How much does your bike weigh? It’s a question I’ve had for a long time and as a self-confessed weight weenie it’s an important one to ask. For XC racers especially, shaving extra weight off equipment is essential to remaining competitive. The Alpine Digital Scale from Feedback Sports is a great tool for everyone from the gram counter to the project bike tinkerer thanks to its high performance, rugged, and simple-to-use design.
If you were able to answer the question I posed at the beginning of this article, you probably said something like your bike weighs “around 27 pounds.” My 29er mountain bike, on the other hand, weighs 24.88 pounds in its current configuration. The Alpine Digital Scale is accurate to within 0.02 pounds ( 10 grams) so you can see how every zip tie, bolt, and chunk of dried mud affects the weight of your rig. And while most component upgrades will list an official weight on their packaging, it can be tough to understand the full weight impact of things like cables and adapters (not to mention the fact that official weights rarely add up).
At the end of August I’m riding a hut-to-hut trip from Durango to Moab where I’ll need to carry a week’s worth of gear on my bike and the Alpine Digital Scale is my go-to planning tool. The hook scale makes it easy to weigh everything from wheels to packs so I can balance pannier bags and understand the implications of adding just one more short sleeve jersey to my load. You can also use the Alpine Digital Scale to weigh your hydration pack for sag calculation just like the pros do.
The Alpine Digital Scale can be hung from a ceiling hook or event clamped into a standard work stand thanks to its patented design. A vinyl coated hook ensures your fancy rig doesn’t slip during weigh in and the whole thing is wrapped in a rugged plastic shell that can take all kinds of shop abuse (and the 1-year warranty doesn’t hurt either). With a 55 lb. capacity, this scale can weigh all but the burliest of DH rigs with ease.
Perhaps one of the best features of this scale is its lack of features, specifically those that would make the thing overly complicated. Just three buttons here: on/off, zero, and mode (choose from metric or standard units). The scale is battery operated so you can use it anywhere, from home to the shop to the trailhead. No more arguing with your compadres about who’s bike is the heaviest – break out the scale and compare!
Anyone who is serious about building and maintaining an efficient mountain bike should take a look at the Alpine Digital Scale. It’s easy to use, rugged and versatile, and ultra-accurate. You know what they say – if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it!
Thanks to the folks at Feedback Sports for providing the Alpine Digital Scale for review.
