How to lighten your bike without compromising sthrength

Tuckle_uk51
Tuckle_uk51 Posts: 2
edited September 2007 in MTB general
Hey guys, i have a giant stp zero.
Can someone advise me how to get the bike lighter without losing strength of the bike i.e air forks, light strong rims etc?? what components are gonna make the biggest difference?

Cheers. Tom.

Comments

  • Paul Sh
    Paul Sh Posts: 607
    Wheels/Tyres, Forks, Cranks, Frame.
    Those to me are the main offenders.
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  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Spend money on good parts is the short sweet answer! money usually means lighter weight, or increased strength for same weight.
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  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    posible to go sub 10 kg.
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  • dawnophile
    dawnophile Posts: 157
    You could use an STP for riding around normally, in which case, you can get away with non-jump suspension forks and a sub 2kg wheelset.

    If you're going to use the STP as intended, your best bet is to spend lots of money. Sorry.
    I'd put on air sprung RS Argyle forks, Halo SAS rims (they're not that light. If you want light, you might be able to get away with Hope proII hubs and DT5.1 rims. I think some MBUK bloke put them on his, and i've got a set on my 'do everything' hardtail.)

    Singlespeed would save a little weight, and improve the crashproofing (you'd have to run a chain tensioner), but nice jump cranks will be a tad on the heavy side. Steer clear of steel bars etc. Tough, but very heavy. Alu is your best bet. You may be able to get away with lighter DH ones.

    Jump tyres are all heavy.

    I saw a guy with a very short Thomson Elite X4 stem on his DH bike. Tough enough for jumping? Maybe... It certainly doesn't weigh all that much.

    After all that, it still won't be a ballet dancer. A smooth light rider could get away with more weight hacked off, but things might start to break.
  • rob cole
    rob cole Posts: 706
    wheels are most important place to reduce weight (reducing rotational weight is 16X more noticeable than reducing static weight)

    try a light, tough set of wheels - I use Sun Singletrack rims on Hope Pro II hubs on my freeride bike and they survived Whistler this summer, no problem

    in addition, I run Syncros Kevlar BHT tires, and Stan's No-Tubes (tubeless conversion) which has a massive effect on wheel weight reduction even though the tires are 2.5" size


    the Thompson 4X stem is more than strong enough...its actually one of the strongest stems on the market despite being so light, I have used Thompson stems for extreme freeride and had no issues at all


    the usual way to reduce weight whilst maintaining strength is to spend more on high-end components :wink:
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  • jayson
    jayson Posts: 4,606
    There's a saying that applies exactly to this question, it goes like this:

    'Light, Strong, Cheap, pick 2'

    If u want a really light bike u will have to spend some serious money or end up with a bike thats light but flimsy im afraid.
    Remedy

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    Austria 2012

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