WEIGHT A MINUTE...
The weight game
It is the task of feature writers to attempt an explanation of complex physics and automotive dynamics in as few words as possible. While weight reduction is a desirable aim for a competition bike designer there are different types of weight, these being ‘all-up’ ‘sprung’ and ‘unsprung.’ Attention to each area can alter the way a bike feels and it’s easy to get it wrong and alter the balance of a bike. Briefly – and this subject is an involved one – a lower overall weight is generally good but carving lbs or kgs off one end of the bike and not the other will lower the weight but alter the balance point… then there’s sprung weight which is the bulk of the bike above the suspension. Unsprung weight is that mass which moves when the bike is being ridden, effectively the wheels and half of the suspension units.
ow light is too light and what is needed to create such a light bike? The first question is a difficult thing to quantify, as general thinking in the
