tbenjaminsen

Hi!

I recently wanted to take the leap from trail and cx biking to road cycling. An acquaintance of mine had a BMC Teammachine SLR01 (2017 model) size 51 frame set that he offered to sell at a very reasonable price, and I went ahead and bought it. I figured it would be cool to source the necessary parts and learn the ins and outs of the bike at the same time.

I’ve now finished the build, and I’m wondering how the weight of the bike compares to factory (and custom) builds, and in the same time I’m interested in where weight potentially could be saved.

The bike is currently at 7300 grams including pedals, and is built with Shimano Ultegra Di2 – compact Ultegra crank (34/50) and 11-26 cassette. Wheelset is Carbomania (not sure of model) with Vittoria Rally tubulars mounted. Cheap (but fairly light) Chinese carbon drop bars mounted.

I’m not a weight wheenie (way too heavy myself to chase grams elsewhere than on my own body), I just find it really intriguing to see how light the bike could end up without spending an astronomical amount of money 🙂


(Photo of the bike before bar tape is mounted and new rubber is glued on the rims.)

base2 

Generally speaking: Light weight now is not light weight of even 5 years ago. Any road bike of any vintage should easily be able to be got under 25 pounds with the proper selection of modern components. I'll even post my 1972 Schwinn Varsity to prove it.

Any reasonably decent road bike from a shop ought to come in at between 20 & 25 easily enough OEM equipped. Around $3000 things start to be a lot closer to 20 with decent carbon frames & low to mid-grade components (GRX400). At around $1500 +/- -ish the aluminum Giant Contend is about 22 pounds or so with better spec (105) components than most.

Weight is not the only measure of quality or desireability. But, I suppose you already knew that.

I have a size 58, 1997 Raleigh R600 that is full-up as-ridden with all brand-name stuff, pedals, clinchers & standard tubes, water bottle cages, etc... that is 17.6 pounds. All it cost me was a $75 used crankset. The rest was spare parts from the bin. It's lighter but not necessarily faster than my Cervelo...maybe I should do something about that. 🧐

GhostRider62

7566 grams once you add the chain.

tbenjaminsen

Haha, actually not – the current weight stated is the complete build including everything 😂

GhostRider62

You already have a pretty light bike. A SRAM AXS Force with disc brakes might be 1 kg more chubbily.

The weight weenie group is Sram Red 11s mechanical. Add light wheels. You might be down to 6500-6600 or something like that with those to changes but I wouldn't bother, new high end bikes are not as light as what you have

TiHabanero

Lose the fugly wheel stickers and save a gram or two, and gain respectability to boot! Good Lord, they are hideous!

Keep in mind, anything under 15lbs means nothing as it can't be used in a UCI event.

tbenjaminsen

I kinda like the stickers, they’ve grown on me, although I initially had the same reaction as you 😂

chaadster

How much lighter without spending an astronomical sum? Not much is the answer there, maybe something in the neighborhood of 80g with a $300 - $400 or so investment.

I’m thinking items like bar, stem, pedals and seat; one of those can probably be selected for weight loss. Wheels are a target, too, but costs go up fast there, particularly if those China-direct thingies you have are in the 1400g range. You might be able to shave close to 300g on wheels alone, but it’ll probably cost around $1k.

16lbs for a 51cm carbon fiber frame is not remarkable, but is a nice, light bike.

base2 

Oh, yeah. In re-reading this thread, I see that it was "How much should my high-end bike weigh?" Not "How much should a high-end bike weigh?"

The answer is simple. A high-end bike should weigh exactly zero, be infinitely thin for superior aerodynamics, yet be laterally stiff & vertically compliant. Anything short of this ideal is an engineering failure & should be discarded as the trash it is.

Your high-end bike should weigh more than mine.

tbenjaminsen

Nice catch 😂

woodcraft

Di2 adds some weight. Seat post & saddle (CF rails), chain, & pedals can be swapped for lighter without breaking the bank. As is, 'tho, it's lighter than many current top end bikes, which have been porking out with disc brakes, electronic shifting, and big tires.

You were better off with the Sprinters in the pic than with Rally tires- I'd head back that direction.

dilbert2000

2021 Madone SLR7 here, I consider it high end.
18+ pounds - not light, but I love it.

chaadster

Aero trumps weight.

bampilot06

2022 SL 7 size 58

17 pounds, Surprisingly it’s lighter than my cervelo C2 size 56

I was worried the madone was going to be on the heavy side, I am impressed with the weight and the ride. Stiff where it needs to be and Super smooth, I have the iso sped set for full stiff as well.

tbenjaminsen

Appreciate your input!

