Project 365: losing one gram per day, for one year...

[synchronicity]

To make it easier on myself, I'm going to do this over two bikes and include some other kit as well.
Some bits are already here, some bits have yet to arrive. It's an ongoing project...


I decided to start with my shoes (and pedals):

Magnesium rods on the sidi buckles: 4 - 1 = 3 grams

Swap middle buckle (which I never used) for plastic one:

(these were only AU$2.90 for four)
Weight savings = 12 grams

I somehow managed to get the threaded inserts out without destroying the shoe:

It's pretty heavy steel hardware and other bits.
I decided to go to M6 cleat bolts rather than the M5 ones which I have here, the M6 ones are not here yet so I can't work out the weight savings on those parts. Next week perhaps?

Old star nut that came with the bike:

This arrived a few days ago, an ultrastar IV, I'm really impressed with it. It has holes everywhere!

Weight savings there = almost 25 grams!

Unfortunately I seem to have lost some photos from a few months ago. Whoops.
Anyway, I decided that the original tapered headset top race was too heavy.
Here it is. From memory it was 35 grams or so. I already sold it so weight is unknown.

Here's the replacement I had in mind:

Then I realised that this part doesn't actually seem to do much that headset spacers don't already do, , so I'll ride without one, just the spacers. (the spacers I am yet to photograph)

[synchronicity]

I also removed this buckle from my kalenji runners belt...

5 grams

Old titanium crank bolts:

New fiberglass reinforced MXD6 bolts:

Weight savings = 13 grams

Pedals, I got some mid-low-range Time Xpresso 7 pedals:

Swapped out the bearings for full ceramics, got some J&L Titanium axles:

All I need now are the aluminium wear plates and I have some very light pedals...
According to the tracking, the wear plates have landed!

I believe the only part that is steel on these is the tiny c-clip bearing retainer...
They started off around 198 to 203 grams, so I'm not doing badly...

[MrCurrieinahurry]

Awesome stuff here sync. I'm defo going to start WW stuff again properly bolts etc all adds up and I quite enjoy the little savings

Sent from my MAR-LX1B using Tapatalk

[synchronicity]

And so we come to the brake tuning. One of the bikes has FSA brakes, the other has TRP.
I tuned these with the aforementioned fibreglass nylon bolts and some other lightweight hardware.

Just like the cleats, I'm going to go M6 instead of M5 for the brake pad holders...
They are on the way!
I even replaced the original steel pivot pad with a peek one.

I'm going to use powercordz cables with these and work out my own brake cable pinch bolt arrangement... I hope it works!

I'll wait until the other set of brakes are finished and show them next time around...

[synchronicity]

Super record derailleur pulleys! They have copper bushings!! Too heavy!!!

Here are some extralite delrin pulleys (with full ceramic zirconia bearings):

Weight savings = 10 grams.

[synchronicity]

I'm getting there. But what I didn't tell you is that I started this project 7 months ago around last April.
And so I only have 5 months to go.

This thing. On my Selle San Marco Magma XC saddle. It doesn't do anything! 10 grams

Old stem, which was a bit long anyway:

Newer one on sale, 1cm shorter, I now have the correct fit on that bike.

I didn't do it for the weight savings as you can see it's a pretty heavy stem by today's standards.
Bonus 5 grams' weight savings!

[synchronicity]

Working in the bike industry, or having done so, I used to like these 1-bolt seatposts. I still do! I have one on my MTB.

But one of my road bikes rides a bit harsh and was giving me a bit of a back ache on some roads.
It's probably the wrong sort of frame for me, but whatever. Pinarellos are not the easiest bikes to find seatposts for, but 30.9mm and 31.0mm are really quite close, and so I shimmed mine with the little plastic sheets that separate individual slices of jamon serrano!

I decided to get a better carbon seat post... hopefully it offers a more comfortable ride than the old alloy one.
I would have been happy with a carbon FSA one-bolt post, but I found that impossible to get.

Eason also make a 30.9mm carbon post, which is lighter than this one, but I decided to get the more shock-absorbing one as all around me are crappy road surfaces...

The weight savings in that one part is 122 grams alone.

