[Closed] puting standard MTb parts on a diet , race trimming ???

Like this?

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Go for it. Can't foresee any issues 😉

Someone link that thread with the guy who removed his fork damper, cut down his stanchions and removed sections of his fork lowers to save weight (on a bike he never actually rides)

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/the-ultimate-weight-weenie

Save a load of rotational weight by removing all but 2 or 3 of your disc rotor bolts. Braking won't win you races.

(Don't really do this.....)

tyres, light and fast, then wheels, biggest bang for your buck.

Talk to [url= http://weightweenies.starbike.com/ ]these guys[/url]. They get it.

No, just no. It's not 1991 any more.

There is little that can be done. From my roadie hill climbing fetish the easiest wins tht don't cost much are:-

removing excess chain
trimming cables and hoses to be as short as possible
removing bolts that aren't doing anything (empty bottle bosses)
trim seat tube.

Then you are on to light weight tyres, tubes, grips, saddles.

But fundamentally if you have a heavy frame, fork and wheels you aren't going to get very far.

FWIW look to yourself and your kit. Lycra weighs less than baggies. Take all the crap out of your pockets, carry a small multitool. I run tubeless and figure a puncture will end my race so carry a superlight tube just to get me back to the car. How much water? Filling a camelbak full rather than measuring out what you'll need...

Have a good poo before each ride.

I was bored so I took all the square headed bolts out of my bikes, stuck them in the lathe and machined tapers onto them. Titanium of course, one has standards. That must have saved entire grams.

Removing stuff entirely is always best, like jonba says. I spoke to a chap who'd bought titanium bottle cage bolts, but didn't have a bottle cage. Why have bolts at all? You can cover the holes with tape, or if you want a tidier solution, any spare boltholes on my bikes have nylon grubscrews in them to keep the dirt out- they cost pennies and weigh basically nothing.

End result of all this fannying about? Nothing of any value. But I still like doing it, it's satisfying- same as some people like getting things really clean or aligning logos or whatever.

There's a bloke who frequents my lbs who is a compulsive driller and filer of bike parts. The creaks off his bike are awful..
Have you considered shaving ALL your hair off?

[i]trim seat tube.[/i]

Bold.

removing excess chain

Use caution, too short a chain was by far the most common cause of destroyed mechs/wheels/frames on posh road bikes when I worked in an LBS

Oops i meant seatpost. I'm going to blame soju and jetlag.

I came to the conclusion it makes little difference beyond the metals prep. I shaved off a hundred Grassington or so which is not a lot on a bike+body weight of 76kg.

I shaved off a hundred Grassington

All those dry stone walls can really weigh you down, though.

Really depends where you are starting from and what sort of budget you actually have.

Removing stuff as others said.
look at £/g, upgrading your shifters is pricey but doesn't save much, cassettes can be pricey too but the weight savings can be big. But yeah tyres and tubes are probably best £/g if you're starting from bog standard parts, weightloss at the wheels [i]feels[/i] lighter too even if the overall effect is debatable.
Would never consider drilling but Ive seen some cranks recently and it looks like they use the same dog bone kinda shape for the arms then drill the pedal holes where needed for the different crank lengths, I reckon you could safely file a load of ali from the end of the short cranks, save a few grams.

or you could just stump up a few more quid for a better, lighter set of cranks 😳

I'm considering all avenues to improve my bike

y'know, rarely will you make such massive weight saving advantages to make a dramatic "improvement" to your bike. Have you stepped on a set of scales recently (for instance?) . In the same way that riding a heavier bike won't make a huge difference to your training effort. Riding a bike that's even a kilo lighter than it was (if you consider the overall weight of you and your bike and kit combined ) won't make that much difference.

good luck with it all though, there's many companies out there that are happy to take your money for slightly less weighty bits and bobs

rarely will you make such massive weight saving advantages to make a dramatic "improvement" to your bike

If you are careful with weight choices when you build a bike then yes you can make a dramatic difference. I built a £3k XC FS weighing 21lbs, it was bloody quick. In relative terms the shine has gone a bit now on rough stuff cos it's 26, but still quick.

However throwing money at the wrong off-the-peg bike is less sensible.

sirromj - Member

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/the-ultimate-weight-weenie

That's the one. I still get upset thinking about how he's ruined those forks. I mean, he could have just bought rigid ones.

Save a load of rotational weight by removing all but 2 or 3 of your disc rotor bolts. Braking won't win you races.

(Don't really do this.....)

You can run 3 bolts on 6 bolt rotors quite happily, apparently.

Not sure I would...

It was much more fun back in the day of steel components. You could make a significant difference with a drill, a few files, and some emery paper.

No seatpost was a hair's width longer than it needed to be.

Cranks were tapered, bevelled, and relieved as much as possible.

Useless bits of the handlebars were drilled, eg the ends. Stem quills were shortened and reslotted.

Leather saddles were pared right back and the edges shaved. If you knew someone who could weld or braze, you got the saddle side plates welded/brazed to the seatpost, thus saving the weight of the clamp part.

Steel BB axles could be bought hollow, so that saved a bit too.

An all steel bike (no alloy bits) can be very light without penalty if you do it right.

The modern generation are missing half the fun. (Doing it, and watching your mate's bike break 🙂 )

Basic rule, just enough Drillium good, too much and you now have Crackinium.