[disclosednot]

I am getting a Kona Cinder Cone in just a precious few months. I am getting it used from a camp I just have to wait on pick up. Anyway. I am looking to drop the bike down in weight upon its arrival and I want some suggestions.

I have already planned on installing the following lighter parts when it gets here but I want to drop as much weight as I can. Its currently up at 26 I believe.

I am replacing the Handlebars with Titec Hellbents. The stem with a Kore Aheadlight 3. The cranks with RaceFace Prodigy XC. The seatpost with a Salsa.

I am not into making upgrades for the sake of upgrading but the parts I have are parts that will set the bike up to my style. I just want to make a list of parts to try to acquire used or through trades.

 

[LostBoyScout]

It's easy to drop a full pound with a set of really light tires, like Schwalbe Skinny Jimmy, or Maxxis 330's.

Most other parts are gonna cost ya a pretty penny to get the really light stuff. ie, SID fork, XTR or Chris King hubset

 

[novice]

instead of the raceface prodigy crank, the truvativ stylo team is a better crankset for gram counting. And it is said to shift better than the raceface. If you want to drop as much weight as you can I would suggest the following:
-rotating mass, this is the most noticable place to save weight. Light weight tubes, light tires, then rims, spokes then hubs are important for noticable weight loss in that order as the farther from the axel the more the mass increases the moment of the wheel.
-http://weightweenies.starbike.com/listings.asp
-http://www.light-bikes.com/
-there are always lighter parts it seems, but lightness costs money
-and a ritchey wcs mtb stem is quite light, prolly 40-60 grams lighter than the kore.

 

[LostBoyScout]

the starbike listings is very cool.. I found myself listing out my bike components and making a list to add up of weights!

I stopped though, since I'm at work :

 

[rstrange1]

Konas are gonna be heavy no matter what. The bike won't get enjoyable until you get it down to 24lbs on a HT. (Agility and throwability add to your speed and overall momentum) Even then you may sacrifice comfort and get fatigued very quickly. (less riding time) My advice to you is to buy next years bike.

I ride a Rocky Mtn Elevation with no original parts other than the fork. The only proper way to lose a lb of weight is to buy a better fork and to get a light cassette on a new bike. (that is what I am doing next spring)Those are the last things that I haven't changed yet on mine. Once they are done I will still want to lose more weight...

Here are the rest of my parts: 25lbs and falling
SRAM 9.oSL - Shifting
SRAM 9.o - Disc Hubs (adapters off)
SRAM 7.o - Levers/Cassette/Chain
Raceface Next LP,System,Real Seal, Bar, Chromoly Taperlock BB
2001 Marzocchi Z.5 Bomber (4 lbs)
Selle Italia - Oktavia Genuine Gel saddle
Cane Creek Thudbuster 3.9" suspension seatpost (1.1lbs)
Time pedals - Aluminum
Maxxis Tires - Mofo XC
Mavic 517's
Swiss DT competition spokes
Shimano LX front derailleur, vbrakes

Believe me when I tell you that you are nowhere near 26lbs. Competitive riders are 24lbs and below in racing. Your bicycle needs comfort, control and speed. The moral of the story?

Get a 24lb dual suspension bicycle beforemarket. (when you buy it) It isn't worth the aftermarket upgrades, get those later.

 

[WTGPhoben]

I disagree that you need a 24lb hardtail for it to be a good ride. I find that too little weight makes HTs a little squirrely for me. I like the inertia of something burlier. (granted I'm 6'4" so I'm never getting a bike that weighs less than 25lb if i plan on having wheels and a fork)

 

[riderx]

Originally posted by disclosednot
I want to drop as much weight as I can.

Ditch the gears.

Oh, and BTW, don't choose a tire just because it's lightweight. Afterall, keeping the rubber-side down is a good thing.

Just remember, hauling extra weight up the mountain will make you stronger.

Another weight saving tip: Drink a couple cups of pre-ride coffee, then hit the crapper. Now that's dropping a pound!

