COOLWALL: Sub 20ib mountain bike? Weight saving gone too far

I crashed into a friend's 1993 Cinder Cone which I seem to remember being that era of pretty thin steel tubes and I ripped it in two! My old fashioned 1988 Saracen Trekker was absolutely fine. We were going 50mph down a hill on the road though. I haven't been that fast since.

Currently got an XLM to around 20lb I reckon.

I like light. Haven't spread that theory as far as my tummy though.

I generally refer to myself as a recovering weight weenie so:

Light is and was cool. Super light bikes do bounce off things.
A proper full susser just beats the light weight concept hands down.
But I still weigh things all the time and buying tires takes weeks of research.
Turning into a confessional.

Light is definately cool, yeah it did get to stupid extremes but like a couple of other people said on here it got things moving and company's too design light weight bits that were strong as well. Not really into the make your bike lighter by drilling everything to bits though just the cool light weight parts. I can remember seeing in a issue of mbuk during that period a boulder defiant ti fully kitted out so it could be as light as possible think it was about 22lb and full suspension at that I so lusted after that bike even though in reallity it would of probably folded in half. Still has to be said definately COOL

This thing is apparently 11.37lbs!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:



Personally I think that specifically engineered lightweight components are great, but I would never want to ride a bike with drilled components!
I remember trying to make my Clockwork as light as possible (through upgrading gradually to lighter components) but I never would've drilled the rims! If the bike doesn't have integrity then you're not going to enjoy riding it.
Still, a light bike is cool but going over the top to impress your mates is uncool...
I'm still undecided!

BITD lightweight often meant bendy and breakable unless you were spending lots of cash but these days materials technology has moved on a fair bit and MTB designers better understand the stresses placed on components and where the weight needs to be. I think that its perfectly feasable to build a modern bike around the 20lb mark and keep it 'rugged', but this is retrobike

Russell":107h3vdt said:

BITD lightweight often meant bendy and breakable unless you were spending lots of cash but these days materials technology has moved on a fair bit and MTB designers better understand the stresses placed on components and where the weight needs to be. I think that its perfectly feasable to build a modern bike around the 20lb mark and keep it 'rugged', but this is retrobike

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Totally agree with you... but that makes a light modern bike just normal, wheras a floaty light retrobike is uber cool! Note; 'cool' not 'good'...

Cant believe the majority of you would "drill your tyres" to save weight

Jez, I found sanding to be more effective.
and a stanley knife on every other nobble

Re: COOLWALL: Sub 20ib mountain bike? Weight saving gone too

jez-2-many-bikes":2whlil6v said:

Now this may raise some decent debate...

Are sub 20ib mountain bikes cool?

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Sorry not familiar with that unit of measure....

Re: COOLWALL: Sub 20ib mountain bike? Weight saving gone too

andrewl":wtlgliag said:

jez-2-many-bikes":wtlgliag said:

Now this may raise some decent debate...

Are sub 20ib mountain bikes cool?

Click to expand...

Sorry not familiar with that unit of measure....

Click to expand...

me neither, but if it's Punds, then it would be 9.1 Kilo.
Light weight is cool, but most of the lightweight builders, don't build a bike light with the intention to build a strong bike. My LTS is 12,2 kilo (older set up) that is 26.8 LB which I think is quite ok, for a 97 fully. I used some lighter parts to keep the weight a bit down, but the have to be strong. Like a Flite TT saddle, Easton CT2 post, CT2 bar, but on the other hand, I used Magura's. It wasn't a light weight project.
My brother wanted a weight weenie bike, result now 8.5 kilo (18.7) and it will be less then 8 kilo(17.5).
Scott Pro Racing on Sniperworks