I have been asked several times about reducing weight on our Pinion Bikes.
Our “standard” Titanium bike builds with our components comes in at 12.2Kg without pedals. Before we go chasing weight — it is true that the best weight to remove from your bike is rotational weight.
Rotational Weight:
However off-road that comes at a price, grip and control. The following build is with 29 x 2.05" Kenda Honeybadgers at 660g each are not too bad.
If we are looking for a long distance gravel and bike packing, I have found Continental Terra Trail 450g and Panaracer GravelKing 300g to be lighter for 700 x 47c tyres… Vittoria is worth looking at too with Terrino.
Saving weight on inner tubes is a good idea, unless there is flint or glass on the trails. 2x Inner tubes come in at approx 450g. 120ml is recommended for Stans Sealant per tyre — so you are looking at 240g saving 200g.
Vittoria air-liner light is an interesting option at 50g each. With less sealant (60ml) needed, we could get down to 220g, saving 220g.
Overall Weight:
This is where we started, totalling 12.2 Kg.
FRAME: LAMB Pinion Frame = 2150g with stainless fixing screws.
M6 Caphead MC Screws X 2 = 12g
M6 Lock Nuts = 5g
M8 Caphead Screws X 2 = 21g
M8 Nuts = 10g
FORK: 430mm A-C Carbon Fork = 750g
Bar Grips: Foam Grips = 75g
Brake Calipers: HOPE Tech4 X2 = 275g each
Chainset: PINION C-LINE C1.12 Gearbox = 2100g
M6 Caphead MC Screw X 6 = 36g
Cranks = 480g
Shifter = 105g
Belt: GATES 115T CDX BELT = 80g
Front Sprocket: GATES 32T CDX Direct Mount = 110g
Rear Cog: GATES 32T CDX 9-Spline = 117g
Cassette Spacers = 30g
Handlebars: WimdowLicker 31.8mm 780mm Wide = 335g
Stem: Stealth XC Stem = 172g
Headset: Stealth ZSEC = 110g
Spacers: OLSEN CRINKLE SL =30g
Top Cap: CARBON EXPANDER =55g
Saddle: Selle Italia Model-X Saddle: = 315g
Seatpost: Olsen Seatpost 30.9 x 400mm = 285g
Seat Clamp: Olsen 34.9mm CLAMP = 25g
Disc Rotors: Floating Centre Lock / 6 Bolt = 350g
M5 Caphead MC Screw X 12 = 24g
Front Adaptor: PM-PM 20mm = 30g
M6 Caphead MC Screw X 2 = 20g
Rear Adaptor: IS-PM 20mm = 30g
M6 Caphead MC Screw X 2 = 12g
Hope Olsen All-Packer = 875g
Hope Olsen All-packer Rear SS = 1050g
29 x 2.05" Kenda Honeybadgers = 1260g
Inner Tubes = 450g
Approx Total Weight = 12.20Kg
We got total build down to 10Kg for a flat bar build. We can still keep it under 11Kg for a drop bar build, with a change of bars and brakes. We weighed everything and this is how we did it.
Lighter Faster:
However for Gravel riding and general long distance Bikepacking, we do not need the extra strength, so we can make some savings on wheels and carbon components.
Frame Fixings: Lamb Pinion we removed all the fixings and replaced them with Titanium or Aluminium, saving approx 50g, although not significant, everything contributes. The following areas are where the larger weight savings were made.
Brakes were a surprise, when I changed the Brakes from Hope Tech4 X2 to Hope XCR Pro. At 199g each we saved over 200g in total.
Handlebars saved 180g by going to 760mm wide carbon — we can trim these down to reduce the weight a bit more. This is a flat bar build, however we can keep a drop bar build under 10.5 Kg, by using similar methods.
Saddle weight is reduced by 120g by swapping the saddle over to Ritchey WCS Streem Saddle at 180g, this is hard to beat.
Floating Disc Rotors saved 62g (including 12x screws) for each 124g in total.
Wheels by changing to 24 spokes straight pull we were able to save 150g on the front wheel and 200g on the back wheel.
Hope 20FIVE Pro 5 24H Rim & Hub 725g
Hope 20FIVE 24H rim on Pro 432H Hub 855g
We halved the tyre weight by switching to Panaracer GravelKing Semi Slick TLC Folding Tyres 700 x 32c Total = 660g
We went for Panaracer R-Air Ultra Lightweight inner tubes 700 x 31–35c, saving 300g
As I mentioned at the start of this article, the best weight to save is rotational weight. 1 bike with 2 sets of wheels is cheaper and better than 2 bikes. You can have a strong set of commuting or training wheels and the other set can be your light weight race pair. This does demonstrate that we can get sub 10Kg with a Pinion Bike Build.
