Heavy bike

[rovers69]

I put together a sort of retro 'dream' bike last year. Custom built Mercian frame, mainly campag bits and a pair of Open pro/old style record wheels. No carbon, but pretty much top end campag stuff throughout. Cinelli bars and stem.
It was fun sourcinfg and getting the stuff together for the bike, and it was almost enjoyable waiting for the Reynolds 725 frame to come.
Problem is, the bike seems to weigh a ton. It seems to be heavier than I remember 531 off the peg bikes were 20 years ago.
What is the quickest/ most effective way to lighten the bike up?

 

[longers]

What is the quickest/ most effective way to lighten the bike up?

Sell it to me?

 

[Fab Foodie]

Does it feel heavy on the road or on the scales?

Don't worry what the scales say, the road is what's important. Oh and allmy modern bikes now I'm 45 seem heavier than my 531 when I was 20... that's just how it is!

 

[mickle]

The only way of getting your bike lighter is to replace parts. If you want super light then you have to attend to every detail from the ground up and that's a job best done with a blank canvas. I managed to get my mountain bike to around 17lbs but it meant selecting each of the components separately and involved a fair amount of anoraky research. It ended up with a few components which weren't up to the job, the tyres were too sketchy, the Ti cassette wore out too quickly etc and I replaced the rigid carbon fork for a Rockshox SID. Now it's useable and wickedly light rather than stupid light but it was an interesting project.

Your first upgrade should be tyres and tubes, then, where strength isn't an issue, install Ti or Aluminum bolts in place of the stock steel ones. Really, the bottom line is remove or replace as much steel as possible- kevlar beaded tyres, butted spokes, alloy nipples if you're light on your wheels, Ti railed saddle etc.

My mountain bike frame weighs around three pounds, a steel road bike in the region of five pounds so not a high proportion of the overall weight of a quality bike of between 19lbs and 26lbs. Attack the parts or wait and upgrade them as they need replacing.

 

[ufkacbln]

What do you actually want?

My Thorn is big and heavy, but then again I did not want a lightweight - I wanted a bomb-proof reliable heavy duty bike - and that is what I have.

Ifthat is the scase then just enjoy the bike and accept it's weight as a compromise to it's function.

 

[mickle]

I love Keith Bontrager's take on components;

Light/Strong/Cheap.
Choose two.

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

I put together a sort of retro 'dream' bike last year. Custom built Mercian frame, mainly campag bits and a pair of Open pro/old style record wheels. No carbon, but pretty much top end campag stuff throughout. Cinelli bars and stem.
It was fun sourcinfg and getting the stuff together for the bike, and it was almost enjoyable waiting for the Reynolds 725 frame to come.
Problem is, the bike seems to weigh a ton. It seems to be heavier than I remember 531 off the peg bikes were 20 years ago.
What is the quickest/ most effective way to lighten the bike up?

How heavy is it?