Having signed up with Emma for a 100km charity bike ride later in the year I've been fiddling around with her mountain bike trying to figure out where I can shave a few grams.
It's pretty impressive how things add up and even small gains like 50g off each inner tube can all sum up to quite a big difference once you add in a bit of physics. It's easy to know where to focus on a bike, spinning weight is bad, all up weight is also bad, but not so much...
It's quite a lot like looking at Moths, except once a Moth is up to speed a bit of extra weight doesn't make a huge difference. It's a whole different ball game once you start looking at maneuvers though - every gram off helps, especially up top as it makes the boat so much easier to get through the gybes. This really came home for me sailing Emma's FBG at the Tide Ride - in a straight line I could pace a Bladerider offwind just through sheer guts and ride height, but carrying an extra 10 kilos couldn't land a gybe half the time (ok, I was rusty too...)! This soon adds up around the course...
Do I have a point? No, not really it's just a bit of food to feed the brain - on a Moth, start at the top and work down. I really need to get on and weigh the latest Ninja all up - everyone is always surprised when they pick one up...
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