Building a new bike for my girlfriend to be comfy yet lively if that makes any sense! She finds her Rockhopper a bit harsh so will be using a Rocklobster frame on the basis that it should be more forgiving but also reasonably light. I want the rest of the build to be pretty low weight and have got the follwong:
King Headset,
RS Reba Teams
XT/Mavic 717 Wheels with Nobby Nics
Magura Marta SL Brakes
XT Chainset
XT Mechs
Deore Shifters
FSA Carbon post
Easton Carbon Bar
Charge Ladle Saddle

Is there anywhere I can save some weight without spending a lot of cash for minimal return!?

Will

Saddle?

have you already bought this, or are you planning on buying this? Could change the wheels to a set of Hope/Stans pre-builts, reasonably cheap and not many lighter wheels available.

can save a surprising amount of weight using foam grips.

Change to Gripshift

King headset a bit of a waste of money in weight saving terms, no lighter than a £20 offering. If you’re buying it new that money could go towards something lighter like the hubs, XTs are pretty weighty as are 717s compared to Stans rims. Light wheels will make the biggest difference IMO. The carbon post is also not likely to be ‘light’ but they are normally pretty expensive.

So what about a cheaper alloy post, cheaper headset and some more money in the wheelset where the difference will be felt?

smart thinking from willsimmons.

tell her she’s too fat

I have all the gear already apart from the carbon post but considering selling a few things if I can lighten the load!

can get nice hope xc/717s which might be a little lighter. wheres the best place for hope/stan builds at the moment?

King headset may be expensive, but it’ll last an age.

717’s are fairly light at 395g vs 347-380g for Stans and are half the price. However, stans can be ran tubeless using yellow tape and that’s the key

XT hubs are also quite heavy.

Hope ProII on Stans 355s with yellow tape and vales ran tubless would be give you the biggest and most noticable difference.

The wheelset weight will drop by almost 250-350g and the removal of the inner tubes would be almost another 400g. That’s almost 1.5lbs of rolling weight that she’ll not have to push around and due to it being rolling weight she’ll really “feel” the diference.

she’ll love it, mine is really light. How about stans olympic wheels?

nunuboogie-how is yours built up?

How about some 16g handlebar grips for £7? Scott Open Lite grips from kudubikes.co.uk

Not all carbon seatposts are uber light. Depending on budget have you looked at the Thomson posts at Merlin? Masterpiece is under 200g and Elite is just over (weight weenies)

@nunuboogie – any excuse to show off your bike 😉 Is that at Long Mynd?

@mhuk yes 😉

Built mostly from classified items including frame, which i resprayed.

King Headset,
Fox RL’s
stans olympic Wheels with racing ralphs
hope mono mini Brakes
old XTR Chainset
XT Mechs
XT Shifters
Thomson stem and post
Easton Carbon Bar
Charge Ladle Saddle

Why not look at an I-beam saddle and post – very light combo.

Don’t the i-Beams have a bit of reputation for breaking?

Couple of other areas you can save weight on items you’ll probably be buying anyway are a KMC X9 SL chain (~250g) and an XT cassette (~260g) -XTR is lighter but much more expensive.

And if you use 6 bolt rotors Alligator rotors are very light and cheap, as are Ashima rotors from Merlin.

Foam grips…

500g(ish) fast rolling tyres like Bonty ACX’s, Kenda Small Block8s, Conti Explorers etc??