Customizing the bike to make it lighter

beatbass

Hey guys,im a road cyclist from london ,i love cycling ,but don't know much about actual bikes and their parts,was just wondering maybe there is someone out here who could advice ,what could i change on my bike to make it even lighter and faster ?and how much weight could i get off it? i've got a cube gtc agree pro 2012 the specs are
• Frame: GTC Monocoque Advanced Twin Mold Technology
• Fork: Easton EC70 SL CNT Carbon 1 1/8" - 1 1/2"
• Stem: Syntace F149 Oversized
• Headset: FSA Orbit I -T
• Handlebar: Syntace Racelite 2014 Oversized
• Grips: CUBE Grip Control
• Rear Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra RD 6700SS
• Front Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra FD-6700BL double, clamp 34.9mm
• Brakes: Shimano Ultegra BR-6700
• Shifter and brake level: Shimano Ultegra ST-6700, 10-speed
• Cranks: Shimano Ultegra FC-6750 Hollowtech II Compact 50x34T, Press-fit BB
• Cassette: Shimano Ultegra CS-6700 11-28T, 10-speed
• Chain: Shimano Ultegra CN-6701 106 links
• Tires: Schwalbe Ultremo ZX Kevlar 23x622
• Rims: Fulcrum Racing 5 Evolution Custom
• Front hub: Fulcrum Racing 5 Evolution Custom
• Rear hub: Fulcrum Racing 5 Evolution Custom
• Spokes: Fulcrum Racing 5 Evolution Custom
• Inner Tube: Schwalbe RR
• Pedals: None
• Seat: RFR Natural Shape 0.2 R
• Seatpost: FSA SL280 31.6mm Setback
• Seatclamp: Scape Close 34.9mm
• Weight: 7.9kg
Much appreciated =]

crikey

It's only a year old!
How many miles have you done on it?

Making it lighter won't make it significantly faster.
Making it more aerodynamic will make it a tiny weeny bit faster, but nothing you'll actually notice.
Think on as well, that bike is better than or equivalent to the Tour winning bikes up until a few years ago; basically, it's not about the bike, it's about you.

You can't buy faster, you can only train your self to ride it faster; there are no short cuts.

Grill

Replace everything with Ax Lightness parts. Job done.

chiv30

With pedals that's a road bike over 8 kg , what size is it? My 2010 canyon ultimate CF 8 is a small and comes in at just under 7kg with pedals......

Still to make ur bike lighter ......wheels , groupset, bottle cages , pedals , bars ,headset, stem ,frame .....the list goes on , however the quickest and asiest way to go quicker is lose weight from yourself if you have any to lose ....if not buy a lighter bike to start with or train more to increase power output ....

lc1981

There's a forum dedicated to exactly this issue, which might be a better bet than here.

antfly

Are you at your optimal weight or under...? if not lose weight.

bondurant

6th post before the OP's weight is mentioned. Sharpen up people.

Bordersroadie

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but is that the published weight or actual? My Cube was nearly half a kilo over the alleged (spec) weight. Almost all bikes and components have lighter weights quoted than actual, with very few exceptions.

simon_masterson

crikey wrote:

It's only a year old!
How many miles have you done on it?

Making it lighter won't make it significantly faster.
Making it more aerodynamic will make it a tiny weeny bit faster, but nothing you'll actually notice.
Think on as well, that bike is better than or equivalent to the Tour winning bikes up until a few years ago; basically, it's not about the bike, it's about you.

You can't buy faster, you can only train your self to ride it faster; there are no short cuts.

This.

The simple truth is that unless you are climbing a very steep hill, the vast majority of your effort is spent pushing air out of the way, and until you reach a certain level of fitness, chances are your time up that hill will be more affected by your performance at the time. After losing any excess body weight, compare any potential weight saving to that of a full 750ml bottle, or any heavy multitools (etc etc) that you might carry with you. These things are heavier than you might think.

But it's a matter of spec, really. The bike is defined - in weight as well as performance - by its fundamental parts: the frame and fork, and the wheels. These are the parts that will vary in weight the most (eg. a frame could weigh 1.1kg but it could also weigh 2.5kg, or even more), whilst weight savings for many of the other components on the bike are likely to be smaller; generally considerably so. I.e. if your bike has a 2kg frame and a 1kg fork, you probably aren't going to end up with a 6.8kg bike.

