I was soft pedaling while coasting the other day, meaning the freehub body was clicking, aka not engaged. I could get the SRM to read 2-5 watts. I know my bearings are pretty crunchy, not as bad as 2010 (when I could get the SRM to read 15 watts on no load - the bearings were literally indexed every so many degrees). My comment on Contador's bearing thing has got me thinking that saving 2-5 watts would be significant for me, at least in terms of background wasted energy. One of these days.

There's a thread on weightweenies for people to swap.

tetonrider, just curious what bike is this going to be on?

Thanks. I'll do some searching, would prefer to not shell out a ton of cash as I'm trying to keep the costs for this bike loooow.

I'll check it out

i'll be riding a tarmac.

thanks for the suggestions.

Di2 RD, battery, wires and TT shift/brake lever are ~375g for me.

going the red route (rd, friction shifter, separate brake lever, cable/housing) would be about 300g. that's a meaningful difference.

might leave this one on the table for next year as it involves buying more parts and a bit more building. (not much, but at this point i'm low on time.)

I've got a recon cassette on the way. check.

i'm seeing ~200g on the tufo (tubular). am i wrong?

regardless, i've got some light vittoria tubulars (190g) on a light wheel set. glued up, tested low Crr... race proven for me already.

got some light QRs coming in at 33g for the set. could use the bolt-ons, though. got a suggestion there?

saddle's already as light as i am willing to go right now, in the model that works for me.

could go with a saddle+post combination...they make some crazy light ones. probably looking at 50-100g, which at this stage where gains are tiny is actually huge.

already doing this one. already have a light + functional brake (eebrake) on my rig. it's the only light brake that i've found where performance isn't a trade-off.

i'll be running a di2 tt brake/shift lever. it's essentially the weight of a regular TT brake lever, so that's one area where di2 pays off a bit.

i've used power cordz before on a MTB...shifting, not brake. couldn't get too cozy with them where failure would have a real consequence. for the HC my brakes shouldn't really be an issue, but i'm already running nokon (relatively light), and it's a front brake (short run)....and the powercordz would be destroyed after that one use (can't really reuse the inner). still, probably about 20g savings.

flat bar is definitely a savings of about 100g. i went the bullhorn route because i have one and i have the TT brake/shift levers. great thought.

not the venge. my tarmac is approx 150g lighter (frame+fork).

at this point, i've got to pretty much shut things down. the HC is in about 2.5 weeks, i'm traveling for about 10 days in between, and i need to install and test the setup (wide/narrow single ring+no FD+no guides/guards; bullhorn+tt shifter setup, etc.).

i think i've trimmed about 3# off of my bike (which is ridiculous...it wasn't exactly heavy last year) vs how i ran it last year. the ideas above could trim another 300g (red, flat bar, powercordz, saddle+post), which is insane.

might leave those to ponder for next year, in case i'm close but fall short on my goal this year.

thank you!

cdd, man....with as measured as you are in so many areas....maintain that bike! :)

bearings aren't hard to replace.

incidentally, one reason why some pro teams use full ceramic bearings is not that they save energy (bikes are really the wrong application), but rather they can power wash the stuff without risk of corrosion. yeah, they have to use proper grease, but rust isn't a factor. a good steel bearing is pretty awesome.

losses like what you describe don't scale with power, so with your self-described lower average power, you would stand to see more gain.

if i were closer i'd personally replace them for you.

thanks for these, cdr. i do use Ti axles (you can convert look pedals aftermarket).

probably not going to do the aerolites at this point but may consider in the future...esp if this year is "close-but-not-quite."

had a MTB race a few years back where i broke a saddle rail in a crash. race was basically 25' all-out uphill followed by 20' downhill. had to ride the last 15' standing. that was pretty painful.

wound up losing a spot due to the crash but finished pretty respectably. i was 3rd or 4th over the top (the riders ahead of me were way out of my league)--and i didn't want to give up that performance.

in hindsight, it was pretty risky. the terrain wasn't insane at that point but the rest of the descent was fast & loose. my quads have never been so sore!

I'm sure I've missed it, but how much have you lost since 2009?

about 50#. i used to play ice hockey and was a defenseman on some teams (though i preferred playing center). wish i had a body composition/DXA from back then. definitely had more body fat, but a whole bunch of what i lost is upper body muscle....along with a bunch of fat. i'd guess i was something like low-20s.

as of this morning, i'm 1.5# away from the target weight i set 8 months ago. will probably go for a DXA in a few weeks, just out of curiosity. i've been a little heavier and ~9% BF. i think i'm lighter and leaner now. i'd guess 7-8%.

make sure to use super short valve extenders

I see we're still ignoring the colonic suggestion. you could be 3lbs under your goal weight!

Arg. I'm buying new bearings now.

money well spent. i think HED uses a pretty common bearing.

the zipp steel bearings are actually really, really nice, though not dirt cheap. i'd take more frequent new bearing over expensive bearings any day. ironically, those who race/ride in inclement weather are probably better candidates for full ceramics.

hope they treat you right, cdr.

BB30 bearings. My cranks don't turn really easily. Before I bought the BB30 facing tools I could see as high as 15 watts, but that was at unrealistically high rpms, like 150 rpm. At normal rpms it was something like 6-8w. This was early 2010, my "good" year.

ahhhhh.... when you wrote earlier about the free hub engaging i misinterpreted that as there was bearing drag in the free hub. my mistake.

bb30...even easier. good luck! crunchy = not good.

you know, you could save a lot of trouble by getting a Trek Emonda. 10 lbs with wheels that are as light as the ones you'll be using, and you can shed additional weight by removing a few more parts.

or a colonic. http://d8k4pmvhwsscm.cloudfront.net/...-header(1).png

Fudgy is obsessed with all things rectal. NTTAWWT

I've read on here about bottom bracket issues - I don't really understand it. Do they wear over time from all of the torque applied to the pedals and, subsequently, the frame? Is there anything to look out for?

Mine lasted about 5 months before I had a familiar clicking sound and I replaced them.

They are a lot like headsets. Prone to grit and water infiltration and easily buggered by hack mechanics.

Speaking of headsets mine has been making a cracking sound since Exeter. Another bill from that race.

you're all talking $$$ for grams while I'm talking $ for kgs!

I lost about 5 lbs. getting a colonoscopy last fall. Not in the polyps that were removed - those were only a few grams. Mostly in the water loss and caloric deficit during the diarrhetic lead in that is basically a 48 hour colonic.

The issue with my frame is a bit different. The builder didn't face etc the frame after building. Ends up that BB30 facing tools are pretty hard to find. I bought a set for myself. However, when I first built up the bike, I used a file (I know I know) to enlargen the tight spots. Really imprecise. The bearings went bad basically the instant I put them in - on a down hill, going about 40 mph, soft-pedaling in a 39x25, I could get the SRM to read 15 watts by pedaling really fast while still hearing the freehub coast.

Facing has made it better but my hack file job basically screwed up my BB shell. Now the bearings creak and such.

Any press fit BB bearing moves - the first Gary Fisher BBs were a nightmare. When Merlin used the press bearing BB we replaced bearings all the time. A Trek dealer told me that all the BB86s (press fit Shimano) get loose and it's basically a normal maintenance thing to replace the bearings. They go more frequently than rear tires, which should be about the quickest wearing thing on a bike.

This time I hope to do a better job, build up the gaps with something, etc. Maybe it'll last until the end of the summer.

Do you use loctite when pressing the bearings? It will potentially solve your issues as long as you have a good enough press to keep everything square.