Training4cyclists

Cycling Training Tips

light weight

Buying Road Pedals? Consider Weights and Prices

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Road pedals are not just road pedals, they add grams to the overall bike weight and thus play a role for your overall performance. You might have read about my little experiment to find out how much does extra weight cost on Alpe d’Huez which shows that even small weight savings makes a difference. Thus, it is worth considering bike components’ weights when you spend money next time.

Choosing new road pedals is not always an easy job. There are several things to consider and two major concerns are prices and weights. There are actually some quite significant savings for your wallet and bike weight if you look at the scheme below:

Professional Road Pedals

WeightPrice
Shimano Dura Ace PD-7900 Carbon Pedal318g$229
Look KEO Blade Carbon Ti Pedal258g$499
Campagnolo Record Ti Pro Fit Plus Pedals336g$300
Speedplay X/1 Titanium Road Pedal234g$329
TIME RXS Titanium Carbon Pedals265g$359

Semi-Professional Road Pedals

WeightPrice
Shimano Carbon Ultegra PD-6700C335g$149
Look KeO Sprint Pedals. White328g$180
Speedplay X/5 Road Pedal290g$125

Beginner Road Pedals

WeightPrice
Shimano 2010 105 SPD-SL Road 392g$89.95
Look Keo Easy370g$69.95

All listed weights are Total weight (Pedals incl. cleats).

Please note that the links above are all pointing at Amazon which means that Training4cyclists.com receives a small payment if you click the links AND buy your cycling equipment through these links.

As I have written previously, every single gram saved is an advantage on the climbs. Naturally it must not negatively effect the riding performance, but I have never heard of a rider having troubles with light weight road pedals. Thus, if you have decided to reduce your bike’s weight, then the above links could be a good place to begin.

Need to Reduce Your Bike’s Weight?

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How to Become a Better Climber ”“ Lesson 3

This is the third post in my series about how to become a better climber. This lesson will not focus on you, but on your bike. In the first two lessons you were supposed to describe in details what hill you would like to climb faster and your optimal body weight / body composition. Since you will have to carry your bike up the hill, it’s obvious that bike weight is also essential for your performance.

What is the optimal bike weight for a road bike?

If you race under UCI rules the answer is pretty exact: 6800g. If your bike weight is more than that you will get a ‘weight penalty’ to your opponents. If your bike weight is less than 6800g you might be disqualified. I have never heard of any rider having trouble with this rule, but maybe this is because of extremely rare testing.

Rules are rules and should always be followed. As a rider under the UCI rules you should aim for a bike weight of exactly 6800g.

If you ride just for fun and want to achieve the best possible performance uphill, you might benefit from an even lighter bike. Today it is not that difficult to build a bike weighing less than 6kg. It will cost you, but it is definitely possible.

What is the optimal bike weight for a mountain bike?

There is no limit to how light a mountain bike can be. If you can make your mountain bike lighter, there is room for improvement of your climbing performance.

Reducing bike weight is challenging and does not have to cost a lot of money. Every single gram saved is an advantage on the climbs. Naturally it must not negatively effect the riding performance.

It is clear that weight savings can be really, really expensive, but for road cyclists, you are probably not far away from optimal bike weight regarding UCI’s 6800g rule. It is a little more tricky and expensive for mountain bikers since they must estimate how many grams or kilograms they are from the best mountain bikes in their competitions.
Your task today:
How light weight is your bike and how light weight would you like it to be?

How much time does extra weight cost on Alpe d’Huez?

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Ever wondered how much difference it would make if you made your bike lighter? I guess most serious riders once in while have concerns about their bikes whether they are light enough. As previously described the bike weight has impact on performance ”“ especially during climbing.

Thus, I thought it was interesting to find out how much difference it makes if you ride a heavier bike up alpe d’Huez. This little trial was performed by the best rider I coach as a part of his preparation for Tour de l’avenir (U23 Tour de France) in September 2008.

In this experiment he had to ride up Alpe d’Huez four times with different setups. He was supposed to keep a pace around 275w on all four rides. The test bike was a Pinarello Prince equipped with Shimano Dura Ace and SRM crank:

1. Normal bike + 1.8L extra water in tyres(!)
This setup was quite interesting and got quite a lot of attention the day before when he had a puncture..! It was possible to fill 900ml into each tyre. Reducing weights on wheels is more important than reducing weight on non-rolling equipment e.g. bike saddle.

2. Normal bike + 1,8L extra water on bike.
This setup also got some serious attention because he rode a relative fast pace compared to most riders visiting Alpe d’Huez. Thus, when he performed the trial, well-trained riders were trying to keep up with his pace because this setup looked so extreme.

3. Normal bike
This setup was a completely normal bike.

4. Normal bike, reduced tyre pressure only 3 bars.
The last setup was ridden with reduced tyre pressure to 3bars. This was a tough finish on the last ride up Alpe d’Huez this day.

Results:
1. 52.01, 275w
2. 51.34, 277w
3. 49.40, 278w
4. 50.38, 273w

1,8L extra weight costs 1.54min up Alpe d’Huez. This is a remarkable test that shows us how important weight savings are when you are riding on steep hills. Also it shows that weight savings on wheels might be more important than weight saving on non-rolling equipment. These trials were only possible because of his SRM Crank that made it possible to compare each ride up the hill. You can make similar trials to test your bike setup if you want to optimize your bike equipment. These tests can be extremely helpful for e.g. time trialists if you don’t have wind tunnel in the neighbourhood.