 

[BMXman]

Originally posted by Joakim N
The best way ever to save wheight, is to loose it on your stomach! You´ll save alot of time when you´re climbing!

exactly....either that of get ready to drop some serious cash...bikes are probably the most expensive mode of transportation if you take price per pound into consideration.....D

 

[novice]

If you want to get picky, get two sets of wheels. One light, one heavy, and use the same tires so that you get use to the traction, but use the wire bead version on the heavy wheelset. And don't forget heavy tubes for that second wheelset. It makes for good training. But watch out in the tech stuff then as you have less mass spining, less inertia, to keep you upright.

And don't choose a tire because of the weight, but don't dismiss on for that reason either. There are som egood lightweight tires out there. They just usually are not good all around tires, they do one or two things well, but suck at others. So pick a tire that fits your ridingstyle/terrain.

 

[disclosednot]

here's the deal. I am 6'2" at 160lbs so losing weight of my stomach is not really a good idea.

I am building a bike to race cross country. I am not a gear head and I am poor. I want to make things cheap, buying a new bike is not an option and besides I want to ride not to work and make payments.

Tires are definantly what I am looking into. I need a fairly burly set of rims since I taco rims rather easily. Tubes and hubs are also things I will change out.

Is a lighter fork also an item to look into?

 

[El Jefe]

Originally posted by disclosednot
here's the deal. I am 6'2" at 160lbs so losing weight of my stomach is not really a good idea.

I am building a bike to race cross country. I am not a gear head and I am poor. I want to make things cheap, buying a new bike is not an option and besides I want to ride not to work and make payments.

Tires are definantly what I am looking into. I need a fairly burly set of rims since I taco rims rather easily. Tubes and hubs are also things I will change out.

Is a lighter fork also an item to look into?

Light bike on a budget? Hmm. tough, but not impossible.

If you're 6'2" at 160lbs and you taco rims easily, you need to work on a bit of bike handling to preserve those hoops. Actually, I'm only half joking. You're not heavy, so unless you're doing big drops, a good set of lightweight rims shouldn't fold if you're riding smoothly. Smooth and efficient is essential in XC anyway, so work on preserving the hoops, and you can save weight AND $$ on replacing them.

Try going tubeless. Stan's tubeless will shave a bunch of rotating weight, and you can throw any tires you like on there - not just UST. Tire choice is a personal preference, but I tend to go with better traction over lighter weight. Still, my XC tires (1.9 MaxxisHigh Roller 465g and Maxxis Larsen TT 1.9 450g) aren't exactly heavyweights.

A light fork can save major weight, and there are deals on 02 stuff all over the place. Of course, if you have a 4.5lb hardtail frame, you're kind of limited as to how light you can make the bike. You can get a Manitou Mars Elite or SID SL for just a couple hundred bucks and you're down to around 3lbs on the fork.


The light cranks suggested by others are good, but if you want a solid, lightweight, inexpensive crankset, XT is hard to beat. Heavier BB than XTR, but the crankset is lighter than XTR. You can get one for less than $100. Of course you can go much lighter, but again, that's $$$.

Saddles can be pretty heavy, but what price comfort? I have a WTB Rocket V Stealth Race whatever...... on my XC bike and I love it. Kind of pricey, but for about half the price, you can get the lower end Rocket V and only add 50 grams.

Good luck building your bike and racing!

 

[novice]

for light weight cranks on a budget I'd reccomend the TruVativ stylo team crankset, ISIS, and the Bill Shook ISIS bb. The Shook BB is about 160 grams with a cromoly spindle, hard to beat that. The combo should run about 50 for the BB and another 110 for the crankset. If you don't want to spend that, ten you should look at the LX/ES-70 crankset/BB combo. This one should run 75 bucks and is only about 5 grams heavier than XT, plus, I like the dark color better anyways.

And El Jefe is correct that XC racing requires a fair amount of handling skills. You're not a heavyweight rider so you should be able to use something the mavic 517 rim as long as your handling skills are there. These rims are light and fairly strong for what they are, but there is only so much they can take.

Just remember that removing rotating mass will make the difference in the feel of the bike. It will accelerate/deccelerate faster. And the bike feels much faster.