how to lighten my bike - rr8.1

dangerousxxx

Ive had my rockrider 8.1 for nearly a year now, and I would like to spend a little bit of money on it. One of the reasons I bought it was the weight advantage (12.85 kg advertised in size S but mine is size M so a little more, never actually weighed it), but I'm thinking whether its possible to knock it down to around 11kg? Is this even worth doing would I see a big advantage?

What parts should I be looking at upgrading to get the most out of it? I have about £500 to spend.

A search on google for rockrider 8.1 brought up this site so hoping for some good tips!

Thanks

ilovedirt

wheels, forks, brakes.

The Spiderman

Some general rules on lightening your bike:

1)For the best bang per buck,first change the tyres,unless yours are already good.
Lots of tyres around the 500g mark.Schwalbe Nics or Ralphs being the most obvious contenders.
A lot of original fit tyres are 700g or more so 2 x lightweight tyres can lose you 400g or more.

2)Wheels make a huge difference,but can be costly.But are easily transferable to the next bike.Unless you can afford sub 1800g wheels though you won`t notice the difference as much as if you spent the money just on tyres.

3)Forks always a good upgrade,more expensive forks tend to be lighter aswell but also more importantly tend have better damping giving you more control.

4) If you are looking at spending £500 add that to what you could get for your bike as it stands and think about what bike you could buy that is lighter to begin with!

5) 50g saved off a seatpost or stem will make sod all difference by itself, but a bit saved here and a bit saved there all adds up.(Both in weight and cost!)

6) Manufacturer`s quoted weight aren`t always the same as actual weights................

7) Think about what riding you are going to be doing.

Need to know your current spec to advise you further though.

estampida

nice wheels always make the ride better, make sure the hubs can be converted to different standards (ie hope or similar)

tubless maybe??

scavenge e-bay, last year bits that are high grade, just not in this year colour will cost less (brakes ect)

even with bits that hare a bit heavy, a fork with an alloy steerer that is heavy will feel better than a steel steerer, as the weight is closer to the ground, same with wheels the further the weigh is from the middle the more it will hurt acceleration of the bike

nice crank and bb

single ring with guide (9 speed) means you lose the front mech and shifter

change the sofa for a light xc saddle (again loosing weight from the top of the bike)

dangerousxxx

The Spiderman wrote:

1)For the best bang per buck,first change the tyres,unless yours are already good.
Lots of tyres around the 500g mark.Schwable Nics or Ralphs being the most obvious contenders.
A lot of original fit tyres are 700g or more so 2 x lightweight tyres can lose you 400g or more.

2)Wheels make a huge difference,but can be costly.But are easily transferable to the next bike.Unless you can afford sub 1800g wheels though you won`t notice the difference as much as if you spent the money just on tyres.

estampida wrote:

nice wheels always make the ride better, make sure the hubs can be converted to different standards (ie hope or similar)

tubless maybe??

I suppose I should weigh my wheels bare then to see what advantage I could get with new ones.

I do run slime tubes which I like alot and never really fancied the hassle that goes with the tubeless setup, so I know this means I'm lessening my scope. I'll have a look at lighter tires as well.

estampida wrote:

nice crank and bb

single ring with guide (9 speed) means you lose the front mech and shifter

How much weight could I save with new crank assembly...doesn't sound like it would be alot for the outlay. RR already has SRAM X7. Don't want to go single speed, want 3 chainrings on the front so I can use it on the road and canals too.

The Spiderman wrote:

4) If you are looking at spending 500 add that to what you could get for your bike as it stands and think about what bike you could buy that is lighter to begin with!

I have looked closely at this, would probably get £300 or so (?) for the RR, giving me a budget of £800 but I don't think i'd get much more for my money than upgrading.

The Spiderman wrote:

3)Forks always a good upgrade,more expensive forks tend to be lighter aswell but also more importantly tend have better damping giving you more control.

I was thinking whether to just go for a fork upgrade and spend the whole £500 on that. But I don't know whether this would be worth it or not. Fork is Rockshox recon 100mm currently. Could the frame take a 140mm travel fork? I'd maybe like to get into a bit of downhill riding, nothing extreme.

The Spiderman wrote:

5) 50g saved off a seatpost or stem will make sod all difference by itself,but a bit saved here and a bit saved there all adds up.

I don't think £500 is going to go very far if I have to upgrade loads of small components of the bike. I was hoping for a couple of big hitter upgrades which would make a difference.

Twelly

dangerousxxx wrote:

The Spiderman wrote:

3)Forks always a good upgrade,more expensive forks tend to be lighter aswell but also more importantly tend have better damping giving you more control.

I was thinking whether to just go for a fork upgrade and spend the whole £500 on that. But I don't know whether this would be worth it or not. Fork is Rockshox recon 100mm currently. Could the frame take a 140mm travel fork? I'd maybe like to get into a bit of downhill riding, nothing extreme.

For £350ish you can get a Reba fork - air spring so lighter and much more adjustable than Recon. I tested a Reba and Recon Silver when looking for my new bike and the Reba was what swung it for me in terms of bike choice. Much smoother and the adjustability and weight saving appealed to me.

