Losing weight - on the bicyce!

[albion]

I'm now using a fairly standard Acera geared mountain bike which is certainly cannot be considered lightweight.
I've just fitted a lighter handlebar stem which has saved about 300 grams but does anyone have tips on saving weight.

A guide to parts. shared knowledge on weights would be great.

 

[gb155]

The most simple way (for a lot of people) is to lose weight off the rider


I was talking to a former pro, who almost won at Flanders in the 90's who was talking about weight savings, the conversation turned to my weight loss, he wished he could have lost a couple of pounds, that way it would have been better than grams off components

 

[ian turner]

Hmmm that way lie eating disorders since I assume the professionals are already slim what with all the performance enhancing diet pills they take

I have nothing practical to add as I was going to suggest putting less air in the tyres

 

[Cubist]

Ok, I'll start!

Wheels and tyres. A bespoke wheelset will cost from £150 upwards, and will almost certainly weigh less than stock wheels on a MTB with Acera gearing. An XC wheelset at the £250 mark is going to weigh 1950 to 2500 g , probably saving you a kilo in rolling weight.

Tyres. You can get lightweight stuff such as Schwalbe Nobby Nics, for 20-30 quid depending on who has what on offer. Those in 2.1 weigh less than 500g a tyre. Browse sites as they often show the tyre weight in the spec. Beware, lightweight tyres are less robust, but again, an area you will save another kilo compared with taiwanese stock fittings.

Chainset. A solid stock offering chainset with heavy steel rings will weigh double that of say a Shimano Hollowtech SLX for 90 quid. Spend another 50 for XT, and double your money for XTR. While you're at it change your cassette to an XT cassette for 50 quid, and your chain to an XT for another 30. .

Saddle. An XC racing saddle will weigh around 250g. Charge spoon for 25 quid, or fizik exotica saving another 50g for a ton.

Pedals. Lighteweight SPDs versus cage pedals. Ti axled eggbeater SL for 400 quid!

Foam racing grips instead of black rubber?

Fork. save a kilo or so swapping for a carbon crowned SID race fork. A more modest swap would be stock coil forks at 5.5lb, versus say a pair of Reba race or Fox 32s at the 3.5lb mark.

Weight loss is a seriously expensive game!

 

[jakecundy]

If you have an Acera geared mtb I am guessing that you spent £300-400 on the bike its self. In my opinion there is no point spending around 600 quid making it lighter. Why not just sell the bike and get a better one? If the frame is not necessarily lightweight then there is not much point in spending stupid amount of money.

On tip though for getting cheap deals on compoents is to check out JE James's Dirty Bike Bits section, they have some good stuff on there for stupidly cheap prices, you make sure you understand why they are that cheap though!

 

[srw]

If you spend £600 it sounds as if you could save a couple of kilos on the bike. That's less than the weight of the water and food you carry with you for a reasonably long ride.

The quickest way of losing a kilo in weight is to take a pee. The most cost-effective way of losing any amount of weight is to lose it off the rider.

 

[albion]

Methinks I could only sensibly manage to lose 3KG off the rider.Though my 300 gram saving only cost £5 being a 2nd hand ebay buy(not got my stem yet, it is the handlebar I have in fact changed). I was attracted by the 58cm width which is certainly a very useful 2cm for old rail track riding/manoeuvring. I've just weighed my front wheel which is 2.2KG all-in.The 700 38C tyre certainly weighs 800 gram with the tube probably about 200 gramms. I'd guess the Zefal Tyre liner at 100 grams  so my double wall rimmed front wheel with Quando hubs must be approx 1.1 KG.
Cubist is right about rubber grip weight. They came to about 170 gram. I'm not quite tempted by foam yet.

 

[MontyVeda]

half fill your water bottle.

 

[MacB]

Lots of weight info on here:-

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/listings.php

 

[stephec]

If you have an Acera geared mtb I am guessing that you spent £300-400 on the bike its self. In my opinion there is no point spending around 600 quid making it lighter. Why not just sell the bike and get a better one? If the frame is not necessarily lightweight then there is not much point in spending stupid amount of money.

That's just what I was going to say.

