[Closed] Where to save weight on my Salsa Horsethief?

Wheels, fork and go 1x10 in that order

Alternatively, grips , saddle and stem

And the deore cassette will weigh a ton as well

XT cassette, Carbon bars, ESI grips, check the rotors and seatpost/saddle/pedals.

Take it to bits, weigh it all, you can't weightweenie til you know what weights to weenie and oem kit can be unpredictably heavy or light. It all looks pretty sensible which is almost a bummer because it means the weight'll be spread all around rather than a few big hits.

Go 1x10 and swap out the cassette and chainset. I'd say that was your biggest bang for your buck. ESI grips and check your tyre weights, maybe something smaller on the back if you don't want to compromise too much on what you have. Wheels and fork will be spendy.

ESI grips, much as I like and use them, aren't actually [i]that[/i] light - about half the weight of lockons, but still 2-3 times heavier than a foam grip.

1x10 is a good shout if it works for you, but if not saving weight and compromising functionality seems a bit daft.

Northwind is right, you need to know what your finishing kit weighs, you may be able to save quite a bit cheaply there. How much do you wheels weigh? You say they're lighter than your pals' 26" ones?

I'd get rid of the wheels first. The std Salsa/Formula hubs are pantaloons and draggy.

Yes you say the wheels aren't heavy but how heavy exactly plus how heavy is the bike at the moment?

Mine is a large with fox shock

2x10 with XT mechs, chainset, cassette, brakes
Formula rotors
Reverb
Easton carbon bars, 35mm 135g stem
Wheels Arch EX, CX Ray on Superstar Switch, 1770g for the pair
140mm Pikes
Superstar nano tech pedals

Depending on whether I have my Ron fitted or a Hans Dampf it is either 29.8 ish - 30.4 (something around there give or take a tenth)

So as above, the cassette will maybe save 100g, bars are probably heavy look for deals on carbon ones, weigh the wheels with no tyres, I have another set of Pacenti rims on SS Tesla hubs which were £250 odd and still sub 1850g (granted not as ding proof as the Arch's but there are other options)

Also are you tubeless, removing tubes and running sealant will save 250g/just over half a pound

i think we bought matching bikes...

The Good news: you can save a bit of weight.

The bad news: it's gonna cost you around £1/gram.

here's where i started:

the wtb saddle; heavy and uncomfy - changed for a scoop, which is very comfy, saved about 100g, and cost about £40.

the handlebars; heavy and narrow - change for something wider i had lying around - carbon bars will be fitted eventually, saving around 100g, costing around £100.

(if you're going to fit new bars anyway, they might as well be lighter too!)

stem; heavy (ish?) and long - changed for a 35mm on-one el-guapo - 128g

your cassette weighs 460g - ouch! (but, it is steel, so it'll last...

the rear wheel (no cassette or disc) weighs 1230g

the forks weigh 1917g - a possible maximum 200g weight saving - for what? £500?

but, most importantly, change those tyres, they're shite.

(cheap oem continentals are not the same as proper, German, Black Chilli Continentals)

your cassette weighs 460g - ouch! (but, it is steel, so it'll last...)

So are virtually all cassettes apart from XTR (with 4 ti sprockets) or X1/X01/XX1 with the alu 42t. XT being the obvious choice.

I reckon there are loads of places to take weight out of that at less than £1/g!

i bought a new 36t cassette for my wife, for around £30 - it weighs 360g, i guess (?) the largest 3 sprockets are aluminium?

I reckon there are loads of places to take weight out of that at less than £1/g!

there are, but you can only replace the saddle and cassette so many times...

i bought a new 36t cassette for my wife, for around £30 - it weighs 360g, i guess (?) the largest 3 sprockets are aluminium?

You guess wrong, unless you bought a KCNC one which you'd know about and wouldn't cost £30! Alu cassettes are very rare and durability is very poor. XT are lighter because the largest sprockets are on an aluminium spider, they're about 340g IIRC.

I reckon, admittedly speculatively that you could make big savings in the wheels, tyres, seatpost, bar, stem, saddle, grips, cassette and chain without compromising functionality too much. 1x10 would obviously drop a chunk more.

I've just been through this. Shopped on XCRacer and save over a 1lb but it cost me £310 as follow:

Quaxar floating Rotors - 84g
Mt Zoom 730mm Riser - 119g
KCNC Stem - 78g (I think)
Mt Zoom top cap - 5g
Mt Zoom seat collar - 5g
KCNC foam grips - 12g
Mt Zoom version of a head doctor - 25g (IIRC)

Nothing fell off/apart at Oktoberfest which was a shake-to-death challange if ever I felt one...

njee20 - Member

You guess wrong,

not the first time i've done that.

[i]

Wheels would be the first guess, but they aren't too heavy - lighter than both my pals' 26" wheels...
[/i]

They must be running seriously heavy 26" wheels then...

As others have said, weigh everything and go from there - plus treat any claimed weight (manufacturers or otherwise) with a pinch of salt.

