Steel bikes are heavy

[coast 2 coast]

Having spent substantial amounts of money on things like carbon fibre saddles, titanium bottom brackets, Middleburn cranks, carbon/titanium pedals etc. I feel like I now floats up hills.

[Grandad]

Looking at a 1974 Peugeot catalogue the PX10 is listed at 21lbs - about 9.5 kgs complete - this includes pump and a mafac toolkit.

Thinking of the exaggerated mpg claims made by car manufacturers can you fully trust this?

[Trigger]

Petrol was cheaper than water in 1974 and nobody cared about MPG, so it wasn't worth lying about

[kwackers]

Looking at a 1974 Peugeot catalogue the PX10 is listed at 21lbs - about 9.5 kgs complete - this includes pump and a mafac toolkit.

Thinking of the exaggerated mpg claims made by car manufacturers can you fully trust this?

I think that's more to do with the style of driving than anything else. Typically I get the 'urban cycle' mileage on my car and if I actually try I can get a little better.

As for making your bike feel lighter. Simply add weight and ride it for a few weeks, when you remove the weight it'll feel brilliant for a few days. This is also a good way of putting you off buying a lighter bike (or parts), they only feel lighter for a short time then get fat again...

[Mick F]

Petrol was cheaper than water in 1974 and nobody cared about MPG, so it wasn't worth lying about

Where do you get info from?
I remember 1974 very well indeed, and petrol certainly wasn't cheap, so I don't know where people must have bought their water from.

I cared about MPG and still care, even though petrol is FAR cheaper now - compared to the average weekly wage.

[Barstaff]

I've built up a nice 54cm 853 with SRAM rival and Mavic SL wheels.
No fancy carbon parts but now weighing in at a lovely 15.8lbs..!

[pete75]

Looking at a 1974 Peugeot catalogue the PX10 is listed at 21lbs - about 9.5 kgs complete - this includes pump and a mafac toolkit.

Thinking of the exaggerated mpg claims made by car manufacturers can you fully trust this?

Given it was a pro level machine yes and it's hard to fake something like a bike weight - anyone with a set of scales can check it.
MPG claims made by manufacturers are correct - it's what they achieve under the specific , legislation designed tests. They're run on simulators not on the road with two of the tests at constant speed. Real life mpg may be vastly different depending on road conditions, traffic levels, weight carried in the vehicle, driving style etc. The figures are more use as a comparison between different vehicles than an exact indication of the mpg any individual driver may achieve.

[speedsixdave]

Just weighed my early 1990s Dyna-Tech (2020?) with titanium main tubes. Mostly Record inc ergopower levers & delta brakes, Vento deep-section wheels with Veloflex 23mm clinchers, Time pedals, two bottle cages, etc etc. Obviously not a fully steel bike but not far removed, and I'd be very surprised if the frame weighed much different from a 531c/653/753 road frame of the time.

21lb.

[iandriver]

Reynalds 953 and all the latest bling.

http://road.cc/content/news/108907-just ... e-team-953

Whole bike 7.9KG for a mere five grand (and still no mudguards )

[nez]

In 1974 we fetched our water from a tap and so did everyone else who wasn't posh. I owned a Peugeot tourer. Oh I loved that bike. But it was heavy.

[mrjemm]

http://road.cc/content/news/95627-engli ... -superbike

Well, it's largely steel... and a lot of the 'steel' bikes have kerbon forks, don't they? But... 5.8kg seems rather snazzy.

http://www.englishcycles.com/custombikes/irvins-v3-1/

[Ross K]

My regularly used winter bike no 2 is my from-new 1980's 531c frame, coldset to 130 with modern handbuilt wheels, SRAM 8sp cassette and original friction shifters. It has SKS chromoplastic mudguards and 25c Gator Hardshells.

It weighs 11kg which I think is pretty light for what it is. I do regular training loops on it and my times are very little different from the same routes on my 9.5kg winter bike and my 8.0kg summer bike.

The thing is I just love it as it is. I do have weight weenie tendencies (but not the budget to back it up generally!) so, sure, I think to myself, I could ditch a kilo or so easily with say carbon forks and lighter wheels/tyres/seatpost/saddle, but what's the point? Celebrate your steel bike for what it is, go out and ride it and enjoy it.

[Ayesha]

Looking at a 1974 Peugeot catalogue the PX10 is listed at 21lbs - about 9.5 kgs complete - this includes pump and a mafac toolkit. The PX10 was one of the more robust out and out racing bikes in it's day.

I can agree with that.
PX10LE was 9.5kg.

A friend at school had a Mercian 531 with Campag Corsa Record and Milremo sprints, which was 'all up' 20 lb. It cost £250 more than my Pug in 1974. He never did get faster than me tho'

PS. The Pug PX10LE was £384.99. A Yamaha FS1E was £289.99

PPS. Bernard Thevenet's TdF winning bike was a fraction under mine, cus he had Simplex Magnesium Alloy mechs & levers; and the chainring etc etc drilled.

[pete75]

Looking at a 1974 Peugeot catalogue the PX10 is listed at 21lbs - about 9.5 kgs complete - this includes pump and a mafac toolkit. The PX10 was one of the more robust out and out racing bikes in it's day.

I can agree with that.
PX10LE was 9.5kg.

A friend at school had a Mercian 531 with Campag Corsa Record and Milremo sprints, which was 'all up' 20 lb. It cost £250 more than my Pug in 1974. He never did get faster than me tho'

PS. The Pug PX10LE was £384.99. A Yamaha FS1E was £289.99

PPS. Bernard Thevenet's TdF winning bike was a fraction under mine, cus he had Simplex Magnesium Alloy mechs & levers; and the chainring etc etc drilled.

And Peugeot had a somewhat better competition record than Mercian.

The truly dreadful Fizzy would have been dear at half the price , people look on them with fondness now but at the time they were a bit of a joke to us lads who were only slightly older than the moped generation.
I remember mates a year or less younger than me buying them for 150 quid more than I'd paid for a 4 year old Suzuki Super Six when I was 16.

[iow]

I've built up a nice 54cm 853 with SRAM rival and Mavic SL wheels.
No fancy carbon parts but now weighing in at a lovely 15.8lbs..!

15.8lbs? - have you a breakdown of the frame/fork/component weights?
seems impressively light for steel frame and fork with non-exotic parts.