Evening,

I’ve got one of these:

http://www.pinkbike.com/product/kona/Dawgma/

It’s my first full susser and so far I’ve done loads of riding on it at nearly all the welsh trail centres (Penmachno a fave), and around Exmoor, Dartmoor etc. and have loved nearly every minute.

I say nearly because while it is quite an all mountain-y bike, I find it a right slog up hills and a killer up technical, rooty climbs. It currently weighs in at just over 33lbs. I know it was never really meant to fly up climbs, I would love it to be as good uphill as my mate’s Trance and the like.

If you had a budget of about £3-400, what would you change on it? Forks? Wheels? Even a new frame? I could swap it all with a Trance, or even one of the higher up Dawgs with the lighter Scandium frame. Not sure what would make the biggest difference…

Any ideas?

H

Get rid of it and buy something else

pretty much every single part could be replaced for something lighter

Crikey, where to start… The good thing about having a full suspension Kona and wanting to save weight, is that almost anywhere you look to you will save a chunk of weight!

Swapping the frame out will not only be expensive, it’s not like to save you a huge amount of weight. Not that you’ll notice anyway.

The 2 biggest areas I think you’d notice are the wheels/tyres, and the fork. The wheels, if you spent over half your budget on something lighter like a set of Hope Pro2’s on Stans Flows (rather than Crests probably, considering it’s a 6″ bike), and then sold your old wheels on, you’d probably be about £225 out of pocket(ish). Maybe splash a few quid on lighter tyres too.

I’d then sell the fork on, and put the rest of the budget and whatever you sold the fork for, on a new fork. Probably a Rockshox Revelation. Should save you 1.5lb there.

There is plenty of weight to be saved elsewhere too, but I don’t think you’d notice it nearly as much, and it would start to cost quite a bit. For instance, carbon bars, a lighter stem and seatpost, will all help, but will probably net you a max of 300-400g saved, and cost you £200. Likewise the gears, you could buy a full XT drivetrain, but you’d probably not even save 300-400g in total. And the brakes, again, you could go for XT’s or something similar, but you’d probably not even save 200g.

Wheel weight is most noticable, and a lighter fork will help lots too.

Get rid of it and buy something else

pretty much every single part could be replaced for something lighter

Blunt as he is, he makes a good point too…

I don’t have the cash for a new one really, that’s the thing.

I could sell it for maybe £400, then spend another £400, but what am I going to get that’s considerably better for £800?

H

Nice one mboy, I was toying with wheels/fork and frame so will prob stick with the frame…

H

Agree with mboy and GW

Id be tempted to wear things out first. Though that might take ‘too’ long plus then stuff wouldnt be worth as much to sell on later
If you went down that route Id guess it’d be gears that go first, and then Id be tempted to try to stick to SLX/X7 level tops (some bits are barely heavier at deore/X5 level), XT/X9 is a touch lighter on the whole but the extra ££(£) is going to eat into any budget for things that are going to make bigger difference like wheels/maybe forks

Maybe try ‘ghetto’ tubeless, either with the stock (maxxis ignitors?) or try finding something lighter that suits the kind of riding you do (ie something with at least semi-knobbly tread)

I’ve got an old Dawg that just sneaks under 33lb built up cheap and burly enough I cant break it. It never really feels like riding a heavy bike till I pick it up to put it on the car. It does weigh 7lbs more than my Inbred though!

If it was me I’d look for some nicer wheels and then forks 2nd hand to save some weight but still keep the “all mountain-y bike” character. Or do nothing at all, save the money, enjoy it as it is and wait till you can change the whole bike for something more XC if that’s what you want.

I’d just work on the assumption it’s a lost cause economicaly and just ride it. In 12 months when the forks need a service, consider buying some solo air sektors for ~£225 instead. The drivetrain will probably wear out in a similar timeframe, other than that just wiat for bargains on the classifides.

I wouldnt sell it and start again as that’s probably not going to sav huge ammounts of weight, and I quite like Konas despite their weight!

You mention a Trance, highly recommended!

There’s a lot that could be swapped about and £800ish for a 2nd hand bike could get you something quite good from either here or Pinkbike (follow the buy/sell procedure, there’s some scallywags on PB!).

❗ In fact I’m selling my Trance next week when my new (2nd hand) bike arrives. Some of the parts will be different to the photo but if you are around 5′ 11″ or ride medium frames, give me an email on:

shameer AT gmx DOT co.uk

As a complete it will definitely have the 454 Pike, SLX brakes, Hope pro II wheels, X9/X7/XT bits and others. It’s parts like the bar/stem/pedals that I may swap about. It’s 2×9 but I can put the big ring back on. I’m selling as I have a Marin Attack Trail due on Tuesday.

Nice bike.

There’s two ways of going about it. You can just throw money at it until it weighs less than 30lb, which probably won’t get you very far if your budget is £400 tops, or if you’re feeling sufficiently nerdy you can build a spreadsheet model of your bike and each individual component weight. A bit of google research will tell you how much the tyres, crankset, mech etc will weigh so see how close you can get to 33lb and then simply substitute various bits for flasher kit and keep a track of costs. Simples.

