[Closed] Getting the weight down!

neither... sell it all and buy a lighter bike.

Swapping bits simply doesn't do the job well or financially viably.

rep341 - Member

Thoughts on best way to improve the weight

buy a lighter bike. what he ^ said, you can spend a ****ing fortune on lighter parts.

or, get over it; you've got a great bike, spend your money on trips away to ride the arse off it.

Weight everything, get weights of anything you might swap and the price.

Thats the only way really you will get an idea about how much the build can go down on the frame.

140mm trail bike here 28-29lb in AM mode, the missus has the same one 27-28lb with carbon frames.

Things to look at tyres, 2x/3x? what about 1x with an expanded rear 10sp. Shimano cranks? Look at some of the SRAM carbon cranks.

Wheels can be good but again weigh what you have first.

Depends whether you are buying new or 2nd hand.
Wheels and tyres are a good place to start.
What do your wheels weigh with tyres now?

Bet you could lose a kilo cheaper and easier than the bike 🙂

Sounds like your bike is a bit overkill for what you do (from your description), so I'd sell up and buy something lighter/shorter travel. I went back to a hardtail, and am really enjoying it so far. Not found it limiting at trail centers either.

Mid-Long travel trail bikes will weigh 27-33lbs as a rule.

The whole point of owning one is being man enough to pedal up hill and ballsy enough to pedal fast down.

Best bet is to buy a sorted light 100mm xc machine, don the lycra and some 640mm bars then enjoy.

What brassneck said, that's a lot of bike for what you're riding. Sounds a lot like what I use a 25lbs 120mm HT for.

May be worth looking at bits other than frame, forks and wheels though. E.g. tyres and tubes.

Oh, and have a poo 🙂

Thoughts on best way to improve the weight

As above if you change components and focus on the grams you will end up with a horrible clothes horse of a bike that may be light but it will also be unbalanced. If you're happy with the geometry and feel of your Intense, have a close look at the things that make it draggy - basically the drivetrain as well as the wheels/tyres and to some extent the brakes.

I went through this exercise in 2012 with my Scott Voltage FR. It's an animal and in standard form it weighs a ton. I tried swapping the wheels and forks for lighter items and although the bike was lighter it felt awful. Purely by chance I fitted a lighter chainring and a superlight KMC chain and immediately although the bike wasn't that much lighter it felt a whole lot easier to pedal. I followed this with cranks, BB, wheels (similar weight to the originals but better hubs), tyres, tubes, cassette and pedals and the difference was amazing - maybe a kg or two off the total weight but so much easier to ride. The final piece of the jigsaw was the brakes - there was nothing obviously wrong with the std Elixirs but some new Shimanos made sure there was absolutely nothing dragging

What have now is a bike that isn't that much lighter than std but is really easy to pedal and still feels really stiff and solid

Thanks- this does sound like I have to sell up or swap and get a 120mm bike like a Camber or similair?
I would be buying second hand- ideally just need to find someone that wants to go burly from more XC type and swap 🙂

Its has some nice parts on it
Formual The One Brakes
XO shifters

But I think everything else is burly
Pikes- Burly!
Straitline MTB Cut special edition Flats - burly
Renthal Bars - burly

And so on

think I am too stuck back in the days when I did uplift days on SX Trails and DH bikes- now I use the suspension etc to get me out of trouble- time for a change!

Upgrading to lighter components & carbon won't make you faster
Bottom line... Fitness is what makes you faster along with rider skill. Rest is a tiny percentage

Upgrading to lighter components & carbon won't make you faster
Bottom line... Fitness is what makes you faster along with rider skill. Rest is a tiny percentage

The other option is to lose weight yourself.

My "XC" hardtail bike weighs 34lbs. Most of that is in the forks and wheels. I started to look for lighter replacements around christmas and realised I didn't want to spend the money. I lost 11 lbs instead and put even heavier wheels on (D321).

Depends on if you want real / actual weight or Internet forum bragging weight.

Slinging a load of expensive lightweight parts on will make it Internet forum light, starting with a light bike / frame will give you an actual / real light weight bike.

The choice is yours

Just weighed my Heckler which I use for everything but mainly XC/Trails stuff. 36lb!!! Still manage to pedal in up just about everywhere, even though I am the slowest in our group. At least everyone gets a breather while they're waiting for me to summit every climb.

Thing is, you can lose weight or gain fitness but that doesn't make a heavy bike ride like a light bike, there are other advantages than just climbing/speed (and also, some disadvantages mind)

I would suggest not getting a lighter fork. I used to run a Revelation that was a pound lighter than the Lyrik I use currently; I will not be going back!
Tyres vary between 500-1500 grammes; put some Ignitors on for XC riding.