Originally Posted by
Tomm Willians
My question concerns the possibility of removing the front disc brake assembly and installing a rim brake to shave off a bit more weight. What challenges does this present? Can a rim brake be used on a wheel that doesn’t have a polished braking surface?
Without a fork change, installing a rim brake isn’t an option. Nor is using a rim brake on the current wheels. Disc rims don ‘t use thinner metal for the sidewalls, they use shorter sidewalls. There’s just no place for the brake pads to get a purchase on the rim during braking. The pads are likely to dive into the spokes if you try.
There are some things you can do to lighten the bike but none of them are going to be cheap. I would have started with the frame and
not bought a steel frame. Aluminum is durable enough for a lighter rider. Aluminum is durable enough for a heavy weight like me. But that is water under the bridge.
The easy changes are handlebar, seatpost, stem, and saddle. Go for a carbon bar and seatpost. Look at weight of stems and get one that is lighter. Swap the saddle for one with titanium rails or perhaps carbon ones. You are probably looking at $200 to $300 to save around a pound.
You could change the brakes but the Spyre C is pretty light at about 160 g each. Spyre SLC are about 150 g. 10g isn’t enough of a weight change to even consider.
Probably the best thing you could do would be lighter wheels. I wouldn’t necessarily go carbon...it’s just too expensive...but there are lots of options out there that would be lighter than the OEM wheels. I’d build a set using White Industries XMR or CLD hubs with a titanium freehub, a Velocity A23 rim (around 450g), and DT Swiss Alpine III spokes. The spokes are a little heavier than double butted...about 7 g per wheel...but much stronger. You could probably build with 28 spokes and have the equivalent of at least a 32 spoke wheel and perhaps a 36. Reducing the number of spokes won’t make that much of a difference on weight but it shaves a little.