Guys advise me on how best to make my bike weigh less please

Ezy Rider

Im giving the 56cm trek 1000 frame I used to ride to my brother and Ive now got a 54cm 3k Carbonzone frame and fork which are as light as a feather and I think they are great. The built up bike has the following components fitted to it.

Bontrager Ergo handlebars
90mm Pro LT alloy stem
Mavic handbuilt wheels with open pro rims
Continental ultra gatorskin 25mm tyres
Shimano 105 hubs
Sora shifters
Shimano 170mm tiagra double compact crank
FSA front mech
Charge spoon synthetic leather saddle
Pro LT no setback alloy seatpost
Shimano 12-25 8 speed rear cassette
Shimano tiagra rear derailleur
Shimano SPD M520 clipless pedals

various bikes ive lifted feel just weightless and are undoubtedly a lot more expensive, but id love to minimise the weight of my bike without spending silly money. looking at the list of components im using, can you identify any i could swap out that would give noticeable weight reduction ?

compared to the old trek frame, ive been to a pro fitting and the carbon bike just feels more alive underfoot and i can really push on a lot harder using this bike now. thanks for any advice given in respect of this thread.

furrag

I've read that a rough rule of thumb is £1 per gram of weight lost in components. Assuming it's true, is it worth spending £250 odd across your bike to lose the weight akin to your saddle? That's your call, but it's unlikely you'll gain any significant advantage if it's performance or time-based gains you're looking for.

Keep the Gatorskins over the winter, and then get a quicker rolling tyre; 23mm GP4000s are highly popular. Lighter and quicker. I'd also look at upgrading away from Sora as they're horrible to change when you're in the drops.

Save your money or spend it on training aids that will assist in making you faster; Coaches, books, Garmins, power meters etc.

Ezy Rider

Furrag wrote:

I've read that a rough rule of thumb is £1 per gram of weight lost in components. Assuming it's true, is it worth spending £250 odd across your bike to lose the weight akin to your saddle? That's your call, but it's unlikely you'll gain any significant advantage if it's performance or time-based gains you're looking for.

Keep the Gatorskins over the winter, and then get a quicker rolling tyre; 23mm GP4000s are highly popular. Lighter and quicker. I'd also look at upgrading away from Sora as they're horrible to change when you're in the drops.

Save your money or spend it on training aids that will assist in making you faster; Coaches, books, Garmins, power meters etc.

I never ride in the drops and the sora dont cause me any problems. I was wondering if swapping the tiagra double compact cranks for ultegra would yield noticable weight reduction ?

t.m.h.n.e.t

Don't take this the wrong way :P But the heaviest part of any bike is the rider. Incredible weight savings to be had by most :P The money won't be noticed if you're carrying extra bulk of your own.


/hides

Peddle Up!

Indeed. My bike's engine could do with a flatter torque curve.

akcc05

Probably not so relevant but I am all for going 10 speed. I don't think I can ever go back to riding an 8sp bike with those big gaps between gears. Acutally that's a lie as my commuter has an 8sp 11-32 cassette and the gear ratio is horrible....

Check out some groupset deals from the likes of Ribble or Merlin. You can upgrade to Shimano 105 5600 or something similar for a relatively reasonable price. I think it's around 350 quid or something. You'll gain more gears and save quite a bit of weight in the process. Don't bother buying individual bits like crankset and levers, it's so much cheaper to just buy a whole groupset.

rjh299

Ezy Rider wrote:

Furrag wrote:

I've read that a rough rule of thumb is £1 per gram of weight lost in components. Assuming it's true, is it worth spending £250 odd across your bike to lose the weight akin to your saddle? That's your call, but it's unlikely you'll gain any significant advantage if it's performance or time-based gains you're looking for.

Keep the Gatorskins over the winter, and then get a quicker rolling tyre; 23mm GP4000s are highly popular. Lighter and quicker. I'd also look at upgrading away from Sora as they're horrible to change when you're in the drops.

Save your money or spend it on training aids that will assist in making you faster; Coaches, books, Garmins, power meters etc.

I never ride in the drops and the sora dont cause me any problems. I was wondering if swapping the tiagra double compact cranks for ultegra would yield noticable weight reduction ?

Riding in the drops will make you go faster and corner better. Free speed right there! An upgraded groupset with levers might encourage you to use the drops more. Upgrading the tyres has been the best shout so far. Oh, and your weight loss aswell.

thescouselander

rjh299 wrote:

Ezy Rider wrote:

Furrag wrote:

I've read that a rough rule of thumb is £1 per gram of weight lost in components. Assuming it's true, is it worth spending £250 odd across your bike to lose the weight akin to your saddle? That's your call, but it's unlikely you'll gain any significant advantage if it's performance or time-based gains you're looking for.

