Shorts, shoes and helmets can all be slimmed down with dramatic results, and the lighter stuff isn’t necessarily more expensive.

>>> 6 ways to make your bike lighter

Shaving grams off your bike is so addictive, it’s almost an illness. There’s even a name for those of us who suffer from it: ‘weight weenies’. Symptoms range from an obsession with kitchen scales to a completely empty bank account.

Saving weight is an expensive habit involving replacing very nice, perfectly working aluminium things for slightly nicer, cripplingly expensive carbon things.

For example, the full carbon Santa Cruz Bronson CC saves 700g over its aluminium sibling, but costs £800 more. That’s £1.14 per gram saved. Not quite as expensive as saffron, and a lot worse in a curry, but still pretty clear.

Most of us indulge in nibbling away the grams by upgrading components as we go, but as much as it’s nice to bolt on shiny bits, the cost-per-gram ratio is usually even higher.

Save over 1kg by putting your clothing on a diet

Less obvious, but laden with potential, is riding kit.

Shorts, shoes and helmets can all be slimmed down with dramatic results, and the lighter stuff isn’t necessarily more expensive. A quick rummage around the office unearthed two sets of kit; one porky and one svelte.

As you can see, the difference on the scales is staggering; nearly 1.2kg, and we didn’t even need to resort to Lycra.

Next episode: How shaving all your body hair and going for a number-two can help you move up the Strava rankings.