making my bike lighter

bikerbennyp

I would like to try and make my bike as light as possible by upgrading my parts. I would like to put a lighter set of wheels on and am open to any suggestions with a price budget of around £200 for wheels. I was also wanting to put on a new set of handel bars and stem and am willing to spend around £100 and it to be as light as possible. Any other suggestions to make my Giant xtc 4.5 that any one has would be very greatful. Thanks

Anonymous

what tubes and tyres do you have fitted?

this is often the best place to start

gcwebbyuk

Not sure if these will be any lighter than you have on yours as they use the same rims:

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/forum/view ... t=12599273

But this will definately be lighter:

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/forum/view ... t=12599269

mega9

Try Merlin cycles
Wheels Hope pro 2 mavic 717 rims £210
Race Face dues xc Bars stem and seat post £95

Yukon Lad

mbr edid a test on them a couple of weeks back, check out their webbie cos it has all of the results of their tests on.
Also to lighten things have a look at pedals

Yukon Lad

supersonic

Have to say:

Is it more cost effective to buy a new bike?

Something to think about.

batch78

Easiest way to lose some serious weight would be new forks, http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/?fn=produ ... egoryId=18,
and leaves you money to spend, as an example, £200 on wheels wouldn't be much lighter,

Look on Weight Weenies, they have all the knowledge you need.

As sonic says though, £300 now, couple of hundred in the new year, another £50 the month later, thats a whole lotta lighter new bike!

supersonic

Hehe, I recommend my WMB column two months time on upgrades *plug*

;-)

The upgrade path is not easy and should planned carefully.

batch78

I'm imagining it now.

" A good place to start is a dependable do it all frame, the GT Zaskar is an ideal candidate"

supersonic

Yeah, I agree with that!!!

batch78

Northwind

Mmm, one place bikes win over cars etc on the modding is that you're not stuck with core parts. So, say you upgrade the forks today, and the wheels tomorrow, and then the drivetrain, sooner or later you upgrade the frame and suddenly, you've bought a second bike on instalments So yeah, generally buying a better bike makes more sense but it's not a no-brainer option. And lets be honest here, buying bits and upgrading just appeals to a lot of us, even when it's not great financial sense.

John Stevenson

Three hundred quid would be far better put toward a holiday spent riding your bike somewhere hilly, like the Alps or Pyrenees.

That will improve your riding far more than any equipment change you can make.

zero303

If you must spend the cash, I'd ignore the bar and stem if they currently fit right and invest everything in the wheels/tyres.

Daz555

If you really want to reduce weight the best places to do it are on the bits of the bike that spin. A bike with a light rolling setup will feel much much lighter and the bike will feel more more snappy and responsive on the trail.

If you had two bikes of exactly the same weight but with different weight components, the bike with the lighter wheel/tyre setup would feel lighter when actually being ridden.

The Spiderman

I have upgraded my XTC over the last 2 years.So far spec is as follows,xt 717 wheels,Schwalbe Noby Nic tyres,Reba SL forks,Raceface Deus bars and stem,Thomson seatpost ,Gobi saddle,XT cassette,XT drivetrain,brakes,etc.

Because the forks and wheels were secondhand and everything else was bought on line,at much reduced cost,and the old bits were sold on,it hasn`t cost me much more than £400 in upgrades,which added to the original £500 bike price has given me a decentish bike,for a lot less than a new one of equivalent spec.

You need to do your research well,and shop around.Best upgrades I made were forks,tyres and wheels and this is where I would be spending your budget.

Forks:Reba SL
Wheels:XT with 7171 or crossride
Tyres:Maxxis Ignitor,Nobby Nic,Speed King/Mountian Kings are light,fast rolling and would suit the XTC well.

toasty

Either:

"Wheels Hope pro 2 mavic 717 rims £210" as mentioned or the XT factory set with some tubeless tyres, using a set of 2.0" 2bliss Specialized Captains on mine, 610g with no rim strip. Proper 2.0" as well, wider than a set of 2.1" High Rollers or 2.1" Nobby Nics :S

1670g wheelset + 1220g tyres + 20g stans solution = 2910g
~2000g old wheelset + 1420g (2x Nevegal DTCs) + 350g innertube x2 = 3770g

2lbs for £250? You could save another 90g with an XT 11-32 cassette over that PG950 11-34 one.


If I were genuinely in your boat and had £300 to spend I'd probably buy a Crossride disc wheelset and a set of Rebas or flog the bike and get something better to build up from!

edhornby

John Stevenson wrote:

Three hundred quid would be far better put toward a holiday spent riding your bike somewhere hilly, like the Alps or Pyrenees.

That will improve your riding far more than any equipment change you can make.

+1

there are loads of hills in scotland also, load the bike in the car with some mates and get out riding :-)

toasty

Can you still get to the Alps for a week for £300? Given the euro has rocketed off it'd be close £500 now all in I'd bet.

joejoe

Three hundred quid would be far better put toward a holiday spent riding your bike somewhere hilly, like the Alps or Pyrenees.

That will improve your riding far more than any equipment change you can make.

I don't understand all this anti upgrade stuff, if people enjoy spending their hard earned money on little bits of technology that make their bike lighter/stronger/look nicer then where is the problem in this? Bike companies must survive on the money that comes from upgrades to these upgraders are keeping the industry going. I think it makes people feel superior to bash novice/beginner bikers but I say go for it, buy the best wheels/forks etc that you can afford.

supersonic

No one is bashing anyone, just offering a wide range of advice and options. That is what makes a good forum.

canada16

Hey

Sorry to hijack, but this might help as well.

I have mavics and love the spokes and wheel, but looking to get lighter as well.

I got Fox forks so not going to get lighter than those at like 3.5lbs.

I was looking at XT's at merlin they are like 200.00, and sometimes they throw in brakes as well.

Is it worth upgrading from crossrides for the weight, need some birthday ideas.

toasty

I've got both, the XT are definitely a bit flexier, I'm 6'6" though and weigh 14 stone.

You save about 300 grams over the Crossrides and get the option of running proper tubeless. Both have a decent rim width for XC/Trail and have stayed perfectly true for me, the freehub is wearing out on my Crossrides now after about a year and a half, they're on a commuting/hack bike at the mo.

Although neither have died, I'd guess the Crossrides could take a bit more abuse than the XTs, it depends what your priority is, for £200 there isn't much on the market that rivals that weight.