Buying the wheelset now for the Chev and running them on the Clem is a great idea. Unfortunately, I believe the new Chevs are going to be 700c in Leah's size. I could be wrong. But if they are, maybe buying a used 650B is the answer--from someone who would like to go to the new 700c size, perhaps? I am still puzzled why the recently sold Betty would not have fit this bill (but I am certainly not opposed to getting a new bike, and a quest is a quest!)
Around 1991, I bought a Kellog Spectrum titanium racing bike, one of the earliest semi-production models, from Tom Kellog in Pennsylvania. Back then they still did not have the machining to do bottom bracket threads in titanium, so it came with press fit bb. With a tubular wheelset, I guess it was pretty light (I was racing at the time, and understood light to be "better", but never weighed the thing or sought out too many extra-light parts--I think I bought some fancy ti Salsa or somebody skewers.) A stripped-down lighter bicycle definitely is a different riding experience, and can be lots of fun. But, aside from rando bikes (which a Chev or Clem will never be) once you start talking about racks and fenders and bags and lights and such, your weight reduction cause is pretty much hopeless. Enjoy the Caddy experience. For the Cheviot build, as Joe and others have mentioned, your biggest difference will be in the wheelset. But even there, I assume you want a certain width of tire, and I am not sure what lightweight rim brake rims are out there that are good for, say, a 40-50mm tire--though I run Steilacoom nominal 38mm tires on skinny vintage Ukai rims, I doubt you'll be spec'ing anything so narrow. Maybe others on the list have an idea of an appropriate rim/hub combo that will be significantly lighter than the stock Alex/? wheels. I know the Atlas aren't all that much lighter, if any. I'll hazard a guess and say you can get the Chev to be 6-8 pounds lighter than the Clem without too much effort. But a lot of that will be no rack or fenders, and more expensive tires. I doubt there is more than a pound difference in the frame/fork between the two. Still, with that pared-down setup (okay, you can have a basket), whatever lightish wheels you can configure, lightweight saddle (start looking and testing now!) and a Rene Herse crankset <https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop/components/cranks/rh-11-speed-double-cranks/>, you will definitely get a distinctly different ride, and have a fabulous Riv mixte to boot. Re, will switching to aluminum Boscos make a big diff. This is from the description on the website, and referring to what I assume would be the next size up from your width, meaning you will see less weight savings by moving from cromo: *Get the aluminum 58 if you are tempted to ask the weight difference. Get the 55 CrMo if you don’t care about the few-ounces weight difference, and want o save a few $ or so.* It's all cumulative, of course, so just switching bars, no. But in combo with saddle, wheels, seatpost, cranks, tires, yes. Or, you could just send all your parts to someone like J.P. Weigle and have him do this <https://www.google.com/search?q=drillium&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-1-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj81Lml29joAhUklXIEHdIbD7oQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1093&bih=502> *.* Or, sell your Clem L and get a Suzie and trick it out. Good luck have fun! On Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 2:00:09 AM UTC-4, franklyn wrote: > > I would say that there are still things you can do now. Do the Clem L and > Cheviot have the same wheel size? If so, I would go ahead and spec a light > wheels for the Cheviot now, but use it on the Clem until the Cheviot > arrives. Besides the frame set, wheels probably are the next big ticket > item both in terms of cost, as well as proportion of the overall weight. > > Tires are next. What tires do you use? For example, one Schwalbe Big Ben > wired tire in 650b can weigh up to 850g! Whereas a similar width Thunder > Burt can weigh as little as 460g. For a pair of tires that's 800g or almost > 2 lbs! Using lightweight Schwalbe tubes in those size can easily save you > another 100g for a pair. > > I think you have a golden opportunity to conduct an experiment to see if > the weight saving ok your Clem is worth your money. Go ahead and buy the > lightweight parts for your Cheviot now and use them on your Clem until your > Cheriot arrives. This way you can see how your Clem feels a little lighter > and decide if it's worth it for you to have light parts on your Clem. If > not, just take the light weight parts off and put them on the Cheviot. > > Franklyn > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/a80bba18-adf4-4fd2-94eb-e50805bf579b%40googlegroups.com.
