Just purchased a black Cannondale EVO 56 cm bike in the last couple of months and really enjoying it. Current weight with pedals, water bottle cages is 14.7 pounds. What are the most reasonable strategies to drop at least 2 pounds or even 3?
Current configuration:
Wheel set- HED Ardennes clincher with Vittoria Corso Pave tires (wheel set manufacturers stated wt: 1450 grams)
2011 SRAM Red Group except for 2012 front derailleur
Praxis 36/52 chain rings
Richey 12 cm aluminum stem
Richey Carbon handle bars
Carbon seat post
Specialized Romin saddle
Keywin Road pedals (85 grams per pedal): http://www.keywinpedals.com

Obviously the wheel set is one of the biggest areas to make a change. However even with a 1000 gram carbon tubular wheel set, that will only drop the weight by a pound. Any suggestions are appreciated!

2-3? You're into wholesale changes, fork, wheels and all components replaced or tweaked except shifters.

There's and easy half pound from wheels to be had another half pound from bars, stem, seat post, brakes and cables.

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

My reccomendations would be:

-1000gm wheelset (or less)
-Clavicula crankset
-EE brakes (or lighter)
-I-link cable housings
-Extralight stem
-AX/Schmolke handlebar
-AX/Dash/superlight OEM (like an Sella italia SLR- 125mg etc...) saddle (how many gm is a Romin saddles, I forget
-AX/MCFK/Schmolke seatpost
-durable tires (but not anchors)
-KCNC/tune skewers etc...
-Emporelli cages

If the frame weight is about 1000gm then....
I bet with the above items it would be in the mid/low 12's

If the frame weight is about 800gm, then....
I bet high 11's, then.

This is my experinece, "for what it's worth".

What is the frame weight?

You could get it into the 12's pretty easily, but 11's are harder (or $$$$$'er) than advertized.

Have fun, that's what it's all about anyway.

Pretty much what was stated above. My bike was right at that 14.7 pound weight and to get it to the 12.9 that it sits at now took a huge investment even doing all the work myself. Tires and tubes can save a big amount of weight. I think I dropped about 5-6 oz with different tires and tube's. I run the continental super sonic tires and the specialized turbo tubes. The tires are very thin though. I havent got a flat on them yet and have put a good amount of miles on them but at 155 grams flats are expected.....its a risk im willing to take.

it would be easier and more cost effective to lose the weight on your body. not as much fun though. wheels would have to be the first place to start. can't wait to see this.

Get 1000 gram wheels, figure $2-5k
Stop carrying those water bottles (1 pound each).
Go #2 before you ride,

Stop eating so much.

If you're not running Hollowgrams, that's what I would get. It's a Cannondale, there isn't any other options you need to look at for cranks. If you're willing to wait a little longer, get the new Hollowgram SISL2.

Pretty much everyone has said what's needed to get the bike down by 2-3 pounds. It's going to take $$$$$ and maybe some custom parts and tuning to achieve what your looking for.

Here are some of my suggestions.

1. Tune your red RD (fybre Lite, dremel work, KCNC pulleys, etc...)
2. Recon cassette (durability will be an issue if you need lots of mileage.
3. Hollowgram SISL or SISL2 + new spider chainring (if you have extra money lying around).
4. <1000g wheelset (Lightweight Meilenstein Obermayor, Enve rims + Tune hubs + Sapim Super spokes, etc...)
5. Boatload of AX Lightness/Schmolke/Extralite components (stem, seatpost, saddle, brakes, handlebars, etc...)
5. Tune all your components with either lighter bolts or hardware. Cut fork, seatpost, handle bars, etc... for max weight savings.

The sky's the limit here. We can all make suggestions but that is for our personal opinion (e.g. I want to keep a good balance between performance and durability when dropping weight off the bike). Set a budget and try to stay reasonably close. Use some creativity and see where is it possible to save weight without hurting the overall ride quality.

Good luck and I'm sure many will want to see the end product.

I guess it all depends on how much time and $$$$$$ you wanna spend to achieve it.

Removing a MASSIVE amount of weight from the Evo Red model is easy, here are a few biggies:

Rear cog to 11-25 XG1090, 245-147 98 grams
Bars FSA to Zipp, 284-170 114 grams
Stem FSA to New Ultimate 156-100 56 grams
Seatpost FSA to Omniracer cut 202-108 94 grams
Seat, Fizik mag to carbon 209-148 61 grams
Top cap CD to tune 60-15 45 grams
Crank Red to new Red w/ring upgrade 643-505 138 grams
Brakes Red to Bontrager carbon 280-228 52 grams
FREE cut big ass fork tube down and remove spacers 30 grams

Theres a start at 688 grams(1.5#'s) without counting the big one of wheels/tires

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Curt Brown
2012 Cannondale Supersix EVO SRAM Red 10.8#'s
2012 Cannondale Super X 14.1#'s and dropping....
2011 Cannondale Carbon Flash 1 17.2#'s
1999 Cannondale F2000, SRAM XO 18.9#'s
http://cbevo.com/2012_cd_supersix_evo_31.html

Loving your advice CBRE (unusual name?) I'd love your opinion on my supersix build if you don't mind?

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=98596

Get a Berk saddle post combo. Got mine at 165g (had it beefed up or else it could go lower)

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Cervelo R2.5
Cervelo P2c
Cervelo R3
Parlee Z3
Parlee TT

Thanks for the many great suggestions! Regarding losing weight to improve climbing performance; that's definitely a possibility but not nearly as expensive nor as much fun. One other question that comes to mind: How different will a 12 pound or so bike feel on the road vs. my current 14.7 pound bike? Will it climb like a goat yet feel unnerving on descents? Will the brakes and mechanics inspire confidence or just be suitable for pleasure rides on sunny days around the park?

My bike underwent a diet from right around 14.7-14.8 down to 12.9 and there is a difference but its not a sensation that lasts. It depends on the wheels you use I think also. Im using lightweights and in cross winds the bike moves around more than when it was 2 # heavier with a similar depth rim. It also has to do with how light the wheels are obviously and not directly because of overall bike weight. But I would save that YES you will notice a difference and its something you get used to very fast......I already ordered a lighter frame and other bits haha

O ya and also regarding the brakes It all comes down to what brake you choose to use. I mostly ride flat terrain so I went with the ax lightness brakes but if your doing a good amount of descending I do not recommend them. Go with the EE brakes! They are a few grams heavier but its worth the confidence in braking power.

Not sure if the 2-3 #'s will be all that noticable, by lightening the set/setpost and stem/HB by alot you will feel it as it reduces the center of gravity by a good bit, now wheels are very noticable, you can lose close to 2#'s of the factory wheel/tire/cassette combo. But it all comes at a trade off.. My Evo is faster on my two TT courses(19 + 30.5 mile) with 50mm Boyd carbon tubis vs. much lighter DT RRC 425/525 tubis, both have same tire combo's of Veloflex Carbon rear and Extreme front, so pick and choose carefully!

_________________
Curt Brown
2012 Cannondale Supersix EVO SRAM Red 10.8#'s
2012 Cannondale Super X 14.1#'s and dropping....
2011 Cannondale Carbon Flash 1 17.2#'s
1999 Cannondale F2000, SRAM XO 18.9#'s
http://cbevo.com/2012_cd_supersix_evo_31.html