Well you might think things are easy for us here at www.dirtybiking.co.uk central, - the home of
Biker's Website. BUT let me tell you, - trying to bring articles which cover seriously important issues to us as dirt bikers are fraught with danger, - AND sadly
do not always have the excitement to match!
Thus sneaking out of the house with the wife's new kitchen scales, to weigh some VERY grubby old MX gear - when she is about to use them to bake a cake, is close to committing a capital crime - punishable by death!
(I knew the kitchen scales would come
in handy one day!)
Nevertheless we came up with a few good excuses - like we were testing the scales for accuracy etc. And eventually she put the knife away!
So on with the show -
It all started two weeks ago when I was putting Ian's riding boots in the race van just after I had lifted mine in. It struck me that they seemed to feel about twice as heavy. Well this got us both thinking. No one to our recollection, had ever done a test on a range of riding gear as regards its weight?
Many riders out there spend BIG bucks - often thousands trying to shave a few pounds/kilos off the weight of their racing stead. But possibly pay no attention to what else is contributing to all up weight of the bike and therefore its performance.
(This helmet may be very lightweight, but most
wouldn't be seen dead in it nowadays!)
OK as I have said already this was a very dangerous and somewhat tricky operation. Which we couldn't do after dark as the torch battery had run out. So braving the hostilities we gathered a motley collection of varied (and sadly not new) riding gear and tried not to break the wife's new scales (especially as she was about to bake my favourite cake afterwards - and I reckon that was only to make sure we cleaned them!).
Fully Covered -
I know not everyone wears a race jacket, but I like them for protection in amongst the trees.
This could have been a giant test that never got completed - as you do! So we just grabbed a few Jackets, an Acerbis, two Wulf sports and an old M.Robert jobby (Mine).
(Blue Acerbis jacket 1.150 kilos. Red
M.Robert jacket only 0.625 kilos)
The Acerbis felt the heaviest and appears to be a very high quality item. But it sure was a weighty little number - hitting the scales at
1.150 Kilos, compared to the extra large Wulfsport which came in at 1.080k and the large Wulfsport jacket at
0.950kilos. (Don't worry we are going to have a chart at the end - to make comparisons easy). Finally my first ever enduro jacket which is good to wear in summer was but a feather at 0.655 kilos.
Heading Upwards -
Helmets have increasingly been made of Hi-Tech materials over the last decade or so and there is no doubt that most modern helmets will provide fairly good protection. But a heavy helmet can also fatigue your muscles - and according to those in the know - help 'snap' your neck!
We had two identical Premier helmets to hand - or so we thought. They were the same size and style and only appeared to differ in colour. However the green one weighed in at 1.450 kilos and the grey one hit the scales at only 1.250 kilos. I had no idea that green paint was so heavy!
I must confess once again that the horrible old gear is mine - surprise, NOT! My newest helmet - a CTS full face which is only mumble mumble years old, weighed a hefty 1.450 kilos, while the much older LAZER original was only 1.280k.
(Amazingly the green Premier helmet
weighed far more!)
The embarrassing to wear ancient open face helmet - which I find still great to use for trail riding (even though my mates won't park near me when I am wearing it!), was by far the lightest of all, weighing just over one kilo, 1.050k to be precise!
Putting the Boot in -
We only had three sets of boots to hand (or should that be 'to foot' ?) - and
some had a few grams of dirt on too! But in order of appearance, - in the black and grey corner we have two similar looking pairs boots. Alpine Stars Tech 6's versus Sidi
somethings!
(They may look similar, but the Sidi boots weigh a
lot less than the Tech 6's)
Considering it was the Tech 6's which nearly gave me a hernia lifting them into the van which started this article off. It was no surprise that they were really heavy - like 1.950 kilos, whilst the Sidi boot was only a meagre 1.550 k. The muddy coloured Sinasolo boots dirtied the scales at a grubby 1.850kilos.
What a Bummer -
Okay we didn't weigh empty bum bags - well what would be the point, an empty bum bag isn't a lot of use! We had two fully packed ones lying around, so we thought we would weigh them all up with whatever tools were packed - and therefore I assume were considered to be essential gear!
Whey hey, this time - I owned the best one, - whoopee! I can hold my head high again (Okay Ed. Don't get carried away.) The very rugged black Answer bag with just a few essentials inside weighed 1.300 kilos and the 'other one' whatever it is - which is very lightly built and therefore dare not be used for much, - only weighed in at 0.700.
Finally we weighed two local riders -
Whereas I weighed in at a hefty 13.5 stone (no kilos on bathroom scales), Ian was only a
feather-weight at 9.5 stone (No wonder he goes much faster than me!!!).
So what have we learned from all this?
Whilst I would like to point out that this was not a very scientific test, in that not all the gear measured was exactly the same size. Etc. It certainly served a useful purpose in that it has started to address an issue - 'Weight', which we all take very seriously one way or another. And it certainly features high on the four stroke manufacturers marketing agenda!
(What the factories don't want you to know, -
Dieting can seriously affect your performance!)
We all need to wear good protective clothing when riding and racing off-road, and I definitely would not recommend skimping to save a few grams either. But it may well be worth you considering the weight factor the next time you go to purchase some clothing, - it may be a lot more beneficial than a mega-expensive Titanium, or Carbon-Fibre bolt on goodie!
