Component priority when weight saving?

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Comments

  • Remarkable
    Remarkable Posts: 187
    SloppySchleckonds wrote:
    t4tomo wrote:
    So you have some frankenbike with heavy MTB parts and a pair of cheap light wheels that probably flex like crazy.

    Enjoy :D

    All that advice given on Bike Radar has paid dividends :lol:

    lmao :lol:
  • Manc33
    Manc33 Posts: 2,157
    If I could "advise" my legs to not need a 11-32T cassette (and the 30T chainring having to be 28T on top of that) I would be doing.

    If those drop handlebars didn't have impossible-to-use gear shifting (on the hoods you can shift up and down, but on the drops you can only upshift - the opposite of what you need on drops, a down shift) then I wouldn't be on flat bars with MTB shifters. Then again thats because I had 2300 brifters on it not better ones with the down shift where the upshift is.

    aDKeICy.jpg

    How can you downshift on the drops with that? You can't.

    If I didn't get a puncture every other time I ride the roads around here, I wouldn't have heavy Marathon Plus tyres on. I live where kids smash bottles every weekend. Every single puncture I have ever had was a tiny flake of brown glass. Why its always brown I don't know, I am sure they must smash clear and green bottles but all my punctures have been brown glass.

    So whats the advice here going to be...

    1. Get lighter tyres and start getting punctures all over again.
    2. Put drop handlebars back on and have unusable gear shifting.
    3. Put the 12-25 cassette back on it and don't ride up any long hills.

    Well no, the bike is the way it is for a reason otherwise why would I do it in the first place? Thats my advice. :wink:
  • smoggysteve
    smoggysteve Posts: 2,909
    What is your average ride like? flat. hilly. undulating. mountainous?

    If its reasonably flat you are wasting your time spending money to save weight less the wheels and maybe groupset. I have a friend who bought a new bike end of last year. he boast it weighed just over 6kg with ultra light wheels. He rides around on one of the flattest parts of the country and his ultra light wheels have actually slowed him down cos of the lack of inertial weight he has to push more in a straight line. would make a brilliant climbing bike but with no hills its utterly pointless.

    BTW, your argument with a mtb handlebar weighing less than drops; handlebars are one of the places you actually NEED weight for handling.
  • FransJacques
    FransJacques Posts: 2,148
    Every man needs two bikes (oh, and my wife, who wants a 3rd). Why not make this one your beater and get a new Canyon SLX, the lowest cost one is £1500 or so. This bike you ride to the pub, the Canyon to the pub at the top of the Tourmalet.

    Life is simple.
    When a cyclist has a disagreement with a car; it's not who's right, it's who's left.
  • Manc33
    Manc33 Posts: 2,157
    Its uphill in just about every direction from where I live. I want to be able to get up Snake Pass, the foot of it is only 6 miles away. Been up it a few times already on a MTB and this Triban 3 once I had put a 11-32 cassette on it, but I want to get up it without so much of a struggle.

    These days I do the same route every day - 60M elevation over about 1.5 miles then another 60M elevation over about 600M then downhill back home. Its only about 4.5 miles but it gets my pulse up near 190.

    I can't get up that 600M hill in the lowest gear without stopping half way up. Even now with a 28T front and 32T rear on 700x25c tyres.

    It was easier getting up Snake Pass on my 34lb mountain bike. :roll:
  • smoggysteve
    smoggysteve Posts: 2,909
    Manc33 wrote:
    Its uphill in just about every direction from where I live. I want to be able to get up Snake Pass, the foot of it is only 6 miles away. Been up it a few times already on a MTB and this Triban 3 once I had put a 11-32 cassette on it, but I want to get up it without so much of a struggle.

    These days I do the same route every day - 60M elevation over about 1.5 miles then another 60M elevation over about 600M then downhill back home. Its only about 4.5 miles but it gets my pulse up near 190.

    I can't get up that 600M hill in the lowest gear without stopping half way up. Even now with a 28T front and 32T rear.

    Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but if you are stuggling to get up that climb without stopping, even if you had an 6kg bike with helium in the tyres you would still struggle. Maybe helped by having a lighter wallet in the process. If you want to just spend money to solve the problem then you may as well buy a car. Technique and fitness will make a lot more difference. im not going to say lose weight as thats insulting to say someone is too heavy but fitness and technique can always be improved.
  • markhewitt1978
    markhewitt1978 Posts: 7,614
    Is it insulting to say someone is too heavy? It's something which can be changed after all. And I speak as someone who is at least 10-15kg overweight.
  • smoggysteve
    smoggysteve Posts: 2,909
    markhewitt1978 wrote:
    Is it insulting to say someone is too heavy? It's something which can be changed after all. And I speak as someone who is at least 10-15kg overweight.

    If I were a doctor or someone medically qualified, or maybe someone who knows you personally I would say its maybe ok. But since I dont know the op or yourself and have not even seen you to even make an assumption as to how over weight you may be how can I?

    I know plenty of people who you could say are too heavy but have powerful legs that can climb even with this supposed extra weight. Being a beanpole can only help you be a better cyclist if you have the muscles and endurance in the first place.
  • Manc33
    Manc33 Posts: 2,157
    It doesn't insult me, I am about 28% body fat and want to be at 8%.

    Planet-X emailed me back and said the Holdsworth Stelvio "1000g" weight is for a medium frame with fork. Which is impossible. That would mean the frame is about 650g or something.

    So I guess if the medium is 1000g the large will be about 1300g and the fork will be about 450g so realistically, 1750g. If so then its only about 250g lighter than my current aluminium frame and would be pointless, for me anyway.

    Weighing a road bike down with MTB parts is one thing but the 11-32 MTB cassette I have got on now is lighter than the cheap Sunrace 12-25 I took off the bike. Flat bars actually take weight off. Rapid fire shifters take weight off over STi levers. The only added weight then is the long cage rear mech.

    I am going back to drops again anyway lol. If I do that I can get my MTB back to fully functional again and flog it with the upgrades on it (City Jet, XTR shifters, few other bits).

    I was never meant to be pairing up side pull road caliper brakes with MTB v-brake levers anyway. Its OK in the dry, you can get away with it but in the wet on a steep hill, its a different story. STi levers are far longer and thus have far more leverage, plus I think they pull "differently" anyway just like with front road mechs and MTB shifters.

    Sat upright I think you make what would be a 20lb bike seem like a 40lb bike. :lol: How heavy would a bike have to be still on drops to make your average speed go from 14 MPH to 11 MPH? A ton! Probably double!
  • leepez
    leepez Posts: 33
    FransJacques wrote:
    Weigh your seatpost. A friends £3000 bike came with a > 300 gram seatpost. KCNC and Woodman make nice light posts. Plus you can often improve your position in the process.

    I once took off my Bontrager Saddle and seatpost from my Trek. Total weight was 497g.

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