Saving Weight

I Don\'t Get It
I Don\'t Get It Posts: 70
edited March 2010 in MTB general
Why does nobody blow up their tyres with hydrogen? It would save a few grammes in weight.
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Comments

  • benneally
    benneally Posts: 973
    Think about it....

    Hydrogen atoms are the smallest of all, and so just escape through the tube at a really high rate :)
    Scott Spark 30 Boardman Road Comp Fixie Mud Aero Rims
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    Fill them with vacuum, vacuum weighs nothing.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • benneally
    benneally Posts: 973
    Northwind wrote:
    Fill them with vacuum, vacuum weighs nothing.

    brilliant :D love the idea of trying to pump a tyre to the correct pressure with a substance that cannot sustain any pressure at all
    Scott Spark 30 Boardman Road Comp Fixie Mud Aero Rims
  • hoodlum-z
    hoodlum-z Posts: 65
    The tyres on an Nissan GTR are filled with nitrogen! You could try this instead. It's more stable than air, apparently, and won't expand when you heat up your tyres doing 70 down that mountain side. 8)
    You mean what we thought they thought we think and thought they thought. We think? - Patrick
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    benneally wrote:
    love the idea of trying to pump a tyre to the correct pressure with a substance that cannot sustain any pressure at all

    You'd have to use one of these

    sykes-pickavant-vacuum-pump-mityvac-.jpg
    Uncompromising extremist
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    It is the molecule thing. And at full pressure, a reduction in weight of about 8g per tyre.

    Nitrogen expands like any other ideal gas.
    GT ZASKAR CARBON TEAM

    VOODOO CANZO

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  • Raymondavalon
    Raymondavalon Posts: 5,346
    I Don't Get It

    Want to save wight? Eat less, have a good dump before you ride. go UST and don't bother to carry any pump. spare tubes or repair kits...
    The Bouncer
    The Shaker
  • Briggo
    Briggo Posts: 3,537
    Chop off body parts you dont need.

    Surely the ears and nose could go, few fingers? Infact you only need at most 2 fingers, one to hold onto the handlebar and one to brake with.

    Toes? They can go.

    Nob? Well it serves no purpose riding so just get it turned into a vag, less mass so therefor less weight.
  • lesz42
    lesz42 Posts: 690
    drill holes everywhere all over the frame, reckon 20mm or so?
    Giant Trance X0 (08) Reverb, Hope Hoops 5.1D, XT brakes, RQ BC, Works Components headset 1.5
  • I Don\'t Get It
    I Don\'t Get It Posts: 70
    I see. Well I'd better not mention the gas filled back pack I'm thinking of making, for overtaking hot-shots on the climbs!
  • Surf-Matt
    Surf-Matt Posts: 5,952
    hoodlum-z wrote:
    The tyres on an Nissan GTR are filled with nitrogen! You could try this instead. It's more stable than air, apparently, and won't expand when you heat up your tyres doing 70 down that mountain side. 8)

    Kwik fit offer a Nitrogen service too.

    I've heard of roadies using sparkling water because they think it's lighter - oh dear...
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    Surf-Matt wrote:
    I've heard of roadies using sparkling water because they think it's lighter - oh dear...

    :lol:

    Also, 8g?! Just trim your toenails/chop the unused bits off your shoelaces/wear those ankle socks rather than 'full' ones/shave your legs/have a 'tommy tank'/clean the fluff out of your belly button etc etc.......


    But is it rotating weight? So when the wheel starts spinning, does the air rotate with it?
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    go UST and don't bother to carry any pump. spare tubes or repair kits...

    Going USTs not gonna save you much/any weight! Go Stan's with a light tyre, much more saving.

    To all the cut your nails/have a crap/eat less/carry less rubbish folk, what if you make the bike lighter and do all that...
  • Briggo
    Briggo Posts: 3,537
    Oh another idea, dont have a seat just a seatpost.

    Thats what your anus was made for baby!
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    njee20
    Good point.

