Weight reduction upgrades ?

davedave28

Just got a boardman ht pro and want to make it even lighter. What parts are best to change for losing weight for this bike. The pedals are the obvious but what else ?

supersonic

Which year bike? Best way is to strip it and weight the parts, then compare to what you can get. But pedals, grips tubes and tyres are usually good starts.

YeehaaMcgee

Just ride it first, you've only just bought it.

coulddobetter

Had one , the wire continental mountain king tyres are not up to much and thats coming from someone who is not an extreme rider. Would be tempted to change them . Otherwise it's not that heavy I am 50 plus and could get up climbs pretty easily . Now have the carbon version which is lighter but not massively so. Save your money until things wear out . You could go mad and get a carbon bar and stem , lighter wheelset , tubeless tyre set up . But if you did that you might as well have gone for a different lighter bike in the first place.

YeehaaMcgee

Carbon stem won't, generally, save any weight at all.

davedave28

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Carbon stem won't, generally, save any weight at all.

I think I will just change pedals, seat and tyres and leave it at that. All of those parts have very bad reports from owners anyway and I dont want to be riding around in dry, flat Wales with a rock hard seat and tyres that have no grip in the wet. Maybe the best way to reduce weight is to lower my body weight, I could go down from 80KG to 70KG instead.

YeehaaMcgee

Rock hard saddles aren't the problem. It's saddles that are the wrong shape for your arris that's the problem. Another problem is that everyone has a different arris, so what works for others might not work for you, and vice versa.
So, ride it for a bit - it takes a while to get used to any saddle - and see.
Same, but to a lesser degree with pedals, you might be fine. Just ride it.
Change what YOU find that needs changing. But to find out, you'll have to go and ride it a bit first.

davedave28

Ok I will try it when it arrives, my last one got lost in the post. BUT that was the best thing ever because it was a team version on sale and they had no more left in the main wherehouse and they were forced to send me the pro version for same price. Best 660 ever spent in my life lol.

The Rookie

Foam grips, tyres and tubes (you'll want decent tyres anyway) and maybe a saddle for now, otherwise ride it and see what you may want to change (no point fitting a lighter stem then deciding you want a shorter one!).

I used a Boardman saddle for a while, OK for me but not as good as a spoon.

YeehaaMcgee

^^Ignore this bloke. Typical Bikeradar "spending money == good" mentality.

Tom Barton

That's a bit harsh yeehaa (unless I'm missing an in-joke or friendly wind up) - It was hardly an extravagant suggestion he made and many riders know cheap stock tyres are usually worth changing for proper rubber...

YeehaaMcgee

Tom Barton wrote:

That's a bit harsh yeehaa (unless I'm missing an in-joke or friendly wind up) - It was hardly an extravagant suggestion he made and many riders know cheap stock tyres are usually worth changing for proper rubber...

Tubes, seriously? He suggests tubes, of all things. Same with Foam grips, maybe this guy rides his biek a bit and thinks, you know what, these grips are ok, actually. As for the addle, it's been discussed above.
This forum is chock full of people who haemorrhage money for no reason, there's an obsession with new shiny, and they try and drag new people into their money pits.

supersonic

They are cheap weight reductions, should that be what the OP wants. I do agree with riding it and finding out what works and what may not, but also agree with a bit of tinkering from the off as no bike is perfect.

YeehaaMcgee

And to find out what isn't perfect for you, you need to ride it.

njee20

To be fair, I've often changed various bits straight away - stems, saddles, wheels, forks. If you know something isn't what you want I don't really see the problem in changing.

The issue is knowing that something isn't what you want, vs having read that it may not be what you want!

YeehaaMcgee

njee20 wrote:

To be fair, I've often changed various bits straight away - stems, saddles, wheels, forks. If you know something isn't what you want I don't really see the problem in changing.

The issue is knowing that something isn't what you want, vs having read that it may not be what you want!

Well said.

The Rookie

davedave28 wrote:

want to make it even lighter.

Tyres are a given especially as the OE plastic conti's are lethal, the tyres are off so for an extra tenner lighter tubes make sense, and for saving weight foam grips are THE best bang for the buck, so which of those didn't answer Double Dave's question? After that I said ride it if you read what you quoted!

97th choice

The boardmans I've seen/owned have come with light yet crap tyres. So upgrading the tyre sometimes gives a weight penalty.

davedave28

Ok guys, changed 684g pedals to 342g pedals. Chaged seat and seatpost from 641g to 310g.
Thats over half a Kilogram so I`m happy with that, plus seat is much more comfy

njee20

Seat and seatpost for 310g? That's pretty light. What combo?

swod1

I've seen people even change the axles in pedals to further reduce the weight.

I was looking at the titanium upgrades for my superstar nano pedals and wonder if they are worth the bother and expense.

One thing that does reduce weight is fork upgrades, put some rebas on my bike from a suntour fork and the difference is unbelievable so light the front end.

poah

superstar pedals are pretty heavy - I'd spend the money on a lighter pair than the superstars with Ti spindle

cooldad

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

^^Ignore this bloke. Typical Bikeradar "spending money == good" mentality.

punkatron1

Are you really going to notice a change to titanium pedal axles and all of the other guff being spouted?? Sponge grips, I bet they're great when wet. You want to save weight where it counts i.e. rotating weight. Lighter wheels and tyres make a huge difference to the ride.

Whats with all of this weight saving anyway, is it 1992 again? Just get out and ride it first before making changes as suggested further up. Maybe ease off the pies and save yourself a few quid in the process too.

97th choice

Have to agree with this, the boardman pro only weighs about 11 and a bit kgs out of the box, prob less than that now with the 'upgrades'

Just get out and ride her.

supersonic

punkatron1 wrote:

Are you really going to notice a change to titanium pedal axles and all of the other guff being spouted?? Sponge grips, I bet they're great when wet. You want to save weight where it counts i.e. rotating weight. Lighter wheels and tyres make a huge difference to the ride.

Whats with all of this weight saving anyway, is it 1992 again? Just get out and ride it first before making changes as suggested further up. Maybe ease off the pies and save yourself a few quid in the process too.

The (better) foam grips are nitrile, so are water proof. You rarely notice weight changes in isolation, unless massive. But hack 100g off the 20 or so components on your bike and thats over 4lbs. Then you start noticing. Is all about careful choosing if you want to lose weight, and looking at your budgets.

punkatron1

All proper mountain bikers know about the benefits of red components i.e. red parts are lighter than the equivalent black or silver part due to the anodising process.

I also hear that you can save 2g by peeling off all of the stickers on your bike. You also get the side benefit of being slightly more aerodynamic.

poah

punkatron1 wrote:

All proper mountain bikers know about the benefits of red components i.e. red parts are lighter than the equivalent black or silver part due to the anodising process.

I also hear that you can save 2g by peeling off all of the stickers on your bike. You also get the side benefit of being slightly more aerodynamic.

I always take a dump before I cycle

punkatron1

POAH wrote:

punkatron1 wrote:

All proper mountain bikers know about the benefits of red components i.e. red parts are lighter than the equivalent black or silver part due to the anodising process.

I also hear that you can save 2g by peeling off all of the stickers on your bike. You also get the side benefit of being slightly more aerodynamic.

I always take a dump before I cycle

A solid (sometimes) 700g saving.