At present this is entirely hypothetical as I don't know I have the budget or sheer analness for a really light build 🙂

After seeing the Orbea HT that the mechanic rides at my local LBS (1×10 8) )
I have an incling for an uber light HT. His was about 18lbs with Sids up front.

Would I be setting myself up for; huge financial costs, a noodly riding bike, spending loads of time with excel calculating weights……..

Thinking circa 20lb with FS.

All thoughts, suggestions, examples, PICS very welcome

20.7lbs with SIDs, Egg Beaters with ti axles, and Rocket Ron/Furious Fred tyres.

Sub-20 is very doable these days, but will require some very very spendy parts.

As an aside… the MSC Koncept Carbon is the lightest FS frame out there and a good place to start. Their longevity is questionable mind, and you'll need deep pockets!

About £4k oughtta do it.

Njee is it you who has the carbon ebay frame? How is that holding up? They seem pretty good value for the weight

£4k with a lot of second hand bits, that Fuel, or the S-Works Epic, or the Giant Anthem Advanced SL thigngummy are £5500-£6000 off the shelf and around 22lbs without pedals.

I did have one yep, sold it because the Fuel was nicer to ride, and almost as light. Stunning value though, I'd have another one in a heartbeat.

Njee – you'd better be careful – some might suggest your are showing off 😉

They can suggest all they like 🙂

Is there any point unless your racing?

I imagine it wouldnt be great to ride on a typical xc ride

I love mine, it's incredibly fast!

Should clarify that I would be looking to build a HT rather than full squish.

WTF is going on with that top/seat tube?
😕

My 2p worth – Uber-light bikes are more trouble than they're worth. I had a Klein Attitude years ago which I got down to 17lb but it was a nightmare to ride.

Stick with quite light, but reliable. You won't s**t yourself when you come up against a rough bit of track, and your bank balance will thank you for it too.

Thinking circa 20lb with FS.

Sorry, thought you meant full suspension.

In that case… the Pedal Force frames on eBay are stonking value, the new Scale 899 will be the lightest frame out there, but will likely cost about £1500 more than a Pedal Force!

WTF is going on with that top/seat tube?

It's their 'no cut seat mast' very short seatpost saves weight, but doesn't require a hacksaw to get the saddle height right. Solves a non-existent problem IMO, but hey!

Nowt's broken on mine, in fact the only kit I've ever broken has been run of the mill stuff!

As we're doing HT's:

This was 19.8lbs IIRC with Rons.

Zaskar – +1000

I rode a 17-18lb Klein a while back and it it was SO skittish and fragile feeling. I was convinced that any jump (even a bunnyhop) would break it.

Anything under 20lbs is pushing it too far IMO unless you are a fully sponsored up racer.

Nowt's broken on mine, in fact the only kit I've ever broken has been run of the mill stuff!

You weigh 12st.

9Kg :

Nothing super light on there – mostly second hand parts – prob cost you £1000 new?

You weigh 12st.

How dare you!

I'm about 66.5kg, which I believe is a whisker under 10.5 stone 🙂

If I weighed more I suspect I wouldn't use such light kit though, you're right. On the other hand, there's plenty of fat buggers using lighter kit than me. Check Weight Weenies to see how nuts some people are!

If its a hardtail then around 20lb is most doable without too much financial pain.

As has been said, anything lighter then its big bucks and fragile parts.

Without wanting to turn into the jealous knob who'll contest everything, and I suspect that's far too late, there's no way that Kinesis is the same weight as the Pedal Force. 22lbs for that I reckon, at least.

My apologies Njee but my point still stands, even more so.

I'm 13st 10lb sometimes a little less, my large size Scandal weighs 23lb, I could spank another £500 or so on it and get it to 21lb, but It's my every day MTB (my only one in fact) for me it's the perfect weight/strength ratio for my riding and occasional enduro racing.

Super light is only good for racing, no good anywhere else.

Ok, I know its not in the njee territory but I built this up with the sole purpose of racing. It was only meant to be a stand in whilst I got something pimpy but ended up liking it so much that I thought why bother with anything else

With those forks its just over 22.5 lbs for a 20 inch, with the new Pro carbon lovelies its sub 22 but I prefer the ride of the kenesis forks.

