mcoomer

What he said! This is supposed to be an all-mountain bike. You can do things to take few pounds off but you're still not going to turn it into a XC race bike. That's why Cannondale made the Rush and Scalpel. Also, if you're riding the bike the way it was intended and doing drops, log rides, jumps, etc you've got to balance weight savings with durability. It can be done but is the cost of doing it worth the weight savings? That's something that you have to decide.

I have a Prophet (2006 Prophet 1000) and I was able to shave just about 2.5 lbs from the stock weight. To do that I built up a set of Mavic XM 819's, replaced the drivetrain with X0 rear der and shifters, put on a SRAM PG-990 cassette, SRAM hollow pin chain, Easton carbon bars, and Thomson seatpost and stem. I'm running a 2.0 S-Works tire with Stans tire sealant. My bike tips the scale at just over 28lbs now. It also doesn't hurt that I ride a lot (road and MTB) and have shaved more weight off my own gut and improved my fitness level and skill set. It's funny now, but right after I bought my bike I was talking to the owner of the shop and asked him what I could do to drop some weight off my bike. Without missing a beat he looked me up and down and told me to lose 15 lbs. Truer words were never spoken.

As for the Lefty fork, don't sell it short. You may want to look for an upgrade if you can find a good deal for a Left Max Carbon on EBay or Craigslist. That fork gives you 140mm of travel and weighs in at less than 4 lbs. It's the stiffest fork I've ever ridden and tracks really well when you throw the bike into turns. There are a few twin stanchion forks that can give you that much travel for the same weight but not many and I doubt they can match the stiffness. I'm just saying, you know...

Mike