00:00We all want to save more weight from our bikes, right? Well, after building up my new Armanda,
00:05I 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
00:36about 10 centimetres worth of seat post, which saved me a fairly decent 30 grams. For what is
00:43essentially a free win, I don't think that's bad at all. But it doesn't just stop there, because I
00:50have found a solution to my fairly unattractive seat clamp collar. Instead of the original unit,
00:55I found this Pro Performance seat clamp, which isn't actually going to provide any sort of weight
01:02saving, but it does just look a whole lot better. And if you want one for yourself,
01:06then I have left a link down in the description below. Before we move on to a different area of
01:11the bike, I do want to share one more recommendation, which I myself won't be doing,
01:15but it could be ideal for one of you lovely viewers. And that is to look at a specialist seat
01:21post manufacturer, like Doremo. Now, Doremo is a Spanish brand, and they make some incredibly
01:28lightweight components. For example, they make a 350 mil 27.2 post, which comes in at acclaimed 80
01:36grams, which is seriously light. They also make, though, proprietary posts for the likes of the
01:42Tarmac SLA. So this gain isn't just reserved for those with standard components. Wheels are often
01:49seen as the place to drop weight. But what if you already have a set of swanky lightweight wheels?
01:56Well, you can't forget all of the things that are attached to your wheels. Firstly, the tyres are a
02:02pretty large component, and they obviously sit right at the very edge of the rotational mass. So weight saved
02:08here can return much larger gains in ride and acceleration feel. So if you're running some
02:15all-season tyres like I am in the form of the specialised S-Works Mondos, then consider opting
02:20for some summer-specific jobbies like these GP5000 TTTRs. These are going to save me about 200 grams
02:29compared to the Mondos, which is great. Of course, this is a change that I'll be making when the roads
02:35get a little bit drier. But the savings don't stop there. Cassettes actually carry a fair bit of
02:41mass to them, since there is a lot of metal work going on there. So if you do have the
02:46funds, it
02:47could be worth looking further up the range and getting a cassette which adopts a more advanced
02:52construction method and makes use of fancier materials. For example, the difference between
02:57this Ultegra cassette and this Durace cassette is 62 grams. Yes, it's not cheap, but as a way to drop
03:05a
03:05fair bit of weight without needing to adopt a whole Durace groupset, this in my eyes is money well
03:11spent. I have also done some digging and found a pretty decent price on a Durace cassette, which I've
03:16linked down in the description. The other component to consider on the wheels are your rotors, and this
03:22is where you could end up spending a lot of money, but for a much smaller gain. Again, I won't
03:28be doing
03:28this one myself, but if you do want to be as cool as Tali Pagaccia, then you could opt for
03:33some carbon
03:34tie rotors. 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 factor.
03:49Saving money and weight don't always go hand in hand, but when we look at the cockpit of the bike,
03:55there is an opportunity to do just that. I've been running the Garmin Edge 1040 Solar for nearly
04:02a year and a half now, but despite the vast amount of functionality that this thing provides,
04:07you just cannot escape the size of it. So, downsizing to a 540 or an 840 will not only be
04:15a cheaper option, but it reduces the weight by nearly 46 grams, and that's not bad at all.
04:21If you shop around, then you can often find really good deals on head units, and I've linked a really
04:27good one down in the description. That's not the only thing that can be done in the cockpit area,
04:33because much like how I was able to save weight by removing excess seat post length, I can also do
04:39the
04:40same at my head tube by removing excess steerer tube length. I can also replace these alloy spacers with
04:45carbon ones for an albeit very small saving, but these carbon spacers only cost a few pounds.
04:53For those of you running integrated computer mounts like the one that comes with the Roval handlebars,
04:58it could be worth investing in a 3D printed option instead. For the real weight weenies out there,
05:05some aluminium mounts can actually weigh significantly more than a 3D printed equivalent. If we take the
05:11Roval one as an example, the standard unit weighs 53.3 grams, while a 3D printed alternative comes in
05:18at 26.1 grams. That is certainly an easy win, and again, can often be cheaper. There are other things
05:25that most of us can do to help shave weight off our bikes, like adopting a carbon bottle cage.
05:31Thankfully, these no longer have to be super expensive. For example, if we compare a fairly standard
05:37bottle cage with a carbon one, there's a potential saving of about 20 grams per cage. Now, for an
05:43upgrade that doesn't need to cost the earth anymore, I think this is one well worth going for.
05:48One which certainly is not for the masses and is reserved for those true weight weenies with money
05:54to burn a carbon tie chain rings. They are eye-wateringly expensive, but after seeing them on
06:02Tani Pogaccia's bike, I really can't stop thinking about them. However, these rings will never be
06:08going anywhere near my bike. For me, they just cost too much money to justify putting them on
06:13an aluminium bike, but I think we can all take a second to just admire quite how pretty they are.
06:19In total then, across all these little changes, I think I'm going to be able to save a not insignificant
06:26three to four hundred grams. Most of these savings have either been free or only cost sub 50 quid.
06:33It's the big ticket items like the cassette, head unit and tyres which will up the price. But,
06:38as mentioned, deals can always be found on these things and I've done my best to link all of those
06:43things down below.
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