Project to build lightest possible MTB for 800 euros - this is the result

Stingerbar

Project - build an MTB as light as possible, keep it within 800 euros

Okay disclaimer number 1, pretty flat where I am, decided to do a rigid build from the start and no real need for a front derailleur yet.
Number 2, I haven't chopped the steerer tube yet, so there's still quite a bit coming up from the stem, just covered in spacers for now.

I remember, back in the 90's when I was just getting into mountain-biking, picking up my friend's Cannondale Delta-V 1500... and being amazed, it was so damn light. So recently, having got back into the sport again, I said shag it, I am gonna build a super light bike but... within a certain budget.. I chose 800 euros (okay so I think I went a little over, especially considering postage, haven't toted it up, but could be closer to 850 euros)

Anyway, I allowed myself to buy new and second-hand parts (and most importantly, parts from the Far East) pored over Ebay for weeks, the retro bike forums in the UK, ChainReaction, On-One bikes, etc and I also had several pieces I salvaged from other bikes once I found out they were a good weight (e.g. XTR rear derailleur, shifters)

So, here's the bike.




Now, the important part, the weight.


16.7 lbs (just over 7.5 kg)


I didn't get mad into making it look pretty, weight was everything really, except for the wheels which definitely had to be black, they took weeks to find (plus they needed v-brake rims)

I did my research, yeah could have gone a little lighter, but wasn't going to risk anything on a 96g road stem. So pretty much I feel the bike is quite sturdy. In the weight weenie world its very easy to spend thousands and thousands on ultra light parts, my main interest was to see how low I could get with down-to-earth budget, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the result.

How does it ride? it's just freshly built, haven't taken it properly off road yet, but with the stiff frame and light wheels it accelerates beautifully.

Its mostly carbon fibre, several types of aluminium, titanium and one scandium bottom bracket. If anyone is interested can list out the parts and weights, etc. Now I'm off to chop that steerer tube and lose the spacers, I reckon that's another 60 grams.

Keep_Her_Lit

It looks great!

Stingerbar wrote: »

Now, the important part, the weight.

16.7 lbs (just over 7.5 kg)

That's an amazing result for your budget. Well done!

studiorat

Nice lookin' bike.

What's the chain set?
Looks like a cyclo-cross set-up...

Come on, let's have the spec!!!

Tonyandthewhale

Defo need a specs list on that build, looking well.

Mr. Grieves

Fantastic - I didn't think you could build a road bike that light for that cheap!

I'd like to see the spec and to know what proportion of parts were new vs second-hand.

If you stuck on those Rockshox SID someone was selling here and reasonably lightweight hydraulic discs, you'd have a 9 kg XC race machine for a bit over €1k!

Are you taking orders?

Stingerbar

Ah the bit I was hoping for.. the nitty gritty details..
(again this bike is mainly for flat fireroads around me, once I tire of the novelty of its lightness I will add 2nd hand SID SL susp forks, a comfier saddle, beefier tyres for a more "rideable" bike, should still be sub 19 lb)

Frame - unbranded Chinese carbon fibre frame, did a fair bit of research on these, a lot are OEM for well known brands, what I read convinced me from a price point of view. Needed some internal sanding around the headset and seatpost area (small bits of excess carbon but they sand right off) - 1260 grams

Forks - Mosso 7005 Aluminium forks, cheap and light, very stiff and unforgiving, no big scare stories that I could find, carbon fibre forks were 3 times the cost - 690 grams (with uncut steerer)

Headset - came with frame, 110 grams

Cranks - the trickiest part, are a nightmare to find, there is no leeway to save money, I was looking at 2nd hand pair of Middleburns to be honest with a titanium BB. I was lucky and managed to find a pair of very trick very light KCNC cranks and BB 2nd hand from Portugal at a good price.
KCNC cranks- 467 grams
KCNC Scandium BB - 207 grams

Wheelset - again, difficult, needed a v-brake surface, all black, Ebay.de was best, secured some late-nineties ceramic Mavic Crossmax's
Front inc. rimtape 675 grams
Rear inc. rimtape 875 grams
Tyres - decorative tyres, not much grip, who cares, Maxxis Maxxlite 310 310 grams each (there are 285 gram versions which I found in my local bike shop for 169 euros, screw that)
Tubes - I cancelled an order for Maxxis Fly Weight (100 grams) and instead got a cheaper pair of CST Ultra lights (120 grams each)
Skewers - 100 grams Mavic Cromo Quick release - temporary, 30 gram J&L ti ordered

