[CrankyMonkey]

I'm getting a new Trek Fuel EX 7 this week for about $1499. The next model up is $2000 buck and it feels about a couple of pounds lighter. So I started looking at what I could do to make up the difference with the Fuel EX 7. Here is what I discovered.

Item Orig New Diff Price and Description
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grips 80 30 50 - $5 - Foam Grips
Tires 1260 880 380 - $100 - Continental Explorer Supersonic
Tubes 352 198 154 - $19 - Lunar Lites
Wheels 1825 1768 57 - $310 - XTR/Mavic Wheelset
Seat Post 280 185 95 - $119 - Easton EC70
Haddlebar 250 135 115 - $149 - Easton EC90 Handlebars
Stem 250 125 125 - $70 - Race Face Deus XC

Total Saved 926 - $767
Total Pounds Saved = 2.04

I used PerformanceBike.com for finding the prices and weights (so you maybe able to find some of this stuff for cheaper.) I had to make a guess on the stock stem because they don't list the weight on the website.

So the biggest bang for the buck is new grips, you save 50 grams (approximately $0.09 per gram). After that the most significant savings is Tires and Tubes, you save 1.17 pounds for $119 (approximately $0.22 per gram). The next biggest is a new carbon seat post, it saves .21 pounds (approximately $0.80 per gram). A new carbon handlebars and a lighter stem, you can save .52 pounds for $219 (approximately $0.99 per gram). The wheel set has the worst bang for the buck at approximately $5.43 per gram.

What am I missing? What parts would you substitute for a bigger bang for the buck?

 

[oc-biker]

Your selection looks pretty good. However, I would go with a different set of wheels. You can do much better than 1768grams. I believe the EX7 has disc. On eBay you should be able to pick up a pair of new American Classic 350 MTB Disc wheels for about $350. They weigh 1500grams. You might also want to consider swapping pedals. You can get new Wellgo MG-18 Ti for $49 on eBay. They weigh 246grams. I'm guessing your current pedals are at least 350grams.

I would also opt for Stan's rather than the tubes. You can save some additional weight, not worry about pinch flats, and run lower pressure.

 

[CrankyMonkey]

Nice tip on the Stan's I totally forgot about those...

 

[bike_freak]

Your selection looks pretty good. However, I would go with a different set of wheels. You can do much better than 1768grams. I believe the EX7 has disc. On eBay you should be able to pick up a pair of new American Classic 350 MTB Disc wheels for about $350. They weigh 1500grams. You might also want to consider swapping pedals. You can get new Wellgo MG-18 Ti for $49 on eBay. They weigh 246grams. I'm guessing your current pedals are at least 350grams.

I would also opt for Stan's rather than the tubes. You can save some additional weight, not worry about pinch flats, and run lower pressure.

Second this - especially with the lighter wheels.

Other then Wollgo MG-18 pedals, also consider egg beater pedals..

 

[nino]

more weight savings...

KCNC Ti-Pro seatpost 27,2/350= 142g or 31,6/350 = 152g...............85$
KCNC stems at around 115-120g..............................................ca. 50$
KCNC scandium Handlebar 119g (600mm lenght).......................ca. 35$
Exustar E-PM25-Ti pedals 210g...................................................110$
steel-bolt-on skewers 65g..............................................................15$
Transfil flying snake cables saves about 30-50g over regular cables....ca. 40$
shaving of chainrings saves ca. 40g..............................................free
KMC X10 SL chain 225g...saves 65g over regular chain.............ca. 60$
definitely Amclassic Disc wheels 1470g

 

[Astroguy]

Since you're talking bang for your buck, check out the Sette Edge Stem on Pricepoint.com for $25. It weighs in at 126g (actual is 135g on weight weenies), it seems to have got some good reviews on this site. You can pick up the matching flat bar by Sette for $17, it's weight is about 150g according to their website. Or get the Race Face Deus XC Flat bar for $37 at Pricepoint.com and it's at 135g. You can see these aluminum bars are only 10-20g more than the carbons and at a quarter of the price. Many argue that they're safer because of how a carbon bar may react in a crash (carbon splinters).

Seat post you can also check out the Sette APX alloy at 255g for $20. I don't want to seem like a Sette whore here, but they get good reviews on this site and offer a great bang for buck. I also found a FSA FR 200 post for $40 at 220g. Is $80 for an additional 35g saved on the carbon seatpost worth it? You could probably find a better bang for buck spent elsewhere, take that $80 and get an Shimano XT cassette...and I'm assuming you could probably save 100-130g off your existing SRAM pg950, and this would be rotational weight too!

Check out some bolt on skewers instead of quick releases. You'll save 60g for about $12.

