Weight Weenies

sparrowlegs78

Hiya,
I am trying to get some weight off my full sus bike, I've started by getting a lighter set of wheels ( Mavic Crossrides) and I've lost about 2lbs from the wheels but what else could I change to lessen it's all over weight?
It's got Rockshox Tora 318 coil forks on and I'm going to look at getting a set of air forks for it as I liked the air forks (Reba SL) that I had on another bike (before the hubby nicked all the bits off it for his new bike!)
I trust you weight weenies might have some more pointers
Many thanks,
Caz xx

SDK2007

What type of riding is the bike used for?

jay12

tyres, chainset,cassette

The Northern Monkey

tyres?
Cassette? (I remember you saying you had a bog standard one)
Pedals?

probably the easiest to change anyways!

kenan

Foam grips. Easy 100grams for £10, on my list to do

supersonic

What is your budget?

Mental Mickey

I trust you *weight weenies* amendment :arrow: warriors of the woods might have some more pointers

Strengthen arms and legs.

El Capitano

supersonic wrote:

What is your budget?

This is the important bit...

Also, what is the current spec?

Easy stuff is tyres/tubes.
As has already been mentioned, grips.

The whole Ti/alloy bolt thing, whilst looking nice and pimp is an expensive way of removing about 200g...

VWsurfbum

saddle and bars can also be a cheap upgrade.
the forks will probably make the most weight difference.

sparrowlegs78

The bike is used mainly for XC as I am a typical big girl when it come to fun stuff :oops:
I changed the cassette last night for a SRAM PG970 and lost another 200ish grammes there, the original weighed in at a smidge over 1lb !!!!
Tyres at the moment are Panaracer Fire XC on the rear and Panaracer Cinder sport on the front, and they aren't light I bet.
I need to change the crankset as it's a basic Truvativ Isoflow set with a square taper bottom bracket and it squeaks embarrasingly
It's got Truvativ XR stem and bars on and I weighed the stem last night and it was less than 200g.
Weighed the old broken shock I got with the bike and that was over 250g and needs upgrading (rockshox Bar 2.1).
Am I getting a bit obsessed now? :oops:
Caz xx

supersonic

250g for an airshock is about average.

You can get 115g stems from Exotic for 13 quid.

Weight the tyres - Anything over 600g for your usage is getting on a bit in weight.

Weigh the bars.

The fork weighs 4.9lbs if alu steerer, and 5.3lbs if steel. A Rockshox Reba weighs 3.6lbs.

Your chainset and BB will be about 1100g. SLX weighs 890g.

That's all for now

sparrowlegs78

Ohh thats a light stem at 115g ..i'm going to look now.
I'll get the spare tyre out of the shed and weigh that, I bet they are a weight.
I'll have to save to get air forks as Richie won't give me mine back! tight git .
SLX sounds good, I'll have to ask Santa for that, it'll be an upgrade even if not much weight loss coz it'll not bloody squeak like whats on now! lol
Ta
Caz xxxx

weescott

supersonic wrote:

You can get 115g stems from Exotic for 13 quid.
:

And I thought my 100g Pro stem for £60 was a bargain! :oops:

Don't get too worried about air shock weights. The DT Swiss shock is the lightest but the Fox RP shocks are better performers.

sparrowlegs78

Been looking at Fox shocks for the rear,...they sound the better shocks..want one with lockout.
God this is all going to cost me loadsa money
Caz xx

SDK2007

You can also save 100g per wheel by getting Continental Supersonic tubes

RevellRider

And get punctures every ride :P

Mental Mickey

Are we talking Orange 5 pro here? Think I read it weight 27.summat pounds?

That's a good weight for a full bouncer, my suggestion is still the best, learn to cope with the bike you have and save loadsa money.

Weight weenie is for the xc carbon hardtail racing mincers looking to win competition, are you looking for that?

El Capitano

sparrowlegs78 wrote:

I'll get the spare tyre out of the shed and weigh that, I bet they are a weight.

My Panracer XC Fire Pro's (In 2.1 flavour) weighed in at around 560g each. Not too shabby for an XC tyre.

SDK2007 wrote:

You can also save 100g per wheel by getting Continental Supersonic tubes

Indeed, can't fault them.

RevellRider wrote:

And get punctures every ride :P

Not if you run them at 40+ PSI...

Thewaylander

yeh but 40+psi Off road, in the rocks....

Just no

dan shard

Fox forks tend to be a lot lighter than RS. often up to 0.5kg

troj

Whats the weight of the rider??

sparrowlegs78

I'm 13 stone, with all the kit on it'll be more like 14 stone (I am a big girl at 6ft 2" ), I could lose about half a stone I suppose :oops: that would help lol
Caz xx

troj

I have relative light bike and I know it's me that's slowing it down. I'm about 15 stone!! My only saving grace is that I raced through out my twenties and still have a good level of fitness. All be it in a slightly bigger package Light wheels and tires are a must purely for the acceleration they can give you require out on the trails. If you really want to lighten your bike don't sacrifice comfort for weight. You'll ride better for longer being comfortable then having a light bike.

unixnerd

If you're after a decent tyre that doesn't cost much and is fairly light try Maxxis Ignitors, but there are a few versions so be careful. They roll well on tarmac too.

I'd not get too obsessed about weight on a mtb, except for the wheels maybe. The frame plays the biggest part in it. I went from a heavy old Saracen to a fairly light '97 Marin Mount Vision. Main weight saving seem to be in the frame and wheels/tyres compared to the old bike. Most of the more modern bikes I looked at (including the current Mount Vision) were heavier and ten times what I paid.

Performance wise I notice the weight difference most when climbing. I'm sure I'll get shot down in flames for saying this here but I'm far more interested in weight on my road bike.

supersonic

dan shard wrote:

Fox forks tend to be a lot lighter than RS. often up to 0.5kg

which ones?

SDK2007

In general weight saving is fun but it can be expensive. The biggest weight saving for performance is found on your wheels, after that the savings don't give out as much performance gains.

If you are not racing then don't get too carried away

dan shard wrote:

Fox forks tend to be a lot lighter than RS. often up to 0.5kg

Yeah Supersonic I also read and thought - what !!!

Like for like, Fox & RS forks are pretty much the same. Infact some RS forks are lighter than the equivalent Fox Forks - SID vs F32 (1400g vs 1500g) for example.

supersonic

I think the upgrading in this case needs to be put into context - you bought a decent budget bike. but spending 500 quid on upgrades, you may have well just bought a Boardman lol.

I like to buy lightweight kit, but not superlight - well priced, fairly tough kit when I can get it. I was lucky to pick my XTR wheels up for 130 quid. The frame costs, but rides lovely and at the time was cheap for carbon. Exotic seatpost was a bargain. Just need to keep your eyes peeled.

sparrowlegs78

I can't really complain for the price I got the bike, even if it is one no ones ever heard of lol .
I'll just have to upgrade for light stuff as stuff wears out, like an SLX chainset asap! lol
I'd love a Boardman but I only had a few quid and this was a deal I couldn't turn down
Best upgrade for the bike is another rider basically :oops:
Caz xx