Why not , whats wrong with Dura ace ?

Paul, mine was well under $6K. I understand the impatience, but I did mine entirely on Ebay and it was well worth the occasional wait. You might be able to find some good deals in the "for sale" section of this website, but everything will most likely be used... though used by competent and caring cyclists and mechanics. I bought everything for my bike new on Ebay except the wheels. Those I bought used from the Toyota United team (on Ebay) and immediately changed the bearings to ceramic. It took me about a year to get it where I want it, but it was worth it. I may upgrade to lighter wheels eventually, but am satisfied for now.

I agree as far as stock weight is concerned. But from a cost vs. weight savings standpoint, I couldn't justify buying a new group when I was able to substantially tune my existing DA parts for a fraction of the cost... all from Ebay.

The only parts not on par with (or lighter than) Red after tuning are the brake/shift levers. Considering the weight savings I got out of the THM cranks and bottom bracket with fibre lyte rings, my group wound up weighing less than Red and I funded it entirely by selling old parts on Ebay.

I run DA on all my road and CX bikes. I am comfortable with it and enjoy the performance and durability. That alone is worth a couple grams of added weight.

Ted, thanks for the response. So I took your advice and started making a few purchases on ebay today. I almost bought a new Ghisallo frame last week but held off. Today when I added up the weights of my components with the Ghisallo frame it came out to under 12 lbs and was a little over 12 lbs with my Ardennes frame. For now I will stick with my Ardennes and loose the weight in my waistline. Maybe next year I will spring for a Ghisallo frame unless ofcouse I come across something on ebay I just can't pass up. The pictures of your bike look awesome and give me something to strive for. Thanks again, Paul

Paul, I'm headed your way in a few weeks. I'll bring my Ghisallo down. let me know if you'd like to get out for a ride. I'll be at White Beach. PM me for e-mail and telephone contact info.

Did you weigh the carbon cable adjuster?

also the ones on the downtube?

thanks

"Here is how I got my 182 gram short cage Dura Ace rear derailleur down to 145 grams...

Dura-Ace Rear Derailleur New In Box RD-7800SS short Cage
* Alloy hanger bolt
* Alloy cable clamp bolt
* Alloy plate Axle bolt
* Jagwire carbon Rocket cable adjuster
* KCNC Ceramic Bearing jockey wheels
* Alloy mech jockey bolts
* RS P carbon outer plate
* RS P carbon inner plate
* Titanium Spring "

Could you please tell me which spring on the derailleur you replaced with a Ti one and where did you get ? Thanks!

_________________
Rob

A current photo. Not much has changed. Decals removed from wheels. Training tubulars installed (Conti Gatorskin). Garmin 705 and associated sensors installed (6.2 kg with seatbag). I'm doing some non-UCI/USAC races next month so I'm going to race the bike as is. For some later USAC races I'm going to add some weight... alloy chainrings, standard D/A derailleur, D/A cassette, D/A chain, and Yokozuna reaction cables. That should get me to 6.8. If not I'll go with a heavier seatpost as well.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3 ... 1447422736

Custom, lightweight wheelset coming soon. Sub-1000 grams, sub-US$1000.00.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=62998

Not the most timely advice, but have you lubricated the skewers?

To be honest, I just torqued down the skewer a little tighter and no more squeak.

New wheels installed. New weight is 5.72kg with Garmin computer hardware installed.

Pics here... viewtopic.php?f=3&t=62998&start=150

In hillclimbing mode... including Recon 11-36 Cassette (155g) and tuned DA rear derailleur. Ready for Mt. Washington practice ride this weekend.

Updates since last post include a 44cm Easton EC90 SLX3 handlebar, Easton EC90 seback seatpost, Cane Creek AER Headset.

I experienced some slipping of the seatpost since replacing the KCNC post I had previously, but I needed a little setback so I made it work. I wound up going back to the stock Litespeed clamp which seems to be doing the trick, but weighs about 5 times as much as the Omni clamp I had been using. After breaking two binder bolts with the Omni clamp I decided to accept a weight penalty to improve performance.

Did you extend the DA's cage length?
I had no idea that DA rear can accommodate up to 36t.
Normally when folks go beyond 28t, we'd see the use of a MTB derailleur (tuned, of course) with a medium or long cage.
Or SRAM Apex!

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Exp001 || Other projects in the works.

What the hell are you climbing up? Brick walls? Seriously, that looks ridiculous!