Sub 25 pound FS bike to replace my '02 Specialized FSRXC

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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amelio
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 2:28 am

by amelio

Hey everyone,

It's Saturday night and I'm home dreaming of what bike to buy and mod. :)

Have you ever sold a great bike wishing you'd had of just kept it and upgraded it? Well, this was one of those bikes. I bought it way back in 2002, and at the time of sale had my LBS swap out wheels to Mavic Crossmax UST's (which I ran tubeless with no sealant) and they installed Hayes hydraulic disc brakes. This was BIG way back then. The bike was was 24lbs 15oz w/combo pedals and with fairly heavy Michelin Comp S Light(?) tires which were 670g each...can that be right? I paid about $5200 for it which was a lot of money for me but I bit the bullet.

Here's the bike without the parts being swapped out from v-brakes to disc:

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/ ... worksfsrxc

I wish I could figure out how to upload pics here, I only see img and url options of hosted pics. I'd like to share a few pics of my baby...

A friend helped convince me how pointless a mountain bike was for the a lot of the road riding I did and I sold it 3 years ago for $1850 and I'm now kicking myself!

It had a SID Race Titanium fork, Ti bolts everywhere, and even with heavy pedals and 670g tires the bike was only 11.3kg. I don't know what made it so light, the wheels? the fork? I think that M5 frame was pretty light as well.
One of the big reasons I considered selling it was the LBS convinced me I couldn't upgrade to "Brain" tech (auto-lockout like Epic). Now I realize I could have upgraded fork to a Fox with Terralogic etc and at least got front to autolock. The back, I'm not so sure.

Last year I bought a 2012 Epic Comp in a 29er and it was so much heavier (~12.3kg/27lbs)I bailed on lightening it up and sold it.

Well that was then, this is now, and I'm thinking of getting another full suspension MTB, this time doing it WW style. :D

I'm thinking a 2014 Specialized Epic Carbon for $3400, then doing some mods. I thought I'd be better to start off with a carbon this time, and maybe smaller wheels? I'd really like 27.5 and convert to a 1x11. Dan's post of his Cannondale got me thinking maybe I can do it for less, or at least get a lighter bike for the same money. I like the in-line look of the Epic/Scalpel's rear shock parallel to top tube, it just seems right to me.

Edit: I can get the 2013 Epic Carbon for $2300 on sale, probably better bang for the buck?

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amelio
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 2:28 am

by amelio

any ideas guys? :)

Thanks

DanW
Posts: 1243
Joined: Fri May 02, 2008 5:39 pm
Location: Here, there and everywhere

by DanW

Great that you found inspiration with my Scalpel :D

My preferred approach is to buy parts individually, waiting for sales or at worst second hand stuff in great condition. Full bikes never seem to represent good value, even when on sale. But, the flip side to a ready built bike is you can ride it from day one and not have to wait for parts, plus it makes for a long and fun project as you see the weight slowly tumble week by week.

All of the parts on my Scalpel were the best value, durable light stuff I could find. Put all of that on a 2.5kg frame and you're looking at a ~9kg bike (plus a bit more from the switch from 26 to 650B/29er perhaps). 25lbs should be easily achievable, but start from a frame that fits you properly and you love to ride (at a decent weight too) and everything will fall in to place later.

P.S. I am actually selling the Scalpel at the moment but I guess being in the US makes things tricky

boots2000
Posts: 1393
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:28 pm

by boots2000

You are lucky that you got $1850 for that bike- it would be worth maybe $1000 now.
If you want 27.5 get a Santa Cruz 5010 and build it up- mine is 23 lb.
You could also look at the carbon Rocky Mountain- it is quite a good value.
amelio wrote:Hey everyone,

It's Saturday night and I'm home dreaming of what bike to buy and mod. :)

Have you ever sold a great bike wishing you'd had of just kept it and upgraded it? Well, this was one of those bikes. I bought it way back in 2002, and at the time of sale had my LBS swap out wheels to Mavic Crossmax UST's (which I ran tubeless with no sealant) and they installed Hayes hydraulic disc brakes. This was BIG way back then. The bike was was 24lbs 15oz w/combo pedals and with fairly heavy Michelin Comp S Light(?) tires which were 670g each...can that be right? I paid about $5200 for it which was a lot of money for me but I bit the bullet.

Here's the bike without the parts being swapped out from v-brakes to disc:

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/ ... worksfsrxc

I wish I could figure out how to upload pics here, I only see img and url options of hosted pics. I'd like to share a few pics of my baby...

A friend helped convince me how pointless a mountain bike was for the a lot of the road riding I did and I sold it 3 years ago for $1850 and I'm now kicking myself!

It had a SID Race Titanium fork, Ti bolts everywhere, and even with heavy pedals and 670g tires the bike was only 11.3kg. I don't know what made it so light, the wheels? the fork? I think that M5 frame was pretty light as well.
One of the big reasons I considered selling it was the LBS convinced me I couldn't upgrade to "Brain" tech (auto-lockout like Epic). Now I realize I could have upgraded fork to a Fox with Terralogic etc and at least got front to autolock. The back, I'm not so sure.

Last year I bought a 2012 Epic Comp in a 29er and it was so much heavier (~12.3kg/27lbs)I bailed on lightening it up and sold it.

Well that was then, this is now, and I'm thinking of getting another full suspension MTB, this time doing it WW style. :D

I'm thinking a 2014 Specialized Epic Carbon for $3400, then doing some mods. I thought I'd be better to start off with a carbon this time, and maybe smaller wheels? I'd really like 27.5 and convert to a 1x11. Dan's post of his Cannondale got me thinking maybe I can do it for less, or at least get a lighter bike for the same money. I like the in-line look of the Epic/Scalpel's rear shock parallel to top tube, it just seems right to me.

Edit: I can get the 2013 Epic Carbon for $2300 on sale, probably better bang for the buck?

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