For around $400 you might be able to get a custom wheelset and it could come in around 1500g. Do some searching on this site and you'll get some leads to good wheelbuilders. I hear the guys at oddsandendos.com have great wheelsets for a great price.

Next is a saddle. Don't know what the weight of yours is or if you're satisfied with it, but there are many WTB saddles w/ the titanium rails that come in at 220g or so and should be quite comfortable. If you search you could pick one up for $60-70.

Like someone else said, your pedals are heavy. Another light alternative is the Crank Bros. Egg Beaters. You can get the chrome versions...I got mine for $59 and I think they weigh in at 294g...you could save a good 100g on pedals there.

Careful on the tires...consider going for one that is proper for the terrain your ride on. A faster tire on your terrain is more useful than a light one that doesn't grip well.

 

[CrankyMonkey]

Awesome advice on the Sette! They have a a lot more bang for the buck then the higher end stuff. I will recalculate my savings with those products and post them later today.

 

[40hills]

Is Sette really as good?

Since you're talking bang for your buck, check out the Sette Edge Stem on Pricepoint.com for $25. It weighs in at 126g (actual is 135g on weight weenies), it seems to have got some good reviews on this site. You can pick up the matching flat bar by Sette for $17, it's weight is about 150g according to their website. Or get the Race Face Deus XC Flat bar for $37 at Pricepoint.com and it's at 135g. You can see these aluminum bars are only 10-20g more than the carbons and at a quarter of the price. Many argue that they're safer because of how a carbon bar may react in a crash (carbon splinters).

Seat post you can also check out the Sette APX alloy at 255g for $20. I don't want to seem like a Sette whore here, but they get good reviews on this site and offer a great bang for buck. I also found a FSA FR 200 post for $40 at 220g. Is $80 for an additional 35g saved on the carbon seatpost worth it? You could probably find a better bang for buck spent elsewhere, take that $80 and get an Shimano XT cassette...and I'm assuming you could probably save 100-130g off your existing SRAM pg950, and this would be rotational weight too!

Check out some bolt on skewers instead of quick releases. You'll save 60g for about $12.

For around $400 you might be able to get a custom wheelset and it could come in around 1500g. Do some searching on this site and you'll get some leads to good wheelbuilders. I hear the guys at oddsandendos.com have great wheelsets for a great price.

Next is a saddle. Don't know what the weight of yours is or if you're satisfied with it, but there are many WTB saddles w/ the titanium rails that come in at 220g or so and should be quite comfortable. If you search you could pick one up for $60-70.

Like someone else said, your pedals are heavy. Another light alternative is the Crank Bros. Egg Beaters. You can get the chrome versions...I got mine for $59 and I think they weigh in at 294g...you could save a good 100g on pedals there.

Careful on the tires...consider going for one that is proper for the terrain your ride on. A faster tire on your terrain is more useful than a light one that doesn't grip well.

I was just looking at the Sette Edge stem on pricepoint and it does look like a great value... half the price of my RF stem. Is the type of aluminum as stiff, strong, and fatigue resistant as the more expensive products? I'm not a metallurgist.

Can someone comment on the differences between the RF 7050 alum vs the Sette 2014 T-6 alum?

 

[Astroguy]

I was just looking at the Sette Edge stem on pricepoint and it does look like a great value... half the price of my RF stem. Is the type of aluminum as stiff, strong, and fatigue resistant as the more expensive products? I'm not a metallurgist.

Can someone comment on the differences between the RF 7050 alum vs the Sette 2014 T-6 alum?

Their website description summarizes it up pretty well for us common folk.

http://www.setteusa.com/parts/vector_bar.htm

For $6 more, go for the 7050 bar.

As far as it being as good? Don't know...I doubt it would ever fail under XC riding.

 

[elephant]

steel-bolt-on skewers 65g..............................................................15$

Actually $5 from Nashbar!

 

[klondike1024]

Some interesting ideas in this post for losing weight. Good job fellas!

 

[Wheelspeed]

Maybe I'm missing something? The O.P. is considering the cheaper bike for $1500, but already got himself up to $700 to save 2 pounds. The next model up is only $500 more and "a couple pounds lighter".

Seems the most bang for the buck is to buy the next model up.

And besides weight, you may get better forks with the better model?

 

[CrankyMonkey]

I guess I was just pointing out how much bang for your buck each set of items get's you. In this case it does make sense to get the next model up.

To follow up, I got the Trek EX 7. The only upgrades I've made are Crank Bro's egg beaters and Stan's NoTubes. Other then that I'm probably not going to spend much more on this bike cause it preforms better then my previous bike. Maybe down the road (next year) I will make some more upgrades but for now I'm happier then a pig in poo.

 

[FooFighter]

Sette is good

Have the stem, but I don't like the 10 degree rise, so a RF Deus stem is coming in. The Sette stem is light and a great value