lighten up the rig

[Hardrockz]

I was looking for some inexpensive ways to lighten up my bike. Maybe someone can give me some suggestions of parts I can switch out or simple things I can do to drop a little weight off the bike. Thanks

[steve32300]

What kind of bike do you have?Most light weight parts are expensive.

[abegold]

Start with tires, then go tubeless. Next is wheels-big$. Next your stem and handlebars. If your’re ready for carbon cranks, let the paychecks go.
You can also save weight in the saddle but comfort is king.

[rich67]

The simple items you can replace to reduce weight would be things like pedals, seatpost, saddle, tubes and tires and fork. More involved things would be carbon fiber frames and bars, lightweight cranks, and rims.

[Hardrockz]

The bike I’m refering to is my old Giant Warp Ds2. It’s a FS bike! I have been letting my wife ride this bike while she waits to get her own. Its a pretty heavy bike but I figured I could make it a little lighter for her. Everything on the bike is stock! It has an aluminum frame but I think the rear triangle is steel. Not sure why it’s so heavy. Maybe you could help me with ideas. Thanks

[steve32300]

Man,if you have a steel rear triangle,it would take alot to lighten it up.Like rich says;

The simple items you can replace to reduce weight would be things like pedals, seatpost, saddle, tubes and tires and fork. More involved things would be carbon fiber frames and bars, lightweight cranks, and rims.

If you lighten it up with some clippless pedals,then you’ll have to buy shoes and that would be expensive.I have seen some plastic platform pedals at a LBS here where I live,I’ll look em up and post up for ya when I find em.
The tubeless thing would be a good way to go right off the bat because you’ll still have to spend around 50 or 60 bucks I think for a stans conversion,but you could go ghetto which is alot cheaper but you’ll have to do some work and get it right so they dont leak,but I’ve never tried it myself,just read about em.I tried to find the tubeless ghetto post here on singletracks but couldnt find it even with a search so I’ll look that up as well for ya.The ghetto tubelss is probably your best bet for cheap lightweight plus it’ll get rid of alot rotating mass and make the bike roll better.

[steve32300]

Man,anyone know where the ghetto tubeless info is at??I couldnt even find it on mtn bike action where I know I read an article on it.I think that would be the cheapest way to lighten a bike up and make it roll easier.

Another thing to try is your tire preasure,pumping your tires up to the maximum preasure will help them roll better as well,but could make for a rigid like ride as well which might be a little uncomfortable possibly.

Also,what tires are on the bike now?If you have tires with big knobbys that will make the bike roll a little slower.You might want to think about getting some low profile knobby tires such as cross country tires or a small block 8 type tire.

Here is a link to a cheaper low profile knobby tire to think about;

[url:6wx4xehk]http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/TI298A41-Wtb+All+Terrainasaurus+Comp+Tire.aspx[/url:6wx4xehk]

[url:6wx4xehk]http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/TI502A02-Maxxis+Holy+Roller+60D+Tire.aspx[/url:6wx4xehk]

The tubeless stuff will save ya some weight along with less rolling resistance while trying a higher tire preasure and low profile knobby tires will also help in these area’s to make the bike a more efficiant pedaler which will help.If you get away doing things like cheap enough,then you can maby get a lighter seat post,stem,handle bars but like I said earlier,those things are still gonna be realtively expensive especially for a temporary ride,although if you invest some really cool stuff now then you can put that cool stuff on the new bike and make that bike even lighter.One thing to think about though when buying expensive parts for an older bike is that they might not fit the new bike so think about that if you decide to use this type of thinking.

[Hardrockz]

The tires I’m running on the bike are Tyrannoraptors. They are kind of knobby. It probably wouldnt hurt to find a little smoother tread. I dont know a hole lot about going tubeless but I can see how that would make a difference. Also changing out the seatpost, fork, & things like that sound good also. I think I’ll start with the tires & possibly go tubeless then go down the line from there. Thanks for all the input. Now I have a good idea where to start dropping a little weight. Thanks again 😃

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