Tomm Willians

Given a situation where a rider is using their MTB for more of a mild gravel/easy trails type riding and would like to reduce the weight of the bike as much as possible, is there much weight to be saved by replacing the Fox34 (overkill for this rider) with some other unit ?

veganbikes

Generally the cheaper forks are going to be heavier. If you are looking to lose weight Fox 32 SC is going to be lighter but without any information one couldn't really tell. So long as the Axle to Crown match up and the steerer tube is right and thru-axle spacing is right you could make a swap. It sounds like maybe a mountain bike is not the right bike and gravel bike of some sort could do better maybe but there is little info on the bike and fork and such.

If you want to really reduce weight get some lighter wheels with lighter tires. Rotational weight is the worst weight but again hard to say much without knowing more on the bike and the rider as well.

Tomm Willians

We are looking at wheels/tires as well. To put this gently…… this rider bought a 2022 Specialized Turbo Levo SL based on one test ride and then later decided it’s a bit heavy to manage. (Small rider) furthermore this rider is not an aggressive MTB rider so is attempting to turn the bike into something more passive…… but not too passive. Porridge just right I guess?

veganbikes

It is a great bike and able to be made a bit lighter but you can spend quite a bit to get there. I don't know a good way to make it more passive though. It is pretty solid as is and would be a tough change for me assuming I built it from the frame up (which I am considering) I would say focus on the wheels and tires and that will help and also walk assist will help when you need to move it around while not riding which is usually the biggest issue when people say it is heavy (my e-bike is 70lbs but I don't notice that so much while riding just when moving and that I use the walk assist).

I would tell them to consider looking at the Vado SL line up it is not a mountain bike at all it is a gravel/hybrid bike but is lighter as it removes the suspension fork and goes to a carbon fork with a little bit of suspension in the headset (on the 5.0) and with a set of 650b wheels and wider tires (47 was the max width last I checked) you could hit plenty of gravel trails quite well and get the same electronics as the other bike.

DMC707 

You are never going to make a 38 or 40 pound bike feel light.

However you can make it feel better on the roads, gravel paths and tame Trails with a more hybrid-y tire choice like the Specialized Renegade or similar. Finding tires like that and a true mountain bike width is not the easiest thing but would be a worthwhile search

I have a turbo levo and have considered this with the stock wheels as I upgraded the bike with a trendy set of Enve’s Shortly after its purchase. The bike really feels like a monster truck on the road with the stock tires. But admittedly the tires on your levo SL are probably a lighter option than a Levo

2old

A Rock Shox SID would reduce the weight by 1+ pound and the couple I've had were great. There are several SL's, so the one he purchased would dictate changes, but I'd look at the wheels and tires next. Since he's not gonzo, you should be able to design some very light aluminum wheels that would suffice.

Canker

The problem is the bike is designed around a 150mm fork and any 150mm fork isn't going to be much lighter. It is just the wrong bike. It is built to power you to the top of a hill and then bomb down it at stupid speeds. It isn't designed to ride easy trails and gravel.

Russ Roth

looking at the specs, getting it set up with a tubeless gravel tire would shave an easy 2lbs rolling weight and reduce rolling resistance, that'll make the bike feel better but otherwise its just the wrong bike. Took my wife's new bike and ditched the nearly 1100g maxxis (similar to the weight Spec claims for the tires on the bike) for some 660g Schwalbe and tossed the tubes to make it tubeless. The difference was significant enough to get comments on how well it suddenly handled compared to the last time. Don't know if the Spec came tubeless already but that would help as well.

Kapusta

This is a 150mm fork, correct? Honestly, you’re not gonna be able to go much lighter without also going with a much shorter travel fork (such as the SiD) and that is going to screw up the geometry of the bike making the seat tube even steeper. And if they’re only using it for mostly xc/gravel riding, then it’s probably on the steep side as it is.

This is a highly capable mid-travel FS MTB, designed for aggressive riding in challenging terrain. Trying to turn it into a lightweight XC or gravel bike is a futile waste of money.

Sell the bike and get the right one. This will achieve better results for less money in the end.