200 watt bulbs are becoming near impossible to find, let alone a single utility 400 watt one

i bike in the daytime so i don't take light bulbs

+1

There's no way your frame weighs 25lbs.

I have a sneaking suspicion* that everyone telling the OP to "sprint up the hill out of the saddle" or "sprint really hard into it to bring a lot of momentum" has no understanding of climbs longer than a mile or so.




*Suspicion is not actually suspect.

I think they assumed the OP was interested in climbing run-of-the-mill SF hills rather than the Sierra Nevadas. Nonetheless, lots of the SF hills would be rather difficult if you followed the advice to sprint up it out of the saddle.

If you had a bike that was solid aluminum rather than tubes, would that get it above 25lbs even?

My current ratio is 48/17....Loads better than what my stock ratio was on my Windsor...which was 48/15 That was hard enough on flats sometimes.

I do need to improve my spinning. BUt yeah. I Might try to drop a few pounds. Definitely not 30lbs. I know id probably actually hurty myself by losing that much weight. Considering I will be buliding a geared bike, I guess this question still is very relavent. W/e.

Any suggestions on what I sghould gear down to if I do gear dow?

Thanks for the help everyone. Realy helps.

in any case, right now im not really climbing.Most moderate inclines Im able to just take it straight up riding out of the saddle. But for Really steeeeep hills, if the road is wide enough, ill sort of zig-zag/wiggle across it.

I was the one that told the OP to "out of the saddle sprint" up the hill. I ride 48/17, bike over 100 miles a week, and my typical weekend ride (Big Mountain in SLC) is 40 miles starting at 4600 ft ending at 7300 ft, with most of the climbing coming from a 7 mile section with 2000 ft of climbing with 9-10% grade at points. Going faster is spinning higher cadence = gettin out of the saddle and hurrying the hell up. On any grade over ~7%, I'm out of the saddle, even if it is a 2 mile long section. Just my two cents and everyone's different, but climbing out of the saddle seems to have increased my VO2 max, endurance, and sprint duration.

Recommend me some super duper lightweight tires/tubes!

How much do you weigh? I'm definitely not the climber type so sprinting and climbing have never fit in the same equation for me. Seeing that you climbing with a harder gear and dont make it sound grueling, I will guess that you are a smaller/lighter/leaner rider.

Sometimes I wish I could be around 150 or less and just fly on the climbs, but then I would literally look like the living dead.

Best way to get better at climbing is to do it with a 40lb weight vest on a 35lb bike from the 70's. Then one weekend a month go for a ride on your nice bike with no bag on and see how much you've improved.

I did say earlier, but at the moment im fluctuating around 175/180 (more often 180), but am fairly lean for my height. Ill eventually do some research as to the elvation of the largest mountain I climb and the grade that it is.

Super duper light weight tires = easy flats?

Where do I find a 40 LBS weight....and ftw, I dont have a 35lkbs bike yet. Haha i will take that advice though =p.

Lightweight
 

990g for the set.

http://www.lightweight.info/typo3tem...0ea0fed05c.png
http://www.lightweight.info/en/products/track.html

I swear I saw that wheelset on a bike in bicycling magazine in an ad lol.

For tires, these are given a very good puncture rating out of those used for racing, and at only 200g each that is pretty light. Additionally they have some of the lowest rolling resistance of 23c tires as well.
http://www.performancebike.com/bikes..._1034963_-1___
And if you want to really get special, use latex tubes. They are a bit lighter and have 10% less rolling resistance than regular butyl tubes.

Like I said though, training on all the lightest best things you can get doesn't make sense. Train on the heaviest, hardest to move equipment you can if you want the biggest effect and best gains so that when you do transfer over to nice gear for a race or something you will notice a huge difference and will respond with great improvement.

http://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Exe.../dp/B00248183Y
Or just grab a large pile of rocks and put them in a backpack.