Losing weight on a mountain bike (the bike not the rider)

nomadicbry

Hi

I was wondering what you guys reckon is the best way to lose weight from a bike without spending a fortune.

What lighter components give the best weight loss per £££

Would be interested to know your thoughts

Have a hardtail with Suntour XTR shocks (yes i know they're pretty bad and do plan on changing them but for my son they do fine for now) However would like to try and lose weight on his bike before the racing season starts without spending a fortune so what would be the best components to aim for. it has a good frame...Commencal combi

Looking forward to the comments as I'm sure there will be quite differing experiences and opinions

Cheers

jpstar

There are alot of threads on this already, try the search button.
But rotating mass is worth more so tyres, wheels etc. Then forks after that, does get pretty expensive mind you.

supersonic

What bike, what components, what weight???

Anonymous

tyres are almost always the first and best value place to lose some weight and it just so happens to be in probably the most useful area too.

nomadicbry

commencal Combi '07 (HT)
Suntour XTR fork
Combi hubs
Shimano XT chainset
Shimano M505 hydraulic brakes (i think)
Crank Bros candy C pedals

Will check the rest when i get home

II reckon the wheels are the big one to do the bike had v brakes on it so the rims were for use with v brakes... tyres are the non folding variety which are heavier I think... Good to have that confirmed.

Can you recmonned non-expensive light wheels?

JP yeah sorry for posting a probably common question. I did have a look and found some interesting suggestions but felt it might be an intereting topic and many of them where related to higher end gear which wasn't really relevant to my wallet

Casbar

Cheapest and best is to loose the weight yourself if you can..Hardly any upgrade will reduce in weight , what we can loode in kilo's.

After that I agree with the above Rotating Mass, then Forks, then swap Steal or Alu parts with Carbon ( handle bar , seat post ) etc etc etc

But is the frame light enough to justify all that ?

nomadicbry

my lad (who's bike it is) is the perfect image of a young aspiring cyclist so no weight to be lost on that front... I don't intend on going mentalist with the carbon route...reckon when that day arrives I'll buy a new bike. However the wheels and tyres is a great suggestion and then will consider the rest

supersonic

You need to weigh your wheels bare really - 1950g sets can be had for 125 quid. But yours may not be any heavier than that.

The fork could be hiding a lot of weight, and an upgrade to a Recon air should save some.

Casbar

nomadicbry wrote:

my lad (who's bike it is) is the perfect image of a young aspiring cyclist so no weight to be lost on that front... I don't intend on going mentalist with the carbon route...reckon when that day arrives I'll buy a new bike. However the wheels and tyres is a great suggestion and then will consider the rest

Ok that changes things

Wheels/Tyres and then Fork.....all else , better to buy new bike possibly

lawman

as the old saying goes - cheap, light, expensive - pick too, more often than not something cheep and light will not last long

llamafarmer

lawman wrote:

as the old saying goes - cheap, light, strong - pick too, more often than not something cheep and light will not last long

Fixed

(If you want the spelling fixed as well that costs extra)

Kiblams

I shaved 4lbs off my bike over this last year, and none of the upgrades had anywhere near the impact on the way the bike rides than taking off a 1500g DH front tyre and replacing with a 760g tyre.

lawman

llamafarmer wrote:

lawman wrote:

as the old saying goes - cheap, light, strong - pick too, more often than not something cheep and light will not last long

Fixed

(If you want the spelling fixed as well that costs extra)

god damn it, it took me ages to remember that and i still got it wrong

im current putting my bike through a weight saving exercise, just bought some new wheels for £120 selling my currwent for around £70. 200 grammes saved. losing my big and granny ring so a single front ring and ill lose 450g. then im replacing my current tyres with some maxxis aspens to drop another 300g. so all in 950g lost which is just over 2lbs so my bike will be under 26lbs all for about £140 all in.

nomadicbry

Cheers guys great info and kind of confirmed my thinking to start with the wheels and tires and take it from there

much appreciated