Cheap wins to make my bike lighter…

So, below is the kit on my bike at the moment. What will give me the best return in a weight saving against money scheme:

Specialized Stumpjumper Elite
Rockshox recon solo air fork
Fox brain fade rear shock
Hope XC hubs on Mavic 317 rims
Charge spoon saddle
Ritchey comp seatpost
Superstar 80mm stem
Race face evolve bars (660mm)
Shimano SLX triple ring cranks
Shimano XT BB
Shimano XT shifters
Shimano XT rear mech
Shimano Deore front mech
Shimano XT front brake
Shimano Deore rear brake
Nobby Nic front tyre
Nobby nic rear
Shimano XT cassette
Shimano XT skewers

Current build if 13.4 Kg on my digital scales. Ideally I’d like to get it back down towards 12 kg.

Thanks for any advice.

Stop eating pies.

Lol, although slightly heavier than most I can’t save much more weight from me. I’ve already lost 6 stone!

Tyres, OEM tyres tend to be bob. Looks like s decent spec to me, use it until it’s nacked, then replace with lighter.

Go through your Camelbak and chuck out all the crap in it, then stop wearing baggy clothes. These two tips will make you faster than buying expensive stuff for your bike.

😆 Fair enough!

Can you go 1×10? Loose FDerailleur, cable, shifter and chainrings. That must be a fair amount of weight. Although your legs my suffer, depending on length of rides!

Go tubeless. That will save weight at the most critical point on the bike, rotating mass at the wheels. Weight loss here is more noticeable than a lighter static component like a seatpost.

That will save weight at the most critical point on the bike, rotating mass at the wheels.

Oh, I can’t be bothered with all that again…

Not sure if the 317’s will do tubeless 🙁

Would people say some Pro 2’s on stans rims and some dual air forks would save about 2 kg?

Rims aren’t that light, maybe go Stans Crest and Tubeless. Carbon post/bars will help too.

Take it to bits and weigh it all, you can’t properly weight weenie without knowing what you’re weenying. OEM parts can be amazingly heavy, or surprisingly light. I’d be suspicious of the tyres and (if they’re original) tubes, and the bars and seatpost, personally.

317s on XCs is not a particularily light wheelset but it’ll be pretty expensive to improve that drastically.

what grips you got on ? if you are using lock on grips chuck em off and get some ESI ones,cheap way to loose a fair chunk of weight.

my p7 has similar spec , The chearest fix to reduce its weight was to change the frame so my p7 will be wearing a cotic soul frame next weekend, posibly the only p7 with a cotic frame! 😯

I’d say wheels, tyres, tubes (or tubeless) and fork.

Lol, funnily enough I’m running ESI grips already 🙂

Changing rims will save me about 300 gram and going by the weights on chainreaction a dual air fork will save me about 450 gram. But it is a big outlay. I think when the bike is stripped down for it’s next proper rebuild I’ll get the scales out and weight it all so I can see where I can save weight.

Thanks for the ideas so far!

on a more serious note, cheap grams are to be gained in innertubes. my bonty ones where 65 grams each lighter, and they have stayed up.

Foam grips….Ritchey foam grips are ~30g a pair. Cheapo rubber grips are ~80g+ per pair. Lock on grips will be 100g+.

So you could save nearly 0.2lb for about £8!

No cheap way to save weight on that:

New forks (look at sids if you’re serious)
Lace some lighter rims on, plus you can go tubeless (tubeless isn’t normally a weight saving for an XC bike BTW, but it’s better in other ways).

Carbon bars.

What pedals? E.g. XT/540s are a reasonable saving over 520s and work better.

Might be easier to save weight on shoes though, and as others say think about what you’re wearing/carrying.

E.g. if you wear a camelback, consider pump on frame, bottle, tube/multi-tool/snack in back pockets and no bag. Makes more of a difference than a few lbs off the bike and riding without a bag is much nicer.

Of course, if you’re the “kitchen sink” sort this might not be for you…but worth thinking about it. Would investing in better kit for you (not the bike) mean you could carry less/dress more sensibly?

Cheap wins to make my bike lighter…

Paint it white?
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IGMC

OE Recons can be a bit weighty.

Dunno what vintage/travel your Stumpy is but a nice Reba or Revelation might lose 1lb.

Carbon bar and seatpost.

Older Shimano brakes are heavy, some new XTs or something light like Formulas can generally be bought for decent money.

and seatpost.

Probably only save about 40-50g unlikely to be worth it.

Stans Crest on Pro2’s will give you about 300g saving instantly, more when you go tubeless.

Going 1×10 would save you 200-250g

Swap the bars for Easton Carbon Monkeylites and save about 125g

Ritchey comp post is quite heavy, can save 100g or so switching to a better seatpost

Charge Spoon is a lot heavier than they claim, I’ve weighed 3 and all were 285-290g. Get a Specialized Romin, lighter and much comfier.

