Best places to lose weight on a bike.

Dam nice!

You need one of these. Could shave another 5g!

 

best enjoy the bike you have now & ride the hell out of it till you can afford your dream sl carbon frame + lightweight wheelset

 

nice, is thats yours? it's not much heavier than my single speed.

yea, and? that's like me saying i can still go downhill on my 18lb hardtail singlespeed with 50psi and small block 8's. Just because i can do it doesnt mean it's the best way to skin a cat.

 

Agreed with a previous comment that trying to cut weight from an AM bike might not actually make sense, as getting an average XC bike will probably get you down to 24-25 lbs anyway.

Its all about rotational weight, as previously suggested. Best relatively cheap way to cut down rotational weight is to look at yout tires and tubes. Go tubeless with light tires (since you have a Specialized bike you may want to look int some thin Fastrack LKs, or SLKs with some Stans juice inside, possibly some Sauserwinds; look for the S-works variety). This will probably give you the best bang for the buck. You will also immediately notice the weight difference.

However, again, this tire selection works best on an XC bike and may not work for you if you plan on riding your AM bike like an AM bike should be ridden.

If you are looking to better your climbing ability (why else be a weight weenie anyway), there are other, relatively cheaper ways. Take a look at your handlebar width. There is an excellent article in this month's Mountain Bike Action on handlebar width and the effects it has on leverage needed to climb. Also, consider bar ends. (Adding several grams for either of these might make you a better climber than dropping hundreds of $$$ for new cranksets).

As for your suggestion to go for a 2x9 crankset, at this stage itwould be a waste of money. If you had a sub 20 lbs carbon hardtail and if your body weight was less than 140 lbs, you would notice the benefit of a 2x9. If neither apply, the added gear ratios of a 3x9 will actually help you climb better.

Finally, the ultimately best way to loose weight is to take it off your body. Drop from 160 lbs to 140 lbs (you didn't give your height?). Will make you healthier and stronger. And most likely will cost you a fraction of what the exotic bike parts cost.

You give any of the slinky top pros a 40 lbs clunker and they will still whip most of our a$$e$ simply because they are more fit.

 

If you take a look at the stats for world class climbers you will see a trend... and it doesn't have much to do with the weight of the bike...

 

Best way to lose weight? Sell the pitch and get a carbon bike. A decent set of wheels is going to cost you a grand and you may drop a pound. get something like an Ibis, Blur or off the shelf 4-5 inch travel bike for 25-27 lbs. You could 3 grand on your Pitch and probably not hit 26 lbs.

 

This is good advice, maybe a bit excessive though. Furthermore, it may not be healthy advice. Keeping a SMALL amount of fat stores keeps you from canabalizing muscle. Losing weight may make you a stronger rider in terms of climbing speed, but it may actually make you weaker power and endurancewise. I actually climb better when I'm at a little heavier weight (granted, that's 150lbs. for me). Unless you're 5'5" or something, 160lbs. is not a big guy. It's hard to lose weight in general, losing specific weight is even harder. I guess my point is losing weight is a good idea, but trying to drop 20 pounds from a normal size guy may be extreme. That being said, you can't buy better climbing. Try losing a little bit of weight, work on technique, and learn to deal with suffering because at the end of the day you can't short cut it, climbing's hard.

 

Just take a massive dump before ride/race. Two pounds. Gone.

 

My thoughts are... aren't you a high schooler? With whose $ are you going to be tricking out your bike with a $600 wheelset and some super light XTR cranks?

 

Strip the paint. You'll probably loose close to a pound without sacrificing strength. Cheap too!

 

I think its half mental. My dad once told me my bike weighed 28 pounds, and I believed him. Then I weighed it and found out its 33 pounds. Climbing has never been harder. #-o

 

Andrew,

It takes you under 4 minutes to climb Cholla. I don't think you need to worry about saving a couple of pounds.

 

couple of easy things to lighten up

Cut your shoes laces so there is no extra lace or extra velcro... that extra rubber or plastic on the bottom of the shoe is obviously just weighing you down dremmel as necessary.
The spring in your rear derailuer is much to long, take it out cut 1/3 off, replance.
Of course carbon headset spacers are way lighter than anything else, except balsa wood.

couple of ideas, please post a pic of your bike and what you do to it, we are all curious.

 

man you arent the first one to come up with that idea. ever see/smell the line at the toilet before a race? man, it's basically the only reason i ever got to a race early so i could get there before Manuel and the chimichongas he had for dinner the night before.

 

ride heavy ride strong

 

Cut off one half of that fork. You don't need both sides of it. Run 16 spokes instead of 32. Cut off your top tube and put a carbon fiber tube from head tube to the seat tube.

 

Hmmmm, didnt read the other posts, not going to, just have a smartass comment or two to add.

Best place to lose weight on a bike starts above the bike.

Then

Rotation, Rotation, Rotation.

All other is just bragging rights.

 

1. sell your soul too, there is 21 grams gone..
2. exhale all your breathe and keep riding, dont inhale till you reach the top.. probably a minuscule amount of weight there..
3. ride naked
4. shave your head and rest of your body hair
5. get rid of one of your kidneys, eyeballs and lungs, you'll have one left of each, probably a pound or two there

 

Ditch the bike and just trail run then.
No need to worry about weight of bike.
Plenty of folks running the trails at Aliso.

See how fast you can clear Cholla by running up.

Save the money you would be spending on bike for college...

 

Dont forget you can remove one teste too!!!