# Trek 5200 - 20 pounds?



## tiger

Perhaps I'm a bit off here, but I can't believe how much my Trek 5200 weighs. I just weighed it by stepping on the scale holding it, then alone, and subtracting, 20 pounds!  

Can this be? Here's the spec: 2003 5200, Bontrager race stem, Deda 215 bars, Thomson seatpost, SI Max Flite Trans AM saddle, 30 ci saddle bag with inflator, three cartridges, one tube, light multitool, Tacx Tao cages, Look pedals, Ultegra triple with 12-27 cassette, Arrohead/dura ace/Sapim CXray wheels, Contin GP 3000 tires.

I was figuring it would be 18 lbs. But 20 lbs.? (Even more distressing is my Dean titanium, outfitted similarly, was 22 lbs!).

No wonder I'm slow on hills! And all along I thought it was a lack of fitness.


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## argylesocks

what size is it??

i have a 58 litespeed, with deda magic, rolf vector pros, Dura ace / ultegra mix, FSA crank...and i did the same thing you and i think i was coming up in the 20-21pound range..
good digital bathroom scale, repeated many times.

not sure how these guys are getting 16# bikes...

oh well, i actually feel the best on the hills, so it cant be hurting me too bad.


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## tiger

Size is 58 cm.


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## Kerry Irons

*Bad data*



tiger said:


> I just weighed it by stepping on the scale holding it, then alone, and subtracting


I can't comment on what your bike should weigh, but I know that your method is only accurate +/- 1 lb. at best, and more likely +/- 2 lb. Your scales are likely accurate to something like 1% of full scale - IOW, 2 lb. At this point your bike could just as likely be 18 or 22 lb, based on your procedure. You need to find a scale that weighs things in the less than 50 lb. range, and then weigh your bike that way. A produce scale or a fish scale is worth considering. Also, consider that you may easily have 2 lb. in that seat bag. Finally, relative to your hill climbing, 2 lb will cost you less than 30 seconds and hour in climbing a 6% grade.


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## Hardy Cyclamens

Relax! Take a deep breath! 

First of all . . . bathroom scales just aren't designed to parse out weights in the 20 lb range. They're designed to give you weights in the 150 lb range. When you compress the springs in the scale, and you need to realize that they're short springs with little vertical movement, they're going to be accurate probably within a pound. This is why the scale is marked in large, bold letters "Not Legal For Trade." They're accurate within a pound or so -- which is fine if you're comparing weight of your body day-to-day, but not at all accurate if you're comparing 20 lb. masses back-to-back. 

You'll note that your doctor's scale uses a counter-weight and levers to give you a reading. These systems don't rely on springs which compress and "set." You may have noticed signs on commercial/trade scales which state: "No Springs, Honest Weight." You'll remember too that the triple beam scale you used in chem. classes weighs with a lever and counter-weights. Springs aren't reliable for accurate weights. 

Then . . . and I have a digital scale that reads out in 1/10 pound -- that's 1.6 oz. The scale is going to "round off." I just stepped on my digital three times. While my total weight is none of your business    the last two places ran: 1.6, 2.0, 2.6. So, there's a pound right there. The springs in the scale are going to compress, react, adjust, compress and otherwise bounce/rebound a bit while they're settling in on a weight. They're not moving much in terms of distance, and the rebounding, compression can vary slightly -- particularly if you're weighing two or three times in rapid sucession, on a carpet with a pad which is also compressing and rebounding. A slight variation will result in the read-out being off by a pound or more. 

Bottom line is, your comparison weights on a bathroom scale for a bike with a weight in the realm of 20 lbs is not going to be very accurate. If you want an accurate weight for your bike, weigh it on a commercial trade scale which is set up to weigh in the 10 - 50 pound range. 

Finally, the weight of your bike SHOULD NOT include the weight of your tool kit. And your tool kit sounds like a heavy one. A pint of water in a feeding bottle weighs a pound. You don't want to weigh that either, nor frame pumps, seat cover, valve stem adapters, valve stem caps, road grime . . . 

