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How would you go about this exactly? Both my bikes are built with a bit of a DH-focus but both weigh a tonne. What specific components have you fitted to try and get your big bikes down, and how have they performed?
I'm thinking wide bars and short stems, posts/saddles, drivechain, wheels, brakes, pedals and rubber.
It's a weight/strength balance tipped in favour of strength I guess.
Generally
Ditch the DP tyres unless you are actually going DH, what tubes? lighter ones or tubeless?
What wheels are you using?
Cranks? Saint is fairly overkill (guess there) SLX/XT is plenty strong enough
Most modern non super light XC stuff is stronger than people give it credit for.
After that it's back to the old £/g ratio
Spreadsheet...
Current component weight
Replacement component weight
Replacement cost (less sale of old bits)
Work out and sort by cost per gram.
Trick is working out where the compromise is, decide if it's a benefit then how much you have to spend.
If you are willing to use a set of 150 Revs you can save best part of a Kg, non-DH tyres 0.5kg, then it's decreasing returns.
Nothing... Just got fitter
Easier and cheaper to lose weight from you than the bike
My enduro is knocking on 35lb and it still goes uphill fine
Lose weight from the wheels first, less rotational mass and unsprung weight will have a noticeable difference on the downs as well as the ups so you get twice the benefits for your money. As said single ply tyres, lighter tubes, a lighter wheelset if you think you can get away with it. If you've got a cheap heavy cassette on replace that as £ for £ that will save you the most weight in one of the worst places without too much expenditure.
My SX Trail was built up with a gravity focus, but weighed a frigging ton so I put it on a diet and have got it down to just over 31lbs. As a swapped stuff over, I was actually sad enough to weight it!
Firstly I ditched the Z150's...amazingly supple and strong but weighed more than my house. Replaced by Fox 36's.
Next up were the Diabolus cranks, swapped for Atlas AM jobbies....massive weight saving here.
Heavy Azonic pedals were ditched for Superstar Nano's. if I remember correctly the weight saving on the cranks and pedals alone was just of 500g.
The wheels that I previously thought were light were swapped for a pair of Easton Havocs. Previously I was running some NS Bikes hubs on EN321's. I also ditched the single ply Maxxis DH tyres and tubes for tubeless Hans Dampf's. total saving on the wheels was 800 and something grams. Which is a fair amount. This had made the biggest difference to how the bike feels and rides.
Rest of my stuff is sensible...E13 LG1 trail device (lighter than my previous Blackspire jobbie), Sram X9 mech and shifter, Thomson stem, Answer 780 pro taper bars, SDG I beam post with an I Fly saddle, SLX cassette.
None of that has cost me a fortune. The wheels were in the sale, the tyres cheap from Germany, the cranks were second hand as were the forks.
[i]It's a weight/strength balance tipped in favour of strength I guess. [/i]
Weight, price, strength. Pick two, same as it ever was...
Weight, price, strength. Pick two, same as it ever was...
While this is quite a popular thing to say, there do seem to be more and more affordable, tough and not too heavy components on sale in the last few years.
Shimano's SLX groupset is a decent weight and would be fine for a DH bike IMO. Maybe with a Zee rear mech.
Superstar do a wheelset with cartridge bearing hubs and Flow rims for £200 (though I'd still try to find the extra £80 or so for Hope Hoops).
Maxxis EXO tyres are weighty in XC terms but 900g is fine for a tubeless-compatible tyre that can handle the Lakes. They're not cheap at about £50 each, but On One have some very cheap tyres which use the same carcass and similar compounds - and they seem to get decent feedback.
Spreadsheet...Current component weight
Replacement component weight
Replacement cost (less sale of old bits)Work out and sort by cost per gram.
Trick is working out where the compromise is, decide if it's a benefit then how much you have to spend.
This is sad but it works 😳
Weigh everything yourself to get the real weights.
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I've gone through this process with my Nicolai Helius AM... it's currently under 30lbs and feels brilliant for it.
As above... wheels and tyres are the most effective place to start (and the most expensive 🙄 ).
[i]Shimano's SLX groupset is a decent weight and would be fine for a DH bike IMO[/i]
probably wouldn't though. not proper DH anyway.
SLX will be more than fine for a DH bike I reckon, I got away with the "lesser specced" LX cranks on my hardtail for years and they're still going strong. The bike was used for everything including learning how to jump, which involved a LOT of cased landings with an 18 stone rider on board..
I think tyres is an easy thing to upgrade and notice the difference. I went from Minion DHF/High Roller rear to a pair of Specialized Clutch SX and it felt like a big change. Also an air single crown fork instead of a triple crown coil beast. Air forks feel pretty good now 🙂
I wouldn't use SLX for DH, one of my mates sent me a pic of his snapped SLX cranks that had done ~4000 miles on his xc bike, mind you he's a heavy biffer and rides a bike like he's trying to hurt it.
And here's the pic
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He's only about 14 stone.
I have SLX on my dh/everything bike, now you have me worried! 😆
SLX should take battering...there's plenty of DH bikes running the limes of XTR cranks and you rarely see them snap. According to the web, SLX cranks are supposed to be stiffer than XT.
As above, tyres and wheels make the biggest difference to how the bike feels. Of all the things I've done to my SX, the wheels and lightr, tough tyres have made it ride much nicer.
SLX are fine for most people for DH. I have used them for years, both here and Whistler. However, at 69kg, I am a lightweight. I know people who use Deore or XT for DH and get on fine with them.
Good replies. I'm very reluctant to go single ply as the grip and security you get from dual is superb. It's a noticeable difference, and running lower pressures around 25 really helps grip on nasty steeps and roots.
Bikes both currently have coil 55 forks which feel fantastic. I hate fox forks due to the lack of small bump sensitivity and short service intervals, but I agree wheels, cassette and the like would be changed. Wheels on the heavy bike are BULB hubs on f219 rims which are both heavy. Something like pro evo on arch rims would be a big saving.
A flite slr might be the next change too, and nano pedals instead of v8s. Xt cranks, 1x10 with an e13 device.
OK get the wheels swapped 🙂 ProII on 721's would be tough and probably lighter, 719's would be good too along with the stans alternatives.
Also going tubeless may help the Maxxis EXO sidewall is very good. I used to be there with the Low pressures and the dual plys. I moved on, running about 32 on single ply and now similar on tubeless. 90% of the grip probably, 90% of the time you don't need to extra too. I set up for the 90% not the 10% now. IN then end it's probably made me a better rider.
Keep the DP's for days when you need them but try and wean yourself off them.
Tyres are the most efficient area to loose weight, and you do not need to run pressures that low on xc/AM rides. I don't even run my DH tyres that low.
Single-ply Minions or High Rollers are perfectly adequate for AM riding.
In descending order of usefulness:
Single ply's when you're not racing. The new wide EX rims from NoTubes and the massively wide Syntace wheels mean that single ply's roll a lot less than they used to at low pressures. Thus dual ply's are arguably only useful for security when racing. This will save at least 1lb of rotating weight which will make the bike much livelier.
Flow EX rims laced with DT Rev spokes. (Syntace MX40's if you afford them....40mm wide....1800 grams or 35mm wide and 1600 grams....wooot)
Rock Shox Vivid Air
Tioga Spyder Saddle (150ish grams, saving about 100 to 150g over most normal saddles....for a good price)
Lightweight brakes....either XTR's....the Ones or a Hope race evo M4 front, race evo X2 rear. Perhaps even try the new kettle cycles carbon ceramic rotor if they're any good (as in actually work at low temps).
KCNC seatpost
Carbon bars
wired on Renthal grips instead of lock ons.