Righto, gone from DT Swiss 5.1 rims to Stans 355's and from 2.35 High Rollers to 2.25 Nobby Nics. Saved nearly 1.5lbs and it's rotating mass so maximum benefit.

Changed the E13 DRS chain device to a Gamut dual, which saved about another 1/2 lbs or so.

Got about £200ish left to spend so is it?

Sell the Pikes (454 air u-turn) and get some Thors or Revelations teams. This should save approx 3/4lbs. (This will cost a bit more than the £200 if it's the revs)

or

look elsewhere such as seat posts,saddles,foam grips and maxle lites etc. for example, Carbon posts and Ti fly saddle instead of Thomson and Ti Belair.

Just the carbon post, saddle and maxle lite will also save about 3/4lbs ish as well. This option is slightly cheaper than changing the forks

Bike already has XT all through and carbon bars & 540 pedals. Plus an RP23 rear shock

My view is probably the forks, any other opinions on which way to spend?

[insert stupid, unfunny but someone always does it comment about having a poo before riding]

weigthtwatchers?

Weight of bike bits is way over-rated, and rotating weight even more so. By all means do it as a project, but you'll spend many pounds for next to no performance gain. Think of the total bike rider clothing camelbak weight, and consider your weight savings as a % of that figure…..

always go before riding, never feel comfortable pooing al fresko.

so that one is covered.

and 3/4lbs is a pretty big dump!

Remove both wheels, place the remaining frame over your shoulder and run.

It's worked at SITS before…

I think you're right about the forks. Big change in weight, no real loss of strength.

id go for an ibeam seat/post combo, they save you quite a bit, esp if you have a tough butt and can get on with the i-fly (like me 8) ). both wiggle and crc have had good offers on them recently too.

what pedals do you use? you can save 1/2lb over chunky flats if you get some ti axles wellgo mags off ebay. £50ish from hong kong. doh! just saw you run spds.

i can recommend the 2010 revs, i noticed the difference in weight but i was taking off talas 36 rather than pikes

I think rider position is more important try to get your position to be as efficient as possible

going 1×9 will save you a lump too, especially if you are running a tensioner already. its not for everyone but its simple, keeps your chain on and saves nearly a pound.

I think it's safe to say that running 1 x 9 will kill me 😆 or I'll spend most of the climbs walking.

From your forks/wheels I'm guessing it's an AM bike? Are you racing or just want to save weight as I think there's point where the performance/pleasure is taken out by using too light components plus the cost!
I would also go for the sdg post saddle combo. Very good value compared to standard set up in terms of lighteness per £. I bought manitou minutes for my prophet for lightness (and colour match and cheapness) but would pefer a few more grams and a few less pounds for a plusher fork.(though they may just need servicing)

💡 for £200 i'll push you up some hills 😀

if you're using lock on grips replace them with foam ones.

I-Beam's = standard seat plus post at 400g or iFly + post 360g

Ashima rotors = 113g for a 183mm

Ti bolts/washers/nuts throughout – about £2 each and half the weight – should save 150-200 grams

CRC had some EA90 stems on offer, will save circa 50g for £40

As Thor runs a 180/185 rotor as standard, save an adaptor/bolts – another 30g.

KCNC bolt seat post at 10g, save 30g over QR.

Titanium axles for your 540's, save 55g for £60

It all helps, and ignore what anyone else says.

Not a weight saving but to get a performance improvement from £200 have you considered either some skills training or some professional bike fitting sessions looking at you foot/pedal interface. Perhaps some shims in your shoes could make a difference.

However, from your original post, if you want to buy new kit for that reason, I think you're right to be looking at the forks.

Already got the fitting service sorted Onzadog.

The bike fit is more like clothing, which is a different budget 😆

this £200 is new bike bits. I think it's called retail therapy

It all helps, and ignore what anyone else says.

Yup, never mind the physics, never mind the basic science, just spend silly money…. 🙄

Fit an XTR cassette, ti post and saddle. Or even lighter tyres.

All the parts on your bike sound shit hot, if you've got a few hundred quid your wanting to spend, why not buy another bike (something totally different to what you have)?

http://www.analyticcycling.com/ForcesLessWeight_Page.html

For example; here is a 5kg weight saving, which would cost at least a million pounds, the advantage over a 2km climb?

8.7 seconds….

💡 stan's notubes

stan's notubes

already fitted as part of the 355's/NN wheels. Well yellow tape anyway

Yup, never mind the physics, never mind the basic science, just spend silly money

So crikey, does that also mean that if I add 5 kgs to your bike, it'll make no difference to your riding?

Stop talking bollocks.

