“This will knock nearly 1kg off the bike “
Erm, how?

Surely losing 5 stone would make a bigger difference than any sports psychology stuff,

No surely about it.

Weigh stuff. Wherever there’s an OEM or own brand part in particular. Inner tubes! Surprising how many bikes come with enormously heavy cheapo inner tubes. Other than that 26lbs is a decent weight already, for something durable and workmanlike.

nje20, why would you need a chain guide with an unramped pinned ring front shifter along weighs 150g, 10″ of chain 50g, inner ring 55g, cable 20g.

OK I over estimated quite a bit but you still end up getting fitter and it proves that more gears doesn’t equal a bigger willy.

With regard to fitness and bike weight, fitness rules everytime as I pass many riders on multiple K machines on my 5 year old sub 1K hardtail and I ain’t no spring chicken.

nje20, why would you need a chain guide with an unramped pinned ring

It’ll still drop the chain, when it gets rough.

BTW you’re pissing in the wind trying to out smart Njee when it comes to being a weight weenie.

mrmo, you are halfway there knowing that performance wise you are down on last year,self belief is more of a performance booster than a kg off the weight of the bike!
As for the bit re me being 17 stone plus to put it into perspective, I did LeJog last year(averaging 90-100 miles a day at reasonable average speed) and had to put in a hell of a lot of solo big miles and as I was doing it for charity I used that as my motivator when times got bad or the weather was downright horrendous to train in.
I got down to 16 stone in a reasonably short space of time and was happy with my bodyweight as I had the balance right for what I wanted to achieve(ex rugby prop and I aint never going to be below 15 stone till the day I die).
Its only when the body is at its peak performance that a little weight off the bike will make the difference. I am not talking about riding a 36lb freeride bike comparing it to a 26ib XC machine but the difference between a 26 and 24lb bike.
train train and then vary your training some more be it riding SS on your regular route to using bigger tyres of a different hill to fartlek train on.
How about some different cardio exercise ie rowing- a great form of mental exerciesa to push your limits against what you ‘think; is your limit.

Give up trying to lighten the bike, it sounds like you can’t afford to make a significant difference and a 26lb full susser is hardly unraceable. I came 4th in Oktoberfest 8 hr pairs and 14th at 24/12 racing solo on a 26lb full-susser this year – I could have done better but it would have been down to more training not a lighter bike.

You admit you’re not as fit as last year, why aren’t you riding as much? Address this. If it’s because you hate riding in bad weather, spend the cash on things more likely to make you go out. Goretex shorts, some overshoes or Goretex boots, some crud catchers. Hate maintaining your good bike and wearing stuff out, get a dirt worker to help clean the bike trailside, or invest in a cheap singlespeed hack MTB or something. If you find your local trails boring, spend the cash on going and riding somewhere new and reinvigorate your interest.

Spending £500+ to knock 2lb off your bike is ultimately going to be disappointing.

Garylake, reason for not riding as much is time, i used to commute by bike, got made redundant now work to far away to ride and no facilities so even parking half way and riding in just isn’t going to work. Addressing this by trying to find a new job where i can ride to work.

I know trinkets don’t make you faster but they are nice to haves. and 26lbs is a decent weight, and if i can get any reasonable weight saving for sensible money makes sense to me, I am not going down the bolt kit route.

reasonable weight saving for sensible money. might not exist, bearing in mind you allready have good gear. however, if i owned your bike and wanted to make it faster (maybe not much lighter) i’d get some wheels with stans crest rims and go tubeless using some racy tyres.

mrmo – the problem with your bike is that everything on it is half decent already. Big gains come when you have single items letting the whole thing down – crap wheelset or fork. When everything is pretty good, you can only end up shaving a small amount off every component. Hence why it becomes expensive.

Unless you are competing, I doubt you need to change anything! A good rider on a heavy bike will still be a good rider, a novice on a featherweight will still ride like a novice (but probably break something in the process).

Many of us are developing bike bulimia, with some even developing genuine body weight problems to stay whippety.

Say you have a budget of £x to shave weight, why not use it for more diverse riding experiences too improve your skill instead? Go to that trail centre you’ve heard about or on holiday to (insert location here). Or even go on a skills course? Experience is a huge influencing factor to riding, I dare say significantly more so than equipment. I have no idea of your ability but everyone can improve somewhere.

It may appear heavy when you’re off it, but does it feel heavy when you ride? Would you really notice 500g difference?

I’m guilty of it too, but I think the proverbial princess has a very expensive pea under her mattress. (I’m not calling you a princess!)

Very good post Herman

For the record, going 1×9 can save about 2/3lb, but it depends on what kit you have on there already.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2009/06/news/wrenched-and-ridden-mrps-1-x-chainguide_93654

When you get down to the lightest possible (body or bike) weight then it is aerodynamics next:
http://www.trainright.com/info.asp?uid=4428
“Riding fast is often about physiology, but that’s not the only factor that makes or breaks a World Champion. Reaching the top of professional cycling is also about aerodynamics. It’s not the force of gravity, nor the friction of the road surface that proves the biggest obstacles for riders to overcome. It’s wind. And the faster a cyclist rides, the more aerodynamics comes into play, as wind resistance increases exponentially as speeds go up. In other words, it is harder to accelerate from 25 to 30mph than it is to accelerate from 20 to 25.”

Chris Carmihael has said that the bike accounts for just 2% (drag) though.

Less important for XC, shirley?

If you are happy spending the money and are competing, then why not get a set of race wheels? Something like some Hope pro 3SP on Stans rims with some tubeless racing ralphs.
Keep the other wheels for beating up and training on, and then when you put the others on at race time (or rather practice time as you’ll need to scrub in the brake pads and get used to the tyres), you’ll immediately feel the pound or so in weight loss.. Hey presto.. Huge psychological boost!
Will be the best part of £500 though. There’s cheaper solutions in the grips, rotors, tubeless etc..

Go through every part on your bike and compare with other items on this list:
http://weightweenies.starbike.com/listings.php

Enjoy.

stick a shit load of carbon on it….

I reckon the frame is the heavy bit there. See if you can find out what it weighs compared to a similar travel Yeti or Santa Cruz

You could try 2×9 or 2×10 – I went with a middleburn duo and 11-34 cassette and pretty much have most of the range I had with 3 rings, apart from the ultra granny ratio which is near unusable anyway.

Apparently you can then save a bit more with a road mech on the front.

Looking for tyres with less rolling resistance might make more sense than dropping weight.

Also tuning the rear shock – the efficiency of the rear suspension is going to make a lot of difference trying to race a FS.

Ditching lock ons for foam grips? Jeez, that is a serious step backwards 😯

Ditching lock ons for foam grips? Jeez, that is a serious step backwards

Why? some of them are pretty good plus grippy in the wet.