I have just come back from my bike ride throughout Europe, Copenhagen to tunisia, about 3400 km in 25 days. I rode my Cannondale which currently weighs 11.2 kg / 24.7 lbs, niiice . Now it's time to put my CAAD7 optimo on a diet!

I study veterinary medicine, a very expensive study, so money is small, and it will be a long project. This is my first WW project, in the past I have driven vintage road bikes and fixed gear, and still do.

as it looks right now:


08-22-2012
spec: @ 11,2 kg / 24,7 lbs
Cannondale CAAD7 Optimo size 56: 1264g
Cannondale Si fork: 531g
Mavic Aksium Race 2009: 1885g
Headset: 80g
105 50/34 crank: 870g
105 BB: 95g
105 shifter: 520g
105 FD: 105 g
540 SPD: 330g
540 breaks: 360g
Tiagra 12-30 cassette: 335g
Tiagra RD ?
Ultegra 10sp chain: 255g
Exteme stem: 140g
Black comp T6 bar 40cm: 320g
Brooks B17: 530g
seatpost: 240g
Tyre Durano plus 28c: 1060g
Wires: 260g
Tubes: 210g
And more

next week upgrades:
Shimano 7950 crack - 735g
Shimano 7900 shifter 320-365g ?
Shimano DA 10sp 11-25 - 185g
Veloflex Master 22mm - 400g
Controltech Lightning Full Carbon Road - 340g
Kalloy UNO "seven" super lite roadstem 110mm - 107g
Ritchey Carbon WCS Classic bar 42cm - 220g
105 RD - 235g
Cut seat post - ?
New saddel sub 200g?
remove stand, panniers etc.

Digging that tail. (fox?) As far as weight loss, it's hard to know where to begin. You could lop of a lb. with a wheel and fork change. If weight is priority #1, I wouldn't choose Shimano.
As far as $, eBay is the way. My Caad7 sits at 13.7lbs, ready to ride. And it's entirely a 'Bay build, save for the wheels. Be patient and replace things when opportunity allows. With a bit of savvy, you can sell your existing components for as much, or nearly, as the upgrades. Good luck.

I would just take off the stand and other unnecessary bits and leave it at that. I know it's weight weenies, but in my view there's not much point in setting out to build a light touring bike, since you're going to load it up again with panniers then ride on gravel roads etc. Rather I would look at upgrading parts as they need to be renewed. Now if you wanted to run it as a race bike now and again and not go touring, then I'd just swap the wheels for something lighter.

Down to 7,9 kg / 17,4 lbs

Pictures and spec later

A bit of acetone on the stem would do miracles!

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Unfortunately is the red color under the clearcoat. However, it is to be painted matt black later. Picture is from first test tour at Vesterbro

Some abuse of that frame. Those frames are as light as a CAAD10 and won't tolerate much of that without breaking.

If you're looking to load a frame like that, you'd better look to one of those ubiquitous super heavy duty entry levels available these days. There a few a dime floating around on the market and the roads these days.

Having ridden a CAAD7 I am going to concur with Mr. Horse as this is a light and thin walled alu frame which unfortunately is prone to dents, especially since it is 6061 alloy. If we are already in 11kg territory, then a 1.5lb-ish frame is much more fitting.

Again, not trying to knock on the bike, as the CAAD7 was quite a fantastic frame and Astaloa won the 2003 world championship on a CAAD7.

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6061/7005/2014 alloy, doesn't matter. The tubes won't dent from indirect load. But fatigue would result from improper load close to joints and junctions in the frame. Same argument as a well-fitting bike would last longer than an ill-fitting one.