What's the best way to lighten a bike?
I have a Trek Remedy 7 which is a little on the heavy side and I want to make it a bit lighter. It currently weighs 32.3lbs or 14.6kg Should I start on rolling weight or look at a new groupset, carbon bars etc? The spec is as follows;
Fork - RockShox Yari RL, Solo Air 150mm travel
Rear Derailleur - Shimano SLX, Shadow Plus
Shifter - Shimano Deore, 10-speed
Chain set - Race Face Ride 32t
Cassette - Sunrace MS3 11-42t
Chain - KMC X10
Brakeset - Shimano Deore
Handlebar - Bontrager alloy
Stem - Bontrager Rhythm Comp
Wheels - DT Swiss M1900
Tyres - Front Bontrager XR4 Expert. Rear - Maxxis Ardent. Both set up tubeless
Saddle - Fabric Scoop chromo rails
Seatpost - KS eThirty Integra
Simple rules...
Function, reliability, weight and cost.
Spreadsheet of everything with weights and prices, if you swap it make sure it's actually lighter and also will perform.
For that the Yari could probably get swapped.
Lighter drivetrains are available
Not sure on the wheels
Find the top spec bike and see what was on it and what it weighed before throwing too much cash into it.
To be honest that spec is entirely solid, I wouldn't rush to change anything just to save a few grams.
With that said, carbon cranks and bars would be where I start, both save decent amounts of weight without any performance loss. A ti saddle could also save some grams. I'm using sram x01 carbon cranks i found on pinkbike for £80. Second hand is often cheaper.
More costly would be swapping the yari to a pike, and upgrading the dropper. Both could save a couple of hundred grams and get a performance benefit out of it. If the current ones are in good nick you could offset the cost by selling them as well.
The wheels are reliable, solid and not all the heavy. It would take a lot of money to buy a better wheelset and it probably wouldn't be as strong.
Thanks enimgas I will look for some lighter second hand cranks and carbon bars to start.
Pedals? You can often drop a good bit of weight from pedals.
Most the weight is in frame first, then the wheels and then tyres.
Tyres vary a lot in weight, even same brand and model but different compositions and widths.
how <ahem!> chunky is the rider?
I personally would look at a different wheelset, perhaps second hand. Someone was selling a set of DT swiss 1501's in the classified for less than £300. You would save about 350grams, but more importantly it would feel like more than that as the rims are where most of the weight is saved. 1501's are still pretty strong
Wheels... I think the 1900s are heavyish. Lighter cranks too.
It's going to cost you though. Bikes don't go from 32 to 30 or less cheaply.
Yari is a lyrik chassis AFAIK... Not much to be saved going to Like.
Problem with making an enduro bike lighter is that it doesn't do the job it's designed for.
You need to find a balance between lightweight and reliability
Lose some weight and get fitter..
Buy a road bike is the answer here.
Buying a road bike is [i]never[/i] the answer, [u]anywhere[/u] 😆
+1 for buying a road bike and getting faster.
Otherwise I stripped my Pitch down to nuts and bolts and weighed everything. Put that in a spreadsheet, then look at what you can afford to change. Really obvious and cheap stuff is things like foam grips, cost a fiver and often save 100g or more. And weigh stuff in your spares box, you may well already have lighter saddles, pedals, chainrings, etc just lying around.
There's also issues around unnecessary weight. Do you actually use the dropper when going downhill, or do you stop, chat to your mates, then stop it and head off, leaving it down until the bottom of the trail? Do you also carry around a couple of lb of pointless electronics and crap (go-pro, garmin, heavy tools, etc).
Cloudnine how do you know I need to get fitter?
Buy an all-mountain bike or betterment...a trail bike...does the same as an enduro bike but costs and weighs less as they aren't the new marketing toy for bike manufacturers...
Just in case all other advice is bobbins...
To get from 34 to 32lbs isn't too costly in a bike like that. But 32 to 30lbs whilst keeping the components strong and the tyres tough will be pricey - and unless you're competing for podiums the difference you notice will be mostly placebo effect.
Take the pedals off next time you weigh it - that's what everyone else does, should save you a pound!
31lbs 15oz for my similar type of bike. It's only got heavier as its got older, due to bigger burlier tyres, wider bars, a longer cage mech, a longer dropper post and a -2 deg headset. Basically it was 1lb lighter originally. It's better now though!
What is your desire for a lighter bike? Ride further? Getting fitter will do this
Easier riding uphill? Do some strength training.
The point is physical fitness & rider skill is way more effective than lightening your bike by a few grammes.
But in reality everyone likes to bling their bike than get fitter because it's easier.....
Cloudnine how do you know I need to get fitter?
Shaving 200g off your bike will only make for 0.26913% gain in speed.
Buying a road bike will make eleventy five % increase in enduro watts and speed.
