Nobody needs a racing bike that weighs six kilos or less and for which you have to fork out the equivalent of one or even two good used cars. On the one hand. On the other hand, the pure pleasure of the unreasonable is something deeply human. After all, it's a hell of a lot of fun to screw your way up mountain passes in such a flyweight and feel as weightless as a bird. Yes, that's more or less how it feels for the first few metres after you've switched from your own eight-kilo slicer to a six-kilo airicus. Unfortunately, the beguiling feeling eventually fades as the light bike quickly becomes the norm and you realise that, in the end, it all comes down to form and fitness. But the effect also works the other way round. When you get back on your old bike, it suddenly feels heavy as lead and you wonder how you're going to get up the next hill.
Ever since racing bikes have existed, developers have been striving to wring every last gram out of their designs. The lightest bikes and frames have always marked the pinnacle of what is technically feasible and were therefore automatically the objects of desire of wealthy racing cyclists. Even the comfort and aero wave - important technical trends of recent years - have not been able to change this in the long term. This is well illustrated by the Swiss brand Scott, which wrote technical history with the CR1 carbon frame from 2003 and the Addict SL from 2007. Both models made their mark on the collective memory of the racing bike world as the lightest production frames of their time.
Only bikes with a mid-size frame weighing a maximum of 800 grams were allowed to take part in this test, ready for assembly including seat clamp, cable guides, derailleur hanger and derailleur hanger. And painted. This last point emphasises how difficult it is to identify the lightest frame on the market. As there is no specification on how to determine the exact frame weight, some manufacturers weigh their frames with small parts, others without.
You can find the test results of these models in the PDF download below:
- Cannondale SuperSix Evo Black Inc.
- Cervélo RCA
- Corratec Mauro Sannino Prima
- Focus Izalco Max 0.0
- Neil Pryde Bura SL
- Pasculli Altissimo
- Simplon Pavo 3 Ultra
- Trek Madone 7.9 H1
Downloads:
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