But in the larger scheme of things, a pound one way or the other is not going to affect performance speed on the bike. If you want to set up a fast bike, concentrate on wheels and "throw weight" -- the weight of tires and rims which you're "throwing" in a circle. Wheels and tires act like a flywheel and affect acceleration and the maintenance of spinging speed. 

Tires, besides affecting "throw weight" also affect bike speed through the friction and contact area the tire has against the road surface. A light tire under high pressure has less friction and contact area with the road surface than a heavier tire with less tire pressure. The trade off is that the lighter tire under higher pressure also has less grip in the turns -- and bounces more on uneven road surface. Bounce can dissipate forward speed because the tire is not incontact with the road surface. 

If you're really serious about cutting weight, shave your head, trim your nails, and thoroughly relieve yourself before riding. 

Bike weight is a fine little game we can play. A really light bike is a technical marvel. But a bike weighing 20 lbs may be much faster than an 18 lbs bike because of the way wheels and tires are set up, or because of frame geometry and stiffness, wind resistance of the bike and rider. 

I'll bet your LBS has a bike scale. Mine does, hanging in the corner for use by any rider interested in knowing what his/her bike weighs.


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## hendo

*Probably not right.*

I have an '04 5200 and with cages and pedals its _under _ 19. I believe the frame for the 04 was the same as the 03- Carbon 120.

Hope that makes you feel better, although if you eat some bran flakes and drink a bunch of coffee, you'll get rid of 2 pounds very quickly anyway!

later





tiger said:


> Perhaps I'm a bit off here, but I can't believe how much my Trek 5200 weighs. I just weighed it by stepping on the scale holding it, then alone, and subtracting, 20 pounds!
> 
> Can this be? Here's the spec: 2003 5200, Bontrager race stem, Deda 215 bars, Thomson seatpost, SI Max Flite Trans AM saddle, 30 ci saddle bag with inflator, three cartridges, one tube, light multitool, Tacx Tao cages, Look pedals, Ultegra triple with 12-27 cassette, Arrohead/dura ace/Sapim CXray wheels, Contin GP 3000 tires.
> 
> I was figuring it would be 18 lbs. But 20 lbs.? (Even more distressing is my Dean titanium, outfitted similarly, was 22 lbs!).
> 
> No wonder I'm slow on hills! And all along I thought it was a lack of fitness.


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## Argentius

*You're slow on hills*

Because you're slow on hills, probably. I am.  2 pounds of non-rotating weight? As tons of people will tell you, you'll fluctuate that much DURING a race w/water, etc. Unless you're 5 seconds off the pace of winning the local UCA 1.HC race, eh?

Not that being a weight weenie isn't FUN sometimes ...

So. Seriously, bathroom scales aren't all that reliable, like the other posters have said; nonetheless, ulra-light-weightness is sort of a myth unless you try HARD.

For instance, my buddy's got a 16.75 lb Specialized S-works, and to get there, it took all the weight-saving madness that could be engineered short of fancy tubular wheels; that's with full D/A 10, carbon seatpost, Ti SLR, carbon stem, carbon bars, carbon fork with carbon steerer, K's + Pro races, carbon cages, Speedplay Zeros...

You've got all your sh!t on your bike. Your saddle bag, 3 cartriges, inflator, and tube weigh at least 500g (1lb). You don't specify what kind of Look pedal you have, but something like A3.1 can weigh 420g easily, compared with 185g for stainless Zeroes. Of course, some of the speedplay's advantage in REAL weight is lost because the cleats weigh an extra 50g, but in the weightweenieworld, it's only the stuff you hang on the scale that matters. 

Really, I think if people are 'weight weenie'-ing, and caring that their carbon-whatever frame is 100g lighter, they ought to put all of their kit - shoes, shorts, helmet, everything, as they ride - on the bike and weigh it.

Then there's the fact that you've got a triple crankset, 80g, and your cassette with a 27 tooth weighs more than an 11-23,  and you don't specify whether you have 'standard' tubes at ~120grams, or something like "lunar lites" at 50grams... ooh! You could even weigh your bike with no air in the tires! That weighs something! 
--

So, first of all, get a better scale and ditch the bag to start with. Then consider all the fancy fancy things you could do to be a weight weenie!

