Check my Tarmac Expert

[ToffieBoi]

Hello everyone.
I am Gökhan from Istanbul and I want to write a small story about my bike.
I bought her while I was an exchange student in Poland in 2012. So we have a really strong emotional connection with her since I rode her in different countries I've been, with awesome people I met, at the best times on my life.

I bought the bike with Mavic wheels and Ultegra 6600SL grouppo. In a year, I was riding her with Ultegra 6700 grupset and wheels.
This year, I changed her and now I have Token C28A wheelset and Ultegra 6800 group. Dura-Ace 9000 shifters and KMC X11SL chain.



After all those changes in 2 years, I never changed the frame. I was happy with the frame and the colour.
Since I am still quite happy with the frame, I got a bit bored of the paint scheme.

On a topic here, I found out that people are scratching the paint of the frame to have stealth look and lower weight.
Since my bike is a porky 7800ish gram (with all equipment mounted), I am not chasing the 100ish grams I will lose.
But changing all the look of bike for almost free is tempting me.



Now, I disassembled everything on my bike, and trying to decide if I should do or not.
The frame weight is 1683gr including;
*Frame
*Fork
*Headset (except top cap)
*Hanger
*Seatpost clamp

I know, most of the guys here will say "go for lighter", but I need some opinions and informations from the experienced ones who does that before. There is no going back so I don't want to take that risk without getting as much information as I can.

Since the weather is not so good here nowadays, I will wait a few more days to decide what to do with the frame.
I will either clean everything and put them back, or I will have a totally new bicycle with a huge bet...

Cheers!

[J00P]

Hi Gökhan,

I like your paint-scheme very much, but taste is of course very personal.
(it looks similar to my CAAD10: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=120220)

Anyway, maybe a more easy way to loose some grams is to exchange the skewers:
For ~ 23 euro (planet-X) I saved 80 grams over the standard skewers that came with my wheels:


Joop

[efeballi]

Gökhan hello,
I think you shouldn't remove the paint, as it makes it drastically harder to sell it later on.
If you love the frame and geo, invest in a newer Tarmac frame.
Different thing if you're going to leave it to your grandkids.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LouisN]

It's very personnal what you consider "almost free" when thinking of time involved in stripping and re-finishing a carbon frame.

The lower end Tarmacs are pretty heavy. You'll not gain any appreciable weight savings by stripping it, and I agree you'll lose the value of these otherwise overrated frames .
Plus, most of the people discover that under the paint are lots of irregularities in the carbon covered by some putty epoxy, so the "bare carbon" finish becomes hard to obtain with quality and success.

I would personnally either keep it that way, or sell the Tarmac frame and get an FM066SL or the like if you want a lighter and stealth look bike.

Louis

[oakes2004]

Hello Gökhan,
What a nice bike you have! Albeit I tend to agree with what's been said. I had similar thoughts going on in my head when I got my bike, hated the blue and wanted to go to a darker a colour. Glad I never and adding a few mods like the cockpit along with a deep set of wheels has made me love it more than ever! Amazing what a set of wheels can do mate and suggest you go and try
here's a before and after couple of pics, oh and I've shaved loads of weight too!!
Regards,
Andy

[ToffieBoi]

Thanks everyone for the answers.

Last night, I realised that I did a mistake while removing the chain. I had the quick-link of chain, and had the extra one. But I forgot and removed chain with regular tool. Now I have to use the chain with 2 quick-link and I felt stupid. This really small detail ruined my sleep last night.
So I now think that, I am not strong enough to risk for the look under the frame. Bare carbon look is too risky for me...

Anyways, since I decided to stay with my frame I rebuild the bike today after cleaning, with KMC X11SL gold chain. Now, I am looking for the parts I have, which are extra weighted.

I decided to stay with my Token SharkTail skewers because of the look. They are just 80 grams and I really trust them. I used the same planetx skewers before and I wasn't feeling much safe. I sold them after some time.

First thing is my handlebar tape. With the gels inside, they are 120gr total. I can buy 40gr ones easily and 80gr save.
The saddle I have is 260gr and, I can easily lose 160gr there from a saddle I guess. But I am not sure if my bottom will like it.
Total weight of my both bottle cages are 100gr. I can lose 50gr, for a really cheap price from aliexpress...
My 24C grandprix tires are 220-230gr each. 180gr, 23C tires will save me around 100gr in total.

So far, these are the small changes I am thinking and make my bike lose significant amount of weight I guess.
But they all will make me lose my comfort. Only change is bottle cages, and I will do it in a close time.
Rest of the changes I can do will cost me a lot of money, and as a student I can't afford a new wheelset, or carbon handlebars now.

[pje0713]

My two cents.... if you really want to shave weight, focus on things other than the saddle. 260g is a lot for a saddle, but it's worth it if you love the saddle. if you can find something for more like 160g and it's still really comfortable then why not. But if you feel like you're riding on clouds forget it.

