MTB (or indeed road) bike weights, factors and thoughts ?

[weeksy]

Was bored earlier and thought "I wonder what the 2 MTBs weigh"

Now of course they're only precise to eachother as you never know with scales, but i also used a kettlebell which should be a defined weight and it's pretty darn close.

Specialized Sworks 2015 - 13.71kg. (with a DH Maxxis shorty and a 3C Minion DHF)
Whyte G170 - 16.8kg (with a Specialized Butcher and a Maxxis Dissector)

Well blow me... over 3kg... Now i know why his feels so light when i lift it !!!

That's a huge difference really there. wow.

[Mr Moofo]

My FlareMax surprised me - as they are always quoted as being heavy - but it is around 15.5 kg
My PP Oka ( before I sold it) was 13 kg

but that is FS vs HT

Need to weigh the BFe - but I guess that will be 13Kg ish
I am surprised how heavy your Whyte is - it's nearly an E-Bike weight

[weeksy]

My FlareMax surprised me - as they are always quoted as being heavy - but it is around 15.5 kg
My PP Oka ( before I sold it) was 13 kg

but that is FS vs HT

Need to weigh the BFe - but I guess that will be 13Kg ish
I am surprised how heavy your Whyte is - it's nearly an E-Bike weight

So am i mate, so am i.... It's certainly given me something to think about this morning that's for sure.

Obviously it's got the coil shock and a fairly meaty cassette on there rather than a light one. But the wheels are stans flow rims which usually come in at a decent weight and there's nothing particularly weighty about the rest of it. It's just a generic bike.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353883778397 ... Swx75h9ufa

I'm now sitting thinking "mmmm do i grab something like this."

[MingtheMerciless]

Speecy Enduro and the Curtis are approx the same weight, around 32-30lbish. But my old Superfly came in at 22lb with sensible tyres on. That was an absolute rapier but did tend to punish you if you were a bit half hearted or pushed your luck on what you were riding. My mate has an uber light scapel and that is incredibly fast but has hurt him badly when he's not concentrated.

Saying that, it's not just light bikes that can hurt you, my other mate had a DMR Sled and that was the Carrie of the MTB world. He had some terrifying crashes on it, proper I'm wobbling home/back to car now and not riding for two weeks till I stop hurting.

[weeksy]

Looking at it, the Bomber Cr comes in at 850gr.... an equivalent Fox DPS is only 300

Wow.... that's a chunk of change right there...

[lostboy]

Looking at it, the Bomber Cr comes in at 850gr.... an equivalent Fox DPS is only 300

Wow.... that's a chunk of change right there...

That's 0.5kg or 1.1lb. It's peanuts. You're starting to sound like a roadie!

[weeksy]

Looking at it, the Bomber Cr comes in at 850gr.... an equivalent Fox DPS is only 300

Wow.... that's a chunk of change right there...

That's 0.5kg or 1.1lb. It's peanuts. You're starting to sound like a roadie!

Yup, that's exactly what it is... but i'm not sure 0.5kg in terms of bike weight is peanuts myself.

[rusty]

I looked at the weight of my Solaris Max last year and considered swapping the Pikes for a set of SIDs to save a bit of weight, I decided not to bother when I realised it would only save about 0.5kg at best. Not worth the outlay at all.
Biggest difference I found was swapping tyres, went from 2.5 & 2.6 WTB Vigilante and Trail Boss to a set of Wolfpack something or other XC tyres. Cost about £50 for the pair, knocked the best part of 1kg of the bike weight and flew along the trails after that. To be fair though, they're shite in the winter as they have next to no grip pin the mud!

I think a lot of people obsess over bike weights, trying to save a few hundred grams here and there but if makes next to no difference. At least not for the riding most of us are doing.

[irie]

Tyres do make a huge difference, particularly because they're rotating weight. People obsess over light rims then stick heavy tyres on ...

We use Bontrager XR4 Team Issue 2.6" front which weighs ~960 grams* and 2.4" rear which weighs ~830 grams*, so that's 1790 grams for the pair. Plenty of grip all round nice tyres, not too expensive (about £90 per pair), and seem to wear pretty well.

* By chance had a new pair delivered yesterday and weighed them - to go on Mrs irie's new Trek Rail which is due to be delivered today!

[Mr Moofo]

As has been said, tyre weight difference is impressive, but ...
Go lighter weight ( here on the South Downs) and then punctures will abound. So I will take the weight penalty. Nine punctures in one ride is no fun. Tyre sealant saves the hassle ( unless it is Muc-Off , which doesn't work unless let down with some water).
Weeksy - I have stans rims on Hope Pro 4, xt / slx drive chain, CC shock, Brand x dropper, Nukeproof carbon bars - but hope brakes with are not light.
At the time I weigh it it had Maxxis DHF and DHB ( ?) on. It now has a Vittoria mega casing Martello on - which weighs as much as a tree.

If you are a top rider, weight makes a difference, but I assume for most of us recreational people, managing to complete the ride is the most important bit ...

