The obvious weight points to reduce ?

Back by popular demand, the general all-things Road forum!

Moderator: robbosmans

diegogarcia
Posts: 571
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 7:31 pm

by diegogarcia

So, what would we consider practical safe places to shave weight from a built bike ?

Alloy bars and stem to carbon.

Bottle cage bolts - leading to -

Bottle cages naturally.

Stem and bar bolts ?

Skewers ?

Tubes.

Tyres.

Wheels ? (running 303 firecrest clinchers)

Pedals.

What else could be dropped withstanding a higher spec group set. Running Ultegra 11 speed with Rotor P2Max so no really weight saving the chainset, but is Dura Ace 'that much lighter' ? I still use 7900 calipers as I 'think' they are lighter than 9000 and 9100.

I have threaded ITA BB and looking at a C-Bear ceramic option but cannot find a weight and wonder if any saving weight wise, though performance of C-bear is superb.

Any pointers ideal. I have surfed here for years and never really had the desire to lighten the load as most bikes 14-17lb all in but interested to see how.

D.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



jobvisser
Posts: 120
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 10:24 am

by jobvisser

You are better of with an alloy stem. most "carbon" stems are alloy stems wrapped in carbon. carbon isn't a great material for stems because of all the different forces.
you could use Alloy bolts on your bottlecages ,but use titanium on your stem.
don't go the ceramic way for the weight. super high price for very little saving.
look at your seatpost, most bikes come with really heavy ones
---> :oops: Send me a pm to order world's lightest low carbon fiber dust covers! (1g) :oops: <---

wingguy
Posts: 4318
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 11:43 pm

by wingguy

jobvisser wrote:You are better of with an alloy stem. most "carbon" stems are alloy stems wrapped in carbon. carbon isn't a great material for stems because of all the different forces.

Most? Some are, like FSA OS99 or Ritchey matrix, but it's pretty easy to tell. Most carbon stems from reputable high end brands are full carbon. Zipp, Enve, 3T, even the bike manufacturers house brands like Giant's SLR.

That said in terms of weight saving you'll get practically nothing over a high quality alloy stem unless you go all in with something boutique, German and expensive. :wink:

jobvisser
Posts: 120
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 10:24 am

by jobvisser

wingguy wrote:
jobvisser wrote:You are better of with an alloy stem. most "carbon" stems are alloy stems wrapped in carbon. carbon isn't a great material for stems because of all the different forces.

Most? Some are, like FSA OS99 or Ritchey matrix, but it's pretty easy to tell. Most carbon stems from reputable high end brands are full carbon. Zipp, Enve, 3T, even the bike manufacturers house brands like Giant's SLR.

That said in terms of weight saving you'll get practically nothing over a high quality alloy stem unless you go all in with something boutique, German and expensive. :wink:

that's what i meant... i know some people that paid €80 for a carbon most stem and in the end it was just an alloy one wrapped with some "wannabe"carbon
---> :oops: Send me a pm to order world's lightest low carbon fiber dust covers! (1g) :oops: <---

mag
Posts: 616
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2017 12:23 pm

by mag

Re carbon stems: It's been sometimes said that they should dampen vibrations a little - similarly to carbon bars etc. However I haven't found any credible information regarding this. And since the carbon layup has to be much more complicated here, it may be possible that this dampening effect it effectively none. Has anyone compared some carbon stems to the alloy ones in this regard?

User avatar
stockae92
Posts: 295
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2015 5:13 pm

by stockae92

Nowadays with +25c tires, I say most of the "comfort" can be had from bigger tires. I think carbon stems are not particularly "light", but they can be made to be very stiff (for the weight).

mike001100
Posts: 103
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2016 10:26 am

by mike001100

mag wrote:Re carbon stems: It's been sometimes said that they should dampen vibrations a little - similarly to carbon bars etc. However I haven't found any credible information regarding this. And since the carbon layup has to be much more complicated here, it may be possible that this dampening effect it effectively none. Has anyone compared some carbon stems to the alloy ones in this regard?


