Frankenbike - Magnesium Weight Weenie budget build

Re: Frankenbike 2 - magnesium Weight Weenie build

Yeah the planning is the fun bit reasearching whats good versus the spend. I'm assuming good old Shimano XT is a benchmark for cost v weight before the law of diminishing returns kicks in but finding those little unknown gems and bargains is exciting. I threw a bit of cash at my Scalpel in a bit of a no compromise way (still all second hand though as could never in a million years afford a new one !) so this is the other end of the scale and I'm enjoying the chase - despite some rogue stealing my Ebay wheels lol.
I thought this would be a fun project as the frame pretty much owes me nothing and because its a Carerra then I know no-one will want it !

Re: Frankenbike 2 - magnesium Weight Weenie build

Magnesium is a funny material. Never really kicked on. Saracen used it on the kili range in their horrible years around 2003-5 ish I believe. Impressively light though.

Re: Frankenbike 2 - magnesium Weight Weenie build

coomber":1fpsy8z3 said:

Magnesium is a funny material. Never really kicked on. Saracen used it on the kili range in their horrible years around 2003-5 ish I believe. Impressively light though.

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It's what attracted me to this frame, that and the colour , only ever remember the Kirk and some road bikes using it so interesting there were others. I think this frame dates from around then too so perhaps it was the early 2000's fad material for MTB's but think of magnesium and I remember those school chemistry lessons of it burning spectacularly well which I guess would put buyers off !
Supposed to be lighter than aluminium but a bit springy like steel so a poor man's titanium ?

Re: Frankenbike 2 - magnesium Weight Weenie build

That's the rationale yes. Carrerra and Saracen both under the same parent company back then so imagine the frames are really similar

Re: Frankenbike 2 - magnesium Weight Weenie build

Got the crankset complete now with 32T Blackspire SS ring and an ES71 73mm octalink BB.



Under 800g for this lot , not bad

So total so far now at 3461g = 7.62lbs

Re: Frankenbike 2 - magnesium Weight Weenie build

Along similar lines to this, the Giant XTC frame seems to punch above its weight in terms of .... er .... weight. They don't get much love, so can be picked up fairly cheaply on the 'bay. Keeping half an eye out for one myself at the moment, as I have too many surplus parts. I'm pretty sure the missus would prefer me to sell off the spares, but I think a better solution would be a new frame to hang them off! :twisted:

trek_y, I'm with you on the green - possibly my favourite colour. Quite keen on orange too.

Regards

Re: Frankenbike 2 - magnesium Weight Weenie build

Exeter Man":3e0y1fnn said:

I have too many surplus parts. I'm pretty sure the missus would prefer me to sell off the spares, but I think a better solution would be a new frame to hang them off! :twisted:

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Lol. I have much the same but my argument is its much tidier to have a whole bike made rather than lots of boxes of bits lying about. Not sure I can get away with any more than 3 though ...

Those XTC frames do look good, especially the carbon rear end ones and also always tempted by scandium (there's a nice Viper in the F/S section). Perhaps will move up to one of those once the Carrera is built as would be about 250g lighter, unless a nice Pace RC200 comes up or a Merlin or a Flash or a .....

But for now my bars have landed .... RaceFace Next XC OS risers 660m wide = 176g and I have too many sets of grips.



So now being a bit of a WW nerd I have weighed them all as follows from left to right,
Onza Ules = 75g
Superstar = 115g
Outland = 100g
RaceFace (lock on) = 94g
RaceFace = 101g
KTM = 99g
DMR = 123g
and the green DMR's I wanted to use are of course the heaviest so now thinking I should get some simple foam ones or just use bar tape. Is there a cure for this condition ?

Re: Frankenbike 2 - magnesium Weight Weenie build

i'll be watching this.......bitd i drilled everything that was not structual.....had a few faliures too!!!

Re: Frankenbike 2 - magnesium Weight Weenie build

I've done a couple of similar projects - weight weenie on a shoestring. The last few grams always end up costing the most! M751 cranks are a good choice and the matching ES71 BB is also lightweight. M752 are a tad lighter and have a nicer shape IMHO than the 751. Weight-wise you can get similar results from an M570 with a UN7x BB.

A couple of other recommendations for £/g savings. Grips-wise, these £4/25g foam ones from ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25g-Ultra-Lig ... 1087520199. If you have a standard-ish size seatpost size, these are £17 and ultralight: http://www.cyclomonster.com/cart/gub-li ... -post.html.

For wheels, I'd avoid Shimano hubs for weight-saving, and if Mavic-rimmed go for 517s if possible. I've got hold of a couple of sets of 1st Gen Mavic Crossmaxes SUP (one set 1546g, the other 1596g), but in decent condition they fetch a lot. Also the 1st Gen Mavic Crossrides are pretty light. I found that cheaper second-hand options are Rolf - 'Propels' about 1600g and 'Dolomites' about 1750g ('Satellites' are heavier though).

Tyres? The reason I ended up at this thread - Exeter Man pointed out you might be interested in my Maxxis 330s currently for sale: viewtopic.php?f=39&t=247660. [Though they are now sold, and I also realised I'd already sold you some Schwalbe Furious Freds a few weeks ago!]

Re: Frankenbike 2 - magnesium Weight Weenie build

Its a disease this WW thing I tell thee .....

I never i a million, squillion years did I think I would buy digital scales to weigh bike parts :facepalm:



This build is now sub 18lb and I reckon sub 17lb is easily achievable for not a lot of faf or expense.



XTR M95x cranks come up quite often. I have a pair of these to polish up and use with an Dura Ace BB - that should save maybe 150g or slightly more.

As above its a disease