Hi All

Just joined but have been a weight weenie for about 5 years. My original aim was to build a bespoke bike of 8.2kg for under 300€ buying replacing and selling pieces via websites. First try got me down to 9.4kg but now after 5 years of changing parts I'm down to 7.4kg including pedals with the total currently at 450€. Roughly 6.1 €cents per gram (4.9 UK pence or 7.8 US cents) By comparison paying 5000€ for a 6.8kg machine works out at 74 € cents/g.

Wondering if anyone else has tried the same personal bike build challenge? Let the competition commence!

Current bike:

Frame: Cinelli Starlight 51cm compact (56cm) 1100g
Fork: Columbus Muscle full Carbon 400g
Headset: Columbus 100g
Handlebars: Deda Anatomica 42cm 25.6mm 230g
Stem: Ambrosio 80mm 25.6 114g
Wheels: Campagnolo Vento 1755g
Skewers: Hope aluminium CrMo 120g
Tyres: Schwalbe Ultremo ZX 195g x2
Innner Tubes: Continental Race 28 100g x2
Cassette: Campagnolo Chorus 10 speed 11-27 255g
Seat: San Marco Racing Caymano 160g
Seat Post: Easton EC70 Carbon 200g
Brake/Shifters: Campagnolo Centaur Carbon 10s 400g (incl Cables)
Brakes: KCNC CB1 180g
Crankset: Stronglight Pulsion 172.5mm 50/34 465g
Bottom Bracket: Stronglight Twister Ti 185g
Pedals: Look Keo Sprint 255g
Rear Deraileur: Campgnolo Centaur Carbon 10 speed 236g
Front Deraileur: Campagnolo Record Carbon Ti 86g
Chain: Yaban S1010 narrow 250g

Welcome.

I suggest taking a look round here as many people have sweated the details on their bikes to get the weight down, which will help you select the right parts. But seriously, 5 years of exchanging parts changing is not really the most economic way to get a light bike, particularly if you factor in postage, time to get to the post office etc... Better IMHO to spend your time making money then just buy a light but reasonably priced part once?

I can see a few opportunities for reduced weight (all numbers approx):
-Conti supersonic inner tubes = -100g £20
-Chinese carbon tubular wheels = -750g £60
- Recon cassette = -150g £90
- i-link cable outers = -100g £100
- Seat clamp, spacers, Extralite expander, tune top cap, veloplugs (if you want to keep clinchers) ...

You could also look at a chinese carbon frame, as experience on similar light alloy bikes suggests that they do not last for ever.

450 euros for a 7kg bike is pretty hard to beat... my 7kg bike cost me more like 6-7k USD.

That said, at some point you have to start considering the amount of effort involved.

Maybe multiply the minimum wage by the time you spent searching for parts and add that to the total? E.g., if you spent 200 hours searching for parts on ebay and elsewhere, and the min wage is at $7.5/hr in your country, then you should add $1500 to the total.

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Time spent is part of the game, not a cost and all the time I've had an improving bike tailored to my requirements to attack all the mountain cols here in the alps.

I find the trick is to work out what loses most weight for the least outlay without thinking about fashion ie carbon v alu and then waiting for the right piece at the right price - it's a game. For instance I could lose 250g by fitting Prolite Bracciano wheel (300€) and selling the ventos in France for 120€, net 180€, but by buying some Ti skewers from HK I can drop 70g for 10€ - much better value per gram.

Would still like to try the prolites though!

Nice job. Bargain build for the money. i agree that as a hobby, its fine to upgrade as the parts turn up.

Austke

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2013 Giant TCR Advanced SL 0, 6.92kg
2013 Giant Defy Composite 2 M, 8.5kg - Wife's
Azzurro Torino 8.55g
Fuji 650 10.8kg
Miele Lupa Triple Tandem 38,89kg

Where do you get these chinese carbon tubular wheels for that price?

Thanks

Missing a zero I think. At that price they would be from the 'didn't past QC bin'.

Hi. i would like to see some pics of the bike. If you are ready for some drillium, this is an excellent post about Easton seatpost tuning: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=69167&hilit=easton+seatpost+tuning" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; From your build list I can see that there is potential for maybe 200 g.weightloss on your groupset. After the "new" SRAM red was released, you can get some good prices on the old version. The weight on the shifters and derailleurs are almost the same as the new version. If you have any extra spacers on your headtube, you should of course remove these and cut your fork accordingly. (probably done that already) Also check that your cables are not unneccesarily long, and that you don't have more bar tape than you actually need. But the main component to upgrade would be your wheels. Even if you save some grams on skewers and small bits, you could loose over a pound on a lightweight set of clinchers. Maybe you can find some used custom built ones for a good price? Good look with your hunting.

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Why does Shimano paint their groupsets the way they do? If i wanted fifty shades of grey - I'd buy the book.

Hello every one i am a bike lover and i have limited budget of 500$ can any body suggest me a bike under my budget.

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Update - unfortunately the Stronglight pulsion crankset broke so have had to replace with a with a PZ Race Components CR3.3 alloy crankset. gaining 200g in the process. Combined with the Ti BB it still works out out 825g complete so not bad and comparable with a mainstream carbon crankset with integrated BB. Sold the remaining LH Stronglight crank on ebay france for more than I paid for the whole crankset . £26 for the PZ cranks in mint condition but just missed out on a bargain front wheel American Classic Mag300 at only 525g. Think I'll keep an eye out for a pair!

Lightest bike for least money = check out www.Canyon.com

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