Some of these lighter but more "expensive" things can be had more cheaply with some astute shopping. That's part of the reason these online groups are helpful as we can swap and upgrade to good used parts and sometimes get good intel on sale of new parts!
For example, these 650b Schwalbe Thunder Burts tires are now only $29 per at Universal <https://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=84410&gclid=CjwKCAjw7LX0BRBiEiwA__gNw7pDUXuxBujkDPb-KpsZzHY9MfZagg8_1_sY92mzlcorXUMG5QO6yxoCCn8QAvD_BwE>. Were you using 50mm Big Ben? If you can fit Thunder Burts, you will shave 2 lbs off just by changing out the tires. Not only that, these Burts are "supple" and great for mixed terrain riding also, and are known to roll well even on pavement. What James is doing with Roberta's bike is exactly how I would go about it if I were try to shave weight off my own bike. Franklyn On Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 6:59:15 AM UTC-7, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > > See? I’m glad i asked because there are so many good points here. Let me > see if I can respond to a few of the points/questions here. > > New 55 Chev has 700 c wheels, so I can’t swap. > > Roberta - YES, I will only have a rear rack and a Randi Jo bag on my bars. > This will not be my hauling bike. The noble Clem can do that. (I cringe > hearing myself say it because that’s pretty big talk. I’m probably > strapping bags on and bringing treasures with me, who am I kidding.) > > Franklyn, I have 2 inch Big Bens on that Clem right now, which, as you > mentioned, are heavy. > > LeRoy, you made a lot of solid points, and I think you’re right, I’m not > changing the Clem with small, expensive parts swapping, so I’ll leave those > bars and components alone. The DNA of the Clem is hard to buck. Also, I > laughed at your fender reference. Leah Peterson is saving weight on her > Clem - one fender! > > Mark - I knew you would say this! Once you have known and loved long > chainstays, you can’t go back. Well, I can’t. If I had the Betty and only > the Betty, it’d have been content because I’d not have known the > difference. But once I had the Clem and I had the choice, I chose the long, > comfortable Clem every single time. That poor Betz sat parked. I think the > longer Cheviot is going be be an improvement. Plus, I am partial to the > name, headbadge and decals and always have been. I knew nothing about bikes > when I bought my Betty. I got whatever Rivendell put on there. And now I > know enough to ask for what I want and it’s going to be the first bike I’ve > ever had say over and I cannot wait. > > But I do think the one thing to come out of this is that wheels make a > difference, which Joe and Franklyn also allude to. I’d be open to buying > new wheels/tires if it made me a little lighter and thus faster. Plus, I > know I’m getting dyno on the Cheviot and I have been thinking about it for > the Clem. It’s $$$ but bikes are my one extravagance. > > Surlyprof mentioned difference between aluminum and steel - I wouldn’t > have known. That is really helpful. > > Well, carry on. I have really enjoyed the opinions here. > > Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom, > Leah > > > > -- 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/19f70c82-a629-45fe-a410-cb2b013ad0a2%40googlegroups.com.