Today's weight weenies reach for carbon fiber everything. What did weight weenies do in the mid to late 1970s?
I have a bike from that era that has the potential to be very light. I'm looking for period correct weight weenie tricks. Excluding drillium, that is.
Did people use hollow pin chains in the six speed era? Alloy cogs? Titanium or aluminum fasteners? Other tricks of the time? Can one still get this stuff today?
What did a really light road racing bike weigh in 1978?
17.9 pounds (Raleigh Team Pro 753 with all the trimmings). Mine has mostly Super Record, but an OMAS Ti BB, Ti/AL Cobra brake caliper bits, 24-spoke wheels with weigh-almost-nothing Fiamme Ergal rims, A Zeus 2000 freewheel (since upgraded to a Campagnolo one, though not period-correct), Cinelli aluminum toe clips, Arnold aluminum binder bolt in the Cinelli 1A stem, 240-gram silk tires, and back then it had an Avocet Racing III saddle (very, very uncomfortable, but light!), now has a Flite Ti. I also had Pino Morroni Ti/AL skewers, which I foolishly sold at one point. Wish I could get those back.....
... and the piece de resistance: CLB aluminum (!) brake cable housings. A bit flexy, actually, but they work.