new weightweenie??

[ls1togo]

I recently bought a new bike (Parlee Chebacco) equipped with a Sram Rival AXS etap 12 speed drive train and although at this point, I'm not convinced that it's better than my DuraAce/Ultegra mechanical drive trains on my other bikes, I am somewhat unhappy with the weight of the complete bike. The use of this bike will be primarily on road as an "all around" bike. It came in at about 21 pounds and I replaced the wheels and tires and reduced the weight by about a pound and a half and a lighter seatpost and carbon handlebars brought it down some more..so my question is this...
I can reduce the weight further by another pound and a half (to a16+ range) by upgrading to Sram Red (653g diff.)
Needless to say, I'm not able to spring for a complete Red group right now, so I thought I would go one component at a time....This is my first electronic group so I'm not sure where to start
Any experience or ideas??

[Louis]

Originally Posted by ls1togo

The use of this bike will be primarily on road as an "all around" bike.

What do you mean, when you say "all around?"

IMO "all around" implies a multi-purpose bike, good for a number of different things, not one on which you try to drive down the weight a whole lot. A "racing" or "climbing" bike? Sure, knock yourself out, spending as much as your wallet and budget allow to reduce weight; but is that appropriate for a general purpose bike?

[ls1togo]

" all around" in that it fits in the rotation with my other bikes, a Look 585 Ultra and a Look 695 Aerolight...at my age (76) I often ride with a younger group and need the ease in keeping up!...Where I live in Arizona it is flat , but the roads can be crappy...I've had a "gravel" bike but there was little use for it here I live, so maybe a lighter, bigger tired bike , hence the Chebacco...

[fa63]

The two biggest weights savings will come from the crankset and the cassette when switching to Red. Maybe see if you can find a good deal on those?

[jimoots]

TPU tubes are minus 100g+ versus standard butyl.
Lightweight axles and rotors can save considerable weight.
Carbon versions of saddles can be had at reasonable prices second hand.
High end cassettes are a good 100g but not cheap/plentiful with 12sp.

After that you start getting into the properly expensive stuff like groupware or exotic parts.

[rain dogs]

Originally Posted by ls1togo

" all around" in that it fits in the rotation with my other bikes, a Look 585 Ultra and a Look 695 Aerolight...at my age (76) I often ride with a younger group and need the ease in keeping up!...Where I live in Arizona it is flat , but the roads can be crappy...I've had a "gravel" bike but there was little use for it here I live, so maybe a lighter, bigger tired bike , hence the Chebacco...

If you live where it is flat, why do you care so much about small weight differences? Weight only really matters when climbing.

If you don't want to take my word for it, put the details in bike calculator.

1lb of weight increase on a ride of 20 miles will make a difference of a paltry 3 seconds... or like 1 second every 7miles.

Now, if you lived where it was mountainous.... different story

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by ls1togo

" all around" in that it fits in the rotation with my other bikes, a Look 585 Ultra and a Look 695 Aerolight...at my age (76) I often ride with a younger group and need the ease in keeping up!...Where I live in Arizona it is flat , but the roads can be crappy...I've had a "gravel" bike but there was little use for it here I live, so maybe a lighter, bigger tired bike , hence the Chebacco...

First of all, much respect to you for still riding hard and strong mixing it up with younger riders well into your seventies, that's excellent.

I think you've picked the wrong bike for your purposes, honestly. For pure road riding, an all-rounder like the Chebacco is almost always going to be a slower bike than your other real road bikes. Fatter tires and more relaxed geometry may make the bike more forgiving and comfortable over rougher roads, but not faster.

It sounds like you are on a budget and trying to buy some speed by reducing the weight of the bike, but I agree that if it's flat where you ride, you'd likely be throwing money away in swapping to RED from Rival and wont gain any speed out of the bike in that manner.

What tires are on the bike now? I bet if you swapped whatever tires are on there for some S-Works turbo cottons you will see a real difference. Beyond that, dont waste money on making the components lighter, wont help IMO.

Meet the Chebacco. It’s named after our local stomping grounds, but it’s at home wherever roads can get rough and rides turn into adventures. Gravel grinding, cyclocross racing, tackling a commute in the urban jungle. Now, for the first time, you can do all those things on one bike that delivers remarkable versatility plus the signature Parlee ride quality.

[Dave]

I always suggest a quick calculation that shows how trivial a 100 gram weight savings is. For example, if the bike and rider weigh 82kg or 82,000 grams, then 100/8200 = .0012 or .12%.

