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Thinking of building an ultralight fixed

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Thinking of building an ultralight fixed

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Old 03-13-07 | 02:03 PM
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Originally Posted by fatbat
Light weight road frame+eno hub. Much easier to find a used light road frame in good condition.
Yep.
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Old 03-13-07 | 02:06 PM
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Originally Posted by moki
to, uhh, me. What size are you?
Ten in... oooh, you mean frame size. A 60 will do.
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Old 03-13-07 | 02:29 PM
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my gear bike weighs in at 17-18lbs, and i only spent 1500, i figured fixed gear would be easier to make lighter, for less.. guess i was wrong, regardless i have about 1000 to build up another bike... id like to maximize my moneys worth for it though definately
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Old 03-13-07 | 02:36 PM
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Any aluminum track frame with decent/non heavy components should be about 15 pounds,

take say a RRHP, PC, or something along those lines with a carbon fork, low flange track hubs, lighter rims, possibly tubular, any track crank, light seat post like Thomson, light seat, alloy bars and stem, and there you go.

you could even save weight buy running the smallest chain ring and and cog possibly for the inches you want, to cut some weight and chain links.

most of the weight in track bikes comes from the threaded stems, heavy highflange hubs, deep/heavy rims, and bars we use.
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Old 03-13-07 | 02:43 PM
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Originally Posted by recneps
WTF 1k are you joking for 1k your looking at 20lbs, get out of here, come back when you have a tie, desk job, and a 60,000 salary.
Welcome to 2007. Would you like some air in your tires?
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Old 03-13-07 | 02:47 PM
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Originally Posted by Sakae Custom
Any aluminum track frame with decent/non heavy components should be about 15 pounds,

take say a RRHP, PC, or something along those lines with a carbon fork, low flange track hubs, lighter rims, possibly tubular, any track crank, light seat post like Thomson, light seat, alloy bars and stem, and there you go.

you could even save weight buy running the smallest chain ring and and cog possibly for the inches you want, to cut some weight and chain links.

most of the weight in track bikes comes from the threaded stems, heavy highflange hubs, deep/heavy rims, and bars we use.
Yep. I'm still surprised how light my bike is. The other thing to keep in mind is clipless pedals are going to weigh less than big MKS track pedals with metal clips and double straps or something..
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Old 03-13-07 | 03:07 PM
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Originally Posted by nickf829
my gear bike weighs in at 17-18lbs, and i only spent 1500, i figured fixed gear would be easier to make lighter, for less.. guess i was wrong, regardless i have about 1000 to build up another bike... id like to maximize my moneys worth for it though definately
Another option is the jamis sputnik. Isn't that thing supposed to be 16-17 lbs @ $750? You could use the remaining $250 on a few lightweight parts.

edit: review:
https://www.bikeforums.net/archive/in.../t-161746.html
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Old 03-13-07 | 03:37 PM
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Originally Posted by bonechilling
what the heck is up with that slack geometry on the cinelli?!
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Old 03-13-07 | 03:47 PM
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I hate to say it, but you could build a seriously light IRO Angus. That tubing is lighter than a lot of cheap aluminum. Even more so with the Bareknuckle. Light cranks, pedals, a ti BB would all help. Super light wheels would help even more. You could probably drop a pound off your wheels easier and more cheaply than your frame.
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Old 03-13-07 | 04:07 PM
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Seriously. Trek T1.
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Old 03-13-07 | 06:52 PM
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Originally Posted by wildturkey
Seriously. Trek T1.
Even Langsters are pretty danged light. Or that new Raleigh one.
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Old 03-13-07 | 07:11 PM
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Originally Posted by recneps
should put you in the 13lb range, probably lighter.

Uh, not to be a negative nellie. But no.
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Old 03-13-07 | 07:32 PM
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Super nice carbon road frame + white industries eccentric track hub.
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Old 03-13-07 | 07:52 PM
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Bicycle station in Brooklyn has hookups to a dude that makes custom titanium track frames. I think the frame is about 900 and is def light. I could find out details if you're really interested.
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Old 03-13-07 | 09:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Aeroplane
Even Langsters are pretty danged light. Or that new Raleigh one.
Yeah, you are right, but a Trek T1 is still noticeably lighter than a Langster, Raleigh and other entry level aluminum frames. Since the OP said he had about $1K to spend, and he wanted something light, then I think the lightest off-the-rack-new bike he can get (for like $999) is the Trek T1. If he said he only had $500-$600 to spend, then I'd totally recommend a Langster or something like that. I've ridden all of the above and I'm serious when I say that the Trek T1 is "noticeably" lighter. It felt like a feather.
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Old 03-13-07 | 10:30 PM
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Bikes: unknown make TT bike, fixed; Romet Sport, gone; titanium Pinarello gone;Colnago with Campy C-Record/Super Record,on it's way; Funny Gianni Motta; Buehler track, Polrad track chrome; titanium MTB on 28'', fixed; Tri Wheeler, fixed

My steel conversion was slightly less than 6kg (13 pounds). The light stuff were old Dura Ace road cranks, old Mavic gl tubular low profile rims, carbon bianchi fork and a carbon seatpost. The bike had a front campy monoplanar brake operated by a cane creek tt lever.