Stands me at bugger all really considering its got a king, Thompson, middleburns and an American Classic wheelset, well under 1k and its good fun to ride with the EA70s

Seeing as we're posting pics, 25lb. Might not sound too light but it's got a 5lb coil fork up front, MRP chain device, bloody heavy cranks and bombproof wheels… So not bad really:

My apologies Njee but my point still stands, even more so.

I totally agree with you, don't get me wrong. FWIW the Fuel is my only MTB.

Super light is only good for racing, no good anywhere else.

Depends what you want out of riding, again, I love my Fuel, as evidenced by the fact at least 50% of the posts on this thread are by me 🙂

And all this rubbish about 'Super light is only for racing' is just that – rubbish. I'd take riding mine all day over some 2.2 tyred monster thats a nightmare to climb on.

Current lightweight XC frames handle much better than their predesesors.
I built myself a XT/XTR Giant XTC and it's been fine for racing and general trails. If I was racing more XC I'd have built it up lighter, but I'd like to do a three day on it later so didn't go mad.
That said I've been replacing bits and bobs with KCNC stuff and I reckon when I've finished I'll have knocked off about 2lb.
Edit Made a big mistake by buying Mavic Crossride ten ton tessies, handbuilts when they've gone.

ZaskarCarbon:
WTF is going on with that top/seat tube?

Technology.

Jamie – Technology to solve a non-existent problem, as njee20 (who owns the bike) says!

@Flange

Now thats my sort of thing – a steel frame to start!

Do you have any more pics?

Do you reckon there would be much more weight you could save?

My Caldera with 700c wheels and Spuds is a bit over 24lbs (steel frame & fork)

Thinking, not that I have seen yours, I might give the build a revamp……….but with 26'' wheels

Hmm.

Bike >>

Do you reckon there would be much more weight you could save?

Unless you are Heinz Wittmann (Google him), there's always more weight you could save 🙂

Flange your sadly mistaken. What benefits in everyday riding does a stupidly light bike have? Apart from climbing slightly faster, absolutely none! If its your only bike you will not get as fit for one, downhill is sketchy as you like, and its nowhere near as comfy.

On ones new wippet when it comes out?

Seriously considdering selling everythign bar the road bike and 456 and getting a pedalforce frame and SID's.

Just googled him – 17lb Scott Spark. Mental!

I've just bought all the bits for an uber light HT build. Frame and rims are new, but almost everything else is secondhand (though not necessarily used), I'll have spent just under £1400 in total.

According to my very OCD spreadsheet (yep, I'm a geek), it should come out at 19lbs, but then I do plan to use it to race on and I do only weigh 7.5 stone…

Heinz Wittmann's 10.79lb Scale is even more mental. Appears to have disc wheels and v-brakes though!

Flange your sadly mistaken. What benefits in everyday riding does a stupidly light bike have? Apart from climbing slightly faster, absolutely none! If its your only bike you will not get as fit for one, downhill is sketchy as you like, and its nowhere near as comfy.

Do you have a light bike though? I certainly enjoy riding light bikes more than heavier ones, a heavier bike just feels like a slog! For me and my riding style a light bike is faster and less effort, and that's what I enjoy! I've done 12 hour solos, so comfort isn't really an issue, I've never broken any light kit, so that's not an issue either.

According to my very OCD spreadsheet (yep, I'm a geek), it should come out at 19lbs, but then I do plan to use it to race on and I do only weigh 7.5 stone…

Whilst I'm sure most people reading this already think I'm a sanctimonious prick, I'm afraid it'll be far heavier than that. Never done the spreadsheet thing personally, don't really see the point for that reason.

This is what I knocked up and it's very heavy, way over 25lb I reckon. The frame is the Giant XTC frame only so it's not too shabby.
I have just changed the tyres and tubes for Supersonics and almost saved a pound.
The basic alloy parts are slowly being swapped for scandium ones. but it's the wheels that are the killer…..big mistake.

Hmm 😕

Seems a light build is possible for not a mega amount of money…but what is coming through is that most light bike riders are light themselves……who'd have thunk it 🙄 😆

Maybe I need to forget this as I currently weigh about 95kg 😕

Still I guess I could always buy an new OO carbon jobby as they are only circa 1500g and not too badly priced 😕

Back to the drawing board 😆

but it's the wheels that are the killer

Light ones don't need to be too expensive, ZTR hubs on Alpine rims, sub-1400g and less than £400, or check the German websites, Actionsports.de often do good deals on wheels on their Fun-Works hubs, or Egle Components (sommat like that) often do deals too.