And finally, rather expensive but some dual air Rev’s or Reba’s will save 200-250g over the Solo air Recons.

You could tubeless the 317’s with a Stans rim strip, but it won’t save you much weight (strip = 50g, latex=50g vs tube).

SDG I-Beam saddle and seatpost
On-One CNC stem and Fat Bob foam lock-ons
Middleburn rings (when they wear)
XTR front mech
Ti skewers (from ebay)
Eggbeaters or Candy’s plus Ti axles (from ebay)
Hope Pro 2 SP’s cw Crests

Don’t bother with 1×9 unless very fit, or living in the Fens.

If you buy a new fork, ensure its a bolt thru.

But weigh everything before spending.

Singlespeed it?

Seriously though, there are great savings to be made in the rider part of the bike/rider combination.
As people have stated above, using a bottle and small saddlebag is not only lighter than a camelbak, but it’s much more comfortable. On rides of around two hours, I usually opt for the saddlebag.

Tubeless is definitely worth considering too.

I grind my brake pads down so there’s just enough left on them for the ride i’m doing. That saves a bit.
Not putting any oil on the chain will save you a bit more and worn out tyres also weigh a fair bit less.

Stu don’t you cut all the strands out of the cables bar 1? Way lighter.

I didn’t want to give all my tips away.

I actually strip my bikes and dip them in acid. Removes a thin layer of metal from everything, and the total weight loss is quite high.

3 rotor bolts, no stem cap, no bar end plugs, no dust caps

(TIC)

That sounds like a great idea.Can you recommend an acid that works on Ti?

I also drain out all the brake fluid from my hoses and replace it with compressed air. Much lighter.

I’d say it’s the frame. Although I dont know what year yours is you have pretty much the same spec as my 2007 Stumpy FSR in their M5 tubeset. My mate had a very similar spec to me on his Yeti ASR and his bike was nearly 2kg lighter. I have mirroered the same spec on my HT, a 2005 S-Works again in M5 and the Hardtail is way lighter but that obvious isn’t it?!?

Tyres are the only cheap win, after that it’s always the big expensive things like the wheela and the frame.

I run around the trails, holding just a set of bars. Obviously carbon bars, & the grips are not lock-ons. I’d be mad to stick a wopping 80g’s on there man. I run in a mankini, as Humvees weigh a ton.

My mate had a very similar spec to me on his Yeti ASR and his bike was nearly 2kg lighter

Then it wasn’t a similar spec… You’re not giving away 4lbs in the frame, not a cat in hell’s chance! An ASR-SL frame was about 4.8lbs IIRC, I guarantee your Stumpy is not 9lbs!

Ignore the rims, the hubs are heavy, don’t rebuild on what you have, just replace!

There’s nothing light, but no stupidly heavy parts. I’d not worry too much about the tyres, OEM tyres can be heavy, but as that didn’t come with Nics that’s not relevant here!

I’d do the wheels. Hope Hoops on Crests are a good bet. There are lighter options around though, check out some of the Funworks builds on ActionSports.de.

Buy lighter wheelset and just ride the bike, saddle is a bit heavy but most stuff you’ll be spending a fair amount of money for not great weight savings.
Sdg I beam saddle and post often available on offer at crc.

They get even lighter when they snap too!

aye sell the wheels and just get something lighter.

People are saying tyres but you have NNs so I assume they are going to be pretty light?

I’d go:

1. Wheels (tubless ready ones) – eg Arch Ex or Crest
2. Fork – sell yours and get a decent used Reba or similar (depending on travel)
3. Carbon bars (although the Race Face aren’t that heavy)

Hope pro 3 xc6’s or xc3’s run tubeless with lighter skewers will save about half that weight maybe more depends on your current spokes. if you sell you current wheels you should be able to do this for about £200
But getting these wheels depend how heavy you are and on your riding style.
Pro 2 Evo SP crests are cheaper and stronger but about 150g? heavier.

ive cut my bars down to 230mm wide and run them with no grips

There’s no easy answer to this. You’re already using light-ish tyres on light-ish rims with a light-ish crankset. There is a threshold when it becomes a matter of throwing a lot of £££s at the bike for a diminishing return in grammes.

Hope XC hubs aren’t the lightest and are an obvious candidate for upgrade here. A set of Pro2s on Mavic 717s can be had from Merlin for a reasonable price, or you could go for something more exotic. You might even find some deals on a Roval wheelset, but it won’t be cheap.

Next up as you’ve already noted are the forks. You’ll save a bundle of weight by fitting a set of Rebas or similar, they don’t necessarily have to be brand new – if you want a new bargain then check out Merlin.