superlight bikes do NOT let you pedal faster in any sort of appreciable way with less effort. you’re a victim of marketing. i despise carbon bikes; they call cyclists liek me “retrogrouches”; not sure if that term is used in other areas… i am an extreme retrogrouch in cycling matters.

think about the weight differential between a super lightweight bike at 17 lbs and a “heavy” steel bike at 23 lbs.

the weight that matters is the entire weight with you your water bottles and your stuff on the bike. the difference bewteen a superlightweight piece of trash (your weight plus bike plus goods) and an old school beautiful steel bike (your weight plus bike plus goods) is probably the difference between two water bottles. the total weight of a me on a heavy bike with my bag is 145 plus 23 plus 10 = 178 lbs. the total weight of me on a superlight racer is 145 plus 17 plus 10 = 172… a 6 lb 3.5% difference makes no dfference on the flats, and a teeny difference on the hills.

Believe me, i am not going faster if I empty my water bottles (a few lbs of weight) in any kind of way that matters. in terms of racing, we are talking seconds over long arduous hills.

it’s all BULLSHIT except for paid racers for who tiny differences do actually matter…

add a few more pounds and what do you get?

durability. safety. with no real impact on speed, other than a potential
“placebo” impact some pople get from riding what lance rides…

also you can pick one up in a store with one hand and go, “woah, she’s light”.

but we don’t use a bike in that way. it rolls on the ground with us on it, we don’t do curls with it. the way it feels when you pick it up doesn’t matter for 99.9% of all applications…except maybe carrying it up the stairs in a place without an elevator. and even then the 6 lbs doesnt really matter that much.