This was for my mother and not so much me, we actually decided on leaving the original front chainring on which is a 36t and putting a 18t out back. I thought a 42x16 would have been fine only because she is a marathon runner. So with it a 36x18 that should do me just fine in the winter. The old der finally just froze (so much salt on it) so it was stuck in 36x16 and she said it was a bit tough on the hills, I left enough chain that I can do a 36x20 if she wants

I think the bike easily dropped 1.5lbs with removing the cassette, cables, der, and shift.

She took it for a ride like right away, I passed on the way back and she like it a lot , felt lighter then before and pretty easy on the hills.

Hooray for helping Mom!