…is a question we at Vogel Bikes have heard more than once and somehow its always a bit embarrassing for us to answer, something along the lines of
“Hmmm – depends! What sort of hardware do you want?”
In all truth, Vogel bikes are custom builds, and although we know quite precisely what the different size frames weigh it is almost impossible for us to say precisely what a specific build will weigh in at.
Vogel Bikes is brought into this world to bring you a true custom build at a solid price and to do so with a top-end quality and attention to detail. Weight is definitely a part of that detail but at the end of the day, we prefer to focus on what you get for your grams and not the numbers.
Let’s face it we could make a gorgeous bike out of papermaché and although it might be record light it probably won’t ride too well.
A custom Curie folding bike in the making. Build from our lightweight Curie carbon frames with a set of carbon rims, she will probably end up light as a feather – still, we do not dare to ask the question…
We think of this as being “responsibly light”.
There is nothing more unnerving than a big descent with a full load of kit and a wiggly unstable ride…no matter how light!
This also holds true for the ascent – it’s worth a few grams to ensure you’re riding a sure-footed steed instead of wobbling up the climbs and losing yourself in every stroke of the crank.
Vogels GF touring and CX cyclocross frame series weigh in at between 1050 and 1250 grams. These weights bring you a solid powerful carbon roadster with a disk brake configuration (disk brakes ALWAYS add a few grams).
In a bit more detail, there are some places where saving a few grams is better than others.
Saving weight in the wheels, especially the rims, is definitely something that can be noticed when accelerating from a full stop (like a traffic light). Light rims are however usually lower profile and the lower profile adds a bit of aerodynamic drag. In my opinion, I’ll take the low profile rims for just about anything I’d consider riding a gravel or CX bike for.
Another advantage of a low profile rim is that it isn’t as harsh as a high one and that adds noticeably to ride comfort. Switching to carbon rims ups the ride comfort even more by absorbing road vibration on asphalt roads.
Our GF frame series has a frame specific carbon seat post but in our CX frames and in our folding frames it’s possible to save a bit of weight by investing in an upgrade to a carbon seat post. Goosenecks and handlebars also offer a variety of smaller weight saving opportunities.
A good lightweight high-end groupset will not only save you some grams but it will provide you with a really smooth shifting and braking experience but the cost per gram saved can put some out of their budget.
Our GF series bikes come standard with Shimano GRX 600 series groupset with either a 1X or 2X 11 gear package for our base builds.
So, after all of that, we hope its a bit more clear why a straight forward question like “what does she weigh” can be a bit harder to answer than may appear at first glance – we will, however, work with you to do our best to provide the insight available.
Vogel’s frames are solid and calling them responsibly light means that we can easily build sub 7800 gram bikes and if you chose to throw a bit more green after the build we can probably keep her quite a bit under 7 kilos.
But the proof is in the ride and no matter what kit – and weight – you chose these bikes will provide you with a tough and playful companion.