Stem - Kore Ti/Carbon on sale at ChainReaction 137 grams
Handlebar - Taiwanese Carbon Fibre (not dangerously light) 131 grams
Grips - KCNC foam 8 grams each
Saddle - Chinese carbon fibre - 100 grams
Seatpost - Chinese carbon fibre - 210 grams
Seatpost clamp - A fiver from French Ebay - 17 grams
Pedals - Wellgo WR-1 - 220 grams pair

Chain - KMC SL 9 speed - 270 grams
Cassette - off one of my bikes, Shimano XT, 251 grams
Rear Derailleur - off one of my bikes, Shimano XTR 210 grams (I had a lighter setup, old SRAM ESP 9.0 shifters and derailleur, about 40 grams lighter, but felt the XTR would shift nicer)
Shifters - Shimano XT, off one of my other bikes - 150ish grams (inc. cables, not entirely sure on weight of this)

Brakes - Avid Titanium front and rear V Brake - 165ish grams each total 415 grams inc. cables, widgets, brake blocks, etc.
Brake Levers - Avid FR-5's - 150 grams pair

+ 50 grams for the spacers (soon to go), lube, grease, bar end caps

= 7571 grams = 16.69 lbs @ ~ 850ish euros (hope I haven't forgotten anything)

After I get the skewers, the flyweight tubes and cut the steerer, lose spacers will be around 7350 grams/16.2 lbs.. sweet jesus I could get it sub 16.. no.. must.. stay.. on.. budget..

Problems - Buying second-hand can cause issues, one of the beautiful ti Avid brakes came without pin (well I lost it) so I got the local bike shop to jimmy a pin on. The frame brake bosses weren't 100% the bike shop did that in the same job.

Where to buy - Seems like a lot of exotic stuff on the bike but nearly all the parts, stem, handlebar, brake levers, seatpost, tyres, pedals etc all ranged from 15 euros to 40 online, mostly via Ebay (.co.uk, .benl, .de, and Far East), Chainreaction, On-One.co.uk (for cheap Schwalbes), Retrobike.co.uk for so many ultralight retro and modern parts from generally trustworthy sellers, also (older) weight listings at http://weightweenies.starbike.com/listings.php and I put up a forum post on inexpensive lightweight items http://forums.mtbr.com/weight-weenies/budget-weight-weenie-mtb-parts-775671.html

The typical weight weenie brands like Ax-lightness, TLO, Schmolke, Tune, American Classic, KCNC can be insanely expensive, you're looking at hundreds of euro just for a seatpost, so I just chose items that were very much at the edge of the weight/price ratio.

Junior Jacon Jeese Jurger

That's awesome

John_Rambo

Epic stuff. Nearly as epic as your user name.

rab!dmonkey

Incredible build you've got there. Are you going to run it one-by or put derailer up front?

How about for your next trick, making the most bombproof bike for €800? :rolleyes:

Jawgap

Chap in the Bike Hub in Howth had a similar project going.....

https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.227643370585644.75956.165131510170164&type=1

Only it looks like you spent less and came in lower in terms of weight:)

I think he also had certain performance objectives in mind too.

AstraMonti

Well done!

You can easily shave few more grams on these Seatpost, Seatpost clamp and Pedals but I would assume that will take away the limit of your budget.

Realistically, how rideable is it with the rigid fork on the trails?

C3PO

AstraMonti wrote: »

Realistically, how rideable is it with the rigid fork on the trails?

One of my Epic MTB club mates rides with a rigid fork all the time and is properly competitive in XC races including a podium finish in the Vets Nationals last year! It's the V-brakes that I'd be more concerned about for typical Irish wet conditions!

seamus

RPL1 wrote: »

It's the V-brakes that I'd be more concerned about for typical Irish wet conditions!

Pfft, it's far from v-brakes you were reared

The pros rode on standard cantilevers for years.

Biopace

RPL1 wrote: »

It's the V-brakes that I'd be more concerned about for typical Irish wet conditions!

Ain't nothing wrong with properly set up v-brakes.

Crippens1

Hi, who did you get the frame from?