[synchronicity]

Now, to make things interesting, I'm going to do something almost sacriligeous and add some weight:

I've had two accidents (involving cars) a long while ago (I fractured one wrist and then within a year broke the other one).
These were in the afternoon while the light was still good, they were both at fault.
After all this time, I do have some resdiual fear about riding in Australia again.

When I was a lot younger I often used to stay out training and come home around dusk (with no lights or reflectors).
Looking back, I'm lucky I didn't have more accidents...

I'm middle-aged now and since getting a motorbike license, and car license (in Europe) and finally a truck license, I think at the very least cyclists should have some responsibility to be seen. Especially when it's starting to get dark.

Anyway in my research I found these lightweight reflectors:

I think it's a pretty cool idea and I will accept the +5 gram weight penalty (per bike). Or +10 grams if you want double reflectors.

I will also add some lightweight reflective 3M scotchlite material in some other places too... more on that elsewhere...

[synchronicity]

Roads where I am are quite rough and I already experienced some hand-numbing on one of my short MTB-hybrid training rides (well it does have a rigid aluminium fork). So knowing what I know, I need to feel as comfortable as possible as I start to get back on my road bikes again.

Shopping around, mulling it over quite a lot, too much in fact, I decided to get a few different types of bar gel for my two road bikes. I'm happy enough with these bar gel inserts from zipp. One of my bikes is now zipp-equipped! They seem to be actual gel. I didn't want the liquid-packet-like ones. And the ones from Fizik seem/look a bit too much like ordinary soft plastic.

The other bike will get Specialized "body geometry" bar phat. I figure that if it helps me get out on the bike (and more importantly to stay out), then it's worth the slight weight penalty.

I can always take this stuff off if my situation improves.

I'm going to try something different when it is time to wrap my bars. You'll all just have to wait until then.

[alanyu]

Full ceramic bearings are used for relatively static condition. The only position where they may last long on the bike is the RD pulley.

[darnellrm]

Where are you sourcing the fiberglass reinforced nylon bolts?

[jih]

Reflective tape would be even lighter than lightweight reflective plastic.

If riding at night, should have lights, but réflectives are good if used in addition to lights.

[synchronicity]

Where are you sourcing the fiberglass reinforced nylon bolts?

Bolts are from misumi (but you'll need to set up an account & shipping is not cheap).
I am selling some surplus bolts on ebay...

[synchronicity]

And so we move on to bar tape.
One of the biggest scams in the cycling industry today is "cork tape". There's now bugger all cork in it! It's all EVA foam shìt!

I'm not paying ninety dollars for plastic, okay. It's just ridiculous!!

Here's the Specialized tape I got with the bar phat gel pad kit:
This is an average tape. Neither overly heavy nor lightweight either. Average.
The texture, it feels okay I suppose, but I can still tell that it's synthetic.

66 grams. I think that's "kinda a lot". So they're on ebay.

I didn't want to go no tape. And I wanted something more substantial than tesa tape or whatever.

So — I'm much more into natural materials these days. Not only are natural materials more eco, I think they're sooo much nicer to touch than synthetic materials, especially for long time periods. Just look at the inside of a luxury car. It's all leather. It's neither EVA foam nor vinyl. Right?

And so during my search for a lightweight bar tape alternative, I happened to be undergoing a foot reconstruction. And there were several hospital visits involved.
While I was there, bored, I started thinking about using cotton bandages...

And so I present to you my lightweight cotton gauze crepe bandage handlebar tape wrap solution:

One roll, which will stretch to 4 metres, weighs a scant <21 grams.
I'll probably only need half that!

Tomorrow –or whevever the dye arrives– I'm going to dye it black.
Even with the dye, all of these three bandages work out much cheaper than your ordinary ordinary bar tape. \

In case you're wondering, the 3M weighs about 3 grams more than the other two (which are pretty much identical in weight).
I am warming to the smith&nephew brand because it looks thicker than the elastoplast, is the same weight, and also looks to be more organic (less of a bright unnatural white).

[synchronicity]

I'm going to run one bike without hoods, see how it goes. I've always kinda slipped around on the hoods when ascents get really steep and nasty.
The shape is good, but again, I'm not liking the rubber feel. So I'm going to wrap the whole thing my way instead.

50 grams, which is a bit porky if you ask me.

The hoods are now on ebay.