Titanium bolts etc

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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Carlin
Posts: 65
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2014 6:52 pm

by Carlin

Hi Guys,

Right I'm looking at trying to reduce little more weight on my bike and everything at the moment is stainless steel and few alloy bolts. But I don't like Alloy due to the softness of the material and the weight on the stainless too
So far I've upgraded the seat clamp bolts to Ti on my Easton EC70 post.

My question is what areas would you change to Ti and what areas wouldn't you change?

My bike is a Giant XTC Advanced SL 29er currently weighs' 21.4lbs like to get it into the 19lbs area.

Here is my current spec -
Full sram XX1
Easton EC70 carbon post
Easton EC70 XC 700mm Carbon bars
Hope XC2 Pro brakes
Hope saw rotors'
SRAM ceramic press fit BB
KMC 11spd gold light chain
Foam grips
Ritchey Superlogic 90mm stem
Rockshox SID 14 100mm carbon tapered
FSA race Headset tapered
Fizik Tundra 00 carbon railed seat
Crank Brother Egg Beaters Ti
Mavic Crossmax ST 14 wheels - which I'm looking at replacing with Enve M60 with Chris King Hubs. I'm running the Mavics tubeless too

So at the moment just looking at the small things to shave off and then I reckon the wheels will drop more weight too

Thanks
Last edited by Carlin on Tue Feb 24, 2015 12:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

Jepas
Posts: 71
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:56 pm

by Jepas

As far as I know, alloy (aluminium alloy, at least) is less dense than titanium alloy. So if you swap aluminium alloy bolts for titanium bolts, you will add weight.

Have you read this article? http://weightweenies.starbike.com/articles.php?ID=16

So far all my bolts are Titanium: stem, top cap, brake levers, shifters, seat clamp, seapost fixing bolts, rotor bolts, caliper bolts, derailleur bolts, etc. I know I could go lower with alloy in some parts, but titanium makes me feel safer.

by Weenie


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Carlin
Posts: 65
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2014 6:52 pm

by Carlin

Sorry my mistake its stainless steel in most places.

I looked at alloy but find it to soft material was meant to put, glad you pointed it out as I missed typed

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Getter
Posts: 848
Joined: Sat Nov 14, 2009 6:30 am
Location: So Cal

by Getter

I'd stick to steel or titanium bolts on the high stress or parts that require the use of a torque wrench like: stem, rotor, caliper/adapter. Then aluminum for the parts that don't bear much load such as: bottle cage, derailleur, brake/shift levers, stem cap bolt.

TheRookie
Posts: 926
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:23 pm
Location: Midlands, United Kingdom

by TheRookie

Ti bolts are a good option, but consider (cheaper and lighter) Al bolts where you can first.

Have to say there are better bang for the buck weight saving opportunities in that spec than Ti bolts though! Seatpost, bars, headset and rotors (as well as the wheels of course) are all stand out as 'heavier than they need to be'.
Impoverished weight weenie wanna-be!
Budget 26" HT build viewtopic.php?f=10&t=110956

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cerro
Posts: 1957
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 2:11 pm
Location: Malmö, Sweden
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by cerro

Skip the Chris King hubs and go for something light and good instead if you want to go light.

What do you have for Expander in the fork? Extralite is good and superlight, and topcap from the same. Spacers under the stem? What QR's/axles?

I would change the bar for a light one, Tune Türnstange or MT Zoom for example, stem for and Extralite and saddle to light one that fits you.

TheKaiser
Posts: 653
Joined: Thu Sep 05, 2013 3:29 pm

by TheKaiser

And remember that 3 steel rotor bolts on your brakes will weigh less than 6 titanium ones, assuming the same dimensions. Now, mind you, I am not suggesting you use only 3 bolts per rotor, I am just saying that it is lighter and I have seen it done by many pro riders. On the XC side, I saw Ned Overend doing it, and on the DH side, I saw Eric Carter and others doing it. It seems to work fine, although there is no redundancy unlike with 6 bolts. At least you don't need to worry about rounding the heads like with Aluminum, or shearing the heads off like with cheap Titanium, plus it is free!

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MaLóL
Posts: 533
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2004 4:17 am

by MaLóL

I use ti bolts and alu bolts. I dont use steel bolts in any part of the bike. Ti is strong enough. Alu is soft, but for brake levers, shifters, bottle cages, they are perfect. You need to be a decent mechanic though and your hands need to have experience to work as a natural torque wrench ;-)
Happy trails !!!!!

nmrt
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 8:05 pm

by nmrt

As mentioned, the chris king hubs are great but they are heavy relative to some other hubs that would do the job equally well. if you do not want to spend the money on extralite or tune, you could always go with american classic.


cerro wrote:Skip the Chris King hubs and go for something light and good instead if you want to go light.

What do you have for Expander in the fork? Extralite is good and superlight, and topcap from the same. Spacers under the stem? What QR's/axles?

I would change the bar for a light one, Tune Türnstange or MT Zoom for example, stem for and Extralite and saddle to light one that fits you.

by Weenie


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Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

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