Hey guys, up for criticism is my defy advanced. I'm a 15 y.o fitness rider with a VERY tight budget, but I can dream can't I? I originally purchased a defy alliance, but sadly that developed a crack . Giant replaced my frame with a defy advanced because they couldn't obtain a defy alliance . Any idea of how I could cheaply drop some weight?







Spec:
Frameset: Defy Advanced 0
Brifters: Shimano Tiagra 4500
Wheelset: Kinlin XR-300 rims laced to bitex RAR13/A713SB hubs with Pillar PST 1430 spokes (1575g)
Chainset: Shimano Ultegra 6600 (736g)
Pedals: Shimano 105 5700
Chain: SRAM 971
Cassette: Shimano HG-50
Stem: Giant Connect
Bar: Giant Connect
Saddle: Selle Italia SLR
Skewers: Titanium (46g)
Tyres: Michelin Lithion 2
Tubes: Vitoria Ultralight

Total Weight: 8kg

I want to eventually get it down to around 6kg but I'm not sure if I can afford to do that. What is a realistic weight I can get for this bike if I keep the wheels, pedals, saddle and crank I have now?

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Apparently my bikes were talking the other day & are undecided whether to upgrade the current rider or get a new one...

one of the schemers...

Welcome!!

The group set is what's holding you back......save up for a secondhand SRAM group like rival or force depending on your budget and you'll drop a ton.

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2012 Fuji Altamira SE - 6.42kg

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Thankyou!

Looks like I'll be hunting the classifieds in a month or so...

how weight weenie is the Ultegra chainset? is it useable after a tune?

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Apparently my bikes were talking the other day & are undecided whether to upgrade the current rider or get a new one...

one of the schemers...

Look like you could chop ~30g of steerer and spacers for nothing.

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r o y g b i v

Not 100% sure about position yet, but that will go eventually. I want to get my stem even lower, I notice the headset cap is terribly high (~1.5cm) are there shorter headset caps? Would people also recommend getting stems with sharp drops? I see alot of them on track bikes but not so much on road... (and b4 anyone asks why I didn't buy a TCR, it was my first bike and I tried to get a TCR as the warranty replacement, but I couldn't)

right now the weight is going in the wrong direction, added another 100 or so grams with this transponder I need for my events

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Apparently my bikes were talking the other day & are undecided whether to upgrade the current rider or get a new one...

one of the schemers...

Look for stupid cheap upgrades for now, tubes, skewers, chains, seat post.

Everything you have now could be upgraded to boutique parts, so rather than going halfway to ultegra and then later upgrading again to SRAM Red, you're better off buying one or two ultra light parts one at a time and then carrying them over as you upgrade frames, wheels, drivetrain, etc

I've got a proprietary seatpost (as far as I know) and I think 44g is light for skewers (is it?). Will look into chains, but can I get much lighter than the SRAM 971 I am running now (can't find listing)? I also have 90g tubes, I know I can save ~80g there between the two, but if it means I'll get more punctures I'll take the 80g. Can someone give an insight into how much more puncture prone the light latex tubes are?

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Apparently my bikes were talking the other day & are undecided whether to upgrade the current rider or get a new one...

one of the schemers...

Lighter tubes are definitely much thinner, but the argument is that tubes shouldn't protect from flats, the tire should. If it gets past the tire, you're probably gonna flat. I'm running el cheapo performance brand butyl lunar lights and haven't had a flat with them (other than when I got hit from behind by a truck) for about a year or so. They're about 50g and about $8 apiece. 60g for $16? That's gold right there.

How good/bad would Enve stickers look on my wheels? I was thinking about getting a decal set off fairview bikes, but I'm unsure if it'll look bad/try hard since these are not enve wheels and the stickers cost almost as much as the rim

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Apparently my bikes were talking the other day & are undecided whether to upgrade the current rider or get a new one...

one of the schemers...

Wheel stickers? Why add weight?

sent by tapatalk because my computer is a paperweight

I think the ENVE stickers would be a pretty big cycling faux pas on non-ENVE rims.

Enve stickers on those wheels? Is this for real?

Eh... he's 15. OP, you'll just end up removing them at some point later on, so don't waste the money now. Get a personalized decal for the top tube or something.

looks like everyone thinks its going to be a bad idea to go with the enve stickers... I was throwing up the idea of getting this bike a new groupset or doing a wheelbuilding course. I've decided to take the wheelbuilding course so the new groupset for this bike is going to have to wait...

what do people think about the wheels I'll be trying to put together in the next few weeks or so, the spec is:

Kinlin XR-300 rims 24/28
Novatec A291SB-SL/F482SB-SL
Pillar PSR X-TRA 1422
brass Nipples

nothing weight weenie, but it should hopefully come to sub ~1600g... since this is my first wheelbuild, I didn't want to get anything too exotic and I wanted it to be strong enough so I have a margin of error... Opinions?

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Apparently my bikes were talking the other day & are undecided whether to upgrade the current rider or get a new one...

one of the schemers...