Yes, I feel it very distinctively, carbon dampens road feel much, much better than alu...

mag
Posts: 616
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2017 12:23 pm

by mag

stockae92 wrote:Nowadays with +25c tires, I say most of the "comfort" can be had from bigger tires. I think carbon stems are not particularly "light", but they can be made to be very stiff (for the weight).

Agreed, but every little thing counts (marginal gains)... ;-)
mike001100 wrote:Yes, I feel it very distinctively, carbon dampens road feel much, much better than alu...

And what particular stem do You have?

As for weight savings:
- tubes & tyres (or go tubular but that may be quite expensive transition)
- bars, saddle, skewers, bottle cages (there are some decent ones at Aliexpress or you may even try these viewtopic.php?f=3&t=132403 ) may be one of some interest
- then even more expensive stuff such cassette (SRAM Red XG-1190 is slightly lighter than its Shimano counterpart), hubs (if you replace ZIPPP 77/177 with for example Carbon-Ti you may save about 140g), brakes (EE)
- I wouldn't bother with crankset or rims in your case (you may go that way of course, but that would be costly)

Basically check what you can find and how much does it cost and weigh, compare it with what do you currently have and decide what's worth it (basically $ per g saved)

User avatar
Asteroid
Posts: 222
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 8:43 pm
Location: Los Angeles, California

by Asteroid

I saved 500 grams from bars, post, saddle, and skewers alone - albeit at nearly $700.

Depending on your existing cassette, cranks/chainrings, and chain, you can find a good deal of weight-savings there, as well. This makes sense if your present components need replacement due to wear. You can realize another 300 grams here.

My favorite upgrade was buying a set of Campagnolo Bora Ultra 35 tubulars. Light and sweet and costly!
Oldbie

wwnick
Posts: 106
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 8:49 pm

by wwnick

regards subject title... belly, ass, moobs

lewdvig
Posts: 54
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 2:29 am

by lewdvig

wwnick wrote:regards subject title... belly, ass, moobs


:up: :thumbup:

Better than free too, less food costs less money!
Road: Guru Praemio, Colnago Master X Light, Scapin EOS5, Gios Compact Evo, Pinarello Gavia, Bottechia SLX, Bianchi Vittoria
Cross: Ritchey Swiss Cross
MTB: Rocky Mountain Instinct

dmulligan
Posts: 314
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:16 pm

by dmulligan

There are dirt cheap eBay carbon seatposts weighing 175g for under 30usd.
Kalloy Uno stems weighing under 120g for about the same.
I've had good luck with them both.
There might be replacement titanium axles for your pedals. I swapped out the chromoly axles on my Speedplay Zero pedals saving 50g.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

KCookie
Posts: 1963
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:40 am
Location: Pom living in Australia

by KCookie

The Ceramic C-bear BB I was looking at was 66g, (41-30).Their website normally says a weight at the bottom of the page to each pacific BB.

topflightpro
Posts: 829
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:35 am

by topflightpro

Some of this depends on what you already have.

Your Firecrest clinchers are not terribly light wheels. You could probably shave a full pound off the bike with some lower profile carbon rim tubulars. You could even shave a half pound just by going to some aluminum clinchers or even Reynolds Attack wheels.

As for your bar, stem and post, you could certainly look there to save weight. In many cases, an aluminum stem will be lighter than a carbon one. Some aluminum bars are pretty light - low 200s, but going to a nicer carbon could get you under 200. But it all depends one what you are starting with. If your current bar is 350 grams, going to a nicer aluminum can still save you over 100g. But if you're sitting at the low 200s, you're not going to see a bid weight drop going to carbon. And if you go aero carbon, you may go up in weight.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



mike001100
Posts: 103
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2016 10:26 am

by mike001100

I have run the following stems: Giant SLR, Bontrager XXX, 3T Arx whichever is the carbon one...

Especially with the Giant, I can compare Contact SL and Contact SLR, and the SLR smoothes the road much much better....

Post Reply