Mountain Biking - Strip my 4300

I have a Trek 4300 that has been somewhat upgraded but i was wondering....What would give me the biggest bang for the buck in terms of replacing to lose weight. IOW, of the listed components on my bike what could I upgrade for the least amount of money and lose the most weight.

Here are my specs:

2004 Trek 4300


FRAME: Alpha SL aluminum
FORK: Rock Shox J3


WHEELS: Sun Ryhno Lites with Deore LX hubs.
TIRES: IRC Mythos Slick. 1.95

DRIVETRAIN:
SHIFTERS: Alivio
FRONT DERAILLEUR: Shimano C050
REAR DERAILLEUR: XT
CRANKSET: Deore Hollowtech
CASSETTE: SRAM 850 11-28, 8 speed
PEDALS: Eggbeaters

COMPONENTS:
SADDLE: Brooks B17. (forget it, won't lose this one.)
SEATPOST: Bontrager
HANDLEBARS: Bontrager Sport, 25mm rise
STEM: Bontrager, 25 degree
HEADSET: Cane Creek S2
BRAKESET: Alloy linear pull w/alivio levers

I emailed Trek and they tell me I can lose 8 ozs by upgrading frame to an 8500. SLR. They also told me that a Trek 6500 weighs about 2 lbs less than a stock 4300. However, my bike isn't stock so, i am unclear how much i would actually gain (lose) by ditching this bike and upgrading to a 6500.

Have you started by weighing the bike? IMHO You need to compare that weight to the advertised weight of new bikes. Then you could evaluate how much you are spending versus how much you gain in weight loss.
You could definetly lose some weight by upgrading your shock, but that will cost a lot of $$$ to achieve serious weight loss. (I'll bet you already know that).
YOu could go for a light weight seat post and handlebar. THat shouldn't set you back too bad.

Have you started by weighing the bike? IMHO You need to compare that weight to the advertised weight of new bikes. Then you could evaluate how much you are spending versus how much you gain in weight loss.
You could definetly lose some weight by upgrading your shock, but that will cost a lot of $$$ to achieve serious weight loss. (I'll bet you already know that).
YOu could go for a light weight seat post and handlebar. THat shouldn't set you back too bad.


Thanks for the reply. I don't plan to upgrade the shock, in fact that fork is new as of a month ago. I agree that i need to weigh the bike just need to figure out how. I've thought about upgrading stem, handlebar and seatpost. But that adds up as well.

Seat, Tires, wheels, drivetrain, stem, bars, seatpost, brakes, shock, frame. Keep the pedals.

You could lose 1/2 lb with a new seat and another 1/2 with new tires.

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/listings.php

weights of bike parts

You could chop off some weight with new wheels.

I use a quick and dirty way to weigh my bikes. I stand on a bathroom scale, weigh myself, then pick-up the bike and subtract my weight from the total. It has been accurate to within a pound when compared to calibrated scales. For really accurate weight, try an LBS with a calibrated scale.

How much money are you willing to spend to lose the weight?

Generally the easiest, cheapest, quickest weight loss is grips. You can easily lose 2 - 4 ounces by just changing your grips to foam. The tires you have are already pretty light, however what tubes are you using? You can lose another 2 - 4 ounces with some lightweight tubes.

If you are willing to spend a little money you an lose another two or three ounces by replacing the stem with an fsa xc-115 and another five ounces by going to a carbon bar.

Just by doing these four changes you can lose up to a pound for a relatively low cost.