* Switch to lightweight tubes; 50-130g 
* Switch to double crankset: 80g (or carbon!)
* Switch to Speeplay pedals: 200g (or just weigh w/o pedals)
* Carbon everywhere! 

I'm getting a little bored with this exhaustive list. My bike has a steel frame, steel fork, and not a speck of carbon.

It's still way lighter than the 27-lb racing bikes of just a few years ago, and time travel Lemond or Fignon on one of their machines and they could still drop me any day of the week.


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## olr1

...and for a real-world weight, you should be weighing you and the bike together. I suggest a meal rich in beans and a large quantity of beer the night before, and a good ol' fashioned soap and water enema an hour before weighing. Yes, you feel weak, but your weight goes down.


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## tiger

Sounds like the consensus is that this is a typical weight for this bike.

Agree that the scale method I used is inaccurate and imprecise, I guess I just expected a couple pounds less even with the errors.

Even if I go with a few modifications, I'd only be saving half a pound or so, so it's not likely worth the expense to upgrade for weight savings. As for the heavy seatbag - well, ever since getting caught in the middle of nowhere with my second flat and a DUD CO2 cartridge, I always carry three!

Guess it's back to actually training....


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## SDizzle

Two things: bathroom scales are not accurate. Mine told me my steel Nobilette weighed 15 lbs, and my Santz Cruz Chameleon twenty. Actual weights on an Alpine Digital hanging scale are 19.4 and 30-sumthin. Still, it weighs me accurately - almost as accurately as the aforementioned doctor's triple beam scale, at least.

Also, if your scale is accurate, there's some places where you're carrying a lot of weight. You've got a saddle bag that weighs at least a pound, probably more. _Three_ cartridges and one tube?! You've also got a pie-plate cassette and triple crankset, both of which weigh probably (collectively) a pound more than necessary. Your saddle is also pretty heavy, but I'm gradually becoming a member of the "saddles are stupid places to save weight" camp, so I'd leave it if you're comfortable on it. Lastly, all Look pedals (except Keos, which are eerily light) are veritable anchors.

I don't advocate getting rid of any of that just to lighten your bike. Ride what works for you (you WILL get faster if you take your granny ring off though!  ).


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## AlexCad5

*What's wrong with a pump?*



tiger said:


> Sounds like the consensus is that this is a typical weight for this bike.
> 
> Agree that the scale method I used is inaccurate and imprecise, I guess I just expected a couple pounds less even with the errors.
> 
> Even if I go with a few modifications, I'd only be saving half a pound or so, so it's not likely worth the expense to upgrade for weight savings. As for the heavy seatbag - well, ever since getting caught in the middle of nowhere with my second flat and a DUD CO2 cartridge, I always carry three!
> 
> Guess it's back to actually training....


You never run out of air. It doesn't take that long, and is good for the arm muscles. Those damn cartridges, along with weighing a TON, and are completely eco-unfriendly, are rediculously expensive for what you get IMO.
I ride with a cart one, 60gm carbon pump. It will pump a tire into the 100 range with much less effort than the small hill I try to sprint over. Yeah, they can be frustrating, when you misidentify the source of your flat, but life is like that.


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## R.Rice

tiger said:


> Sounds like the consensus is that this is a typical weight for this bike.


I think that sounds right.

My old 5200 with Bontrager race lite wheels,cages,ritchey bar,bontrager 90mm stem,VRED fortezzas,Litespeed carbon post,Selle Italia gel flite flow and heavy Look pedals weighed right at 19 pounds.

It was a 56 and that was without the saddle bag and accessories.


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## torquecal

Sounds right to me too. My 5200 (with seatbag, pedals, and bottlecages) works out at almost exactly 20 lbs. I use a Walmart fish scale (max range 50 lbs). I'm a little luckier than most tho... I get to compare my scale with certified weights in a lab


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## Drone 5200

tiger said:


> Perhaps I'm a bit off here, but I can't believe how much my Trek 5200 weighs.