Keep the Gatorskins over the winter, and then get a quicker rolling tyre; 23mm GP4000s are highly popular. Lighter and quicker. I'd also look at upgrading away from Sora as they're horrible to change when you're in the drops.

Save your money or spend it on training aids that will assist in making you faster; Coaches, books, Garmins, power meters etc.

I never ride in the drops and the sora dont cause me any problems. I was wondering if swapping the tiagra double compact cranks for ultegra would yield noticable weight reduction ?

Riding in the drops will make you go faster and corner better. Free speed right there! An upgraded groupset with levers might encourage you to use the drops more. Upgrading the tyres has been the best shout so far. Oh, and your weight loss aswell.

I'm not sure thats true. I read a study a while back that seemed to indicate riding on the drops might not be as fast because it makes breathing less efficient. Also when you watch races like the TDF the riders seem to spend most of the time on the hoods.

I also ride mostly on the hoods and to be honest being able to change up while on the drops is rarely a problem.

cougie

If you position is right then riding in the drops lowers your aero profile. That would make you faster assuming you're not bent in half and thus unable to get the power out.

Yes tour riders spend a lot of time on the hoods but when they are flat out they go down to the drops.

As to the OP - there's not one magic element there to reducing weight.
You won't notice a lighter chainset. Work out the difference in weight and then ride with that amount of water in your bottle. Then take it off. Can you notice that ?

I'd agree that getting gp4000s for spring would be a good idea though.

Bozman

It's down to the total sum of the parts, i bought a Bianchi 928 about 5 yrs ago which had a cracking frame but poor wheels etc, i just slowly replaced everything over a year watching the net for reductions. The first thing to go were the fulcrum 7s and they were relaced with some Elites/conti 4000 and it just went on from there, i ended up with a cracking bike but as most people know it doesn't stop there, the frame got sold and i bought a Look 585, it just goes on and on and on......

cyco2

if you are using your bike for leisure riding then trying to gain speed with a marginal reduction in weight and high cost is a poor way to go. All you have to do is fit aero bars and then you will fly. Even a short stubby pair will do it. The bike I use weighs 40lbs and with aero bars it flies. Not up hill though. On a road bike it should add between 2mph + speed on the flat and be far more efficient in to a head wind.

rolf_f

thescouselander wrote:

I'm not sure thats true. I read a study a while back that seemed to indicate riding on the drops might not be as fast because it makes breathing less efficient. Also when you watch races like the TDF the riders seem to spend most of the time on the hoods.

What pro riders do is rarely relevant to what we do. The reason TDF riders are rarely in the drops is because they are rarely not in the peleton. If you commonly ride in a peleton, you won't get much benefit from riding in the drops. But I suspect you don't!

MichaelW

Weight only makes a significant difference on major climbs and only then, when you are racing. On the flat, the factor which stops you going fast is air resistance. Use the drops or add some tri-style aerobars.
You can get tyres with lower rolling resistance which will be quicker, possibly at the expense of durability or puncture resistance.
You could get some wheels with aerodynamic rim profiles and fewer spokes but you have a nice set for general training and riding.

If you do decide to go the weight-weanie route, make sure you cost the £ per gramme saved.

geebee2

The groupset components are not as light as they could be.

You could consider buying a lightweight groupset ( SRAM Force can generally be had for about £600 at this time of year ) and re-build your old frame as a training bike.

This will probably save you about 500 grams ( very rough guess ).

This is roughly the route I took - you should be able to get a bike around 7kg with clinchers.

You don't give weight of anything - if you know the weights, that helps assess possible savings.

estampida

quick weight drop

measure the length of your seat post and cut off the excess (remember to leave so much in the frame now)

carbon bits (stem)

and go 9-10 speed and get a cassette with an alloy spider (25 grms)

and carbon cranks (can keep them for the next bike and keep the alloy ones safe)

after that the sora hubs would have to go

but it will be expensive..........................

MattC59

Have a good sh*t before you go out, that's the largest weight saving you'll make !!

Or a good p*ss. A pint of p*ss weighs about 1lb.

MattC59

Get yourself one of these. It's clearly very light and fast, as this guy is at the front !!

MattC59

You could also try removing all of the copies of the Shanghai Times from inside the frame ?

rob.m

thescouselander wrote:

rjh299 wrote:

Ezy Rider wrote:

Furrag wrote:

I've read that a rough rule of thumb is £1 per gram of weight lost in components. Assuming it's true, is it worth spending £250 odd across your bike to lose the weight akin to your saddle? That's your call, but it's unlikely you'll gain any significant advantage if it's performance or time-based gains you're looking for.

