My Giant XTC always seems surprisingly heavy compared to mates’ bikes but I can’t really see where the weight is. Seems like it should be a bit lighter for the spec, which is decent but admittedly not weight weenie:

XTC Alu hardtail frame (2006 I think)
Hope Pro II hubs/DT Swiss XR rims
XT Mechs
LX chainset/Octalink BB
Hayes Stroker Trail brakes
Reba SLs (OEM so maybe steel steerer)
Charge Knife saddle
Fire XC Pro folding tyres

In fact the only original bits are the seatpost, bar and stem which are all Giant’s own brand stuff. For comparison a mate recently bought a Rockhopper with a (on paper) much lower spec but it’s noticeably lighter.

There can’t be too much weight in the frame and Giant-branded bits- can there?

XTC frame aint bad for alu, 1.5kg from memory. Brakes and chainset are easy wins and wheels while good and tough could be lighter.

Lighter isn’t ‘always’ better… if you’re running a double/triple up front consider switching to a 1×9/10 setup?

my m8 recently upgraded his standard GT riser bars to some cheap, wide ones that he paid £25 for.
they flet like they were about half the weight.
the originals were unbelievably heavy.
i imagine many own branded bars are similar.
likely, ditto the stem, seatpost, saddle etc.
EDIT: felt, not flet, doh!

cassette – bet its a boat anchor
tyres – bet they are lead weight

weight weenie, devil is in the detail,

ever weighed your brake mounts?
ever weighed your stem bolts?
ever weighed your chain?
ever weighed your tubes?

do tubes need collars and caps?

removed stem cap when headset loaded?

an addiction starts

yep, cheap cassettes weigh about 16 tons too.

Those tyres are a bit weighty

Thanks guys,

XT cassette, so shouldn’t be too bad. Are Fire XCs really that heavy?

I have a 2009 Giant Reign X1 it comes in at 42lb with pedals

My Fire XC’s are 590g on the kitchen scales.

XR what? The number is effectively the weight. OE bars, stem and post are usually cheap and heavy and amongst the first things to be upgraded.

You say its heavy but you don’t quote a weight?! Car park dead lift is hardly accurate, and different balance (eg a burly fork) can distort the perception of weight.

Finally, my current bike is one of my heaviest, a full sus which at a guess weighs about 34bs. It’s also the best bike I’ve owned.

If you’re going off claimed weights (both manufacturer and owner), don’t, they’re a mix of lies and delusion. If I ever want to knock 5lbs off a bike, i’ll just borrow my mate’s magic scales.

If you want to save weight you have to know weight- take it to bits, throw it all on the scales, figure out what you have and what you can improve easily. Otherwise you’ll end up like I did, replacing cheap OEM handlebars because they look heavy, then weighing them and discovering they’re 20g lighter than the replacements 😉

The whole setup sounds reasonably light to me, the fork, wheels, frame and tyres are acceptably light. I note that you’re using the stock post, bars and stem – a multitude of gramme related sins can lie here. I swapped the saddle and post on my Wolf Ridge and saved best part of three quarters of a pound there alone.

My first point of upgrade would be to change these for lighter items. If you’re still unhappy with the weight then you might try going tubeless – but you’ll struggle with Panaracers.

Rims are XR4.2s.

I don’t know how much it actually weighs, but it’s noticeably heavier than lots of (apparently) comparable XC hardtails- car park dead lift, admittedly. People are often a bit surprised by it.

And before people start, I know it doesn’t matter how heavy other people think it is, or even really how heavy I think it is when I’m out riding it. And it’s not like it weighs 40lbs or anything. But it’s a bit porkier than I feel it should be given the upgrades it’s had and I’m just wondering where it is.

Basically I’ve only replaced bits when they’ve worn/broken rather than just to save weight so things like bars/stem aren’t likely to be changed any time soon!

In London’s Burning one of the blokes was complaining about his bike being heavy. Turned out the rest of the watch was taking out the seat post and pouring sand into the seat tube. Do you trust your mates?…

Chainset is probably a porker, depending on the rings. Those Hayes brakes aren’t very light either from memory of my old set

Does it ride well? Do you enjoy riding it? If yes don’t worry about it.

XR4.2 pretty light (about 420g I would guess 🙂 ). I’d weigh the post, stem and bar and compare with claimed weights for replacements. You can go p.i.m.p and £££ (my easton haven bar and stem for instance) but there is plenty of stuff that is light and not too expensive. Northwind’s advice is sage, some OE kit is heavy, but it’s worth finding out before you spend money replacing it!

Conversely, I have easton flatboys that weigh nearly 600grms, nearly twice the weight of Wellgo Mg1 flat pedals, maxxis minions, a Gravity dropper post, marzocchi coil forks… all stuff that is substantially heavier than some of the competition, but all stuff I prefer to the competition it replaced.

This way madness and obsession lies (been there done that with a Ti hardtail many years ago)

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/

a 7.7Kg XTC?

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/articles.php?ID=96

or this sub 6Kg, probably totally unrideable Scott

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/articles.php?ID=94

The problem is, whenever anyone asks where the excess weight is on their bike, the answer is nearly always: everywhere.

