From: shiba@riffnique.csd.sgi.com (Richard Shiba)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.marketplace
Subject: Re: Advice on Lite SeatPost
Date: 30 Dec 1992 00:13:54 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: riffnique.csd.sgi.com
Keywords: seatpost

In <1992Dec29.181543.1947@odin.corp.sgi.com> jimt@titan.sanramon.sgi.com (James M Thompson) writes:
>current seatpost is about 230 -250 grams. The seatposts I've looked 
>at ( via Nashbar and Performance ) 
>are all 330mm at 280 grams. Does anyone know of a manufacturer that has a
>good,stable,
>light seatpost and if you have any other ideas for lightning my bike , I'd
>appreciate it .


        The Dean titanium and Litespeed titanium seatposts are both
        sub 200g., but also >$150/ea.  Ringle has been advertising
        an aluminum post that is supposed to be <200g. also, but i
        think availability has been slim (especially for larger
        diameters).  The good part is it's supposed to only go for
        ~$80.  I have no personal experience with any of these, but
        i've heard a number of larger riders say they can feel these
        featherweight posts flex.

        As far as other lightening tips, it comes down to how much
        you want to spend.  Some of the less expensive/big weight
        savings you didn't mention above would be :

        Rims - Sun Metal/Matrix Aero are sub 200g./ea.
        Tubes (latex) - Air-B claims weights of ~135g.
        Alloy nipples - if you buy light rims, you might as well rebuild
                        with alloy nips.
        Titanium pedal axles - SRP makes these for Shim/SunTour pedals.
       	Tires - you mentioned Specialized /S stuff.  they're
			pretty light, but check out some of the Ritchey
			WCS stuff or the Panracer Smoke Lite.  The
			Smoke Lite or Ritchey Force 1.9 WCS are both
			sub 500g.  If you want something wider than 2",
			the Ritchey Z-Max 2.1 WCS is about 530g.  I show
			the Specialized GC/GC Extreme /S weighing in
			around the high 500's. 
        (the above stuff is great cause it's all rotational weight)
        Titanium hub axles - SRP again.
        Saddle - Flite or Bontrager w/Ti rails are ~200g.
 	
	From here i think the costs get higher, and the weight savings
	get slimmer.  Here's the rest of the stuff i can think of that
	will shave a few grams from your bike, and a lot from your wallet.
 
	Hubs - NukeProof Ti hubs are light and Shimano cassette compatible.
	Titanium hardware - SRP sells titanium bolt kits that replace
			derailleur bolts, brake bolts, H2O cage bolts, etc.
			They also have Ti kits for most popular forks...
			I've also seen Ti slider tubes for RockShox/Manitou
			forks.  These save ~200g.  Not sure if they have
			sets for DDS forks.
	Cranks - Grafton, TopLine, Cook Bros RSR are all lighter than
			production cranks.  Micro drive will shed some
			weight as well.
	Chainrings - Titanium chainrings are big bucks, but are light
			and have the benefit of wearing better than
			aluminum.
	Cogs/Chain - I've seen metal matrix and also Ti cassettes that
			are much lighter than stock.  I believe there are 
			Ti chains out there too.
	Small stuff - there's also things like brake levers, skewers,
			H2O cages, grips (differences in grips can be 					up to 100g.)  Dia-comp SS5 levers are the lightest
			(not possible if you use RapidFire). Ringle Ti
			skewers are probably the most cost effective of
			the 'light' skewers. Blackburn ProCage-1 is almost
			as light as Ringle cages, and about 1/2 the price.
			Magura 'corky' grips are the lightest at 22g.

	Basically what i've found is that it's about a buck per gram of
	weight reduction, or about $450/lb...yikes!!!


		Hope this helps,    

			Rich

  
			

 
		       
 
 

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