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Hello
So I’m farrrr more excited than I should be but I picked up junior RRR’s Christmas present yesterday - a voodoo bakka 24”
It’s surprisingly well specced but I was wondering how much weight I could save by swapping the (Altus I think) cassette for an XT or similar?
The bike’s hidden in a neighbour’s garage currently so I can’t check the exact model of cassette.
Festive thanks
For Alivio and XT 11-34, looks like it's 258g vs 380g.
It'll depend on the size of the cassette. The bigger the sprockets, the bigger the difference. The lower end steel cassettes often run 12-36 sprockets. I would be surprised if it was more than a couple of hundred grams difference.
I'm not sure about more recent stuff, but I think XT 9 speed used to only run to a 34 tooth sprocket. The low-end stuff is steel, so it's very durable. I generally run steel Deore stuff on my bikes because it's cheap and lasts for years.
Hmm, so it might not really be worth the cost then?
Yep, I’ll try to get a closer look at it.
Any other ideas on how to lighten it? The fork is actually one of the less lead-like suntours.
Not sure it’s worth the cost buying but if you have some “proper” garage parts that look ok then swapping them in can work. I dropped a load of weight on my sons 24” by putting old narrow carbon bars, carbon seat post, decent stem, pedals and saddle. Those items tend to be like ships anchors on kids bikes.
Is it worth it?
Will he notice?
Would just putting better tyre or something not be a better idea if you have to upgrade it?
Any other ideas on how to lighten it?
Tyres
I don’t have a lot of garage parts tbh, maybe a stem or bars.
The tyres are allegedly Kenda something or other but I can’t find a weight for any of their 24” tyres.
You’re probably right that he won’t notice much difference but it’d be nice to trim it a bit if not crazy expensive...
Will he notice?
No.
Difference between cassettes with the same ratios is more like 30g, Halfords page says the bike weighs over 16kg.
You may find that a wider range cassette (which may then require a better rear mech) means he can ride up stuff he'd otherwise have to push, which won't be much fun at 16kg.
+1 for tyres. Conti Explorer and Schwalbe Black Jack are good knobblies otherwise perhaps Marathon HS420 or Maxxis DTH.
Ha, no it’s not 16KG!! 😃
I’ve raised this with Halfords but they still refuse to do anything about the listing.
It’s just over 12kg hence my thinking small changes could help a bit.
Tyres are probably a good shout but it seems tricky to find good 24” ones?
https://www.schwalbe.com/en/road-reader/schwalbe-one-tube-type
There's a ~195g 24x0.9" variant, saving ~600g for the pair. 😉
https://www.schwalbe.com/en/mtb-reader/billy-bonkers are ~440g for 24x2", no idea if that's the lightest 24" mtb/tour tyre they do.
^^ the billy bonkers looks good although I’m not sure if it’s knobbly enough for trail centres/ mud perhaps?
I’m struggling to find a spec for the alleged kenda kinetic 24’s it has..
It’s just over 12kg hence my thinking small changes could help a bit.
Lots of little changes would.
Things like bar/stem/tyres/seatpost etc will yield you much bigger savings in general.
Billy Bonkers are pump track tyres, they'll be crap on anything slightly technical.
It’s just over 12kg
That's a relief!
TBH I'd not spend any money on it bar tyres (if the stock ones are poor). Just let him have some fun on it and you can perhaps put money aside for a nice bike when he gets either too big or if it's obviously holding back his riding.
Worth a quick check of the bottom bracket and cranks.
I took a lot of weight out of a Kona Stinky 2-4 there.