Then think about your body weight compared to that of a pro level cyclist. At my 168cm height, 60kg or 132 pounds is a decent weight, but a pro would be several pounds lighter. I can hit that at the peak of the season, but I'm carrying an extra 5 pounds right now. If I always carried an extra 5 pounds or more, then having a 1 pound lighter bike by spending a bunch of money doesn't make a lot of sense. Get your body in shape first. If you're not competing, the whole weight weenie thing doesn't make much sense.

FWIW, about the only Red part that saves much weight is the crank.

My Rival FD and RD weigh 25 grams more than my Force parts. I'm using cheap and heavy Shimano GRX cranks to get more range. I have rides with over 5,000 feet of climbing. Most of it is in the first 32 of 54 miles.

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by ls1togo

It came in at about 21 pounds and I replaced the wheels and tires and reduced the weight by about a pound and a half and a lighter seatpost and carbon handlebars brought it down some more..so my question is this...
I can reduce the weight further by another pound and a half (to a16+ range) by upgrading to Sram Red (653g diff.)
Any experience or ideas??

Originally Posted by fa63

The two biggest weights savings will come from the crankset and the cassette when switching to Red. Maybe see if you can find a good deal on those?

Agree on above if you want to spring for the Red stuff. See groupset weight chart, just the cassette (10-30 rival to 10-28 red) and crankset (175 46/33) will save ~354g for ~$700 retail. Used will be much less
https://www.theproscloset.com/blogs/...st-look-review

Originally Posted by Dave

FWIW, about the only Red part that saves much weight is the crank.

Depends on what your definition of "much" is. For the cassette, a 25% weight savings is pretty significant IMO, but 72g might be a pittance for others.

Without knowing the exact parts list don't know where else the OP could do economical weightweenie losses. However as others stated, unless you're comparing it side by side with another bike the total weight is probably more a nocebo effect. Depending on the tire/wheel combo though changing both of those to very nice offerings will probably be the best bang for buck swap you can make, tires especially. Going from crappy or even mediocre tires to something top notch will transform a bike for less than $150, and you'll probably save ~100-150g of mass at the most important location (unsprung, rotating mass)

[mdeth1313]

oh god, here we go again!!!

[Dave]

A sram red crank is $743 and a cassette is $377, for a total of $1120. I use a 10-36 cassette most of the time, so no red cassette for me. They only offer up to a 10-33 in red.

I'm turning 70 in June, so I'm one of the relatively old guys. IMO, saving a pound or two won't be noticeable. My disc brake bikes are all a little under 18 lbs. Without any real expensive parts.

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by Dave

A sram red crank is $743 and a cassette is $377, for a total of $1120. I use a 10-36 cassette most of the time, so no red cassette for me. They only offer up to a 10-33 in red.

Didn't realize they upped the Red prices that much, was thinking $640 for crank and 325 for cassette, vs Rival $140 crank and $132 cassette. So it's now a $848 price difference.

And yes, I very much wish they had the Red cassette in 10-36 just for my inner egotistical weight-weenie. I also wish they had the Red crank in a "wide" config, although I've been able to get around that hurdle through another hack.

[deluz]

I have reduced the weight of my steel frame bike down to 18 lbs by shaving off grams in various places including bars, crankset, wheels, seat post. I got the 11 speed version of this cassette:



https://www.ebay.com/itm/31436695717...4AAOSwFytj2-wz

It saves some weight and works actually better than the Shimano Ultegra that it replaced. Not sure how well the 12 speed version might work.

[dddd]

Originally Posted by Dave

I always suggest a quick calculation that shows how trivial a 100 gram weight savings is. For example, if the bike and rider weigh 82kg or 8200 grams, then 100/8200 = .012 or 1.2%...

Dave, you are only ten times more right that you gave credit for!!!

Fuzzy math there, 82kg is 82,000g, not 8,200g...


Other than perhaps tires/tubes/wheels, I would not spend much on lightening efforts unless perhaps some crummy 280g seatpost was on there.

I've long stated that at equivalent price points, we have to expect today's disc-equipped bikes to weigh about two lbs more than say my 10-year-old, rim-braked, mostly high-end Cannondale HiMod SuperX which weighs about 17lbs.
I do enjoy riding this sort of bike on the road, maybe not for hard-core pacelining, but for general spirited foothills riding.

[Dave]

I've done that calculation before and didn't think the percentage was that high. At least someone is paying attention! 0.12% is truly trivial.