    But it's 8 grams :wink:

    And as soon as you get a puncture or need to top up your tyres on the trail, you'll lose the advantage. Until you carry a canister of gas with you? Which kind of defeats the point.

    Weight saving is good, but I can't see how this would be worth the hassle.
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    Air is mostly nitrogen anyway.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • bike-a-swan
    bike-a-swan Posts: 1,235
    bails87 wrote:
    But is it rotating weight? So when the wheel starts spinning, does the air rotate with it?

    better start oiling the inside of tubes to reduce the friction between them and the air, reducing the amount the air spins with the wheel
    Rock Lobster 853, Trek 1200 and a very old, tired and loved Apollo Javelin.
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    If you spin the air really fast in the other direction that'll cancel out the rotating mass of the wheel. So add some fans.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • benneally
    benneally Posts: 973
    Northwind wrote:
    If you spin the air really fast in the other direction that'll cancel out the rotating mass of the wheel. So add some fans.

    was literally about to suggest having tiny fans inside the inner tube to do that!
    Scott Spark 30 Boardman Road Comp Fixie Mud Aero Rims
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    But don't spin it too fast or time will reverse.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • benneally
    benneally Posts: 973
    or your wheel could turn into a twister :shock:
    Scott Spark 30 Boardman Road Comp Fixie Mud Aero Rims
  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    Personally I've never carried a puncture repair kit on the bike, I've never actually repaired a tube... On the MTB I carry a CO2 pump and two cannisters, on the road I add 2 tubes. Never really felt the need for more!

    I'm always stunned by people who fill their Camelbak Hawgs to ride for an hour around the Surrey Hills!
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    njee20 wrote:
    Personally I've never carried a puncture repair kit on the bike, I've never actually repaired a tube... On the MTB I carry a CO2 pump and two cannisters, on the road I add 2 tubes. Never really felt the need for more!

    I'm always stunned by people who fill their Camelbak Hawgs to ride for an hour around the Surrey Hills!

    :?

    So you get a puncture, then empty two canisters of CO2 into it, which goes straight out. then you have to walk home?
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."
  • benneally
    benneally Posts: 973
    used to be like you, and then had a few rides resulting in 16km walk home carrying the bike. Not amazing fun. Now i just take a pump, spare tube and some scabs (and sometimes a multitool).
    Scott Spark 30 Boardman Road Comp Fixie Mud Aero Rims
  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    Ah yes, I do take a multitool!

    I'd have said that you're far more likely to need a multitool than a tube personally.

    I guess it depends where you ride too, if I was heading out into the wilderness 50 miles from the nearest road I'd probably take more. As it is, I'm never more than a mile or so from a road, if it came to it you could just spin home on a flat tyre after all! If it's got a big cut in it then it's already dead!
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    The tools etc I carry take up very little space- a tube or 2 (2 more than is in the bike!), a sensible pump, multitool, proper tyre levers, powerlinks... Oh, some patches but only really because they're tiny, and a pair of brake pads because I'm an eejit and otherwise I'll get to the top of the hill one day and discover no brakes ;) But it all fits in the small pocket on my camelbak, bar the pump of course. That's more than you're likely to need, but I can't really see any reason to carry less.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • Briggo
    Briggo Posts: 3,537
    njee20 wrote:
    As it is, I'm never more than a mile or so from a road, if it came to it you could just spin home on a flat tyre after all! If it's got a big cut in it then it's already dead!

    So lets get this straight, on a ride you take out some CO2 canisters and a pump but no repair kit to stop the leak, and you'll happily then ride home on the rims also possibly destroying the tyre completely (if not done already of course) and then start to damage the rims.

    But you got a multitool so its all good!
  • benneally
    benneally Posts: 973
    haha :lol:
    Scott Spark 30 Boardman Road Comp Fixie Mud Aero Rims
  • I Don\'t Get It
    I Don\'t Get It Posts: 70
    You could always stuff the tyre with grass.
  • Briggo
    Briggo Posts: 3,537
    I Don\'t Get It wrote:
    You could always stuff the tyre with grass.

    Let us know how that works out for ya.

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