Focus on the other stuff:
-I agree on bartape - no reason to use more than 50g here. I like Deda perforated tape, but there are a ton of options.
-Bottle cages are easy to change. Blackburn Camber cages are 26-28g and pretty cheap. Tons of options in this area.
-Tires are another good area to cut, 190g-200g or so is a relatively easy number to hit.
-Your wheels are already pretty light if they come in at the manufacturer's weight of 1500g. You can save a few hundred grams, but it'll cost you way too much compared to other areas.
-Seatpost and clamp is an easy swap. Not sure how much your post is, looks like a Ritchey of some kind. Is it light or heavy? Light posts are not that expensive in my experience. Can also swap to ti bolts and cut post length to save weight. Seatpost clamps can vary from 7g to like 40g, so it could be a way to get an "easy" 30g.
-Overall: don't overlook little things that can add up. Garmin mount is one area if you use one. Another is bottle cage bolts. Buy aluminum kcnc replacement bolts.

All this said, if you save 200g from the first three, 100g from the post/clamp, and another 15-20g from bottle cage bolts and garmin mounts, you are still talking only 320g or so total savings.

So with those "reasonable" changes you're moving from 7.8 kg to 7.45kg.

If you go all out maybe you can get to 7.2kg: move to a really light saddle you can lose 160g, save 40g from light ti skewers, save ~50g from pedal change.

From there, before any other changes I think it makes more sense to blow up the whole thing and get a new frame or gruppo.

[ToffieBoi]

Thanks for the message.
I am thinking the same like you. Last year, all 5 months long I was trying saddles and finally decided that one. So I was planning to keep it as log as I can.
But recently, on aliexpress, I saw that there is same shaped carbon fiber saddles just for 30 dollars. So I guess I will try one of them soon. It will help me to save 160grams for really less price and I think same shaped saddle will not be much less comfy.

Bartape will change for sure. The weight penalty is coming from the gel paddings I am using.
I will try to ride without them and observe. I guess I can live without them

For bottle cages, I found Zipp Alumina cages looking really nice, cheap and light. So I will try them I guess.

Tires will not be so soon, since they are pretty new. But next tires will be sub 200gr tires. I am thinking about Veloflex Corsa. 205gr for 25C one is impressive.

I was thinking to change my wheels to full carbon ones, but loosing 100 grams there will cost me too much and braking performance.
I have much climbs and descents here, and really rough surface. Also strong winds and trucks passing by. Since I am a light rider too, this looks perfect for me.
The weight is 1550 grams with rim tape. My red veloplugs didn't fit so I will have yellow ones, should save me around 50 grams there.

My seatpost is Specailized Pave with Zertz inserts. 220gr it is, uncut. Pretty light and comfortable.
I am not planning to change it in close future actually. Clamp is S-Works and 22grams with bolt.

So, I decided to keep the frame and equipment like it is, until the summer.
I will make the small changes when I have time and money.
And in the summer time, when I moved to UK for summer internship, I will try to buy new, lighter frame so I can ride sub 7kg I guess.

So I have a question here
How much lighter will be a new frame than mine.
I am reading all the factory data about the frames, but they are unpainted and without anything mounted on it.
I want to know how much they will weight with hanger, fork and headset. Average number ofc.

[ophiravina]

Thanks for the message.
But recently, on aliexpress, I saw that there is same shaped carbon fiber saddles just for 30 dollars. So I guess I will try one of them soon. It will help me to save 160grams for really less price and I think same shaped saddle will not be much less comfy.

For bottle cages, I found Zipp Alumina cages looking really nice, cheap and light. So I will try them I guess.

My seatpost is Specailized Pave with Zertz inserts. 220gr it is, uncut. Pretty light and comfortable.
I am not planning to change it in close future actually. Clamp is S-Works and 22grams with bolt.

So I have a question here
How much lighter will be a new frame than mine.
I am reading all the factory data about the frames, but they are unpainted and without anything mounted on it.
I want to know how much they will weight with hanger, fork and headset. Average number ofc.

1) saddle: If you already mentiond aliexpres, I ride an aliexpres toupe saddle on my MTB and I like it a lot, it's comfortable and it weight 96 gram (real weight). although I like it on my MTB, I couldn't ride it on my road bike at all, even with an 170$ Nalini bib, it wasn't comfortable on my road for 150 km.... (I have no problem ride for 5 hours on my MTB with this saddle, becouse on the trail, you always change your position on the bike and stand up for the rocky sections)
here is a link:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Brand-Ne ... 38678.html

2) In aliexpres you can order a nice seatpost that will save you around 40 grams, for a little amount of money :
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-arri ... 98964.html

3) and the same thing about the bottle cages:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/wholesal ... 47914.html

4) what frameset did you think about? an SL4 can save you around 200 grams, and it's a lot more stiffer.
I went from 2011 SL2 to 2012 SL4 pro frameset. It's a lot more stiff and and comfortable, and it saved me aroud 250 gram

[ToffieBoi]

Thanks for the message.
But recently, on aliexpress, I saw that there is same shaped carbon fiber saddles just for 30 dollars. So I guess I will try one of them soon. It will help me to save 160grams for really less price and I think same shaped saddle will not be much less comfy.

