DIY – Lightbike.
I can’t help it I just Love a light bike. It’s not for everyone I know, some people actually like a bit of weight (Weridos!) but today I thought I’d share some of the secrets for those looking to lighten your loads. Those who aren’t. Go and have another pie and come back when E’S done his next post.
I’ve done some ridiculous things in the hunt to make my bike lighter, it become an obsession, scouring the internet for alternative lightweight parts. Staying up all night bidding on EBay for that all important titanium nut. At the height of my obsession my bike weighed around 15 pound! But I never actually weighed it! That’s the sign of a true addict; it had to stop before my whole bike turned into mush. I’ve been in rehab now for many months and they say I’m doing well... Okay my bike still is stupid light but it is a little more sensible these days. In my experimentation I’ve basically looked at every part and made it lighter in some way. You can spend a lot of money getting your bike light but I found the best way is purchase an angle grinder and a decent drill and just attack it. Used wisely I recon you could shift a good few pounds in less than half an hour. Before we start just a quick disclaimer I do not recommend any of the following modifications to be used in conjunction with trick cycling! Thank You!!
Here we go weight weenies:
Brakes:Just take them off!There not needed! There just something the manufacturer puts on to pass some sort of regulations.
Cranks: Loads of weight can be shaved off your crank arms. Drill them shave them do whatever you want with them as long as you don’t do a lot of pedal to pedal whoppers and the like, your get away with it! I’m still waiting for plastic crank arms to be made..whos gonna be first?
Pedals:If you run st martin cranks or similar you’ll notice the pedals axles protrude through the arms a little bit doing nothing but keeping you from your lightweight dream. Cut them down for Pete’s sake.
Axles:same as the pedals. stick your finger down your pegs and see how much spare axle you have sticking out from your axle nut. Take your pegs off and cut those suckers down. X4....that’s some serious weight loss baby.
Tyres: Do lots of riding and wear the rubber down.
Stem:chop a mil or two off two of your stem bolts. I’m sure your bars will still hold just fine, the stem it’s self could always do with aluminum shave here and there.
Forks:There’s always some extra that can be shaved off the dropouts. Get rid of your head tube spacers and cut your fork head tube down to size. Do you know how thick and heavy that tubing is?? Get rid of as much as you can!!
Seat and post: This is my latest creation: a Khe seat shaved down, rails cut out and fused onto a pivotal seat post. A little bit crude but this gives me a seat that is lovely to grab and isn’t the size of armchair. The best bit is the seat weighs no more than a small bit of plastic...oh wait it is a small bit of plastic!!
Handlebars: Drill holes under your grips along your cross bar and even at the clamping area just don’t go to mad and drill near the bends.
Pegs:Doesn’t matter if you own a set of pegs already with holes in them, if you want your bike light drill some more!!
Spokes:stay clear of titanium they may work with road bikes but it’s not for us. Get some double butted and aluminium nipples.
Grips:get some nice thin ones or just wrap a bit of tape around if you’re really hardcore!
I can’t help it I just Love a light bike. It’s not for everyone I know, some people actually like a bit of weight (Weridos!) but today I thought I’d share some of the secrets for those looking to lighten your loads. Those who aren’t. Go and have another pie and come back when E’S done his next post.
I’ve done some ridiculous things in the hunt to make my bike lighter, it become an obsession, scouring the internet for alternative lightweight parts. Staying up all night bidding on EBay for that all important titanium nut. At the height of my obsession my bike weighed around 15 pound! But I never actually weighed it! That’s the sign of a true addict; it had to stop before my whole bike turned into mush. I’ve been in rehab now for many months and they say I’m doing well... Okay my bike still is stupid light but it is a little more sensible these days. In my experimentation I’ve basically looked at every part and made it lighter in some way. You can spend a lot of money getting your bike light but I found the best way is purchase an angle grinder and a decent drill and just attack it. Used wisely I recon you could shift a good few pounds in less than half an hour. Before we start just a quick disclaimer I do not recommend any of the following modifications to be used in conjunction with trick cycling! Thank You!!
Here we go weight weenies:
Brakes:Just take them off!There not needed! There just something the manufacturer puts on to pass some sort of regulations.
Cranks: Loads of weight can be shaved off your crank arms. Drill them shave them do whatever you want with them as long as you don’t do a lot of pedal to pedal whoppers and the like, your get away with it! I’m still waiting for plastic crank arms to be made..whos gonna be first?
Pedals:If you run st martin cranks or similar you’ll notice the pedals axles protrude through the arms a little bit doing nothing but keeping you from your lightweight dream. Cut them down for Pete’s sake.
Axles:same as the pedals. stick your finger down your pegs and see how much spare axle you have sticking out from your axle nut. Take your pegs off and cut those suckers down. X4....that’s some serious weight loss baby.
Tyres: Do lots of riding and wear the rubber down.
Stem:chop a mil or two off two of your stem bolts. I’m sure your bars will still hold just fine, the stem it’s self could always do with aluminum shave here and there.
Forks:There’s always some extra that can be shaved off the dropouts. Get rid of your head tube spacers and cut your fork head tube down to size. Do you know how thick and heavy that tubing is?? Get rid of as much as you can!!
Seat and post: This is my latest creation: a Khe seat shaved down, rails cut out and fused onto a pivotal seat post. A little bit crude but this gives me a seat that is lovely to grab and isn’t the size of armchair. The best bit is the seat weighs no more than a small bit of plastic...oh wait it is a small bit of plastic!!
Handlebars: Drill holes under your grips along your cross bar and even at the clamping area just don’t go to mad and drill near the bends.
Pegs:Doesn’t matter if you own a set of pegs already with holes in them, if you want your bike light drill some more!!
Spokes:stay clear of titanium they may work with road bikes but it’s not for us. Get some double butted and aluminium nipples.
Grips:get some nice thin ones or just wrap a bit of tape around if you’re really hardcore!
Frame: Wooah!! Where do I start? Here we have my favourite frame of all time I chopped the heck out of this already light frame and it’s still going strong. Cut slots in the head tube,bottom bracket, Dropouts where shaved, large slots cut out in the seat tube and cut about an inch off the seat clamp area and made a new pinch slot. As a shameless plug, this piece of light weight history is up for grabs on Ebay,check it out and bid silly amounts and make me rich!!
Later Lightweights!!
Later Lightweights!!
6 comments:
Like a confessional of james' light bike weight fetish, brilliant!!
awesome!
whats the weight of your setup though?
hahahaha, how funny!!!
Thats gotta be the lightest set up around ,good tips.
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