Hi All,

Help me lighten my nomad… current spec (about 36lb):

06 Nomad frame
DHX Coil with Ti spring
Magura Wotans
Hayes Stroker Trails
Cheapo WTB seatpost
Trans Am Gel saddle
X9 rear mech
XT front mech
Saint Cranks
Gusset Slim Jims
Thompson 4x 90mm stem
Lock on grips
X9 Shifters
X7 rear cassette
X7 chain
Hi-rollers 2.3 (wire bead)
Mavic 321 wheels on Hope Pro 2
Truativ XC/DH Team bars
E13 Supercharger Bash ring (36t)

I’m off on a road trip round the Highlands in May and figure I need to loose some weight…. Hopefully about 6lbs (!) At the moment I’m thinking swap to an Air Shock, but not sure what else. I-Beam saddle and post?

Budget is 500 quid plus I have a pair of 05 XT cranks I can swap onto this bike.

Oh, and I might get a respray with Argos, but that’s less of a prority…

Spend the £500 on a light hardtail?

£500?

buy another more ‘xc’ bike out the classifieds?

Again, buy a second hand hardtail.

What kind of riding are you doing? Is it 100% on road?

definately buy a 500 hardtail.

If you want to stick with the Nomad, I would look at tyres, cranks and wheels.

Wheels and tyres (stans no tubes rims and tubeless tyres)

Or buy a nice second hand hardtail off the classifieds or Ebay 🙂

Stay away from the I-beam setup. I’ve snapped the rail off my saddle, first crash.

Forks -> Float 36RC2
Wheels -> ProII/mavic 719
E13 bash -> Gamut bash
Saddle/post -> Thomson masterpiece + Selle SLR
Check the weight of your bars too, and if you need a new drivetrain get a lighter cassette. (not worth bothering otherwise)

Air shock won’t save you much and might compromise too much on performance.

“Hi-rollers 2.3 (wire bead)”

Which ones? If they’re the dual-ply (I think they say downhill on the side) they’ll weigh something like 1100-1200g in a 2.35″. If one or both are 42a supertacky they’ll slow you down even more

The 2.35″ 60a Maxxpro Single ply(wire) ones come in about 850g

The 2.35″ 60a Maxxpro folding ones come in about 646-695g (JustridingAlong-Maxxis)

Also, what tubes are you running? Or are you not

Changing tyres/tubes (and running at med-high pressures (35/45psi or something) makes a lot of difference to rolling speed.

A £500 s/h XCish hardtail is likely to be easier/faster though. Not just the weight and faster rolling tyres, but the position/geometry is likely to be a bit longer/stretched out and steeper angles should climb better

I don’t see how this question can be answered until we know what sort of riding you are planning on.

Quickest Way to lose a lot of weight off that bike, and in the most noticable area too, is to get rid of those 321 rims and the (probably) dual ply High Rollers. Get your Pro 2’s rebuilt on some Mavic 719’s, and replace the tyres with Kevlar Bead 2.35 High Rollers in 60a compound. That should shed you 2 or 3 lbs in total weight, and it’s rotational weight too! Also consider going tubeless (Stan’s, Ghetto, or even UST with some 819 rims instead of the 719’s) as this also removes a little more weight, but also adds the benefit of no pinch punctures!

Next up, change the seatpost for a Thomson Elite (and whilst you’re at it, get a 70mm stem to replace the 90 you have. 90mm on a Nomad???). Should save you 1/4 of a lb for about £40 off ebay. Don’t mess about with an I Beam setup, they’re light and pretty strong yes, but are the most uncomfortable saddles known to man as they don’t flex! Have tried them myself for a while, won’t be going back.

Could possibly save yourself 50g or so by switching to another slightly lighter saddle, but probably not worth it, especially if you find the current one comfortable.

I’d keep the coil shock if I were you (you’ve already got a ti spring on it after all!) as they do work noticably better than air.

Consider replacing the Saint cranks with your XT’s possibly, but if you bash your cranks a lot, or are a heavy rider, this might not be an area to skimp, and after all the crank weight is low slung in the frame so it’s not detrimental to the bikes handling in general having heavy cranks.

Don’t know the weight of your Truvativ bars, but possibly worth swapping out for a lightweight ally DH bar if they’re over 300g (which I suspect they are), the Easton EA70 is about £40 and comes in at just over 250g.

Do you tend to use the bashring (as in bash it into things?)? If not, get yourself a lighter one than the E13 as these are very heavy. A lightweight alloy one will be fine if you never smash it into things.

You could look at replacing your Gusset Slim Jim pedals for something a bit lighter too (such as the excellent Wellgo MG1), but pedals are a personal preference thing usually, and even though I like to cut weight on a bike as much as poss, I still run the very heavy Easton Flatboys myself!

You could get the Nomad down to 30lb yes, but it would have too many lightweight componentry compromises IMO. Better to get it to about 32lb and keep the strength on all the bits. If you do everything I’ve mentioned above, you should have a whole lot of change from your £500 budget (hopefully £250 to £300 left!), and save approx 4lb or more from the weight of your bike. Hope that helps!

And to those who say buy a £500 hardtail. Fair comment, but having a bike that is more enjoyable to ride most of the time is preferable I would say, and it’s a reasonable question to ask “how to make it lighter”, as the difference (especially rotational) saving 4lb off a heavy bike can make to its ability to be ridden all day is amazing!

456 frame.

tyres, cranks, shock

And yeah, 90mm stem on a bike like that is insane