That would leave some money to splash on a nice finishing kit - new stem, bars, seat post, grips etc. ...or a new set of tyres.

Oh and I would be wary about going to 140mm. Maybe stick with 120mm max.

leaflite

The recons on there atm are probably fairly light. Whilst new forks will make a big difference in terms of damping performance, new wheels will save much more weight.

I would go for some lightweight tubes (c100g) or tubeless, some nobby nic or maxxis advantage/crossmark tyres(folding kevlar bead, exception compound if possible) and some wheels from superstar (crest/arch ex on switch evo/trizoid hubs, cx rays etc) or american classic (mtb or am 26)

This will cost around £4-500 and will make more difference in terms of weight than changing anything else. If you go for the cheaper superstar wheels(£300) and have some cash left over, I would also consider swapping out the bars and stem.

I would estimate your current wheels to be around 2200g.

A superstar/crest or american classic mtb26 set will be around 1500g

Standard tubes are around 200g each. Slime tubes are heavier still(around 300g iirc). I dont find I get any more punctures with the 100g each lightweight ones compared to the 200g ones I had before. Many people feel the same about the slime ones compared to the 200g ones, so I think you will be fine with the light ones.

Your current tyres are probably 7-900g each. Nobby nics and advantages are both about 550g each.

New bars and stem would probably save 200g.

In total, you are looking at a 2kg plus saving!

chez_m356

dangerousxxx wrote:

The Spiderman wrote:

4) If you are looking at spending 500 add that to what you could get for your bike as it stands and think about what bike you could buy that is lighter to begin with!

I have looked closely at this, would probably get £300 or so (?) for the RR, giving me a budget of £800 but I don't think i'd get much more for my money than upgrading.

£800 ish, could get you a slight upgrade http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes ... tml?b=2539

dangerousxxx

leaflite wrote:

Standard tubes are around 200g each. Slime tubes are heavier still(around 300g iirc). I dont find I get any more punctures with the 100g each lightweight ones compared to the 200g ones I had before. Many people feel the same about the slime ones compared to the 200g ones, so I think you will be fine with the light ones.

To be honest I love slime tubes, they do weigh 300g, but every time I ride canals by me I hear them hiss at least once. I've not changed them out yet, but when I do I'm expecting to see loads of little green dots all over them.


That Canyon looks nice got to admit, but whether i'd get £300 for a year old RR is debatable. Thanks for the advice though everyone. I guess I should start weighing individual components of the bike to figure out what can be achieved.

leaflite

dangerousxxx wrote:

leaflite wrote:

Standard tubes are around 200g each. Slime tubes are heavier still(around 300g iirc). I dont find I get any more punctures with the 100g each lightweight ones compared to the 200g ones I had before. Many people feel the same about the slime ones compared to the 200g ones, so I think you will be fine with the light ones.

To be honest I love slime tubes, they do weigh 300g, but every time I ride canals by me I hear them hiss at least once. I've not changed them out yet, but when I do I'm expecting to see loads of little green dots all over them.

Ah, okay. I have only ridden the light tubes offroad-trail centres, natural stuff etc- where there doesnt tend to be many thorns/broken glass etc. For this usage they are fine. However, if you do a lot of towpath riding, I can see the benefits of the slime ones!

dangerousxxx

Yeah its ironic really. I have never once had a puncture at a trail centre, yet go on the canals and get one in the first mile.

How much is weight worth? Is it worth spending £500 on getting maybe a kg or two of saving? I mean, given that i carry a bag of tools with me, a drink and some food lol, its hardly like i'm making the effort to go round as light as possible.

MDobs

dangerousxxx wrote:

How much is weight worth? Is it worth spending £500 on getting maybe a kg or two of saving? I mean, given that i carry a bag of tools with me, a drink and some food lol, its hardly like i'm making the effort to go round as light as possible.

that's a question only you can answer. if you've got the money and want to spend it then find the best upgrades for the cash and go for it, they'll probably give you a performance upgrade and weight saving at the same time.


the 8.1 is a hard tail right? here's another possibility for you... http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FROOCAR456N ... aled_frame (other options available)

you'll save 5/600grams and have a much more capable frame for future upgrades. plus still give you £200ish to get a new set of wheels (http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_ ... cts_id=496), and change a few parts that might not be instantly swappable to the new bike - reducer head set, BB? you'd need to look into that a bit.

The Spiderman

Slime lite tubes are 200g rather than 300.That`s 100g off each end for starters.

I think I`d stick with your forks for now,Recons are pretty good and spend the majority of your outlay on wheels and tyres as suggested.

Leave drivetrain parts for now as they can be upgraded as they wear out and need replaced.

Tricky one about whether to sell or upgrade.As you say £800 doesn`t buy much these days,but look on the classifieds and it`s a whole different world.Bikes tend to depreciate like cars.The Giant Anthem in my signature was less than your £800 for example.

I very rarely buy new parts these days,apart form chains and disc pads when there are so many nearly new bargains to be had off the classifieds or ebay.

supersonic

Recon TK coil weighs 5lbs. The Reba RLT (2012) weighs 3.5lbs.