Tags
a. homer hilsen, acorn bags, ahh, B17, bike weight, brooks, Cycles Toussaint, cycling, dynamo lighting, hilsen, Hunqapillar, nitto, rivendell, sackville, Selle Anatomica, Velo Routier
I recently weighed my bicycles to respond to a thread on the RBW list. Folks were posting their Rivendell bike weight for some reason, even though everyone knows if you own a Riv, you don’t obsess over gram counting. I had weighed my A. Homer Hilsen when I originally built it up, but before any fenders, racks, or bags were added. It came out around 25 lbs, so I was interested in how much it weighed after accumulating various accessories over the past 5 years.
Original 25-pounder
The latest version of the bike is coming in about 4 pounds heavier. Even with a lighter double crankset and bars, but fenders, bags, and dynamo lights/hub add up! I think the bike is much more useful at 29 pounds, and it still feels pretty light to me. Not feathery like a Ti or carbon bike, but plenty sprintable for my purposes. It’s nice to have lights, toolkit, water spray protection, and carrying capacity when you need it, too.
I knew the Hunqapillar was going to be a beast based on the thicker gauge tubeset, and all the extra rack and bag weight on this bike. It is a touring/camping bike, so it’s nice to have the stability when I’m carrying camp gear. All this adds up to another 10 pounds over the Hilsen. It weighed in at 39 pounds in camp-ready mode with bag, basket, and tools loaded for bear.
Ironically, this is not too far off a modern dual-suspension mountain bike.
The Toussaint had to be weighed since the Rivendells were on the scale (a Nintendo Wii with Fit, BTW – I don’t own a scale). This bike has a slightly heavier bag than the Hilsen, and 650B wheels, but otherwise it is set up with identical cockpit, hub, and crank configurations. All in with tools, it came out 1 lb heavier at 30 pounds.
OK – now back to not caring about weight, and just riding my bikes. Having a great time, BTW…
Cycle Seattle 
David – it’s a Swift Industries Paloma. Nice bag – smaller than the Acorn rando, but subsequently lighter 🙂
What handlebar bag is that in the picture of your A. Homer Hilsen?
I love your Homer Hilsen, especially the colour – can you tell me what it’s called?
I have a 55cm Betty Foy (imported to the UK at great expense) which is wonderful but I still hanker after indexed shifters (my Betty has the silver variety) and more places to put my hands on the bars.
Sorry, another question looming… Would you recommend up-ending the Albatross bars before perhaps trying porteur bars on her a la Lovely Bicycle?
The color is “copper metallic”, I believe. I tried upside down Albas for a time, but they have a bit too much drop. It really minimized the difference in my body angle from the bar end to the front. I liked the Porteurs as they have a small amount of drop, so I get more upright as I come back on the bar.
Hi, how is the Toussaint coming along? I currently have a 650b conversion of ’87 Trek 400. It’s got a nice 531 Reynolds tubing, and has a great ride. But the lack of fork mount braze ons, has me looking at the Toussaint. Is the Toussaint a bit heavy for brevets, or light enough? Worried about the 4130 chromoly, but I know steel types vary as the Cross Check has a nice ride though it’s 4130.
I really like the ride of the Toussaint. It is similar in weight to the Hilsen and would be a 24-26 lb road bike without the Rando gear. If you are in Seattle, Free Range in Fremont has a few Toussaints, with one being rideable. If a 57 is around your size, you could also try mine.