Hi there,

just found and registered for this website. Great to find a site dedicated to this sort of stuff. During the late 80's and early 90's there was a huge movement towards getting mountain bikes light. Titanium was all the rage. But today I find that many of the modern MTBs are just too heavy for my liking.

I have a couple of bike but my lightweight one is a 1997 Marin 'Indian fire Trail' with some old equipment on it. I'm running:

Fork: Manitou Comp (Elastomers!)
Brakes: Onza HO (Cantilevers!)
Levers: XTR M900 8sp (Beautiful!)
Wheels: Shimano M535 (but I've also got a Mavix X517)
Tyres: Continental Folding X-Country 1.5 (skinny)
Drivetrain: Truvative cranks with Sunto X9.0 rear cassette and HG90 Chain
Pedals: XTR 747
Front Mech: XTR M900
Rear Mech: XT M737 (but looking for an RD-M900)

She's light (weigs about 10kg) and fast and people that have ridden her can't believe that it's got Cantis and it still stops on a dime. Climbs like a mountain goat.

I'm happy to take advice on how to make it even lighter. And I know that by working on myself I'm gonna make it faster.

Cheers,

Mike S..

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Go Light; Go Hard

Mike.

I love the Ringlé bottle cage

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http://worksrider.wordpress.com/

welcome mike!

I notice you have a race number on that bike , what race were you doing and how did you go?

Welcome Mike.

You'll find a few regular Aussies on the site now. Cyco, bladteth and are in Syd while Curlymcbird and I are in Newcastle. TCR is in Perth and Stumpytrunks is in Tas. Culbaire is an enduro XC rider in NSW. We've considered having a get together but never got more than 3 together at once.

welcome mike.


nice looking bike.


can't see clearly from the pic. What grips are you running? Consider switching to titec foam grips (less than 20g for a pair).

Are you running tubeless or already with lightweight tubes (i.e. less than 100g each)?

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"Ride it like you've just stolen it!"

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Pollice verso.

Hi,

thanks for making me feel very welcome.

To answer a couple of questions:

1. I was doing a Polaris event in the Captial - Canberra. It's the Urban version which is only a one day event of 5 1/2 hours. On the bars is a map board.

2. I don't run tubeless but I've got Conti lightweight tubes and lightweight tyres.

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the bars - they're a Marin prototype that never went to manufacture. They're an all in one Titanium. Very Very light.

The wheels are heavy in my opinion. They're the WH-M535 version and I prefer to run a mavic X517. But the shimanos have a better riding aerodynamic profile. So for road stuff (which the Urban is) they seem to work better. Plus I like the look of them.

cheers,

Mike S..

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Go Light; Go Hard

Nice ride. You could save about 150g or more with a pedal change. The M747s are really heavy compared to Crank Bros. Eggbeaters, particularly the single or triple Ti versions that scale in at 222g or 184g. The single Ti are fairly reasonably priced and can take the weight of any rider. The triples have a weight restriction (can't recall what it is).

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2001 Bianchi SL-2 Reparto Corse
2006 Rocky Mountain ETSX 70
2006 Scott Genius RC-LTD
2007 Rocky Mountain Element 70

Hi there rockymtnway,

I used to use the Onza HO Pedals with the titanium spindles. I can't remember what they weighed but I do recall them be incredibly light. I was looking at a pair on eBay but got sniped in the last minute.

I'm trying to build the bike with kit from the mid 90's so I'm trying to avoid all the latest kit.

A mate of mine rode it on Sunday and was amazed by the stopping power of the cantis. But I'm a firm beliver that if you get your kit set up right then you get sooooo much more from it.

Cheers,

MS..

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Go Light; Go Hard

Hi Mike, really like the clean look of your horse. Just wish we had a bit of that sunshine down here! Not sure how competitive the Aussie guys are but it sounds like the club I belong to has scored a national selection race for the u19 world road team next year. Would also think that there'd be senior races. I think curly has got another year to go before he's old enough but if anyone needs some local knowledge feel free to give me a yell. Garuanteed that there'll be a stack of nasty bergs!

MadMarinRider: There are several of us in Sydney, most of the active ones of us are in the southern part of town.

Kman and myself ride both road and MtB and Telisio has joined us for the summer, not sure yet if there is a MtB in his bike collection with him yet, or only his road bike, haven’t ridden with bladteth yet.

There is lots of riding happening over the next couple of months, give me a yell if you are looking for more trails.

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Success is how far you you bounce back up after being knocked down

He MadMarinRider, that is a nice bike you got there, got to love the classic marin look with and the classic mix with the Asnwer Manitou fork.

I understand that you want to keep it look original from the early 90's

But in those days customizing was pretty hot! so if you look you wil find some cool tuning parts for the old parts on your bike.

There are often M900 rear mechs on Ebay, you can also try the German Ebay there are often old skool parts for sale there and most do speak english and are willing to ship global.
recently I seen a unused M900 rear mech.. it still is a great piece of art

Try to Ti or Alu bolt tune your bike you will keep the looks as is but lighten the bike abit. (anodized doesn't missmatch also)

good luck and have fun

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Sniperworks bike site