Logical stw conclusion means you need to grumpen up and get a road bike..
No fitness issues or strength training needed. Just wanted some advice to try and lighten the bike to help on all day rides in the Peak District over 40/50km.
No fitness issues or strength training needed.
In denial too.
You'd make a perfect roadie 😆
Fork - pike 200g
Handlebar - change to carbon 100-150g
Wheels - quite a few will save 250-300g
Crank - xt or slx arms ~50g
seatpost - 150-200 grams depending on model
how do you know I need to get fitter?
Didn't see your name on the start list for the tour of Yorkshire? There's always room for improvement.
Just wanted some advice to [s]try and lighten the bike to[/s] help on all day rides in the Peak District over 40/50km
Fitness will do that far more effectively than shedding weight off the bike.
A good training goal is to improve your power to weight ratio (at FTP) by 10% in 8 weeks. Either by gaining 10% more power or losing 10% of your weight. In simple terms that makes you about 10% quicker up a hill (at mtb speeds on a steep hill).
To get a 1% gain by shedding weight on the bike would mean a ~2lb (assuming the rider is ~170lb) weight reduction. You're not going to shed 20lb from your bike in the next 8 weeks for the cost of a road bike (£300?).
No amount of getting fitter makes a heavy bike ride like a lighter bike, you might as well say paint it a different colour.
If you want to weightweenie, you have to know what everything actually weighs- sometimes you can make a big saving with a simple swap, sometimes you think you've got something sorted and it turns out the OE part was randomly light. The Remedy spec's basically solid and sorted which is actually pretty difficult to upgrade from, because there's no real soft spots, it's all decent...
As others have said, dropping that amount of weigh won't be cheap. Forks and wheels should shift the most but at what cost? Might be cheaper to sell your bike and buy a lighter one second hand.
I lost 6-7kg of body weight and got a little bit fitter. Much faster now. Bike's stayed the same weight.
all day rides in the Peak District over 40/50km
Is the Remedy maybe a bit overkill for this sort of riding? Sure, the downs will be great fun but if you are covering lots of miles (and climbs presumably) then perhaps you need something more trail oriented than Enduro gnarrrr.
Lose weight get fitter. You could drop 5kg? Not going to be able to lighten the bike by that much. Then spend your money on some carbon wheels. Wheels always give the biggest bang for buck. It's not just the weight loss, lighter wheels accelerate faster.
Thought a frame was about 15% of a total build....
Chinese ICAN Carbon rims, exotic carbon bars / post...
Trade reliability against lighter and mor fragile..
Or have a big poo....
Carbon bar is the only thing I could instantly recommend.
Could be a heavy chainset, if so I'd only replace with something like SLX or XT - carbon crankarms are madness IMO.
Rest looks functional mid-range kit. Is the cassette heavy?
If weighing with pedals, that seems par for the course.
If you're not actually racing enduro, chop it in for a lighter 'all mountain' / 'trail' bike. I've got a 120mm 26" full sus which weighs in at under 12kg, with fairly modest parts too. Use it mainly on the Quantocks but have been all over Wales, the Lakes as well as the Peaks. IMHO 120mm is perfect for pretty much all England and Wales riding and a whole lot easier to hump up hills all day. The only time I felt that maybe I needed more was Bike Park Wales, so I'll hire a bigger bike if I go again.
..... improve your power to weight ratio (at FTP) by 10% in 8 weeks. Either by gaining 10% more power or losing 10% of your weight.
I think he'd have to lose 9% of his weight to improve his power to weight ratio by 10% Shirley?
Light Bicycle carbon wheelset, Pike and tyre change would see you down to 31lbs for around 1k spend if you offset the value back from selling the parts being replaced. Carbon bar and carbon railed saddle would save you another 1/2lb for maybe £300 and carbon cranks would see you hit 30lbs for £200 if you looked for some deals on SRAM XO carbon.
If it were my money, I'd rather sell the current frame and invest into a carbon frame instead. The weight Sam in may be only 1 - 1.5lbs but gives you better scope to get under 30lbs in the long term.
chrisrobs - Member
No fitness issues or strength training needed. Just wanted some advice to try and lighten the bike to help on all day rides in the Peak District over 40/50km.
It will yield more for less than trying to lighten the bike, the strongest, fittest and fastest I know all train hard and put in a heap of km's on all their bikes.
Dropping 1kg from yours - if you want to see take 1l/kg less water with you next time and see what the difference is.
The current top spec one is 13.1 (probably without pedals) the 7 is listed as 14.65kg so swapping to all that is going to cost a bomb and yield you 1500g of saving...
https://www.trekbikes.com/au/en_AU/bikes/mountain-bikes/trail-mountain-bikes/remedy/remedy-9-8/p/1190600-2017/
I was looking at getting a Trek Remedy. The 8 is listed as 13.88kg and the difference in spec between the two are the forks (Yari, Pike) and drivetrain (Deore 2x10, Sram GX 1x11).
