Thanks for the comments. For the race regs, I need two working brake mechanisms. If I were to go singlespeed, I could drop one of the brakes but on this I'll need a front and a rear. It looks like Planet X might have discontinued the CNC brakes so will either be looking out for a second-hand set or something else.
BmanX I like the idea of a smaller ring and casette - hadn't thought along those lines so will see what that does for me. Thanks for the suggestions.
I've got almost all of the paint off now so thought it would be a good chance to put up photos and talk weight-savings.
I used the wet-and-dry method to cut through the paint. I started on the fork to get the technique right and to ensure I wouldn't lose the frame if I screwed up. I used a mix of 280 and 400 grit and that seemed to give me the control I needed. I'll be using fibr grades to tidy it all up a bit.
The fork went well and took under 2 hours to complete but only saw a saving of 11grams. The paint had always seemed a bit thin and there were very few coats on the fork. I was a bit disappointed by the saving but at least it gave me the confidence to crack on with the frame.
The frame was a different matter and took a long time to get through. In some places I counted 13 layers of paint and primer. I used the same grades of paper and pushed on through. The thickness of the paint gave me some reassurance that there would be a worthwhile weight saving in taking it all off.
I had to undertake the stripping in 1-2 hour sessions as it was taking its toll on the skin of my fingers. They would inevitably end up bleeding by the end of the sanding session. Joy! The supersix frame was painted in a way that there were 2 primer coats so it was very easy to know when to stop, although on the seat-tube there were places where black paint had been applied directly to the carbon, making it a bit more tricky to gauge.
In total, sanding of the frame has removed 153grams and has taken just under 25 hours to complete. This takes the frame down to 877grams.
Here are a few photos of the frame almost complete, bar some of the fiddly bits around the cable bosses and junctions. This has all now been taken off. This is also prior to cleaning and fine-sanding so there are a few streaks across the place. I'm very happy with the detail of the layup around the junctions and there was very little filler that needed removing.
Next up, putting some graphics back on and clear-coating.