The frame (road TT with curved seat tube, replaced dropouts) is 1700g, the wheelset is 2050g with tubbies. The wheelset was about $160 + the cost of tubbies, the frame was $80, the track ends it needed after the crash were $17. Total was $500ish, this is still my favourite bike - it is being rebuilt now.

I could shave another pound, were I not caring too much for comfort: I am using middle weight tufo tubulars (the lightest with an anti-punch belt), a pretty heavy saddle and reasonable hubs: Mack rear, formula front (the lightest fronts use too small bearings for my likeing).

Last edited by vobopl; 03-13-07 at 10:38 PM.
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Old 03-13-07 | 10:35 PM
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Originally Posted by wangster
Bicycle station in Brooklyn has hookups to a dude that makes custom titanium track frames. I think the frame is about 900 and is def light. I could find out details if you're really interested.
Custom Ti for $900? Color me incredulous.
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Old 03-14-07 | 06:13 AM
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Originally Posted by bonechilling
Custom Ti for $900? Color me incredulous.
+whatthehell? Especially with the price of Ti tubing nowadays... there aren't a ton of folks working with it anymore.
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Old 03-14-07 | 07:18 AM
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well thats what I was told. He had one in the shop and i picked it up... super light and he said a guy he knew made them. I can ask him again to double check. They might not be custom then, but I think they're at least made to order. I'll try to see this week if I can find out.
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Old 03-14-07 | 07:48 AM
  #45  
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Great. Now I want a Trek T1 frame.
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Old 03-14-07 | 07:53 AM
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I've always dreamed of building up a light fixed bike too - great for hill climb TTs.

I think the cheapest way to do it is

An unpainted alloy frame
Easton SL forks
FSA ORBIT X W headset
American Classic 24 hole front hub
Campagnolo Super Record 24 hole rear hub
Sapim CX Ray spokes
Nisi Pista Speciali rims
Panaracer Ultima tyres
Outland Carbon seatpost
Selle Italia SLR Flow seat
TA titanium bottom bracket (109mm)
Tune 165mm cranks
TA 3/32 chainring
Euro-Asia Imports Alloy 3/32 cog
KMC 9-speed width chain
Campagnolo Super Record pedals/clips
3T Less bars
Syntace 99 stem

By shopping around you could do this build under £1,000 (pounds, not dollars, sorry)
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Old 03-14-07 | 08:55 AM
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A friend of mine has a mostly-stock T1, and it's a damn light bike. OP, I'm sure if you test rode one of those, you'd find it to be "light enough". Of course, if you would prefer to build it yourself, maybe a Bare Knuckle or Rush would be in your price range.

about pedals: recently it was said that 'clipless will be lighter than track pedals...' or something. It's always going to be a specific comparison; low-end SPD stuff is often really heavy— for example, both of my MKS sylvan lites with alloy clips are about the weight of one shimano SPD pedal that I had in the house.
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Old 03-14-07 | 08:59 AM
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Originally Posted by chase.
A friend of mine has a mostly-stock T1, and it's a damn light bike. OP, I'm sure if you test rode one of those, you'd find it to be "light enough". Of course, if you would prefer to build it yourself, maybe a Bare Knuckle or Rush would be in your price range.

about pedals: recently it was said that 'clipless will be lighter than track pedals...' or something. It's always going to be a specific comparison; low-end SPD stuff is often really heavy— for example, both of my MKS sylvan lites with alloy clips are about the weight of one shimano SPD pedal that I had in the house.
Lightest pedal in the world is the Aerolite, second is the Orb 3 by the sadly defunct M2Racer, and then, and then, and then, is track pedals - Campagnolo Super Record, with titanium spindles, hard to beat.

And remember, no need to hyphenate ly adverb compound phrases. Mostly stock.
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Old 03-14-07 | 09:17 AM
  #49  
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Originally Posted by Aeroplane
+whatthehell? Especially with the price of Ti tubing nowadays... there aren't a ton of folks working with it anymore.
https://www.xacd.com.cn/
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Old 03-14-07 | 09:24 AM
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Realistically, there is no sense in putting anything but eggbeater C or SL pedals on a 1K light bike- provided you want clipless and don't have a preference for other pedals.
A fair bit lighter than anything with toe clips and a LOT cheaper than anything super record.
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