 You're pretty close to where you should expect to be. There's a lot of BS out there about what people think their bikes should weigh. I've got the same '03 5200 frame and fork in size 62cm. Same saddle as you. Mine is full D/A 10 spd, 120mm Deda Newton stem and 215 bars. Race-x-lite aero wheels. Race-XXX-lite carbon post. With pedals (D/A SPD-SL) and a rather heavy Polar computer and power kit (weighs about one pound), my ride weighs in at 18 lbs 10 oz. on my shop's digital scale. That's right, barely sub-19 lbs. 

(Sorry I can't get a better picture attached. How do you guys reduce your 2 mb pics down to something nice. MS Photo editor gives me results like this.. . . )


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## SDizzle

Drone 5200 said:


> (Sorry I can't get a better picture attached. How do you guys reduce your 2 mb pics down to something nice?


Photoschoppen, herr doctor.

Nice bike.


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## R.Rice

Drone,nice bike.

After looking at these weights I am pretty happy about what my new 5500 weighed in at.The shops scale had it 16.8 pounds with pedals,cages and computer.

At first I kind of felt like crap seeing some of the bikes around here these guys have that are 14.5-15.5 pounds.


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## danielc

R.Rice said:


> Drone,nice bike.
> 
> After looking at these weights I am pretty happy about what my new 5500 weighed in at.The shops scale had it 16.8 pounds with pedals,cages and computer.
> 
> At first I kind of felt like crap seeing some of the bikes around here these guys have that are 14.5-15.5 pounds.



what is the size of your 5500?


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## R.Rice

danielc said:


> what is the size of your 5500?


54cm.


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## sweetnsourbkr

Arent u not supposed to weigh the bike with pedals either?


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## R.Rice

sweetnsourbkr said:


> Arent u not supposed to weigh the bike with pedals either?


You see a lot of people do that so they have a lower # to brag about.I think weighing it as you ride it makes more sense.


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## sweetnsourbkr

R.Rice said:


> You see a lot of people do that so they have a lower # to brag about.I think weighing it as you ride it makes more sense.



true true ... so keep those bottles and toolbags on there!


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## Nathan_P

My Dad's 56 CM 5200 Weighed in at 17.5ish without waterbottle or saddle bag. It has upgraded Race X Lite Wheels though.


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## stoked

sweetnsourbkr said:


> true true ... so keep those bottles and toolbags on there!


don't forget 2 water bottles with 32oz liquids.


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## dno

My 58cm 5200 (04 model) weighs in at 17.5 lb - that is with FSA SLK Mega Exo Compact Crank/RSX Carbon pedals setup and also Ksyrium SSC SL wheels/Conti GP 4000 tires. I think those upgrades dropped the weight by about 1 1/2 pounds. They both have changed the bike pretty dramatically for me, particularly the wheels as the harsher/stiffer ride of the Ksyriums make the ride seem much more lively and "faster" particularly when accelerating and climbing out of the saddle.


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## carbonLORD

tiger said:


> Perhaps I'm a bit off here, but I can't believe how much my Trek 5200 weighs. I just weighed it by stepping on the scale holding it, then alone, and subtracting, 20 pounds!


Yeah, 19/20lbs does seem heavy now a days. My old TT road bike from 10 years ago weighs 19lbs with pedals, quill stem and clinchers.

My new road frame is a 58cm and is 15.5lbs complete with Speedplay X1 pedals, and it has the same clinchers the TT set up was using.

Main weight reduction was use of a CF steerer, Zero G brakes, CF all over the board (bars, post, cranks), and a light frame to begin with, (My TT frame must weigh like 4 lbs alone  )

Theres a lot of ways to lighten the load, it just costs more


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## AsianPersuasion

1996 Trek 5200, 600 and Ultegra mix, EC70 bar, DEAN Ti seatpost, Eggbeater SL, Ksyrium Elites, 19.8lbs. The extra weight comes in the stem adapter (for my threaded fork), Trico split rail seat (not sure it's comfy yet), cage and computer. I'm sure I can bling it out and drop some weight but it's a "96." What's the point? Is my casual, non-sponsored self really gonna benefit from a couple of lbs? At approx $500-$1000/lb?


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