Got the new wheelset for the bike today Deore XT M730/M732 hubs with Araya RM-17 rims. the new wheelset weighs 2425g while the old one was 2630g, a difference of about half a pound. I didn't know how much difference to expect but that's decent (though I admit i was hoping for closer to a full pound difference). The green tires weigh 560g each, not super heavy but plenty of room for weight loss. Most of the tires i've been looking at are in the low 400g range, so with a wheel and tire change I'm looking at at least a 1 pound total weight loss. If I went with some weight weenie skinny tires i could potentially drop 2 lbs total.




also did some major clean up on the rust issues using phosphoric acid and a wire brush. The fork still needs more work and I think I may try out oxalic acid for the first time on it... that is, as soon as I can free the stuck headset nut went over to the LBS yesterday and tried wailing on it a few times, but it didn't want to budge. I put a bunch of triflow on it and will try again with a large crescent on the nut and a headset wrench on the top cup and hopefully that will do the trick

not sure what i should do about touch up in this area.. this part isn't so bad (especially when the wheels and cranks are installed) but the fork lost a fair amount of paint and the bare metal looks a lot worse against the bright pink vs the purple. I may leave these areas on the stays with just some clearcoat but the fork i may try to touch up with some nail polish or something.. not sure how good large areas look painted with a hand brush though.. might be better to just clear the other spots too