For bottle cages, I found Zipp Alumina cages looking really nice, cheap and light. So I will try them I guess.

My seatpost is Specailized Pave with Zertz inserts. 220gr it is, uncut. Pretty light and comfortable.
I am not planning to change it in close future actually. Clamp is S-Works and 22grams with bolt.

So I have a question here
How much lighter will be a new frame than mine.
I am reading all the factory data about the frames, but they are unpainted and without anything mounted on it.
I want to know how much they will weight with hanger, fork and headset. Average number ofc.

1) saddle: If you already mentiond aliexpres, I ride an aliexpres toupe saddle on my MTB and I like it a lot, it's comfortable and it weight 96 gram (real weight). although I like it on my MTB, I couldn't ride it on my road bike at all, even with an 170$ Nalini bib, it wasn't comfortable on my road for 150 km.... (I have no problem ride for 5 hours on my MTB with this saddle, becouse on the trail, you always change your position on the bike and stand up for the rocky sections)
here is a link:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Brand-Ne ... 38678.html

2) In aliexpres you can order a nice seatpost that will save you around 40 grams, for a little amount of money :
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-arri ... 98964.html

3) and the same thing about the bottle cages:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/wholesal ... 47914.html

4) what frameset did you think about? an SL4 can save you around 200 grams, and it's a lot more stiffer.
I went from 2011 SL2 to 2012 SL4 pro frameset. It's a lot more stiff and and comfortable, and it saved me aroud 250 gram

I am thinking about the same saddle you sent. But without S on it. I think that looks cheap, at least on their photos.
Can you tell me how it looks like.

About the seatpost, my Specialized Pave weight 220gr with Zertz insert. I don't know if it works or not, but I trust the post. I worry that it will break at a bump or something and will cause injuries. I don't know if it is a good risk to take for 30-40 grams.

I will also buy the bottle cages on aliexpress, but not Bontrager for sure.
I won't put even a bontrager bolt on my specialized

About the frame I want to buy, I have no idea for now.
I was thinking about SL4 Tarmac but now, I am just in the middle. I don't enjoy the 9r, 10r, 11r concept in Specialized.
That's why, Lapierre Xelius frame was looking good for me, I almost bought one but the bike shop I found the cheapest price was out of M size.

This summer, in UK, I will try to chase some nice used frames.

And here is a photo with gold chain from my instagram.

[ophiravina]

I am thinking about the same saddle you sent. But without S on it. I think that looks cheap, at least on their photos.
Can you tell me how it looks like.

I think it looks good, I like it a lot...

BTW:
aliexpres also have a paded version of the saddle if you want, and it comes with bottle cages:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/SpeciaX- ... 11549.html

[ToffieBoi]

I am thinking about the same saddle you sent. But without S on it. I think that looks cheap, at least on their photos.
Can you tell me how it looks like.

I think it looks good, I like it a lot... I also have a picture of it on the scale if you want...

BTW:
aliexpres also have a paded version of the saddle if you want, and it comes with bottle cages:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/SpeciaX- ... 11549.html

Thanks for the photo. "S" doesn't look cheap, and I liked the look actually.

I wonder that, if the saddle rails are 7x7 rounded or 7x9 oval.
My Pave seatpost has side clamp system so I need new clamps or change of seatpost.

[ToffieBoi]

Anyways, yesterday while I was checking for tires, I found information that my tires weights 250gr each. So now, I decided to go for Veloflex Corsa 25C tires and 50gr Continental Innertubes.

Also allen key skewers will give a clean look and 40gr advantage of weight. I need opinions about it.

Code: Select all

Component   Weight   Price
         Gain      
----------------------------
Tires         100gr   $100
Skewers      40gr      $30
Saddle      160gr   $35
Seatpost      35gr      $30
BarTape      60gr      
Bottle Cage   40gr      $45
Innertunes   30gr      $40
Veloplugs      30gr      $20
----------------------------
Total         495gr   $300

Anyways, I can earn around 500gr for 300 dollars.
Sounds cool if you ask me...

[BikeAnon]

....I think it looks good, I like it a lot...

ophiravina, thanks for the pictures. Based on your info, I have ordered this saddle for my bike.

It looks like an inexpensive way to see if a full CF saddle is for me.

....My seatpost is Specailized Pave with Zertz inserts. 220gr it is, uncut.....

ToffieBoi, I took out the Zertz insert on mine (16 grams)(it's not structural).

I then cut mine down. To pick the length to cut, I:
- measured from bottom, to minimum insertion mark (90 mm)
- I measured 110mm (a little added for safety/adjustment) down from where I actually inset the post

Total weigh savings = 34 grams, with no money spent, and no change in comfort/safety/appearance.

[BikeAnon]

Off topic....

ophiravina.....

I can see why a light bike matters to you.

Take a look at those garage doors. I've never seen anything like that. Hilly where you live?!