You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
So, having sworn I'd not bother and with a £couple-hundred saved, I find myself thinking about what it is I could do to personalise / lighten my Occam a tad, perhaps to make it is little lighter and more agile.
Here's the current spec with the exception of the dropper swapped out to a Vyron and a DHF up front, all suggestions welcome:
https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Orbea/Occam-H20-LT-FS-Mountain-Bike-2023/ZVB9?s=1
Go!
Nowt... in truth it's a perfectly good bike. You could throw something and save 100gr here or 250gr there, but that's about it.
If you want lighter, throw XC rubber at it.
I know people poo-poo them, but i like carbon wheels... but £££
How about carbon bars?
DrP
It's a 150mm bike?
As DrP suggests, if the stock wheels are relatively light then carbon wheels are the obvious (expensive) upgrade option to get it lighter & faster.
If the stock wheels are not particularly light, some good alu wheels for about £500?
Or pop the Dissector on the front and something even faster on the rear? That'd possibly be the biggest speed gain.
perhaps to make it is little lighter and more agile.
Wheels and tyres. I mean it depends what sort of rider you are, but go as low as you dare. Don't blame me if you start bending rims, and have endless punctures though.
Carbon headset spacers made a big difference for me and are relatively cheap 🙂 Beyond that, ti bottle cage bolts are an excellent way of saving several microgrammes...
Realistically, you might get nicer contact points, or tyres - which you'll actually notice - for a few hundred quid, but anything that's going to make a huge difference is going to be way over budget.
GX AXS upgrade kit.
Not lighter, won’t make you go any faster, but feels ace.
I'll answer your sigmasports link with anothef sigmasports link!
https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Orbea/Occam-M-LTD-Mountain-Bike-2022/VE74?s=1
And save you £3,800 in the process.
Thank me later.
I asked exactly the same question about my M10 Occam 3 years ago. If only there was a search function that actually worked I'd link to the thread.
TLDR; I spent a grand on some DTSwiss carbon and Rekons. They make the bike feel much more zippy, but are frankly awful on techie rock crawling. The carbon wheels are just too stiff ...
Oh, and the DTSwiss "warranty" doesnt cover them for actual off road use, so if you flake the rim then theyll want £2-300 to fix them.
And even with carbon, wheels, and bar and frame, the bike is still nothing like my Giant Anthem. Probably a good thing TBH
GX AXS upgrade kit.
Stop stop....lalalala I'm not listening...
Ha Ha thanks.
I wouldn't change the drive train because SLX is such bang for buck. Bearing in mind my locale is forest single track.
I dabbled with changing the wheels to Silt AM, - about 300g saving - and Bony XR4/Spec Hillbilly for about another 300g, making is a 29lb instead of 31lb trail bike with a bit of extra zip for about £450.
Feels a lot to be bothered with TBH, this is my "Labrador" bike and although my race bike is lightened to almost the max, I'd perhaps be better putting that £450 into its '24 replacement fund.
Nothing really. Maybe some 4pots if you are cooking those deores? I think your tyres currently are as light/summer spec as you would want to go on a 150mm bike. So that leaves the wheelset, but that will be £££s for a small gain.
So, doing nothing is a good and considered option.
Manitou Mezzer Pro fork will save some weight
carbon bars
lighter cranks
dropper
cooking those deores
We've met, you should know better 😀
I dabbled with changing the wheels to Silt AM, – about 300g saving – and Bony XR4/Spec Hillbilly for about another 300g, making is a 29lb instead of 31lb trail bike with a bit of extra zip for about £450.
Wheels could be a good change then.
A Hillbilly won't be faster though. You could get an XR4 and experiment with that on front/back, swapping with the Dissector. I ran the XR4 on the front for a while and it's very fast but still pretty grippy.
Carbon wheels with Dissector/Rekon tyres.
Roval control carbon wheels is what I opted for. And and an XTR cassette. Not sure what the dissector is like but is it on the chunky side? You could go for something fast rolling on the rear.
So if lightening is target the following:
Lighter bars - carbon 31.8mm replacements
Lighter cranks - sram carbon ones are often a chunk lighter than Shimano ones - and the chainrings are better (don’t have that stupid 2 piece chainring / spider that have non-replaceable bolt things that fall out)
Lighter cassette - the Slx one is fairly chunky - getting an Xtr is a decent amount lighter
Tyres - the Hillbilly you mention is bloody good on slop but it’s going to be slower rolling than your DHF. So don’t do that if you want it to feel quicker rolling
Tyres - swap the rear out for a Schwalbe Rock Razor. If you’re not a beast on tyres the super trail / speed grip is the one to get.
Wheels - not sure what hubs those have got but quite probably heavy ones. You could get lighter hubbed wheels with decent dt Swiss rims and spokes (xm421 / xm481 are what is on my bikes).
Is it a 29er? If so, change wheels to 27.5s and it'll feel lighter, faster and more lively.
I'd go for something slightly different unless more funds were available for carbon wheels.
Something like a Garbaruk cassette, with the largest ring a colour to compliment the bike.
Seems like a massive overkill but, if you want to make the bike a thing of beauty to look at, whilst losing a fair bit of weight, they are great things.
I bought one for my bike and it's the first thing that gets a welcoming look every time I get it out for a ride.
Also some carbon bars, as they too are noticeable and have a certain feel good factor.
Sounds like same spec as the Orbea Rise the rear wheel could be rebuilt with better/lighter spokes & hub is stupid heavy!! , my Shimano hub was 480g on digital scales. Bar & stem also v heavy