As a head start, I’d suggest that you look at the less glamourous parts of the bike first, for example the tyres, saddle, seatpost and handlebars. I managed to knock a pound off the weight of my Marin Wolf Ridge by swapping to a lighter saddle and post and by changing the wire bead tyres to something lighter (High Roller/Minion to Ardents in this case, but there are some great Schwalbe deals on at the moment). A swap of bars and stem wouldn’t go amiss either – this should all be accomplished for circa £150 if you shop around.

After that, the next thing to change is probably the forks, which won’t be as expensive as you think if you try somewhere like Merlin Cycles. I’d wait until your drivetrain is knackered before you sink money into a new crankset – which should give you time to save – as you’ll need a new cassette and chain too. The difference in weight between a Deore and SLX cassette is quite considerable. SLX cranks are amazing for their price, but if money is tight then Deore cranks are very good also.

God I feel dirty, but I agree with GW 😉

I could sell it for maybe £400, then spend another £400, but what am I going to get that’s considerably better for £800?

A used Trance would be my suggestion. Otherwise wheels and tyres. Then forks. Upgrading drivetrain and brakes will make no difference.

A nice set of wheels and tubeless set up will make a massive difference, as will changing towards a Rockshox Sector/Pike fork. Depends what you want to archieve as it’ll never be a lightweight (or anywhere near) but until you can afford something sufficently lighter upgrading the parts I and other people have suggested will have a profound effect on the bike

I’d really go with the sell and rebuy option. Not to make it a “post your trance” thread, but;

was £750 on ebay, sold a few bits, bought a few bits (all classifieds), made it tubeless. All in 26lbs + pedals for £800-850ish. You can get a lot of bike for your money.

this is why visitng a good shop and getting a bike built up from the frame is always a good way to go as it will probably save you money in the long run.

I would also start with tyres there are plenty in the 450g region. Conti X king supersonics would be one but these are an XC tyre. But it has all been suggested. I would look at second hand saddles and cranks to keep the cost down. SDG bell air with Ti rails is pretty light and still comfortable. If you can find a second hand thomson masterpiece seatpost then one of these is a light a some carbon posts then get one.

Forks again can be had second hand, Your forks weigh ~ 4.5lbs or 2.04kg but you may save 200-300g but it could cost you your entire/most of your budget.

I would start with tyres, then seat post and saddle. Change the cassette for SLX or XT when yours wears out. Wheels if you can get some mavic 319 rims on and XT hubs build with spaim race spokes (cheaper than DT swiss comps) then that would eat up the rest of your budget. If the 319’s are to XC you could try the EN521 rim (it weighs 40g more than a 319). You could save a 1kg that way.

this is why visitng a good shop and getting a bike built up from the frame is always a good way to go as it will probably save you money in the long run.

I would also start with tyres there are plenty in the 450g region. Conti X king supersonics would be one but these are an XC tyre. But it has all been suggested. I would look at second hand saddles and cranks to keep the cost down. SDG bell air with Ti rails is pretty light and still comfortable. If you can find a second hand thomson masterpiece seatpost then one of these is a light a some carbon posts then get one.

Forks again can be had second hand, Your forks weigh ~ 4.5lbs or 2.04kg but you may save 200-300g but it could cost you your entire/most of your budget.

I would start with tyres, then seat post and saddle. Change the cassette for SLX or XT when yours wears out. Wheels if you can get some mavic 319 rims on and XT hubs build with spaim race spokes (cheaper than DT swiss comps) then that would eat up the rest of your budget. If the 319’s are to XC you could try the EN521 rim (it weighs 40g more than a 319). You could save a 1kg that way.

Rose bikes has some dirt cheap Fox forks on sale at the moment.

Sensing a lot of love for Trances here, but my wife’s ’06 Trance 4 weighs a ton (well 34lb+). No idea which bits are to blame, but suspect pretty much all of them as every bit I look at seems very heavy. No real sign of bits wearing out though so would have to upgrade for weight saving alone.

Seriously thinking about selling the Dawgma and buying a second hand trance. Although I had some amazing rides on it, I don’t ‘love’ the Dawgma so not averse to flogging it.

Trances are generally lighter bikes anyway right? The spec on them is lightish. My mate’s new Reign 2 is just phenomenally light…

H

The older Trance with the shock in the downtube was heavier as it needed reinforcement. The later models with the shock separated are lighter, like *ahem* mine

Lose the big and small rings and shifter and it wont cost a penny.

Trances are great bikes – the poor man’s turner 5spot if anything (and lighter). I didn’t know they had much of a popularity around here. In truth, any of the big bike manufacturer’s 120-140 offerings if 2010 or later will solve your problem equally. The trance just happens to be one of the cheaper options (a stumpy comp 2010 is still a grand mostly, but a grand will buy you a 2010 x2). Keep an eye open for fuel ex’s, trances, cheap stumpies, and don’t for get ebay. That trance earlier didn’t look bad, if he’s happy to sell at a cheapish price, otherwise keep looking. But be warned, it’ll take a bit of fiddling and tuneless and 1×9 or 1×10 to get it under 28lbs.

As a start, weigh every bit – then you have a baseline.

And as its a pretty low-spec bike, I’d buy stuff that you can transfer later to something higher up the ‘bling’ scale (so nothing lost) – so wheels, rotors, bars, stems etc.

And don’t confuse expensive with light/good, these for example are cheap, light and stiff:

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/STOOCNC/on_one_ultralight_cnc_stem