Frame and wheels, the best places to save weight on any bike.

 

[e-rider]

There are plenty of ways to lose weight from the bike you have but it could get expensive - cheaper to just buy a decent quality complete new bike and sell the one you have.

However, as mentioned losing weight from the rider is, in most tests worth just about the same as losing weight from the bike. So, if you have plenty to lose then that would be the cheapest option and healthy too!

EDIT: I just read the bit about you only having 3 Kg spare so perhaps forget that idea - I have 25 Kg spare (that's two medium weight bikes) Note to self: I really need a diet!

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Weight loss is a seriously expensive game!

+1, and potentially addictive...

However, imho the best and most economical way to do it is to start with the wheels and tyres. The reason is unless you pay serious (£2500+) money you will not get top quality light wheels on a stock bike - so getting good wheels can be an investment that will last through bike upgrades. Separately tyres and tubes are the best bang per buck weight saving components.

If you have V brakes these are super light, bomb proof wheels (at ~1570g excluding skewers), and OUTSTANDING value at £245 a pair - I don't expect this price to last for much longer. They are also UST wheels, so you can run it either with tube (no rim tape needed) or tubeless (which would be handy if you want real light tyres because adding 70g of sealant per wheel should stop most punctures for light xc). I would have bought them myself if I didn't have a pair of Crossmax already.

As Cubist said Schwalbe's Nobby Nic is a light tyre. Actually imho Schwalbe has the best selection of light mtb tyres. It might also be worth looking up Furious Fred, Rocket Ron and Racing Ralph since they have different characteristics. Note they all come in different varaints - wired, folding, tubeless etc. At around 300g each Furious Fred 2.0s and Maxxis Maxxlite 1.95 are amongst the lightest mtb racing tyres money can buy. It is not unusual to find stock mtb bike tyres weighing 700g a piece.

If you don't want the mess of running tubeless, you can get tubes at half a normal tube's weight. They need a bit of care mounting, but personally I am not a believer that thick tubes do anything to defend against puncture in use - if a thorn is through the tyre no tube is going to stop it (bar sealant protection - but which is best used tubeless anyway to eliminate the weight of the tubes altogether). Maxxis Flyweight is probably the lightest tube commonly available on the market, I have some weighing 90g.

Most low/medium price mtbs will come with wheelsets weighing 1.5kg or more on top of the above. I am pretty sure most people will notice the difference.

 

[albion]

The stem (see #7) arrived, installed it has saved 200 grams.I went for a 120mm Vitus fixed stem at 10 degress which replaces the  adjustable 100mm set at 10 degrees.(I'm 6' 1&quot Total cost so far is now £8 and a 500 gram saving. I'm ruling out a new wheel set, in that a new bike such as that Carerra Subway special on offer at £225 might just prove a better avenue.<br />That claims to be 13.05KG c/w front and rear disk brakes.

That weightweenies site is certainly useful for comparing what is on my bike.

 

[Nufab]

Seeing as you're considering buying a Subway, what are you using the mountain bike for?

I've got a Specialised Hardrock MTB, which I have been using for commuting. The standard knobbly tyres weren't helping when on the road, so I swapped them for Continental gatorskins, which are (I think) a 1 inch tyre. They look like road bike tyres and are far far lighter than the off road tyres. The bike felt so much quicker as a result, which was great for the commute by road. I expect they'd be dreadful off-road though!

Any weight you can lose off the rotating parts, especially the wheels, will be a huge benefit, as your effort in pedalling is of course used to turn those parts.

 

[albion]

I was not considering a new bike, its just that for my own situation buying new wheels does not quite add up. I also have a Ridgeback Velocity which is set up as an expedition bike. (Marathon Plus, full mudguards etc)

This cheap Claud Butler Racing bike has a mountain bike frame which I suppose is a hybrid with its 700C wheels. It's the only bike I now use and is as usual for me, a do everything bike. My standard 38C tyres are certainly hybrid with some off-road in mind.Interestingly I have a couple of City Marathon's(32 width) which I have just weighed at 500 grams each so I'm going to go with them when the heavier 38C ones are near gone.