Where have all the Weenies gone?

[drainyoo]

Is it me, or are the true weight weenie threads in the Road forum rare nowadays? If you look at the forum, it's full of general topics that you can find on any cycling forum, and very little discussion on weenie type topics. Don't get me wrong, these general topics have a lot of great info, and I love reading them, but it seems like we no longer explore/discover new weight saving ideas or products, or focus the conversation on weight saving.

The Kalloy Uno Ultralight thread is exactly the type of stuff I'm talking about, and that we're sorely missing. Threads like that are solid gold. Seems like the MTB forum has more weenie type discussions going on.

Is it just me?

[BikeAnon]

Maybe it's all been covered?

I posted my topic, with all the weights, pics, etc.... Asked for suggestions.... no replies
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=123882

[RimClencher]

Maybe it's all been covered?

I posted my topic, with all the weights, pics, etc.... Asked for suggestions.... no replies
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=123882

I've put some suggestions. They're mainly as a result of searching through this site for the cheapest ways to lighten my own bike. The information is here but I had to go looking for it.

[drainyoo]

Maybe it's all been covered?

I posted my topic, with all the weights, pics, etc.... Asked for suggestions.... no replies
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=123882

That is my initial guess, but I have a hard time believing everything has been covered. For instance, I recently posted about a very light bar tape from Bike Ribbon that no one seems to be using. Got very little response on that one.

Anyway, I replied to your thread. Gave some recco's.

[RimClencher]

No need to quote the above

I remember that post. I made a note of the bar tape at the time and still have it on my shopping list.

[Juanmoretime]

With so many products available to us that are extremely light creativity is more of a challenge. I started the Kalloy Uno thread. All I did was buy the stem and add some titanium bolts to get a light, stiff inexpensive stem. I didn't cut, sand, Drexel or fabricate anything. I just shared what I discovered. As an example a SRAM Red rear derailleur is pretty light out the box. Then go to Fair Wheel bikes website and buy a tuning kit and you have a pretty light derailleur. You could Drexel and sand it down for greater weight reduction but for me on a personal note, with a busy work schedule, family and friends I prefer to spend a majority of that time riding my bikes not wrenching. I do all the proper maintenance necessary on my bike and will add somthing new pretty frequently but prefer not to get into more time consuming projects. I do thoroughly enjoy the ingenuity, creativeness and skills of some of the members on this site and love to read those threads.

I guess the sad truth is that the market saw what we here we're doing years ago here and has seen the opportunity to make what we were fabricating since by this site they knew there was a market for those products. Years ago every manufacturer would come to this site to see what we were upto since we were always the cutting edge.

While there are not as many breakthrough projects here as it used to be I believe in general the membership here has a much better level of knowledge of everything bicycle that they are will to share. Also for those new to cycling and want to seek weenism the search feature is a great tool to find the answer to a question you may have. All the great bike builds here are pretty nice too!

[deltree]

Yep, manufacturers have caught up to us. High end parts these days are very light and expensive. Taking a dremel to something that's worth a lot and for not a huge amount of gain isn't high on my priorities. You could always buy mid-range part and spend time making them lighter, but if time is money it'd be a close call to simply buy the more expensive lighter option first.

It could also be a seasonal thing. Most people I know are out on their winter training bike where lightness isn't the primary concern.

Guess we'll see if the UCI ever does something about the 6.8 limit. That'd probably give a lot of manufacturers, teams and tuners a kick start.

[martinko]

I am new member here and sad to read some thoughts about disappointment. I register current trend in decrease of posts, discussions and members on boards elsewhere too. And that trend came with increase of popularity of social networks. But anyway, you still have new or old members returning who might not discuss in the same passion than before, but search and read what was written and open new topics as well (even though with lower frequency).

I am planning to totally rebuild my CAAD10, but when I look at it from the higher perspective, it won't be too much innovative. It's just about searching for parts available in the market which will match very nicely together. But at the same time I will try to be different a little bit to other CAADs. I hope everything will go fine and I will expand collection of CAADs here with another nice piece.

When tuning my bike I have to consider durability of components, apart from their weight. Our roads (in my country) are not nice, with many potholes. Because of that, in my opinion, training on some LW wheels or other nice, but fragile, ones won't be good idea. Same applies to frame, drivetrain, etc.

Yes, light parts may be durable, when you do your research, experiment... that's where all the knowledge which have been gathered here comes in hand. That's why I am here and like to study what was covered here For instance, I currently think about sanding FSA cranks to get rid of the decals I don't like, in order to make the look of my CAAD cleaner. Or, if I didn't want it do myself, I may look for someone's help and buy already sanded cranks and have no worries (if there were any for sale).

[drainyoo]

Dremeling and fabricating is only a part of it, but not the real focus. I'm talking more about general weenie topics, similar to the Kalloy thread. It was a simple thing, taking an inexpensive stem and replacing the bolts with Ti bolts to get a great weight. That's the true essence of weight weenieism.

And yes the companies have caught up, but that also means that there are new products to discover.

[stuka666]

For example, I think there should be more ww mtb threads. Few users show their complete builds, and for sure there are more mountain bikers around here.

I'll post my new bike in the near future, I hope others would do the same, share opinions.. watch for example the light bikes dot it gallery, many bikes, many pictures, many opinions.

But yes, today all we need is money to get a light bike.

[jmilliron]

I had my sub 6kg bike and am now totally over the weight weenie thing. Durability, comfort, stiffness, handling and aesthetics are all higher priorities for me than weight.

Especially since on race day, all fairly high end bikes are going to be reasonably light with carbon tubulars.

[kgt]

IMHO weightweenies was a 'trend' a few years ago when carbon frames and parts started being available to many customers. Frames like Scott CR1 were not that great in terms of ride quality but were amazingly light in comparison to what most cyclists used. At the same time there were exotic, dream products, like Lightweight wheels, that few could buy. Today almost any company can manufacture a 800gr frame and Lightweight wheels are much less exclusive.

Nowadays the new industry trend is 'aero'. Aero, frames, wheels, helmets, everything.

People get bored easily. They know that neither a superlight frame nor a super aero one will make them faster. They just want to be part of the newest trend whatever this trend is. Electronic groupsets, disc brakes, power meters, whatever... What's next?

[dogg]

jmilliron seems to have it figured out.

to me lightweight bikes and components are an exercise in futility

[jekyll man]

Reckon I've been around long enough to comment so...

I think the problem nowadays is that the basic products are so much lighter now ( and also more technically advanced) that there is very little to be gained from DIY'ing stuff.
Of course its great that there are still people that do the unusual and I applaud them for that (case in point the convert sram red to 11spd thread)

I could be wrong that a lot of the newer members are also newish to cycling with a bit of money, and from some of the posts point to little experience with riding bikes and fettling them ( I will get the lbs to do that etc) so don't have the feel of what makes your bike tick, and become "wallet bikes", with the bling just bought wholesale.
Some of the threads make you just think what a stupid question, or cant you be arsed to search for your self?? And those that don't want to listen to answrs to their own questions...

Of course there are a lot of people with a wealth of experience that are always worth listening and I'll be sticking around for a while longer with you guys

[HillRPete]

Another +1 jmilliron.
These days, beyond the basic performance parameters, I care about the "personality" of a bike. Lots of great build here btw, that tick all the boxes.