Everything You Thought About Weight Is WRONG

Overview

A presenter asks a simple question — is one kilogram of bike weight worth worrying about? — and answers it by comparing two imagined riders (60 kg and 80 kg) at two power levels (4 W/kg and 6 W/kg). The video’s take-away: think in watts, not grams. A kilogram is usually worth only a few watts, so watts, position, tires and training generally buy more speed than obsessing over tiny weight savings.

Setup

• Two rider masses: 60 kg and 80 kg.
• Two power outputs expressed as W/kg:
  • 4 W/kg (good amateur)
  • 6 W/kg (pro level)
• Sequence of climbs of different steepness to show how +1 kg affects time on various gradients.
• Early framing trade-off: lose 1 kg of fat versus gain 5 W on FTP — the presenter teases that the 5 W is almost always the better choice.

“Think in watts, not grams.”

Time penalties for +1 kg (summary)

Table of example time penalties for adding 1 kg on climbs (presenter’s midway table):

• 60 kg rider at 4 W/kg
  • 3% gradient: +22 seconds
  • 20% gradient: +52 seconds
• 80 kg rider (same +1 kg causes a smaller time penalty because it’s a smaller share of total mass and they produce more absolute watts)
• More powerful riders (6 W/kg) travel faster on shallow gradients, so weight matters less there; on steep gradients (10–20%) the time penalty from weight becomes similar regardless of power.

Translating +1 kg into watts

The presenter converts the +1 kg penalty into equivalent watts (approximate examples):

• 60 kg at 4 W/kg on 3% climb ≈ 2.9 W
• 60 kg at 4 W/kg on 20% climb ≈ 3.5 W
• 80 kg at 4 W/kg on 20% climb ≈ 3.8 W
• 80 kg at 6 W/kg on steep climbs ≈ 5.4 W

Rule of thumb: a kilogram is worth only a few watts — much less than many cyclists expect — so improving watts is usually a better target than shedding a kilo of bike weight.

Practical recommendations (where to spend effort and money)

The presenter emphasizes several higher-leverage actions:

1. Strength training (build “functional mass”)

   • Cited studies suggest improvements in LT1 / zone 2 of roughly 3–6%.
   • Example conversions:
     • If LT1 = 200 W, a 3–6% rise ≈ +6 to +12 W.
     • If threshold = 300 W, a 5% rise ≈ +15 W.
   • These gains are generally far above the typical 3–5 W value of dropping 1 kg.

2. Riding position

   • Seated vs standing: at ~20 km/h the difference can be 10–12 W.
   • Train to stay seated on climbs to avoid wasting watts by standing unnecessarily.

3. Tires and pressures

   • One of the biggest, cost-effective wins.
   • At high speeds (e.g., 40 km/h) you can save ~12 W with fast tires and correct pressures.
   • Aero improvements scale with speed^3, so aero gains shrink on climbs; rolling resistance is more linear and remains meaningful while climbing.
   • Presenter points to independent testing at bicycle-rolling-resistance.com.

4. Drivetrain care

   • Losses are cadence-dependent, not speed-dependent, because chain articulations are set by RPM.
   • Cleaning, better lubricants or waxing, and chain maintenance yield tangible savings.
   • Ceramic bearings and oversized jockey wheels give only marginal extra benefit if you’re chasing tiny gains.

Overall priority: spend on training, tires, position and simple maintenance before spending large amounts on ultralight components (e.g., sub-100 g frame/wheel savings).

Illustrative capstone

• Racing example: Harry Mack won the UK National Hill Climb Championships by 5 seconds on a sub-kilometre climb.
• The presenter calculates that a +1 kg penalty would have cost Mack only ~2–3 seconds — suggesting that even in extreme hill-climb contexts, obsessing over a single kilogram may not change outcomes.

Conclusion / Closing image

• Bike weight matters, but far less than most riders assume.
• Watts, position, tires, training and simple maintenance usually buy more speed per cost/effort than expensive lightweight parts.
• The video closes with a playful vignette about waxing chains.

Presenters / Sources Cited

• Unnamed presenter (video host / author)
• Harry Mack — winner referenced (UK National Hill Climb Championships)
• bicycle-rolling-resistance.com — cited for independent tire rolling-resistance data
• Unspecified published studies on strength training improving LT1/LT2 (summarized in the video)
• The presenter’s own analysis tables (time penalties and watt equivalents)