What’s your lightest <97 MTB

[Tricky1977]

100% Inspired by this post: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=394179&view=unread#unread
What’s everyone’s lightest retro MTB build
Mine’s not finished, but target is 10.something for my Columbus Pug

I’ll start with my lowly Palisades 12.2kg

 

[mattr]

I had my old race bike down to 8.5 kilos (18.8lbs) while i was at uni (1996)

Ti frame, rigid triple butted forks, latex tubes, gripshits, mostly xt/xtr/hope. Lots of lightweight finishing kit (USE bars and post, Ti stem.) flimsy skinny tyres, rubbish brakes (but they were light).
Was pretty much unrideable at speed offroad.

By the time it was rideable, it was about 10 kilos. Addition of decent tyres, paddle shifters, brakes (Onza HO iirc), Judy SLs, the usual. Glad i was working in a bike shop!

The HT i eventually replaced it with (2009, scott scale carbon) weighed about 9,5-9,7 kilos off the shelf, by the time i'd finished my (very modest) upgrades and got to the start line of a race, it was just over 10 kilos including 2 full bottles and a small saddle bag. And was better in every way.

 

[My_Teenage_Self]

My Trek 9800 is sub 20lb with suspension, and I've been trying to stay below 20lb whilst fitting maguras too

 

[jimo746]

Re:

My Orange Prestige is 6.5lb






That's frame and fork only though

Complete bike is about 25lbs. Imo anything 20-30lbs is fine for "proper" Retro Mtb use.

 

[Tricky1977]

Thanks, some great ideas here. Hadnt even though gripshifts were lighter, nor that a weight weenie might prove useless to ride.
Think I’m going to stick with 10kg (non sus) for my Pug Project, should be doable
I’ve got some P2 forks to go on...

 

[fearfactoryüberalles]

With a Marin Team Titanium (1.5 kg frame at 17.5"Marin-size) and sub. 800 gr A-head cro-mo forks you can go as low as 9-9.3 kg still having a 24 sp. MTB drivetrain and not having a single dispose-after-one-use part on your full bike.

I try to concentrate on every single part to maintain the optimal weight/strength/durability ratio, rather than to have a special aim regarding the full bike's weight as my 15st or so butterfly body can be in real danger if some parts are not up to their job. Only jockey-sized guys can trust really lightweight parts in my opinion, as I don't really wanna test the local A&E dept. anytime soon.

Every bike part has a "sweet spot" balance on weight/durability/strenght/cost and after a few (dozen) bike build you can easily recognize it, at least I hope so. With retro parts in use, you must factor the fatigue problem in also, which can be a real PITA when it strikes you.

It's the "feel" that matters on your bike after all, but yeah, if there are similar parts available for my builds, I tend to use the lighter ones :facepalm: :roll: !

 

[mattr]

nor that a weight weenie might prove useless to ride.

Depends where you cut the weight.
i've gone from cutting it where ever i possibly could, shit tyres, uncomfortable saddle, narrow bars, uncomfortable grips, unuseably small cassette (surprisingly useful when racing at Thetford!) which all conspired to make it very difficult to ride at 10/10ths at the front of a race field, so i eventually got a different priority list, as to finish first, first you must finish.

So i stopped impacting functionality to save weight anymore. Luckily, that was the point i got a contract to ride, 1998 IIRC so someone else paid for bits, or i got them at (significantly) less than cost.

These days things have changed a) i have a (much) bigger budget and b) i haven't actually won a race since 2001.

 

[M-Power]

Re:

Seen some crazy light German retro builds 16lbs or so :shock: Dropped a Yo down to 21 lbs and 2 FAT Tis to sub 20lbs without compromising component failure. A 24lb steel retro makes a fine rider without £££ bling.

 

[pago79]

1993 Fat Chance Titanium / 9,20kg
almost all screws, nuts and bolts are titanium or aluminum.
the build was a challenge between a buddy and me who can build the lightest time correct bike. his gt xizang lost at 9,6kg

 

[legrandefromage]

My fat lardy Zaskar sits at 22lb without much modification, it is very standard but it does have a few sneaky secret modifications