00:00We all want to save more weight from our bikes, right? Well, after building up my new Armanda,
00:04I thought I would share five ways that I'm planning on shedding a few grams, but
00:09they might not be in the way that you would expect. First off, I'm going to start at the
00:15seat post. The first thing that we can all do is mark where our seat post height is,
00:20pull out the seat post from the frame, measure the minimum insertion, and then add that to the
00:25bottom of your marked seat post height, because what you may end up with is a section of seat
00:31post that can be cut off. I've already done this myself, and I ended up being able to take off about
00:3610 centimetres worth of seat post, which saved me a fairly decent 30 grams. For what is essentially
00:44a free win, I don't think that's bad at all. But it doesn't just stop there, because I have found a
00:51solution to my fairly unattractive seat clamp collar. Instead of the original unit, I found this
00:56pro performance seat clamp, which isn't actually going to provide any sort of weight saving, but it
01:03does just look a whole lot better. And if you want one for yourself, then I have left a link down in
01:07the description below. Before we move on to a different area of the bike, I do want to share
01:12one more recommendation, which I myself won't be doing, but it could be ideal for one of you
01:17lovely viewers. And that is to look at a specialist seat post manufacturer like Doremo. Now, Doremo is
01:25a Spanish brand, and they make some incredibly lightweight components. For example, they make a
01:31350 mil 27.2 post, which comes in at a claimed 80 grams, which is seriously light. They also make,
01:40though, proprietary posts for the likes of the Tarmac SLA. So this gain isn't just reserved for those
01:46with standard components. Wheels are often seen as the place to drop weight. But what if you already
01:53have a set of swanky lightweight wheels? Well, you can't forget all of the things that are attached to
01:59your wheels. Firstly, the tires are a pretty large component, and they obviously sit right at the very
02:05edge of the rotational mass. So weight saved here can return much larger gains in ride and
02:12acceleration feel. So if you're running some all season tires like I am in the form of the
02:17specialized S-Works Mondos, then consider opting for some summer specific jobbies like these GP5000
02:24TTTRs. These are going to save me about 200 grams compared to the Mondos, which is great.
02:32Of course, this is a change that I'll be making when the roads get a little bit drier,
02:36but the savings don't stop there. Cassettes actually carry a fair bit of mass to them,
02:42since there is a lot of metal work going on there. So if you do have the funds, it could be worth
02:48looking further up the range and getting a cassette which adopts a more advanced construction method
02:53and makes use of fancier materials. For example, the difference between this Ultegra cassette and this
02:59Dura-Ace cassette is 62 grams. Yes, it's not cheap, but as a way to drop a fair bit of weight without
03:06needing to adopt a whole Dura-Ace groupset, this in my eyes is money well spent. I have also done
03:12some digging and found a pretty decent price on a Dura-Ace cassette, which I've linked down in the
03:17description. The other component to consider on the wheels are your rotors, and this is where you
03:22could end up spending a lot of money, but for a much smaller gain. Again, I won't be doing this one
03:29myself, but if you do want to be as cool as Tali Pogaccia, then you could opt for some carbon tie
03:34rotors. Compared to Ultegra spec rotors, they'll save you about 16 grams per wheel for a total saving
03:41of just over 30 grams, which is obviously very small, but maybe this one is more about the bling
03:49factor. Saving money and weight don't always go hand in hand, but when we look at the cockpit of the
03:55bike, there is an opportunity to do just that. I've been running the Garmin Edge 1040 Solar for nearly a
04:02year and a half now, but despite the vast amount of functionality that this thing provides, you just
04:08cannot escape the size of it. So, downsizing to a 540 or an 840 will not only be a cheaper option,
04:16but it reduces the weight by nearly 46 grams, and that's not bad at all. If you shop around,
04:23then you can often find really good deals on hedge units, and I've linked a really good one down in the
04:29description. That's not the only thing that can be done in the cockpit area, because much like how I
04:35was able to save weight by removing excess seatpost length, I can also do the same at my head tube by
04:41removing excess steerer tube length. I can also replace these alloy spacers with carbon ones for
04:47an albeit very small saving, but these carbon spacers only cost a few pounds. For those of you running
04:54integrated computer mounts like the one that comes with the Roval handlebars, it could be worth investing
05:00in a 3D printed option instead. For the real weight weenies out there, some aluminium mounts can
05:06actually weigh significantly more than a 3D printed equivalent. If we take the Roval one as an example,
05:12the standard unit weighs 53.3 grams, while a 3D printed alternative comes in at 26.1 grams. That is
05:21certainly an easy win, and again, can often be cheaper. There are other things that most of us
05:26can do to help shave weight off our bikes, like adopting a carbon bottle cage. Thankfully, these
05:32no longer have to be super expensive. For example, if we compare a fairly standard bottle cage with a
05:38carbon one, there's a potential saving of about 20 grams per cage. Now, for an upgrade that doesn't
05:44need to cost the earth anymore, I think this is one well worth going for. One which certainly is not for
05:50the masses and is reserved for those true weight weenies with money to burn a carbon tie chain
05:57rings. They are eye-wateringly expensive, but after seeing them on Tani Pogaccia's bike, I really can't
06:04stop thinking about them. However, these rings will never be going anywhere near my bike. For me,
06:10they just cost too much money to justify putting them on an aluminium bike, but I think we can all
06:15take a second to just admire quite how pretty they are. In total, then, across all these little
06:22changes, I think I'm going to be able to save a not insignificant 300 to 400 grams. Most of these
06:29savings have either been free or only cost sub 50 quid. It's the big ticket items like the cassette,
06:35head unit and tyres which will up the price. But as mentioned, deals can always be found on these
06:41things and I've done my best to link all of those down below.
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