[Closed] The best ways to lose weight from an MTB?

Keep the bike as it is - resistance training will do the lad some good.

Think I'd look at wheels and tyres first. Then maybe cassette and chainset.

Probably wheels/tyres and swap the fork for a rigid carbon, perhaps?

Saddles are quite often hefty if they are cheap ones, so worth weighing it and looking for a replacement if it's a bit porky.

Worth weighing 'finishing kit' before replacing it assuming that more expensive stuff will be lighter.
I replaced all the standard Specialized branded bits on my FSR mainly because I wanted some fancier bits, rather than any weight saving (although I assumed it would be lighter). I weighted it all out of idle curiousity, and the KCNC stuff was barely any lighter than the 'cheap' stuff that came off.

I agree with cakeface, i changed my HR2's DH casing and tubes to HR Tubeless Ready jobbies and fluid and wished i'd done it years ago, made a massive difference.

I would say that a lot of stock 26ers will be as light if not lighter than 24ers IME. Presumably you've gone for rigid forks? Stock wheels will be heavy though, and given that your lad is probably struggling to get them turning on the hills, that would be your next biggest gain, along with maybe some faster tyres.

I personally don't think bars and posts will be the issue.

Def wheels first. But don't go too light on tyres as they'll get flimsy and weak. A 1400g wheelset shouldn't be madly priced. I had some xtr hubs and Olympic rims a few years ago at under £300, but then ruined the ride with 400g irc mythos which were awful.

Wheels , tyres, cranks then finishing kit

Old Sid air forks weigh 3 lb

Wheels, lace some lb rims or Crests (seeing as he's probably light) to some light hubs eg dt swiss 240's using lightweight spokes such as CX Rays (go for the cheaper non bladed versions). That should knock a considerable chunk off the weight.

Not sure whether it's a good idea to heavily upgrade a 26 inch inch entry level bike though.

Tyres can easily save you a bit. The advantage of him being young and so smaller than the average MTBer is that he can use silly light/thin tyres without too much trouble, Conti SuperSonic spring to mind.

Saddle is another easy win, see if you can pick up a slightly beaten up carbon railed SLR or such like for not much, they weigh nothing but people tend to sell them when they look less than perfect.

Not sure whether it's a good idea to heavily upgrade a 26 inch inch entry level bike though.

Better than massively upgrading a 24" bike - at least he can take the good stuff with him when he upgrades.

Thanks chaps, yeah the saddle is a bit of a beast I think. I was thinking of trying to get him something narrower anyway. Its basically and adults bike with a kid riding it and he has moaned about the saddle being too wide a few times.
I would put rigid forks on but we ride the EWS trails around here quite a lot too...foolish? yes perhaps! 🙂

wanmankylung - yeah normally I am a big fan of rule #5 training but he was suffering (and subsequently moaning) yesterday 🙂

Money, lots of it.
Then get a spreadsheet to do the £/g figure

Pull the bike apart and weigh everything first, then decide where the easy value of money gains are.

26" is pretty good for second hand bargains.

Take the bike apart and weigh it before starting anything. As above, it's hard to tell with finishing kit sometimes the OEM stuff can be quite competitive weight wise or it could be horrendous. No point wasting money.

Foam grips and lighter inner tubes area cheap win.

Weigh it all first, you need to know where the weight is to bin it really. Some OEM parts can be surprisingly light, others heavy as rocks. You can't properly weight weenie without a spreadsheet 😉

Edit- DAMN IT, fast people!

Wheels will probably make the biggest difference if they're oem, and 26 inch wheels can be crazy bargains now- I sold my 1450g roval xc wheels for some stupidly small amount of money 🙁 XC wheels especially have depreciated like a bastard and really don't have much further to go- if you get a set with decent hubs, chances are teh hubs are already worth more than the entire wheels.

I suppose the question is how hard will it get hit? My bike when I was 10 was a tank, and I still broke it. I'm not crazy about unbranded carbon but exotic seem decent. (if he's wee, maybe some unfashionable narrower bars could be cheap?)

One of these?

[img] [/img]

You could save around 2.5-3lbs going to secondhand Rockshox SIDs, and another significant chunk with some lightweight wheels. Next obvious step would be the chainset to something like a secondhand XT one. The total cost won't be far of that of the bike in the first place, though.

As above, wheels, forks, then finishing kit but I would be reluctant to spend much money on a bike he might grow out of in a couple of years.

Maybe loose the big ring if he's only 10?

Better than massively upgrading a 24" bike - at least he can take the good stuff with him when he upgrades.

Except the wheels and the forks when he inevitably has to go 27.5 or 29. There are some 27.5 hardtails about with really good standover these days....

For the cost of postage OP your lad could have my pair or Conti Speed Supersonic tyres.

They are a 2.3 & 2.1 and are fantastically light with minimal use.

Piccy >>> [img] [/img]

I probably have some Stans Olympic rims I could throw in too.

let me know 🙂

IMO experience, no particular order it pays to lose:

Heavy wheels/cassettes
Pie from the menu
Forks so meaty that they drag you sideways down slopes
Tyres that cannot fold.

Yep munrobiker thats the fella!
We've already changed the forks to a older pair of these: http://www.manitoumtb.com/products/forks/minute/
Saved a fair bit of weight and they are just work much better too.
I think we'll get some wheels and then see how he gets on.

letmetalktomark - you are a legend, I'll get in touch 🙂

My daughter has one of those, great bikes for the money, but a bit porky. If it's still got the original Octalink chainset I'd cast around for a used Hollowtech crank... you can get some bargain XT M770 off the classifieds and save a good chunk of weight. Other than that, wheels and tyres as everyone else has said is the obvious start point.

Edit: good grief there are some fast posters around today 😀

Also, work out exactly how much weight you'd have to save to make any noticable difference! This can be approximated by working out the amount of meters climbed in any race, and calculating the "work done" over that climbing. If you race in Norfolk, you'be better going for "least rolling resistance" rather than lightest weight!

[i]Pull the bike apart and weigh everything first, then decide where the easy value of money gains are.[/i]

This.

For saddle and seatpost look at the I-Beam system; lighter than most and usually got cheap when CRC (and the like) are having a sale.

[i]As above, wheels, forks, then finishing kit but I would be reluctant to spend much money on a bike he might grow out of in a couple of years.[/i]

You'll probably get as much use out of it as most folk on here do - based on the continual upgrade/new bike syndrome.

Saddle wise, [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2015-New-VERTU-CCAV-S-Mountain-Cycling-Bike-Bicycle-Hollow-Out-Seat-Saddle-G-/261577138851?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item3ce73662a3 ]these[/url] are a bargain

If you want to try light tyres, [url= http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYGEAKPL/geax-aka-pluma-26-inch-folding-tyre ]these[/url] may be worth a bash

Foam Grips are a cheap way of saving a good chunk of weight too

Pedals can make a surprising difference as they are rotational weight