So if you ignore replacing the fork since the Yari is good and only 200g more. That should mean going to a 1x11 drivetrain will save you 500/600g.
How does it ride btw?
If you are running a 2x set up then swap to a 1x for £30-40 to save 0.75-1lb in weight.
My bike is 31.7lb with a coil and heavy bar (no carbon) swapping to lighter parts that I've had in past makes no noticeable difference.
Shaving 200g off your bike will only make for 0.26913% gain in speed.
Buying a road bike will make eleventy five % increase in enduro watts and speed.
Logical stw conclusion means you need to grumpen up and get a road bike..
Yeah but light bikes are fun, buying bike parts is fun, fettling is fun.
Road bikes <> fun.
mikewsmith - MemberDropping 1kg from yours - if you want to see take 1l/kg less water with you next time and see what the difference is.
Who carries a litre of water on their enduro bike? Taking weight out of your pack isn't the same.
Fork - pike 200g> [b]£800[/b]
Handlebar - change to carbon 100-150g >[b]£100[/b]
Wheels - quite a few will save 250-300g> [b]£500[/b]
Crank - xt or slx arms ~50g> [b]£200[/b]
seatpost - 150-200 grams depending on model >[b]£300[/b] (dropper)
£1900ish then.Bargain
Having spent an awful lot of money in the past making my bikes lighter, I always find it frustrating when you get the usual "Go to the toilet before a ride" or "lose some weight yourself" comments. I think everyone understands the importance of that, however how about you lose some weight from the bike as well as improve on fitness and overall weight loss?
For me the biggest gains were losing weight from the wheels and (if possible) the tyres. The bike feels so much more nimble with a lighter set as generally OEM wheels are pretty heavy. That said buying light is not always a good thing, its worth looking at some compromises so as not to drag an "enduro" bike into an XC trail category. Its not what it is designed to do so will be compromised elsewhere. The DT Swiss XM1501's mentioned for sale earlier in this thread were mine (sold now mind) and in my opinion are an excellent wheelset to lose some rotating weight from your bike. I would then go down the route others have said in stripping and weighing the bike. It will surprise you how much or how little some parts weigh. Create a spreadsheet detailing the part, the weight, the weight of a potential upgrade and the price. Prioritise the upgrades by £/lb cost vs saving.
Who carries a litre of water on their enduro bike? Taking weight out of your pack isn't the same.
I assume the OP who is doing 40-50km loops of the peak 😉
Given the top spec weight I'm not sure the OP is going to achieve more than that saving.
After that some hard compound single ply rubber should cut it
mikewsmith - MemberI assume the OP who is doing 40-50km loops of the peak
No, you misunderstand, like I say taking water out of your pack isn't the same as taking it off the bike so carrying less water will only have the same effect if you've got it in bottles.
Yep but given what is on the list of changeable very little would have a lasting boost to the bike.
Having spent an awful lot of money in the past making my bikes lighter, I always find it frustrating when you get the usual "Go to the toilet before a ride" or "lose some weight yourself" comments. I think everyone understands the importance of that, however how about you lose some weight from the bike as well as improve on fitness and overall weight loss?
This is true, but it is also true that despite your best efforts and vast expense in attempts to 'add lightness' the results are not significant. You're talking about 5% or so weight reduction for a considerable financial investment, and the reality is that for almost all of us that is going to make bugger all difference. Your all up weight is going to vary from ride to ride by a much bigger margin than that based upon the cloths you wear, if your bike is clean or dirty when you start the ride, how much water you're carrying, whether you ate before the ride or not etc.
The reality is that for most of us we could probably lose a KG or two from our guts for free and a KG off your gut is worth at least 2 off your bike and will result in genuine performance gains. You're the engine on the bike at the end of the day so if you want performance gains then that is where you should look to get them. Once the engine is as honed as it possibly can be then start chasing grams on your bike. Ironically for me, all the kit upgrades I've ever done that have had a noticeable improvement on bike performance have all added weight (upgraded forks, shock, dropper post).
Love the way this thread has gone:
OP: I'd like to lower the weight on my bike.
Many other people: No you don't, you need to get fitter or less fat.
I'd have targeted fork and cassette to shift a few hundred grams in the first instance, then maybe bars.
Rorschach - MemberFork - pike 200g> £800
Handlebar - change to carbon 100-150g >£100
Wheels - quite a few will save 250-300g> £500
Crank - xt or slx arms ~50g> £200
seatpost - 150-200 grams depending on model >£300 (dropper)
£1900ish then.Bargain
OP wanted to loose weight from his bike but who pays £800 for apike or £200 for an XT/SLX crank, or £300 for a reverb.
£1300ish then.Bargain
(am disappointed it took a full 7 posts for someone to reel that one out).
