Bike Tips - Lose Weight For Your Bike (For Flatlanders and the Not-So-Hardcore Street Rider)

These days basically everyone wants to make their bike lighter. There are many ways to do this, some more expensive then others. Lighter bikes can help you have more control over your bike, and do things you may not be able to do on heavy bikes.

Okay, let's start out. The most obvious way to lose some weight for your bike is to buy lighter parts. When looking for new parts to buy, make sure you take it's weight into consideration. Most bike companies today are designing their parts to be lighter while saving strength, however this will result in an increase in price. While shopping for your bike, consider buying smaller parts, flatlanders generally like shorter cranks, frames and sprockets. Here is a way to save weight without modifying any parts:

1) The frame. You can save 2 - 3 pounds between frames easily. If you are buying a new frame try to stay away from the 7 lb frames, and closer to the 4 and 5 lb frames.
2) Seats. Why buy a big bulky padded seat? We are flatlanders here, we hardly sit down. You can save a lot of weight buy riding a plastic seat, with no padding. The Primo Steroid is a great example.
3)Pedals. Why ride heavy metal pedals? Plastic is the way to go. The weight difference between metal and plastic pedals are huge. Plastic pedals allow you to have enough grip, and they are cheaper.
4)Tires. Yes tires do make a difference in weight. You can save over a pound on tired alone. If you go from Primo Walls (one of the heavier ones out there) to 88s or Comets, you will find a difference.
5)Finally, sprockets. Everything these days are getting smaller, including sprockets. We aren't grinding so why get sprockets with thick teeth. A nice thin 23 tooth sprocket, such as the Unity or Bizhouse henway are great choices. Most flatland specific frames today won't allow sprockets over 28 teeth anyway.
6)Wheels. If you don't need a freecoaster don't get one, they are a lot heavier then other hubs out there. Obviously the less spokes you have the lighter your wheel will be. Many riders are running 36 spokes, however this requires more maintenance then the 48 spoke wheel.
7)Axels. Basically everyone's going towards 3/8 now. 14mm isn't needed for street riding, you can save a lot of weight with 3/8 axels for your wheel.

Now for modifications. These changes are very small, how ever all of them added up do result in a difference in weight. Companies usually won't warranty their products after these mods are done, so be careful.

The drill is your friend. I have drilled out almost every part on my bike, even if it doesn't save much weight it does look rad. You can take apart your seat and drill holes in the plastic part and the back of it. You can also saw off the nose of the seat which many street riders do. Drilling out pegs is very popular these days. Another way to save some weight is to take bar cutters and cut your seat post and handle bars down. Each brake system weighs roughly half a pound if you are considering going brakeless or running only one brake. Exchanging y our spindle with a titanium spindle will save weight as well. If you are running a sprocket guard or one of those thick chains, take them off, ride a normal chain which is a lot lighter. You can buy aluminum chain tensioners which weigh next to nothing. You can also cut off your brake mounts on your fork/frame.