OK team, so good ideas there.
I do have a set of carbon bars sitting here to go on it.
But you guys are right, a strip down and weigh may be a good starting point - especially the wheels as I realise that "less than than my pals' 26" wheels" isn't very quantative!

If you swap to 1x10, is it just the front mech and cassette you need to change or do I need to do anything with the rear mech?
I'm guessing that a Deore triple crankset isn't too light.

1x10 is front mech and chainring, but depending on how/where you ride you could need either a clutch rear mech, or a chainguide system on the front.

Wheels and tyres can be MASSIVELY heavy. MY standard Giant wheels were almost 950gr more than my lightweight ones. Tyres thought too can be, a light set are 500gr each, a heavy set 1000gr each.

^ OK, more things to investigate
The Bronson tyres are listed at 880g, so kinda heavy.
If I get new wheels then I'll go tubeless too.

yourguitarhero - Member

If you swap to 1x10, is it just the front mech and cassette you need to change or do I need to do anything with the rear mech?

if we've got matching bikes: your rear mech doesn't have a 'clutch' - you may well want to change it for one that does.

i have removed my big-ring, but kept the front mech + granny ring - the rear shock is a little basic, and I prefer to sit and spin uphill, rather than fight against a shock that's just a bit too active (for my tastes).

I'm guessing that a Deore triple crankset isn't too light.

not bad at all; 640g (without rings) - only about 40g more than Xt.

[img] [/img]

or, Yay! - 40g saving found! (for £150)

Yeah, mine is a 2013 Horsethief 3 (before the switch to split pivot)

So, if you just take off the big ring do you just need to change the limit settings on front mech, or do you swap out the shifter too?

when did "swap out" become a thing? Is it going to stay with us, going forwards?

Neither mate, if you take off the big ring, you just don't press the shifter for a ring that's not there LOL.

You can of course use the limit screws too 🙂

It's a good idea to adjust the limit screws down just so you can't overshift. No real reason not to either. You don't save a huge amount of weight tbh even with deore steel rings but you do win back a bit of ground clearance and you're not likely to miss the top gears much- especially on a 29er. People do often step up a little to a 34 or 36 tooth "middle" ring though just to compensate.

You get much bigger weight reduction from going single ring just because you can ditch the mech, shifter, cable etc, whereas double really only removes one part. But still worth doing and doesn't have the big impact of single ring.

With shimano, a lot of the weight lives in the rings- I was a bit disappointed when I weighed my XTR crank arms and discovered how close the weight was to my SLX.

crashtestmonkey - Member
when did "swap out" become a thing? Is it going to stay with us, going forwards?

Agreed. Americanisms upset me.

I'm half American.

Which half 🙂

My ego

[i]The Bronson tyres are listed at 880g, so kinda heavy.[/i]

They'll weigh more, weigh them.

I shaved a bit off my SB95:
I specced a pair of wheels from Superstar that weigh (real, I checked them myself!) 900g rear, 700g front.
Front: Switch superlight front hub, Sapim laser spokes, alloy nips, Crest rim.
Rear: Switch hub, Sapim Race spokes, alloy nips, Crest rim.
Total price £300. Saved at least 400g over my Hope Hoops Flow EX.
Carbon bars, got some 720mm Answer taperlite carbons 200g
Easton EC90 seatpost with Ti bolts 200g
My SLX crankarms weigh the same as XT for a lot less money. The older MK1 version looks nicer as well. I'd only swap them for XTR M980s and then I'd only save about 40g.
I got a 65mm stem from Exotic Components 140g
Front tyre is a 2.25 Geax Goma 850g. rear is a 2.25 Geax Saguaro 820g(or AKA at 650g depending on terrain and conditions).
I may go for a lighter saddle in the future but I'm stopping there for now.
I'm running a 24/38 front ring combo in steel and a fairly heavy rear cassette so I know there's some weight savings to be had there. Front fork is a 2014 Pike.
I weighed the whole bike on some proper scales and it came to just over 31 lbs.
The wheels were the best 'swapout'! The day I fitted them I set several PRs on fire road and technical uphills at my usual rides on Strava. And I hadn't been for a ride for about a week due to illness.

So, if you just take off the big ring do you just need to change the limit settings on front mech, or do you swap out the shifter too?

Neither mate, if you take off the big ring, you just don't press the shifter for a ring that's not there LOL.

You can of course use the limit screws too

As Weeksy said will work (either suggestion), however......

When i set up a triple mech to run a double chainset i have a preference to use the top click position for the outer ring, the middle click for the inner ring, and use the bottom click as the hangoing in space one. You can then trim the limit screws on the mech with just a little bit more movement to avoid rub in any gears, 'cos you're using 2 and a teeny bit clicks instead of just two.

For some reason (probably incompetence) I can never get a double to run completely rub free on exactly 2 clicks.

Well, rear wheel is 2.9kg including tyres, tubes, cassette and rotor
Front wheel is 2.3kg (as above though without cassette)

Looks like a Zee 1x10 setup is pretty cheap and easy, although I could just change my rear mech for a clutch one and see how I get on.