[porter_jamie]

i used to reckon that a sub 30lbs mtb was good, and a low 30 something for one with long travel. i've had a hardtailrigid single speed thing at low 20s. then i got an ebike

[lostboy]

Have a look through this spec and see what's obviously different and where the savings may be. Having said that - the test bike in this link is still only 1kg lighter than yours, so that suggests that it's not a particularly light frame. My biggest question is "do you reckon light weight was at the forefront of Whyte's mind when they were designing a 170mm travel enduro bike?" Because I reckon I know what the answer is!

https://www.mbr.co.uk/reviews/full-susp ... hyte-g-170

[weeksy]

Have a look through this spec and see what's obviously different and where the savings may be. Having said that - the test bike in this link is still only 1kg lighter than yours, so that suggests that it's not a particularly light frame. My biggest question is "do you reckon light weight was at the forefront of Whyte's mind when they were designing a 170mm travel enduro bike?" Because I reckon I know what the answer is!

https://www.mbr.co.uk/reviews/full-susp ... hyte-g-170

No but this is for example a 170mm Enduro that's a chunk lighter.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353883778397

[lostboy]

That's carbon, yours is alu isn't it?

TBH I thought you'd gone the right way (in some respects) looking at the shorter travel bike and pairing it with your Whyte. This thread shows you're trying to make an Enduro bike an XC/trail weapon and that's always going to make for compromise. That's why my FS is a 130mm travel - because I'm not riding the big stuff anything like as often as you so don't need the travel and it's better suited to most of my riding.

Have you spoken to a LBS about doing you and James a "supported rider" deal? Get a bike for a year, hand it back or buy it at trade+vat at the end of the year for the next year's model - in exchange for stickers, promotion, sending them customers etc. It certainly was common practice and I'd have thought James is well placed to be of interest to them for his riding talent - you for the sales bullshit and promotion

[weeksy]

That's carbon, yours is alu isn't it?

TBH I thought you'd gone the right way (in some respects) looking at the shorter travel bike and pairing it with your Whyte. This thread shows you're trying to make an Enduro bike an XC/trail weapon and that's always going to make for compromise. That's why my FS is a 130mm travel - because I'm not riding the big stuff anything like as often as you so don't need the travel and it's better suited to most of my riding.

Have you spoken to a LBS about doing you and James a "supported rider" deal? Get a bike for a year, hand it back or buy it at trade+vat at the end of the year for the next year's model - in exchange for stickers, promotion, sending them customers etc. It certainly was common practice and I'd have thought James is well placed to be of interest to them for his riding talent - you for the sales bullshit and promotion

It is indeed carbon yes... and quite light.

There's no 'pairing' in any of these discussions, they're 1 in 1 out. If anything comes in, the G170 goes, irrespective of what it is.

I'd like to say i'm riding 'big stuff' but mostly it's only big stuff to me. lol. Rather than actually that big.

I've not spoken to any of our LBSs, i only have a relationship with 1 of them, Rotec cycles and he's certainly not in a position financially to offer anything at all. We've got a Specialized dealer and a multi franchise dealer not too far away, but again, i can't say i've given it a thought/expectation. I was kinda waiting for RTTL to do the financing for me and sponsor me.

[lostboy]

You can get an XC bike and it'll be light

My mistake, I thought the Mullet bike was in addition to the Whyte.

I think you'd be surprised how many bike shops will broker a deal with UK distributors for "supported" riders - and therefore it costs them nothing but they get the recognition. How far are you from Swindon? I know where you are and where Swindon is but I haven't got a feel for the distance!!

[weeksy]

You can get an XC bike and it'll be light

My mistake, I thought the Mullet bike was in addition to the Whyte.

I think you'd be surprised how many bike shops will broker a deal with UK distributors for "supported" riders - and therefore it costs them nothing but they get the recognition. How far are you from Swindon? I know where you are and where Swindon is but I haven't got a feel for the distance!!

Yes but i'm too rubbish to ride an XC bike down anything tech.

20 miles give or take.

[Mr Moofo]

@weeksy
Would the 1.5 kg difference make a real impact on your racing results? If you are doing Enduro isn't it most downhill?

[weeksy]

@weeksy
Would the 1.5 kg difference make a real impact on your racing results? If you are doing Enduro isn't it most downhill?

It's more than 1.5kg.... but it's 50-50 in terms of weight and geometry that i'm having the current thoughts. Dropping some weight off the bike certainly can't hurt in it's own right. But i could get that from swapping from the Coil fork to a Fox DPX2 or similar, admittedly not 1.5kg... but i still think 500gr isn't an insubstantial figure to drop.

Partly weight yes, but partly a completely (ish) type of bike...

The clear answer is NO... neither change will massively give me a huge difference in race results... weight arguably won't make them worse though, but admittedly a change of geometry may make them better or indeed worse lol.

[Mr Moofo]

I have been out for 3.5 hours - have you bought anything yet?