Keep the Gatorskins over the winter, and then get a quicker rolling tyre; 23mm GP4000s are highly popular. Lighter and quicker. I'd also look at upgrading away from Sora as they're horrible to change when you're in the drops.

Save your money or spend it on training aids that will assist in making you faster; Coaches, books, Garmins, power meters etc.

I never ride in the drops and the sora dont cause me any problems. I was wondering if swapping the tiagra double compact cranks for ultegra would yield noticable weight reduction ?

Riding in the drops will make you go faster and corner better. Free speed right there! An upgraded groupset with levers might encourage you to use the drops more. Upgrading the tyres has been the best shout so far. Oh, and your weight loss aswell.

I'm not sure thats true. I read a study a while back that seemed to indicate riding on the drops might not be as fast because it makes breathing less efficient. Also when you watch races like the TDF the riders seem to spend most of the time on the hoods.

I also ride mostly on the hoods and to be honest being able to change up while on the drops is rarely a problem.

Hi, I've recently lost approx 3 stone in weight and can now ride on the drops far more efficiently due to being able to breathe better in this position.

InSituTravel

T.M.H.N.E.T has the right idea. Again, no disrespect to you, but the easiest and cheapest way to lighten up is to lose weight on the rider. Remember that it's the rider + the bike that has to make it up the hill, not just the bike.

But beyond that, I'd say focus on the rotational weight and rolling resistance first when upgrading (i.e. wheels and tires). Keep the Gatorskins for the winter as Furrag said, but later change them out for some lower rolling resistance 23c tires. Handmade OpenPro wheels are probably pretty light (at least lighter than what the bike probably originally came with), so I'd wait to replace them once they wear out.

Same goes for the other components too. Save your money. When something wears out, replace it for a lighter, upgraded part.

.

racingcondor

Looking at your bike you could upgrade the groupset and save a few hundred grammes but it's not cheap (would get you a lovely crisp shifting new groupset though so there are other benefits). I suspect that seatpost is heavy too.

The other obviously heave parts you have there are your 105 hubs. Front hub is about 150g and the rear around 360g so you could save 120g quite easily there if you wanted. The only problem with that is that you'll be replacing hubs that are very durable with something that is either cheap and light (novatec / planet x type hubs) or something very expensive and you'll have to have the wheels rebuilt.

My advice, save for a £1.5k+ bike and keep that one for a winter bike. It's a decent bike with parts that should last and last but there is no cheap way to turn it into a flyweight.

shouldbeinbed

Drill regular holes in the frame and forks and cranks and bars :twisted:


you can go immediately faster by only cycling downhill, weighing more will be a positive boon then

MattC59

racingcondor wrote:

My advice, save for a £1.5k+ bike and keep that one for a winter bike. It's a decent bike with parts that should last and last but there is no cheap way to turn it into a flyweight.

That's gonna hurt !!! He's just spent his money on a new carbon frame, and you tell him to buy a different one............... ouch !!!

I agree though, to replace all of the kit hanging on his frame could well cost a fortune and he'd probably get a complete bike for less.

thescouselander

Rolf F wrote:

thescouselander wrote:

I'm not sure thats true. I read a study a while back that seemed to indicate riding on the drops might not be as fast because it makes breathing less efficient. Also when you watch races like the TDF the riders seem to spend most of the time on the hoods.

What pro riders do is rarely relevant to what we do. The reason TDF riders are rarely in the drops is because they are rarely not in the peloton. If you commonly ride in a peloton, you won't get much benefit from riding in the drops. But I suspect you don't!

Yes, that's true, I don't. On the other hand I don't ride as fast as a tdf rider either so the aero benefit of riding on the drops is pretty minimal unless I'm going into wind or really going for it flat out. Personally I find the comfort of riding the hoods makes for a better average speed over longer distances.

Ezy Rider

Im very pleased with my new frame set and its a lot lighter than the trek was. Ive no notion to buy a whole new bike at this point in time . I think an upgraded and lighter crankset is a sensible place to look,

RoadyForever

Cheap crank sets are heavy! Such as an Ultegra crank will save you the best part of 500g's (the 105 crankset is heavier than it should be). You may want to have a look at changing the wheels too, to me handmade normally = heavy.

That rule of thumb about -gram per £ is good advice. But those two changes should give you a pretty good bang-for-buck. If you can upgrade to 105 shifters/ derailers, not so much for the weight savings, but they will shift so much nicer!

Ezy Rider

why should handmade point directly to heavy ?

i always associated it handmades with quality.