For years I’ve rolled my beautiful brown eyes at weight weenies (WW or dubyadubya) and even considered them the Trekkie of the bike industry. Why? Well, the dubyas I’ve met seem to be willing to do anything to shave off a few grams on a bike. I’m sure we could sit here and discuss the benefits of a lighter bike and etc. But we won’t, we’re going to talk about how you dubyas have had a big influence on me, but I’m not fully converted yet because I lack the most important thing about being a dubya, the funds. Light weight stuff adds up super fast.
Let’s talk about my progression on this dubya thing. Truthfully, I’ve been a dubya for years. But not to the extent where some of you might be. I basically want my bikes to weigh less than 30lbs, unless its my downhill bikes. I know for you folks out there 30lbs is a fat pig. Ya I agree, so 25-28lbs is pretty light in my book.
The most recent dubya experience I had was with LadyP’s Airborne Hobgoblin. I weighed it this afternoon and it came in at 30lbs (with pedals). After installing a new-to-her FSA XC 209 wheelset, it dropped the weight down to around 29lbs. With the 1 pound loss, I was pretty excited! Now I’m trying to figure out what else I can do to shave some weight off. Perhaps some lighter tires?
One thing I had toyed around with was the idea of going retro with a 9 speed drive train. I know that 9 speed isn’t exactly retro, but with more and more people switching to 2×10, 1×11, 9speed just isn’t as popular. Anyhow, I have a Stylo/XO/X9 drive train that I wanted to install on the Hobgoblin, but I found out the Stylo cranks wouldn’t fit. The reason why I wanted to go with the 9 speed, this drive train is way lighter(by 2.5lbs) than the X7 2×10 drive train that came stock on the Hobgoblin.
You know what’s interesting about this whole subject of being a dubya. I can certainly appreciate the practice a bit more, but I certainly will not go the length of some of you who spend hundreds of dollars just to save a few grams and with that said, it’s safe to assume that I’m almost a weight weenie, almost.
One thing you don’t hear from the weenies is all the broken ultralightweight parts they tend to go thru. You think buying titanium bolt kits and carbon wonderbits is expensive…try spending that money Twice for replacements!!
There’s smart weight-saving, and then there’s wretched excess: light wheels/tires are a good way to save…drilled out, paperthin, unobtanium components and fasteners are not.