No, it would make me about 8 seconds slower…

Weight is over-rated, and even more so in. the context of modern UK mountain biking, with 3-4 lilies of camelbacks plus baggy clown shorts draped around chubby ITbods. If you can prove me wrong, give it your best…

Posting from phone, excuse the predictive text!

all else being equal lighter bikes are more fun to ride.

theres no equations for that.

Lighter shoes?

What about spending the money on those you love and start appreciating them and the soul more.

yersen…

Of course weight matters especially for climbing.

Yup, never mind the physics, never mind the basic science, just spend silly money

Simple physics tells you that the less you have to carry up the less work is required to do it. Therefore if you you put in the same amount of work but have less weight then the laws of physics tell you that you will go faster.
Lets assume that you are a lean muscle machine, and carry only what you need for your days trail bashing. So therefore it make sense to lighten your bike becuase the lighter your bike is the fast you can go or further you can go. It's makes perfect scientific sense. Granted not carrying a camelbak, tools etc will also save weight but they are needed, so if you have light good tools then again a light bike helps.
There is a law of deminishing returns though, i.e. there comes a point when the amount you have to spend to shave off a few grams becomes stupid.

Blow your cash on the forks.

Simple physics tells you that the less you have to carry up the less work is required to do it.

Simple mathematics tells you that reducing a weight of about 100kgs by 1kg or 2 kg or 5 kgs will get you up hills by a few seconds quicker.

As I said, do it as a project, but if you are expecting performance gains by lightening a bike by a few kilos in the context of a typical UK mountain biker, you really are having a laugh….

There are two "non-technical" explanations for the effects of light weight. First is the placebo effect. Since the rider feels that they are on better (lighter) equipment, they push themselves harder and therefore go faster. It's not the equipment that increases speed so much as the rider's belief and resulting higher power output. The second non-technical explanation is the triumph of hope over experience—the rider is not much faster due to lightweight equipment but thinks they are faster. Sometimes this is due to lack of real data, as when a rider took two hours to do a climb on their old bike and on their new bike did it in 1:50. No accounting for how fit the rider was during these two climbs, how hot or windy it was, which way the wind was blowing, how the rider felt that day, etc.

Another explanation, of course, may be marketing benefits associated with selling weight reductions.

…admittedly from Wikipedia, but a nice summary all the same.

There's a lot of weight saving things you can do without spending money, eg cut off all of the seatpost surplus to that needed for minimum insertion for your riding position. Makes an alloy post lighter than a Ti one (until you do the same to the Ti one 🙂 )

Drill holes in non structural parts – ever see Eddie Merckx's hour record bike? The ends of the handlebars can lose a wee bit. Drill out non structural bolts etc. A hole in the outer end of your brake and gear levers isn't going to weaken them.

You can drill out your rims in the well – basically add a few more holes between the spoke access holes.

That's about 2-300 grams saved. Save the £200 🙂

As I said, do it as a project, but if you are expecting performance gains by lightening a bike by a few kilos in the context of a typical UK mountain biker, you really are having a laugh….

That depends, if your racing then lets be honest ever second counts. So actually the answer is yes, you do get a performance gain. A few seconds here and there makes alot of difference in a race. Infact it makes a lot of differene just blasting the woods, it means your ahead of your mates 😉

The new Revelations are extremely light, the 150mm ones with maxles are barely any heavier than my old 130mm QR ones. Not quite as strong as Pikes but not lacking. I'm flogging off guitar crap to pay for a set for the hemlock, it's a huge single item weight saving though.

"As I said, do it as a project, but if you are expecting performance gains by lightening a bike by a few kilos in the context of a typical UK mountain biker, you really are having a laugh…."

It's just plain nicer to ride a light bike- you can shift it around more effectively under you. it's not all about climbing, in fact, I feel more benefit on the way down.

There's a lot to be said for feeling a robust, confidence inspiring bike underneath you.

I've done a lot of work on this, I've resorted to using spreadsheets and pivot tables to find the cheapest way of losing the most weight from my bike. My 34lb (new) bike is now a 30lb bike but the biggest loss per £ was switching to a tubeless setup. Thankfully I already had the parts I needed so weight loss wasn't massively expensive, but to lose much more weight will mean investing in XTR or Mavix SX wheels to drop the weight down to 28lb or less.

I'm happy to set my sights on 29.5lb and leave it there.

The placebo effect…

…it's not just for homeopaths…

😉

The placebo effect's underrated tbh, unless you're racing it's not about being fast and awesome, it's about feeling fast and awesome.

Still, it is a cast iron fact that a 25lb pound bike is easier to throw around on the trails than a 30lb bike, and so on.

spend the spare cash on a biking trip….

There'll always be a lighter stem, brake or bolt. Remove the gears, ditch the front brake, go rigid at the front, fit 1" slicks.
OR
Have a dump, ride the heavier bike, sweat like a pig, enjoy.