As a new poster let me first express my thanks to you all for all the knowledge you have collected and so freely share.

My question is setting up the lightest possable bike with the strength to be in use daily by this six foot 220lb rider. I am at 11% body fat and am planing on losing a bit more, however I am still much bigger than your average weight weenie. I am a strong rider in time trials and on the flats but as you can guess I suffer a bit in the mountains. My current ride is a custom 56 size 3/.25 ti frame with a woundup carbon fork, DA group, easton carbon bars, king headset, and Mavic Cosmic wheels. This set up is strong but is 18.8lbs. I would love to hear your suggestions to help this supersized weight weenie reach a stronger yet lighter road machine. Thanks

you can save some more weight with Mavic Kyserium SC's. These wheels are bulletproof!

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CCC

Sorry, I forgot you can also use some Stainles Steel Speed Play pedals

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CCC

Rustychain, I'm similar size weight weenie 6'2" and 220 and this is what I'm running. I did a lot of research on all this stuff to see if it would be okay for my weight and it all checks out. I've got about 1000km on this set-up with no problems so far.

E-mail me directly if you want to chat. I've checked out a lot of light weight components and know which ones work for our weight.

Storck Scenario 1.1 59 Frame with all stock screws and bolts 1272


Storck Stiletto Fork - Carbon - Cut 306

Zero Gravity Brakes 188
Campagnolo Record 10spd 04 Ultra Shifters 324
Storck Crank/FRM Rings and Silver Bolts Cranks/53/39 Chain Rings 450
Spada Scandium BB ISIS 118
Campagnolo Record 10spd 04 Front Deraileur 69
Spada Cassette 11-25 100
Spada Lockring 10
Campagnolo Record 10spd Short Cage 04 Rear Derailleir 184
Campy Hollow Pin 04 Ultra Record Chain 259
Syntace 90mm Stem 102
Scmolke Carbon Handlebar 175
Cinelli Solid Cork Bar Tape 40
Storck Headset 68
Nokon Housing & CablesBrake and Shifters - Silver 120
Tune 31.6 Post Cut 175
Tune Speedneedle Marathon Seat 109
Tufo <160 Tires 20mm 310
Tufo Tire Tape Tape& Sealant 60
Spada Carbonio Aero Tubulars 1094
Aluminum/Titanium/Carbon Bolts Screws For Bottle Cages/FD/RD Cage -40
Storck Carbon Headset Cap and Spacers -35
BTP Carbon Ergo Clamps -18
Pedals Aerolite 62
Bottle Cages Record 36
Velox Cloth Rim Tape Cloth 0
FRM Skewers 49

Kg 5.587
Lbs 12.2914

you may want to look at a compact crank as well. let you spin faster in the lower gears when gravity is challenging

That's hardly 3 weeks of riding time... no offence, but I don't think that's long enough to make a comment about how long the setup lasts...

I wish I had the time to ride 1000 km in three weeks! But with a wife, a kid, a dog, and a full time job, I'm lucky to find the time to ride 500km. Yeh' it's not a long term test(yet) but the only things I have questions of durability on are the BB, wheels and cassette. If I get 5000km out of the BB I'll be impressed, the wheels I swap out with some Ambrosio Excellight clinchers with Force/Attack for most of my miles.

So you swap those parts out for a Record BB and Kysrium's, add about 1.5 lbs. and your still under 14lbs., not bad for a bike that can withstand the weight of us big guys. Isn't technology great! Cyclingnews has an article on old Pinarello's, the TDF winning bike from the early 90's was about 20lbs.!

Those Ambrosios are a good choice... I know a few riders that are really happy with them... and on Belgium roads, that means a lot...

The rim's seem pretty strong, If you look at a cross section they seem to have a lot more structure than Open-Pro's at a similar weight(although I have nothing against Open-Pro's as I use them on my Cross Bike).

you can look at http://www.speeddream.com

Dave builds wheels to your needs,weight and racing. Check out his reviews on roadbike review and mtbr.

great value and fantastic wheels

Thanks to you all for some great ideas. I'll be off to the bike shop asap! I will keep you posted

Thank you weight Weenies!
My first purchase on my quest to "pimp my ride" was the purchase of a set of Ksyrium SL wheels. This lost me a full pound of rotating weight from my old set of Mavic cosmics! So far I have gone out on two 60 mile rides and one short 27 mile ride ( with some major hills). The feel great, are faster and handle well when I jump out of the saddle for a quick sprint. I was suprised to see that my speeds improved on the flats as I felt my old mavics held an advantage in the areo department but these wheels rock. OK so maybe all this is due to the "new" factor but for us big fat weight weenies these wheels seem strong, stiff, and not bad looking. Girls that did not look at me before now are giving me the wink! THANKS WEIGHT WEENIES FOR PIMPIN MY RIDE!