How much does beer really slow you down?

[pcoakle1]

OK, here's an interesting question (at least to me) that came up reading someone else's thread.

Someone (sorry, but I forget who) stated (referring to the inherent disadvantage a heavier rider has over a lighter rider): "For every extra 7 lbs you lose a 1 hp."

My question is, does anyone know if that is true or somewhat true? If so, how much can we say that those double cheeseburgers or brew-has actually slow you down??

I mean, dropping 20-30 pounds to gain back that 4HP....

Anyone know if it's been proved (generically) that every X pounds you add will decrease your ride's HP by some number?

Seemed like a good monday discussion for those of you sweating off the weekend... 👍

[sonobob]

Seems logical to me. Why else would manufacturers and race teams go to extreme expense to shave every ounce of machine weight possible?

I wouldn't state it as losing hp, but rather for every extra pound of weight, it takes that much more power to move it at an equivalent rate of acceleration as the same machine/engine when carrying a lighter rider.

There is a reason jockeys are small....

[joelberg]

If you're concerned about your weight I'm willing to bet you're not pushing your bike anywhere near its limits...

[Slims85]

if you are riding hard, like the bike wants; then weight shouldnt be a problem. I loose a pound or close to it every two rides or so. Depends on how hard I ride

[Stu2]

Weight or the lack thereof is a huge advantage, the lighter you are the faster your bike is, the better it stops and most importantly , handles

All the bikes we ride are built for a rider of around 75 to 80 kg's including riding gear, each kg ovr is an inherant disadvantage

[OrangeYZ]

Using me riding sober as a baseline (1/2-5/8 throttle), each beer adds about an 8% increase in horsepower. The trade off is that after and including two beers, each one takes away about 15% of my steering ability. Also starting at 5 beers, the effect of gravity is increased by 25% per beer.

[KJ790]

That is somewhat true to an extent. It depends entirely on what sort of total weight you are talking about and what sort of power you are talking about. Let's say a bike is 230lbs ready to ride and the rider is 170lbs to make a nice even total of 400lbs. If it is a 250F that is putting out 35hp then the weight to power ratio for this combo is the same as a 393lbs combo (7 pounds lighter) that is putting out 34.4hp. So a 163lbs person riding the bike has a 0.6hp advantage.

If you use the same numbers, but make it a 450 putting out 55hp then the 163lbs person has the equivalent of a 0.97hp advantage, so around 1hp.

[Oic0]

This is why my fat butt sits on a KX500. I'm like a 240lb weight that moves between the rear wheel to stop it from spinning and the front wheel to keep it from doing a back flip.

That said, id love to be about 170 or so on it, but at 6'2 with broad shoulders, id probably look like ghandi.

If you have strong muscles and are in good shape, you can make up for a lot of the weight with a better ability to muscle around a larger more powerful bike. It works both ways though, since most of us aren't in peak condition. Id rather be losing some power from being big while having enough strength to muscle the bike like its a 125, then be the perfect optimal weight but not be strong enough to really handle it (hypothetical here, I can handle my 500 in serious riding, counting in minutes lol)

[sonobob]

Using me riding sober as a baseline (1/2-5/8 throttle), each beer adds about an 8% increase in horsepower. The trade off is that after and including two beers, each one takes away about 15% of my steering ability. Also starting at 5 beers, the effect of gravity is increased by 25% per beer.

👍🤣

I was thinking the same thing, but decided to go with a more sedate comment!

🤣:lol:

Gotta love it!

[Slackkinhard]

On the last lap of of harescramble, kill one. Ya might actually find the adrenalin for two laps.

I've not found it to work starting on the first lap...interesting though.

[rpt50]

It seems like a little extra beef helps the fast offroad guys. Of course the elite offroad guys seem as fit as the MX pros, but there are a lot or REALLY fast but very beefy A level guys in the HS series I race. I think they get more traction...

[OrangeYZ]

Beer made my buddy way faster!

Oops, nevermind.

Backstory: He couldn't ride due to his recovering lack of some finger (visible in first picture), so he decided to drink more beers than any of us, team or ironman, could do laps at the 6 hour race. I got 17 laps, be beat me by 1.

Might have been a hijack post, then again, it's a thread about beer and riding.

[fender bender 59]

If you're concerned about your weight I'm willing to bet you're not pushing your bike anywhere near its limits...

BINGO.........I know a few 250 lb'ers "A" class riders and two of those are over 40.... so by your estimation if each one of them would loose 49 lbs they would gain 7 hp's.... and if I lost 70 lbs I'd gain 10 horse's which is one bad ass porting job...

[jsmall]

Using me riding sober as a baseline (1/2-5/8 throttle), each beer adds about an 8% increase in horsepower. The trade off is that after and including two beers, each one takes away about 15% of my steering ability. Also starting at 5 beers, the effect of gravity is increased by 25% per beer.

lol @ this