How low can you go?!?

[Rich Matthews 1]

Hi Guys,

How low can the weight of a sensible MTB go? I've seen the Giant MCM bike from Mark Russell on this site at a squeek over 17lbs, but would you want to go any lower and compromise strength?

Mine is a tad over 20.5lbs, but I reckon I could get it down to 19lbs without too many problems...even this to me is too light...

What do you think?

Rich

[Adri]

I guess it all depends on your own weight, the way you use the bike and where you lose the weight. A 20-ish pound bike (XC hardtail) is nowadays very easy to get, but when you go lower, you have to make some concessions on dependability and ease of use . It makes f.i. no sense to mount a 12-25 street-cassette to spare some weight and then having to walk on foot on every steep ascent. Mount a 12-34 and ride !
Very much weight can be saved in the wheels section.