Pimp My Bike

episode 1: Jim

4lbs = 5 places.  How is that?  Outlined below is how we dropped 4lbs from Jim's bike.  He went from finishing in tenth place in the first two rounds of the Florida State Championship series, to finishing 5th place and bringing home some hardware.

1. The first step of the process is to define the problem.  The problem is that Jim has a stock 2008 Trek Fuel EX 8 that weighs 28lbs 9ozs.

2. The next step is to determine the solution.  That is where it gets tricky.  Jim is on a bit of a budget and wants to slowly drop weight on his bike.  However, it needs to get pimped in one week.  So, we set a budget and subsequently exceeded it; but not by TOO much.  The parts pick that we came up with was not an obvious choice, but one that made sense for his goals.  Used parts were chosen for some parts to save money and keep his stack high.

Everyone knows that the first major upgrade for a bike should be wheels and tires - that's obvious.  However, Jim was lucky enough to have a good friend in the chain gang to loan him a set of Mavic Crossmax SLR's with Continental Mountain King Supersonic tires Stan's up to them.  With the wheel problem out of the way (for now), we moved on to the most efficient $/gram pieces.  See the list below for replaced parts and weight savings.

New parts:

Mavic Crossmax SLR's with tires (1570g rear w/rotor and tire ) - borrowed

Thomson Masterpiece 31.6 x 350 seatpost (192 grams) - new

WTB Shadow titanium railed saddle (203 grams) - used

Easton carbon Monkeylite CNT handlebar (178 grams) - new

Ritchey Pro stem (148 grams) - used

Avid Juicy Ultimate disc brk (233fr/256rr w/mounts & bolts, no rotors) - new

Sram XO twist shifters (199 grams w/ cables) - new

Sram XO rear derailleur (201 grams) - new

Crank Brothers Eggbeater chromoly pedals ( 272 grams) - borrowed

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Replaced parts:

Bontrager wheels with tires (2030g rear w/rotor and tire)

Bontrager 31.6 seatpost (321 grams)

WTB chromoly rail saddle (266 grams)

Bontrager 31.6 riser handlebar (260 grams)

Bontrager 31.6 100x7 stem (177 grams)

Avid Juicy Five disc brakes (304fr / 316rr w/mounts & bolts, no rotors)

Shimano LX trigger shifters w/cable (278 grams)

Shimano XT shadow rear derailleur (227 grams)

Shimano LX pedals (376 grams)

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Weight savings:

Wheels (460 grams)

Seatpost (129 grams)

Saddle (63 grams)

Handlebar (82 grams)

Stem (29 grams)

Brakes (131 grams) - *not including rotors

Shifters (79 grams)

Derailleur (26 grams)

Pedals (104 grams)

*Original rotors were 180mm.  New rotors are 160mm fr / 140mm rr.

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Upcoming parts swap:

Grips - Grab Ons Mtn 1 (approx 90 grams saved)

Water Bottle Cage - Titanium King Cage  (approx 40 grams saved)

Cassette - Bike diet titanium rear cassette (approx 135 grams saved)

Chain - Sram PC 991 Hollow Pin (approx 50 grams saved)

Wheels - ???????????????