davidd86 said:I swapped out my old boat anchor Team Miyata steel frame for a used first-gen Giant TCR Team euro alloy frame. For the sake of saving $$, I re-used all my old components, and meticulously cleaned and rebuilt them, and it works great, but the bike weighs 21 pounds!!! I mean I have an 8-speed '96 Campy Record ti setup -- hardly state of the art in 2005 but hardly garbage either, nice feathery handbuilt wheels, a few pieces of road candy like Ti bolts where I trust them, a good old San Marco Rolls ti saddle, my beloved Cinelli 66 bars, Speedplay X/1 pedals, a 1" carbon fork w/alloy steerer, a cool Cinelli Alter threadless stem, a carbon seatpost, King headset etc. I had hoped the bike would be much lighter than it turned out to be. But I weighed it on two different scales and it's about 21.3 pounds. I.e., fat; chunky; portly; un-svelte; meaty; of heft. I mean that's as heavy as our old rusty Peugeot PX-10.
Any ideas why the chubbiness?
The current 16 lb bikes have a few big weight savers that yours does not. Your fork probably weighs 250-300 gm more than the current carbon-steerer forks. The "feathery" handbuilt wheels probably weigh 1800-1900 grams which is 300-400 grams more than the 1500gm lightweights that are available. You also give about 60-100 gm on the bars. What kind of cassette do you use--a steel one packs and extra 100+ grams over alloy/Ti. That Rolls saddle is probably close to 300gm or 80-120gm more than the lightest around. Those few things there add at least 800-1000 grams or up to 2+ pounds. Also in 1996, Campy was relatively heavy, even with the ti bolts, probably 1 lb heavier compared to the current group. That is not to mention that a state of the art 2005 carbon frame starts out at less than a kilo by itself which is probably 500gm less than yours. What kind of tires/tubes? You could shed 75+ grams/wheel with the lightest choices.
But why sweat the grams? You have a great riding (and very durable) bike that didn't cost two or three months of mortgage payments. Enjoy it.
