# Lance Armstrong's bike weighs less than a horseshoe. What?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950 "2005-06-26T20:37:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/21 "2005-06-29T18:15:35Z")
> [@Dag Otto](#): > > Um, are you being Whooshed, or am I? You mean a bad analogy\* isn’t\* like a pair of speakers? ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/22 "2005-06-29T19:00:55Z")
> [@Dag Otto](#): > > I think very few people can grasp a [cubic hectare.](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&biw=850&q=1+hectare **3+in+feet** 6) Yeah, I have trouble picturing six-dimensional space. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/23 "2005-06-29T20:07:46Z")
> [@ScoobyTX](#): > > Yeah, I have trouble picturing six-dimensional space. 😕 Here’s [help](http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/1/17/56647.html). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/24 "2005-06-29T20:43:29Z")
And I think that the Colliseum was exactly the right comparison. They’re saying, here’s this ancient building, one of the biggest buildings the ancients ever built (I don’t think the Pyramids count as “buildings”). And now here’s this modern building, and it’s 200 times bigger. Perfect sense. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/25 "2005-06-29T20:49:55Z")
> [@jim\_marren@yahoo.com](#): > > Watch some of the time trials - when the bike weighs less than the requirement, they add a lead weight on the bottom bracket to make sure the total bike isn’t less than the miminum weight. Total hijack, but, if they’re going to have arbitrary weight requirements, why not just have some that the average bike might meet and save each competitor a few dozen thousands of dollars? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/26 "2005-06-29T21:11:32Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > Total hijack, but, if they’re going to have arbitrary weight requirements, why not just have some that the average bike might meet and save each competitor a few dozen thousands of dollars? I’m guessing it’s pressure from bike manufacturers who sponsor the races. They want to use the race to advertise their new products. It’s not very good advertising to say: “Buy our new 17-lb carbon road bikes! Only $4000, and 1/4 pound lighter than last year’s model! No, this is not the one Lance Armstrong rides, his bike is a 25-lb $800 steel frame bike because the _Tour_ has a minimum weight requirement of 25lb.” ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/27 "2005-06-30T01:45:13Z")
I saw the show last night…off-hand I recall them saying that his up-hill bike weighed 100 grams less than his normal bike, which they said was equal to not-very-many paperclips and was 1/10th the total weight. So I had assumed his bike weighed 1000 grams (2.2 pounds in total). They also compared the weight of his bike to a paperback book. They weren’t just discussing the frame, i’m pretty sure. If they were, they were being disingenuous. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Rythm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Suburban\_Rythm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Rythm)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/28 "2005-06-30T04:17:01Z")
This all reminds me of an old Far Side cartoon. Two cows are standing near a river, with one reading a pamphlet on how fast piranhas (sp?) can skeletonize a cow. I remember seeing Larson’s commentary on this, wondering why a cow was always the standard measurement for this sort of thing. But what about a Belgian cow who happens to be 1/2000th the volume of the Colusseum, living on a farm near the new Hong Kong airport, on which he… i’ll stop now ---
**Author:** ![rpinrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@rpinrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rpinrd)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/29 "2005-06-30T15:35:38Z")
> [@Dag Otto](#): > > Um, are you being Whooshed, or am I? Damnit, I’m being wooshed somewhere, possibly in more than one place. Obviously, my use of “cubic hectare” makes absolutely no sense. I think what I meant to say was that what I can’t grasp is a cube with each face equal to a hectare. Why I’ve suddenly delved into metric units is another mystery. As for the analogy joke, yep, major league woosh there. That one ranks right up there with other favorites of mine like “What is the difference between a duck?” and “A termite walks into a bar and asks, ‘Is the bartender here?’” > [@Suburban\_Rythm](#): > > But what about a Belgian cow who happens to be 1/2000th the volume of the Colusseum, living on a farm near the new Hong Kong airport, on which he… boards a train leaving Hong Kong at 11:30 am traveling at 1 cubic hectare/hour, while at the same time a thousand Newton-Meters away, a piranha riding Lance Armstrong’s uphill bike, which can make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, leaves riding directly towards _la vache Belge_. How long will it take for the piranha to skeletonize the cow? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/30 "2005-06-30T15:51:43Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > Therefore, he’s a witch? Lance Armstrong turned me into a newt just last week! ---
**Author:** ![SiouxChief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@SiouxChief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiouxChief)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/31 "2005-06-30T21:30:27Z")
I saw the show the other day. One of the frame designers held up Lance’s FRAME and said that “this weighs less than a paperback book”, or words to that effect. It was very clearly the frame, and not the bike that they were referring to, since there were no other parts attached to it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/32 "2005-06-30T22:46:44Z")
> [@casdave](#): > > I always thought that the unit of large irregular measurements was the Belgium. > > Enough stone to build a 3 foot wall around Belgium, > > or > > Rainforest enough to cover Belgium is destroyed every three years. > > or > > You can fit every person in the world on a space less than a tenth the size of Belgium. > > I hate it when someone tries to use differant measurements when there is a perfectly good standard. Do you kiss your mommy with that mouth? ---
**Author:** ![Tio\_Gringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Tio\_Gringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tio_Gringo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950/33 "2005-06-30T23:30:37Z")
Did you know that there is enough concrete in the Hoover Dam to build an _exact_ replica someplace else? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lance-armstrongs-bike-weighs-less-than-a-horseshoe-what/309950.md?page=1)