Putting aside the issue of inaccuracy of published part weights, if you look at the respective numbers of Ultegra and Dura Ace, often there is little between them: these are small increments that add up. If you change an entire Ultegra groupset for DA, you stand to lose a chunk, but there is better reason to upgrade than that, which leads on to the next point: generally higher quality parts are lighter anyway. You can buy expensive carbon cranks and seatposts, and carbon headset spacers and cages, etc etc etc, but it wouldn't be hard to spend a huge amount of money doing that (regardless of the initial cost of the bike), for very little gain. As long as you don't have money to burn and have other purchases in the queue (from better shorts to bike fits, nicer wheels to coaching sessions), you can do far better if you want to improve your cycling.

The bottom line is that that isn't a heavy bicycle. My own steel bike is much, much heavier than that, but even the 753 framed steel bikes used in all of the grand tours in the mid-late '80s and early '90s were generally around that mark, I would think.

jgsi

Simon Masterson wrote:

crikey wrote:

It's only a year old!
How many miles have you done on it?

Making it lighter won't make it significantly faster.
Making it more aerodynamic will make it a tiny weeny bit faster, but nothing you'll actually notice.
Think on as well, that bike is better than or equivalent to the Tour winning bikes up until a few years ago; basically, it's not about the bike, it's about you.

You can't buy faster, you can only train your self to ride it faster; there are no short cuts.

This.

The simple truth is that unless you are climbing a very steep hill, the vast majority of your effort is spent pushing air out of the way, and until you reach a certain level of fitness, chances are your time up that hill will be more affected by your performance at the time. After losing any excess body weight, compare any potential weight saving to that of a full 750ml bottle, or any heavy multitools (etc etc) that you might carry with you. These things are heavier than you might think.

But it's a matter of spec, really. The bike is defined - in weight as well as performance - by its fundamental parts: the frame and fork, and the wheels. These are the parts that will vary in weight the most (eg. a frame could weigh 1.1kg but it could also weigh 2.5kg, or even more), whilst weight savings for many of the other components on the bike are likely to be smaller; generally considerably so. I.e. if your bike has a 2kg frame and a 1kg fork, you probably aren't going to end up with a 6.8kg bike.

Putting aside the issue of inaccuracy of published part weights, if you look at the respective numbers of Ultegra and Dura Ace, often there is little between them: these are small increments that add up. If you change an entire Ultegra groupset for DA, you stand to lose a chunk, but there is better reason to upgrade than that, which leads on to the next point: generally higher quality parts are lighter anyway. You can buy expensive carbon cranks and seatposts, and carbon headset spacers and cages, etc etc etc, but it wouldn't be hard to spend a huge amount of money doing that (regardless of the initial cost of the bike), for very little gain. As long as you don't have money to burn and have other purchases in the queue (from better shorts to bike fits, nicer wheels to coaching sessions), you can do far better if you want to improve your cycling.

The bottom line is that that isn't a heavy bicycle. My own steel bike is much, much heavier than that, but even the 753 framed steel bikes used in all of the grand tours in the mid-late '80s and early '90s were generally around that mark, I would think.

You have the patience of a saint to reply in depth to which the OP does not have the experience to appreciate.

just wish the OP would admit to just wanting it to look the 'look' outside some cool cafe on a Sunday.

I am just being grumpy as I have a 2 hour tempo ride in front of me in a vain attempt to get and stay quicker on my bike.

antfly

I agree, the question doesn't deserve such a detailed response.

Jim C

Swap the groupset for SRAM red, about half a kilo
Swap the wheels for racing 1 or racing zero. Approx 300g
Then swap out the frame for something around 900g

That will give U a lighter bike.

What would I do? None of the above. Its a nice bike, just ride it

Choice is yours

Schoie81

beatbass wrote:

the specs are...

• Spokes: Fulcrum Racing 5 Evolution Custom
• Inner Tube: Schwalbe RR
• Pedals: None
• Seat: RFR Natural Shape 0.2 R
• Seatpost: FSA SL280 31.6mm Setback...

You've saved a bit of weight there, but I'd suggest you'll find yourself performing better if you get some pedals....

As others have said, weight isn't everything - my mate has almost the same bike as you. My bike has an aluminium frame, cost less than a 1/3 the price of his and weighs 2.5kg more (comparing his bike's quoted weight, my bike's actual weight) - I have to ride steady if we go out riding together so he can keep up. If we swapped bikes I doubt there'd be much difference - he wouldn't be slower on my bike and I wouldn't be faster on his.