Seat post is CF as is - original from BMC. It has a custom profile (D-shape), so don’t know how easy replaceable it is.

I’m aware the Rally tires aren’t optimal weight wise, but my assessment was that the bike will be ridden in wet conditions frequently, and the Sprinter tires won’t be as versatile as the Rally ones.

Maybe a second stealth CF wheelset is the way to go, although I can almost hear the sound of a massive amount of money flying out from my wallet 😂

chaadster

My alloy rim braked, mechanical 11spd, ‘17 Dedacciai Gladiatore 2 size XL (59cm seattube) weighs in at 15.5lbs fully built with bottle cages, 16.1lbs with Assioma power meter pedals. It’s not aero, but is stiff through the pedals. N


Dedacciai Gladiatore 2

tbenjaminsen

Wow! Nice bike, really lightweight 🤩

chaadster

Thanks…I do like it!

I don’t recall the frameset weight other than that it was not particularly light, like maybe in the realm of 1200g, whereas many CF frames were boasting sub-1kg weights. I presume many of those were smaller sizes and built up with as much concession to low weight as I gave mine, and ergo, that it’s no uncommon to find 15lbs complete bikes, even in similar frame sizes.

PeteHski

That is pretty light with pedals. A lot of high end factory builds are in that kind of ballpark for that sort of bike. Factory weights are quoted without pedals, so you are equivalent to a 7.0 kg build right there. That's only 200 g above the UCI min weight. A lot of pretty high end disk braked bikes are closer to the 7.5 kg mark without pedals.

jaxgtr

my 2016 Trek Emonda ALR 54cm, Ultegra Mech (aluminum frame) weighs less than my 2021 Trek Domane SLR 7 52cm (carbon 700 oclv) Di2 ultegra, which is considered a higher end road bike. Do I care, nope. I recently changed the wheels on my Emonda from an older Bontrager Aeolus 5 to a Bontrager Aeolus Pro 5 TLR and weight went from 15.9 lbs with pedals to 16.1 lbs, due primarily to a slight heavier wheel and tubeless tires. My Domane without the toolbag in the downtube weighs in right around 18.7 lbs with pedals. Again, do I care, nope. Both bikes feel fantastic to ride.

But 16 lbs is pretty light, and as mentioned, anything below 15 lbs is not UCI approved if you are looking to race.

tempocyclist

I'd be a little more worried about cheap Chinese carbon handlebars than weight...

MinnMan

7300 is pretty good. I just weighed my 2020 Canyon Ultimate (CF SLX disc 9.0 Di2) and it is 7390 grams (~16.3#), including Favero Assioma Duo pedals, two bottle cages, and an out-front Wahoo mount (though not with the Wahoo itself). It was maybe 50 g lighter when I had a Sella Italia saddle on it, but I just switched back to the Fizik Alliante that is more comfortable.

woodcraft

it’s not the weight of the Rally tires, but the durability- approaching DNB in my experience. Sprinters, OTOH are remarkably durable (again, IME) and any slight less grip in the wet is more than made up for by the cut resistance and general trouble free-ness. I’ve been through lots of tires & ride these 90% of the time on the road bike.

merlinextraligh

a Schwinn Varsity weighed almost 40 pounds. With the electro weld frame and Ashtabula crank it would be virtually impossible, or at least insanely expensive to get it to 20 pounds.

base2 

Varsinental project

IMG_0599 by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr
It actually weighs less now with the heavy Race 28's safely on a hook in the garage & HED Belgiums installed instead. (Sorry the pics are upside-down. They're right at the Flickr site. 🤷‍♂️ )

Touring Geometry frame modification

This bike now wears a tandem fork with a more appropriate 50mm of rake & cantilever brakes. Also it's running GP5000TL clinchers & a standard Ultegra drivetrain instead of the JTek Shiftmate8 powered road/mountain mishmash. 6500 miles so far since that thread wound down. No issues. I haven't weighed it since the reconfig.

Edit: 28.4 pounds as ridden with the Velocity A23's. About a pound less with the Powertap Amp G3 wheel set that just aesthetically ugly AF on this bike. Not bad for a 47 year-year old size 58, hunk of gas-pipe. Even if I do say so myself.