Bruce W.1 wrote:
Is body weight equivalent to bicycle weight? In other words, would
riding a bicycle that's five pounds lighter be the same as losing five
pounds off of your body weight?

The only time when a part of the bike weight is more significant is
when accelerating. Then the weight of rims and tires (and a fraction of
the spoke weight) is twice the effect of weight elsewhere. All other
weight in all other conditions can be considered the same (unless you
wish to be very precise). I'm just refering to locomotion... if you are
riding trials or technical MTB, then a light bike could be more of a
factor.

BTW, weight is quite important when climbing and accelerating, but not
on the flat at a steady speed.

There's an old Army saying; one pound on your foot (boot weight) is
equivalent to five pounds on your back. But I'm not sure what this has
to do with anything.

I don't know if that 5 to 1 ratio is correct (surely it would vary
depending on grade), but cycling is not the same as walking. When
walking you have to pick up your foot to take each step, and that
energy is lost, but when cycling the effect of heavy shoes/pedals
cancels out (the loss of picking one up is balanced by the gain of the
other pushing down).

-Ron