seat are not super light….
Weigh it again
@zen – yup, I did mention the pedals. Specifically I suggested that the Look Keo Carbon Ti at 95g/pedal would save about 150g over the Shimano pedals. However, at $400/set they’re exorbitant. The Crank Bros. candy pedals are another alternative. However, in Kerry’s defense, that would mean yet another pedal system and to be practical about it, she’d need a set of shoes dedicated to the bike, making the whole thing unviable. With respect to the saddle, again she could shave about 100g off of the total weight of the bike but as I’ve discovered, I’ll trade a comfortable saddle for a light one any day of the week. It just so happens that the saddle that I find comfortable is also insanely light. Tubes and tires are pretty light – the Michelin tires and tubes are about as light as any mainstream tire/tube combo out there.
@Bruce – yes, they were weighed on the same scale several times. The main differences are quantifiable:
1. My saddle is 118g, Kerry’s is 260g
2. My pedals are 280g, Kerry’s are 330g
3. My SRAM red groupset weighs in at about 230g lighter than the Dura Ace gruppo.
4. My stem is 100g, Kerry’s stem is 140g
Add up all those differences and you get 462 grams, or about 1lb, which is exactly the difference in weight between the bikes.
So, why didn’t we go with the lighter components? Well, the saddle is something you either can or can’t do. The pedals didn’t make sense. Kerry can’t use SRAM – the lever throw is just too large for small hands, and other than Salsa and Profile Design you just can’t get a 80mm zero degree rise stem.
Since Kerry has been riding for several years, her body has adapted to the way she has been fit, and furthermore she has limitations on some equipment because of her size. The stem, for example is one of them, and the handlebars are another example. I, on the other hand, have not, and therefore I have very little preconceptions or ingrained muscle memory with respect to bikes, so I can adapt more readily. I’ll also contend that because I’m slap-bang in the middle of the normal range at 5′10″, there’s a ton more options available to me (and yes, I spent *days* looking for the lightest possible components for Kerry regardless of price).
Stick with the Shimano pedals. I had an issue recently withe the Candy pedals. I do weight more than 2X Litkas.
http://ilbruce.blogspot.com/2010/03/cranky-bros.html
Couldn’t you use a 80mm 84-degree stem (easily available, e.g. Deda), and mount it on the steerer tube a bit lower down, pointing upwards? (Looks like you have a spacer below the stem – you’d have to either use a smaller one or remove it completely). The difference in bar position is only going to be 1/2 of a millimeter.
Also – what seat post is that? Looks chunky.
Paul, the difference with the stem, though small, was noticeable to Kerry. Her setup is exact, to the millimeter, as far as position is concerned, and when it was off by 1mm she actually noticed it and made me fix it
. The other 80mm stems that I found were not significantly lighter than the profile design (maybe 20-30 grams lighter at the most), so rather than mess with her riding position we thought it would be better to get a 90 degree stem.
The seat post is a Zeus C3 Carbon seat post and came with the bike. While it looks chunky, it is actually extremely light, and in fact we trimmed it somewhat because it needed to be so low in the tube that it bottomed out!
What shoes do you use? I dropped over a pound of rotating weight AND saw a significant increase in wattage when I went to Rocket 7s. Super expensive and the best thing I ever did for my racing. Also, they last for years. They have more than paid for themselves.
Ah, shoes….I do in fact have a pair of $675 custom Rocket 7 shoes…that do not fit my feet in any way, shape or form. I got then in 2005 and when they first arrived around early May of that year (I did the sizing kit back in the fall of 2004) they were so wide that I couldn’t get them tight enough to fit like actual cycling shoes. So I had to send them back and along with them I sent an old Sidi Verona, as my Sidis always fit perfect (I do not have terribly small feet, I wear a 38 in Sidi Women’s shoes and a 37 in most anything else, cycling or casual). I do, however, have narrow feet. But again – I have never needed special narrow shoes. I think my feet are fairly normal and when I rode for Dansko, over half the girls on the team all wore the same size shoe as me despite them being much taller.
So anyway, my ‘first’ pair of R7s were too wide, I sent them back with suggestions and explained that if they could simply make me a pair that fit like the Sidis, I would be happy. They replied with something about not having equipment to make a last as narrow as mine and that they needed to get some new stuff in order to do that. About 8 months later my “new” shoes came in, and they are still too wide, but this time too short and I cannot wear them for more than 30s without insane foot pain. I tried doing things like soaking them in water and then going for a ride to let them stretch to my foot, but they are simply a very poor fit that in no way resembles my foot. I have high arches and the foot bed in their shoes does not fit my arch at all, which is strange since my off the rack Sidi’s fit fine. And of course they are about 1/4″ too wide on either side – when I put them on it looks like I have mega wide feet.
I currently use a pair of Sidi Genius (not sure the number) from 2004 – my guess is the newer ones are lighter, and these are getting old so I might just invest in a brand new pair of Sidi Genius-whatever women’s shoes this year.
I will never change from Sidi Genius 5 until they stop making them – I have the same problem as you Kerry – a narrow foot with a high arch and SIDI is the ONLY shoe that has ever fit me properly. I do have to say I would have put Speedplays on the bike though instead of SPD and saved a ton of weight (plus they are just plain comfy for me) ;0)
Aww, let poor Andy have his lighter bike. He needs every advantage he can get since he’s never going to be as strong a rider as you. I know I’m just a runner but I think the biker makes the machine not the other way around. As someone once said, “It’s not about the bike”.