Making Mountain Bikes Lightweight [Podcast #118]

Everything you need to know about making mountain bikes lightweight.

By Jeff Barber
August 28, 2017 Last Updated: January 27, 2021

4 comments

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In this episode of the Singletracks podcast, Greg and Jeff discuss mountain bikers’ obsession with lightweight bike frames and components. We’ll talk about how companies save weight on bikes, the advantages and disadvantages of lightweight bike parts, and how to save easy weight on your mountain bike.

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4 Comments

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mongwolf Mongolia // 2011
Aug 28, 2017

I really like the idea of just weighing one's bike at your LBS. That works. Another way for cheap if you travel a lot like I do is to use your mini luggage scale. Mine is accurate to 0.1kg (about 3oz). Good enough for me. Also to weigh components you can use a kitchen food scale if you have one of those. I often borrow my mother-in-law's. =)

0 reply

iyoon South Carolina // 2011
Sep 6, 2017

My Mojo 3 small with Race face flat pedals weighs 28 lbs. So it's in the range for trail bikes as mentioned.

My XC bike is 2013 Trek Superfly 100 Pro (29er, 15.5") and weighs 22.75 lbs. That is with 100 mm front and rear travel, flat pedals (Wellgo Ti), a dropper post, and some dirt. Hardtail XC bikes without dropper posts will weigh less I assume. So the weight range for most XC bikes is 22 -26 lb - my wild guess?

You shared the normal range for trail bikes as 28-30lb. I assume that is without pedals. Is that correct? If I remember right, the Yeti SB5 is in the 26 and 27 lb range (without pedals), depending on the config? Pretty dang good for such a solid trail bike. And would you mind to venture opinions on what are normal ranges for XC, AM, FR and DH bikes? Or at least some of these. Thanks.

Greg Heil Colorado // 2008
Aug 28, 2017

Looks like Yeti lists the weights of the SB5 as anywhere from 26.3-27.9 depending on the build, so I'd say that's pretty close to the bell curve :)

As for giving normal ranges for other bikes... nope, I wouldn't want to venture an opinion :) Even 28-30 for trail bikes is a ballpark, I wouldn't invest too much stock in it. There's so much you can do to change a bike's complete weight. Discussing frame weight would be a more apples-to-apples discussion.

Maybe someone else will jump in with their weight opinions?

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