Tenzor07

RPL1 wrote: »

One of my Epic MTB club mates rides with a rigid fork all the time and is properly competitive in XC races including a podium finish in the Vets Nationals last year! It's the V-brakes that I'd be more concerned about for typical Irish wet conditions!

You'd have to be a bit mad to go around MTB'ing on ridgid forks for sure!

seamus

Worrying about whether you can MTB on rigid forks and V-brakes?

Jaysus, MTBers are getting awful soft these days. We used to throw ourselves off the side of a cliff with nothing but a steel frame and u-brakes between us and death.

Mycroft H

seamus wrote: »

Pfft, it's far from v-brakes you were reared

The pros rode on standard cantilevers for years.

I still have cantis on one of my bikes! There great when once set up and look far more elegant then v brakes.


#oldstuffisbetter

Biopace

seamus wrote: »

Worrying about whether you can MTB on rigid forks and V-brakes?

Jaysus, MTBers are getting awful soft these days. We used to throw ourselves off the side of a cliff with nothing but a steel frame and u-brakes between us and death.

You were lucky, we had no brakes at all, just our bare feet and timber frames lashed together with baling twine.

krystal123

You have got great results for 800 euros.Congratulations!:cool:

Eamonnator

Great job.
I have a pair of those forks, they do the job really well.
How much were the wheels , do you mind me asking. I have a front one, and need a rear one to replace one, which I mangled. Super wheels. Mine date from 1999.
You could probably save some weight by going tubeless. There are lots of conversion kits out there. It wouldn't cost a lot.

Stingerbar

Cheers for compliments on the build.

rab!dmonkey wrote: »

Incredible build you've got there. Are you going to run it one-by or put derailer up front?

Thanks, well its flat where I am, so it's okay as it is now (very fast firetrack bike) If I want to make it my main ride then I'll do it up, prob add a front derailleur.

How about for your next trick, making the most bombproof bike for €800? :rolleyes:

The monster has already been created and refuses to come apart.

Hi, who did you get the frame from?

From these guys - http://stores.ebay.ie/ebaygoods
Based in China (Hong Kong), good communication, good English, a lot of feedback, delivery only took 2 weeks, the box and packaging were heavier than the frame. There are mixed opinions on Chinese carbon fibre frames, some people say they are identical to the top brand frames, others say they don't trust them. Most who have bought don't seem to have any big problems. For me a bit of sanding was involved (2 minutes of just smoothing out headtube and seattube) and one of the brake bosses needed some bike shop attention.

How much were the wheels , do you mind me asking. I have a front one, and need a rear one to replace one, which I mangled. Super wheels. Mine date from 1999.

I also have a perfect front one and a mangled rear one! 1999 (spokes came out of the eyelets) Quite difficult to find all black very lightweight matching wheels with v brake rims, but when I saw good condition Crossmax's on German Ebay I went straight for them, 120 euros.

rab!dmonkey

The Kona Kikapu is an XC/trail bike - it's not bombproof and running a fork like that on it is dangerous. :eek:

kona

rab!dmonkey wrote: »

The Kona Kikapu is an XC/trail bike - it's not bombproof and running a fork like that on it is dangerous. :eek:

not so much dangerous, however Id say its not the most comfy or rideable with the front end that high. Also "Bombproof" and RST being associated in the same bike is scarey

Nice job on the budget/build op

Stingerbar

rab!dmonkey wrote: »

The Kona Kikapu is an XC/trail bike - it's not bombproof and running a fork like that on it is dangerous. :eek:

Very well spotted, also in the picture is where the previous owner rewelded the downtube to the headtube. He also bodged his own front 20 mm axle. Just used the frankenstein bike for parts so far, but bombproof as in literally parts will not come off the bike.

Tonyandthewhale

What are the hubs on those wheels (and any idea what they weigh)? I'm trying to build a relatively light-weight touring bike for a stupidely small budget and building light sufficiently light wheels but worthwhile wheels is proving a head-scratcher.

Tomred13

lovely bike stingerbar.. happy motoring dude. for 800 squid that amazing!! it pays to shop around!

Snesfan

Hi Stingerbar,

Just wondering nearly two years on, how is the chinese carbon frame holding up?

I'm interested in getting one for my own build but there are a few questions about build quality on some sites.

Whats been your experience? would you recommend?