Usually I would say saddle, seatpost, bars and stem to start with..always thought the older giant stuff was heavy- I’m sure you could look it all up on weight weenies to compare with more modern stuff..
That way you wouldnt have to take things of and weigh them..
I would also recommend using the classifieds as a good way of getting decent second hand bits- upgraded most of my bikes over the years that way..
Plus- carbon just looks nice!!

From memory of upgrading my XTC of a similar vintage the bars,stem and seatpost were all pretty weighty.

Worth weighing the tubes too.If you still have the OEM Kneda tubes in they can be 180g or more each.

Its surprising where weight can be hidden,Ive had rim strips that were twice as heavy as others,then theres bits you don`t think about like heavy OEM saddles,grips,plastic spoke protectors,pump brackets,bottle cages,bolts,headset spacers,brake discs and q/r skewers.

I saved about 30g by swapping my spacer stack for carbon spacers.

Panaracers are never the lightest tyres. I swapped out a pair of Cinders for a Racing Ralphs and knocked off about 300g of mass in one go.

As Northwind says the devil is in the detail.Weigh everything twice before you buy new.

Easy wins are normally lighter tubes,ESI grips and Schwalbe tyres.

Chainset, internal BB and Giant stock parts (bar, post, post, clamp) at my first assumption. If you have standard Shimano skewers, they’re like 120g+. That can be halved without much expense. Hayes rotors are heavy, there are many lighter alternatives. Airotors are very light but feel a bit less stoppy.

You’ve not mentioned pedals, these can have a pretty big impact. Nano/WahWah/ Electrons are massive, thin and light as well as being super grippy. I personally have WahWahs, they’re awesome!

I built my Mrs an Arete, the laydeez XTC and the frame’s pretty lightweight. I think the weight is in the finishing kit, get your scales out 😉

I’ve changed saddle, bars, seatpost, stem before and noticed a huge difference.

If your replacing bits take a look at kcnc bits on xcracer.com – very good £ per gram components. stem/bar/post/rotors/qr’s etc..

Don’t think anyone’s putting sand in the tubes!
So sounds like the lard is accumulating everywhere, with the original bars/stem/seatpost maybe responsible for a chunk of it.

Never stray from Shimano QR skewers.. they’re still the only ones around that actually do the job well..
And certainly never use Ti

oodles of mud in the bb/seat tube? That’ll weigh it down!

As above it’s about £1/g from start.

If it still rides ok then do it gradually when things wear out. It will seem less expensive and work just as well.

Octalink to HTII should be a saving I reckon.

There is every chance it is partly the frame though.

I lost half a kilo not long back changing clark s2 brakes to hope m4’s and the bars to cheep ragley carbon wisers. Are there tyres lighter than th.e fire xc that grip as well. Id be interested to know. Just spent two days looking for light replacement to xr 4.2d rim that burst.

I have a Giant Seek 1 Hybird:

I removed the Deore Octalink chainset, weighed it at 1450g’s!

Swapped it for an XT at 850g’s – 600g’s is a fair bit 🙂

I have a set of the factory Hope / DT4.2s. Don’t have the figures in front of me but they’re noticeably heavier (and slower) than the two Roval and Easton sets I have.

After the wheels, we’re talking crankset, bars, stem seatpost and saddle.

Ooh, I didn’t think about the chainset. LX Octalink is pretty lardy, so swapping to HT2 will save you a wedge. You can buy a 10 speed XT chainset for under one hundred and thirty rubs too, which is a comparative bargain – ten speed chainsets work perfectly with nine speed cassettes.

While I’m on the subject, an XT/SRAM 990 cassette will save you around 200g over Deore/SRAM 950.

Just picked up my newly serviced XTC with Reba’s 15mm maxle, Hope Pro II on Arch EX, XT 1*10, Hope X2 Race brakes, easton ea70 stem alu n bar carbon, SDG post and carbon saddle with Conti Mountain Kings shop weighed it @ 23.8 – happy with it. Could easily lose weihgt with wheels, tyres but its a good solid build to do some XC racing but its built to feel solid on the trail.

Inner tubes. Buy some lightweight ones at 100g each, rather than 300g’ish.

I bet that chainset is heavy too! Oh I’ve just seen the other comments… replace it!

You say you bike is heavy but I cannot find a sentene where you have stated your bikes weight.

What does it weigh. Why it feels heavy will be a combination of all components, changing one think will only make a small differene (some bits make a smaller difference than others) changing alot of components an make a bigger difference. Weighing your bike would be a good start start as you have a something to work from.

it’s usually cheaper to just buy a new one.

Weigh your bike, but in pieces.
Until you know every component you will just waste money on the replacements hoping for a magic result.
The devil is certainly in the detail…I mean crank arms, individual chainrings, bolts and the BB need separate weights to see the picture.
I have 3 hardtails at 8.7 8.8 and 9.8Kg where I do know each item on a spreadsheet (retired and too much free time).
It becomes an obsession….and then you spoil it all by getting it muddy.

PaulD

PaulD – Member

….and then you spoil it all by getting it muddy.

Often wondered how much an everyday coat of mud weighs – Dirt did a before & after the race thing with muddy DH bikes, I think.

emailed you

All the own brand (original stuff) you’ve mentioned will be harbouring excess weight, no doubt.

Start wi them as they are inexpensively replaced using.