well, not sure if that's the true weight differential, but it's probably close.
what am i talking about? the difference between my wife's bike and mine. at jiminy saturday, my monster T stopped getting full travel, suddenly becoming the worlds's heaviest cross country fork. my wife was pretty much knackered and done for the day, so i swapped out her spds for my flat pedals and took 4 or so runs on her bike. damn, what a difference!
it was obviously undersprung (both fork and rear shock) and i bottomed both ends a few times, but i felt a lot faster on it, even though i'd not ridden the thing at all, aside from a few runs in ireland back in '03.
the bikes in question are an '02 Giant DH w/ avy and monster T, 321s and general all around beefiness...the only concessions to weight savings are the stem and post (both thomson).
her bike, on the other hand, is pretty much optimized for minimal weight...Orange 222 frameset, tubeless 721 on the rear, ti sprung 5th element, world cup boxxer w/ ti springs, e13 direct mount stem, thomson post, hope rear hub, CK headset, etc - bling out the wazoo. the tires were probably about the same (i had minions f/r, she has a high roller front and michie comp 24, all 2.5").
i used to think that shaving weight was for racer weenies, but seriously i felt like i had a ton more speed on the same runs, despite the unfamiliarity of the bike.
i think i'm gonna put the '02 boxxer back on my bike and hope the seals last longer than 4 days of riding.
what am i talking about? the difference between my wife's bike and mine. at jiminy saturday, my monster T stopped getting full travel, suddenly becoming the worlds's heaviest cross country fork. my wife was pretty much knackered and done for the day, so i swapped out her spds for my flat pedals and took 4 or so runs on her bike. damn, what a difference!
it was obviously undersprung (both fork and rear shock) and i bottomed both ends a few times, but i felt a lot faster on it, even though i'd not ridden the thing at all, aside from a few runs in ireland back in '03.
the bikes in question are an '02 Giant DH w/ avy and monster T, 321s and general all around beefiness...the only concessions to weight savings are the stem and post (both thomson).
her bike, on the other hand, is pretty much optimized for minimal weight...Orange 222 frameset, tubeless 721 on the rear, ti sprung 5th element, world cup boxxer w/ ti springs, e13 direct mount stem, thomson post, hope rear hub, CK headset, etc - bling out the wazoo. the tires were probably about the same (i had minions f/r, she has a high roller front and michie comp 24, all 2.5").
i used to think that shaving weight was for racer weenies, but seriously i felt like i had a ton more speed on the same runs, despite the unfamiliarity of the bike.
i think i'm gonna put the '02 boxxer back on my bike and hope the seals last longer than 4 days of riding.