Anyone know of links to weight weenie trail bike builds?

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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Nicholas68
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Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 1:30 am

by Nicholas68

So I've been searching the net and can't find any, anywhere! Seems to all be XC or Road when looking at weight weenie. Surely some people have attempted super light trail bikes with 130-140mm travel front and rear without sacrificing strength?

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LeDuke
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Location: Front Range, CO

by LeDuke

I have a 24lb, 150mm/140mm F/R Santa Cruz Blur LTC.

Carbon wheels, XX1, Fox DOSS dropper, Nobby Nic SnakeSkin, DT Swiss EXM 150 15mm fork, 740mm bars. Will be moving to 780mm bars soon.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?f ... =3&theater

by Weenie


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campbellrae
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Location: Glasgow, Scotland

by campbellrae

I'm still waiting for my Fuel EX 29er to arrive. Built with X01, and a mix of Bontrager Race X Lite & XXX Lite bits. Once I get some light wheels(hoping Stans Valor come out soon at their claimed weight) it should be down around 10-10.5 kg, with 120mm front and rear and nothing fragile or daft, and not too expensive either. I reckon you could go quite a bit lower with some more weight weenie parts, but it will be my marathon race bike and I don't want anything to fail mid race!

Nicholas68
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 1:30 am

by Nicholas68

Couldn't see the facebook link.

Do you reckon valor wheels would hold up to the abuse a trail bike can be put through? I would have thought at their weight it would be strictly XC racing/XC.

Reason I ask is I have a Norco Sight carbon 7.2 coming which I'm expecting to be around the 13kg mark. Would love to get it to sub 11kgs while still keeping it a 2x10. Just want to keep all parts trail/all mountain rated so I can mess around and jump it. So looking for inspiration.

campbellrae
Posts: 545
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:20 am
Location: Glasgow, Scotland

by campbellrae

I hope the Valor wheels will be strong enough, but that really is a guess. It might depend more on your riding style, if you are super smooth or quite light(I am neither :lol:) then they might be fine. If not I'm considering building a set of wheels from the Light Bicycle carbon rims, they are fairly reasonably priced so I would be willing to gamble a little bit to see how they are.

If you wanted to throw money at it, a set of the ENVE rims on some light but tough hubs would be sub 1400g and pretty damned strong. Staying away from that sort of thing my second choice for wheels is a set of Mavic Crossmax SLR's. Not very light(1620g claimed for the 29ers) but really tough, one of my riding buddies has a set and he has given them all kinds of abuse and they are still running true. The Bontrager Race X or XXX Lite wheels also look quite good, pretty light, but not sure about their toughness again.

If you can live without the dropper, that can be 400g straight away. Beyond that look in the usual places, you can save silly amounts of weight in going tubeless with good, light tyres. I think from the stock set upon mine, I should save round 800-900g before adding sealant, just from that switch. I'm not sure about light thru-axles though, haven't really heard of anyone making them, but haven't looked either so that's probably why! Might be able to save another 100g there :noidea: ?

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LeDuke
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by LeDuke

http://forums.mtbr.com/all-mountain/let ... st10804867

Post #8057. PM me your email address if you want some HD pics from my DSLR.

DanW
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by DanW

Post#8067 is definitely how not to build a weenie trail bike!

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LeDuke
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by LeDuke

I think everyone on that board experienced a collective aneurysm when they saw that thing. Heinous.

DanW
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Location: Here, there and everywhere

by DanW

I think it is the combination of a road only stem, XC bars, etc which are inappropriate due to the lack of burliness combined with the heaviest wheels, tyres, etc known to man that are equally inappropriate to a trail build that leaves the lasting impression. Everything is too extreme one way or another which is quite a feat! :D

Marin
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Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

Image

My Stumpy S-Works @ "build 11.7kgs with proper tires. I wouldn't hesitate to ride park with it (have a dedicated park bike for that).

I could save maybe 200g by going to carbon rims, but apart from that any further weight dropped would reduce the functionality. Rides like a dream!

Nicholas68
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 1:30 am

by Nicholas68

Some awesome builds here. Just picked mine up recently. Should be a good base to start on. Already crashed with the wide bars. Don't know if I like them or not yet. Might go down to 720mm currently 740.Image

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Marin
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Location: Vienna Austria

by Marin

I'm actually running self made Delrin extenders that bring the 710mm bars on my Stumpjumper to 735mm :-)

Marin
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by Marin

So what's the weight on your Norco?

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cerro
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by cerro

Image
130mm rear, 150mm front. 27,5", XX1, Tune wheels, Rock Shox Reverb. Awesome Liteville 301 I got ;) oh, almost missed. 10,8kg :)

by Weenie


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LeDuke
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Location: Front Range, CO

by LeDuke

Sorry man, but Racing Ralphs on a 150mm bike?

Does not compute.

Don't get me wrong, I have four sets of carbon mountain bike wheels, two of them tubular, but those tires don't belong on that bike.

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