A grovel bike.....fastest build thread in the west!

Time to resurrect this thread!
Tonight it'll be having a frenzied and fast bit of surgery....
I'm going to ride the cantii way in a day....a nice mix of road and track and anything else I fancy along the way. Maybe I'll go hobo and crash out in some ditch or on the beach or maybe I'll just keep the pedals turning....dunno I'll make it up as I go along.
So it's gonna lose some fat....fast. a full crash diet....whatever it takes it will be done... cos it's the fastest grovel build in the West and it all just happens in a flash! ....can I cut 4lb of flab off with random bits and bobs? 😁
 
Time to resurrect this thread!
Tonight it'll be having a frenzied and fast bit of surgery....
I'm going to ride the cantii way in a day....a nice mix of road and track and anything else I fancy along the way. Maybe I'll go hobo and crash out in some ditch or on the beach or maybe I'll just keep the pedals turning....dunno I'll make it up as I go along.
So it's gonna lose some fat....fast. a full crash diet....whatever it takes it will be done... cos it's the fastest grovel build in the West and it all just happens in a flash! ....can I cut 4lb of flab off with random bits and bobs? 😁
This calls for a can
 
Well....it's pretty much fat free 😁

Goal of 4lbs lobbed off....yeah pretty much 👍
2oz shy...think I can easily acheive that with some ickle aluminium bolts, another shave of the seatpost and a lightweight chain
First up block change...don't need a big dish cassette ...no mountains near me...off goes the 11 32 9 speed and on goes a 105 12 26 from a 9 speed cut down to 8 speed 😁 about 130grams just like that
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Then chainset faffage....oh I tried....have an interesting french chainset a solida I think? Chuffing lightweight 🤨...but no joy with parts bin bottom brackets to get chainline!
So the choice was keep the Shimano piece of cheese already on it already ...swap chain rings to aluminium ...fit a un71 BB and save around 175g or fit a heavy old cup and cone BB and handsome lighter chainset and save around 165g!
Went with the handsome approach 😁
I love these chainsets they are really stiff cranks and because of how these cranks assemble we can fit a 38 tooth inner.....38-52...handy 💪
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Next up brakes.....altus to deore cantis ....that saved ....4grams 🤨 better than a poke with a stinky stick I guess. But getting these brakes to feel right took a bit of fettling of bits....
Loads of little ferrules had to be made...
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Those ones have a cranked hole! Helps get the cabling out of the lever bodies in a more gently curve. Needed to make another widget for the rear brake.....

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And we'll whilst we're making shiny things 😁...let's have a matching top cap and bar plugs just to neaten it up... IMG_20220727_012347_327.jpg

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Seatpost! Somehow I had no 26.8 seatpost....that's odd...there's always one kicking around!? Ok...bin of sh!t rummage came up with an old specialized post that was pretty chewy louey! In fact real ugly 🤨 well it's not perfect but with some careful boring and turning I've got it sub 200g..that'll do as the one that came off was 365 grams! No adjustment on this post made to measure! The min insert line is a step in diameter so it's also a a max extension line 😁 all saves grams!
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Then for the really big weight saving !
My £5 wheelset from a man in a caravan....with tyres and cassette they weighed....4.7kg 🙄 still they got it rolling on the chirpy chirpy cheap cheap!
So let's have nice smooth running deore DX hubs and straight and true rims then...never had these before seem like a nicely made rim!
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Next... tyres! Now this thing flies on the road and it will see way more road than off....but I still want fast track path capabilities so let's try some schwalbe CX pros.... Don't you just hate manufacturer claims of tyre weights? They're meant to be a 405g tyre! I didn't get what I paid for .... Got less! Bonus 😁 these weigh about 25 grams less!
Reckon Ive got enough tyre clearance ?

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Hmm might squeeze some mudguards in there?
Still to get some light inner tubes...but currently this wheelset skewers cassette and tyres weigh in at 3.28kg....much better 👍 should fly now!

I have no idea how much the whole bike weighs now but it's good enough for me then it's good enough for Bobby McGee!

Tomorrow it's going to get a thrashing ✌️
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