How much lighter can this old Ross be?
 

I got this 84-85 Ross 292 signature bike. It weighs in just about 26#. I rode actually in a triathlon this last weekend. I know the best weight to lose would be around my waist but am curious, without breaking the bank, what I could get this bike down to. I am guessing carbon forks, stem, bars and cranks right off the top. It has the shimano golden arrow components on it which I heard were = to 105 line back then. Thanks

Your biggest weight savings would be the wheels.

I'd look at the wheels. What tires are on there? It doesn't make sense to me to buy a bunch of carbon parts, but it's your bike. Bike looks nice, btw.

[edit] I just noticed - you can drop a few grams just by removing that back reflector.

I suppose it depends largely on your definition of not breaking the bank.

That little list already is getting pretty heavy. (in a monetary sense)

+100, I owned one so I can tell you Machin Shin hit it right on before I read the thread. The Ross 292 has one VERY nice ride. If I ever find another in my size I'll keep it.

My Ross
 

:thumb:

I don't know exactly what model Ross I have but I was told it is a mid 80's bike. Here is what I've done. This thing fits great and seems to ride pretty godd.

I did notice a marked improvement when I changed the wheels and tires to Mavic XP-22's and Gatorskins.

Best regards,

Mike

Thanks for the input. The rims are Arrayas (sp?), they really add that much, huh? I was thinking carbon forks for weight and also I heard it smooths out the ride, with that I figured new stem and bars. I like the look of the cranks and am thinking new derailers and shifters as the shifting is very loose and the bike mechanic I spoke with said it was mostly due to age and wear. I just got done riding it and I like the frame, nice and solid as I am a 200# rider

The Shimano golden arrow stuff is pretty to look at but like the Shimano 600 Arabesque, there was far better kit out there at the time.

Wheels are always a good place to start.

Weight is a very controversial subject. With all sorts of semi and pseudo-scientific arguments over the value of rotational mass, etc.

Bikes are also fairly difficult to downweight since there aren't any big things or needless things on them. Auto racers have a saying that the way to lose 100 pounds is to find 1600 places to lose an ounce. Bikes don't have many places and an ounce is pretty big in any part you can find on a bike.

Start with the wheels and tires. Useful difference in total weight and a very significant difference in rotational weight at a place where it matters the most. You'll feel the weight more significantly the more it spins and the further it is from the center of mass. A saddle or seatpost feels heavier than a bottom bracket. Tires and wheels are huge in perceived weight compared to a crank.

I don't know your bike, but the fork might be a good place to look. Going with something modern and carbon will shave weight on the fork itself and a few grams on the headset and stem. After wheels and fork you'll be fighting for grams. Those are the only spots where a couple pounds could come off. What cogset are you running, has it got low gears you don't use, go to a corncob - at least for race day. There are sure to be lighter groups, but not by a lot.

The bike looks to be a 58 or so. Those don't get much under 21 pounds in old steel without extreme effort. Besides unless your races are very technical aero is more important once you get up to speed.

If it were mine and I had to race it, I'd go with late 80s, early 90s hubs in 7s (Shimano, Campa or Superbe will all do) with good rims. I'd jump on sewup, keep them for race day and get set for pretty damn cheap. The fork would be secondary, and would take some shopping since a lot of the cheap carbon is not all that light. I'd also check things like the saddle, seatpost and brake levers and such looking for bricks. Simple stupid stuff, cut off excess seatpost length, get your cables out of the air, remove the links that let you cross-chain big-big and just remember to never do that and a complete tune up.

carbon forks will be lighter, but they will not "smooth" anything. Not much rides better than a quality steel fork. You aren't going to save enough weight on a beautiful bike to matter. Get some good wheels and go with it. I think that deep-dish early 90's campy wheels like the old Shamal's are the sleeper dealieo right now.

Buy a TT-specific bike if you stay interested in Tri. You'll realize minutes right off the bat, and additional minutes when you get your position dialed in. Really.

I've recently bought the same bike. I had an opportunity to swap the wheels for those from an 1985 Trek 500 and that brought the weight of my 292S to 24lbs. It is a very nice riding bike and I'm leaving the rest original including the golden arrow.
Enjoy the ride!

Great thread - and I am loving the suggestions because I weighed my newly built up 1984 Bianchi Alloro last night at 24 pounds even with 1 bottle cage and my big computer. I already swapped some parts - although the stuff I put on in some cases weighs more I bet. (I put a threadless converter, theadless stem and some FSA bars and Shimano 600 brifters.) The seatpost is pretty light Shimano 600 and the seat is an extremly light vintage Flite ti. Anyway - as far as I am concerned the only thing that I can do to save any significant amount of weight is a set of wheels. My current hoops are early 90's Shimano Exage 500 hubs with Araya 700c rims. The rear has been setup with 8 speeds with a freehub off a Shimano 600 hubset - and it has taller gears - the smallest cog is 11 and the largest is smaller than normal too because I took this off a 650c bike I had. The tires are cheapo Michelins.

I have a friend looking to sell a set of Bontrager Race Lite's that I was considering. How much weight do you figure I could save with these? What about some tires - how much can I cut there? Just curious.