16,8lb

[zed4130]

now that is light   
http://www.fatbmx.com/modules/news/article.php'storyid=3865

[perry]

pah thats heavy when that frame weighs 2lbs

pity its cost isnt lighter at $1500 for the frame alone

all hes done is a cheque book build , no thought has gone into it 

wheres the drilled bars/rims hes cut the posts off but left the mounts and cable guides 

i bet he hasnt even drilled the seat 

this weighs in at 17lbs







xtr cranks with the outer bcd cut off , a ti 20 spoked front wheel

im sure i can beat 17lbs though

[pickle]

surely you can get too light? i don't know about BMX but my mate (who has more money than sense) spent about 3k back in about 2001 on a Marin mount vision pro full susser, then changed some of the bits for even lighter stuff........it was feather weight! but when you rode it.....it was just so twitchy i couldn't do anything on it! 

you have to have a healthy bit of weight (well that's what i tell the Mrs anyway) 

[JT71]

17lbs? sweeeeeeeeeeet.

That is light, and it looks great.

I've had sh1ts that weigh more than that.  

[zed4130]

bitd i built my road bikes super light, carbon frames ti this and ali that, sad thing was i broke them alot, now i prefere a tuff all round bike, my 05 ripper was pretty light, flew over the jumps, but was too light for me, but its still cool to see what can be built, nice bike perry, 

[perry]

i always try and get a balance with mine

if you take too much weight from the front but leave the rear weighty its difficult to hop but the other way around means your more likely to tuck the rear end under you

light wheels make a big difference ( rotating weight ) and can make the bike easier to spin . grab a wheel by the ends of the axle and spin it then try to turn it and the gyroscopic effect is very noticable , remove weight from the rim and tyre and it turns better

a mate of mine used to ride trails on a 2hip pork ( all 9lbs of it ) but he had light wheels that stopped it feeling lardy throwing it around

id much rather have heavy cranks but light bars/stem/seat and post to keep the centre of gravity low . makes ballancing much easier  

similarly id rather have a frame packing a few too many grams with light parts than a carbon racer with alex supra e / 4 stainless pegs etc

but at the end of the day it comes down to the rider . my mate anton at one point had a standard lengthy that no word of a lie weighed twice as much as my s&m blackbike . i tried picking his up and damn near got a hernia lol he rode mine and said it felt twitchy and he couldnt trust it but he could hop bar height and throw tailwhips off ledges on his lengthy all day long

edit : that ones not mine , its similar in that its a standard 250 and i plan on getting some xtr cranks but neither of these bikes have any drilled of shaved parts lol

[thesku11s]

ultra lightweight suits the street style well though doesnt it?

The reason why people can pult 360 tailwhips on flat ground and such.

^^ those wheels look magic.

Plus im a big fan of recycling mtb cranks on modern euro bb bmx frames, instead of paying ridiculous amounts the latest bmx ones which will probably not be as good.

[perry]

i do wonder how durable these light bikes are , i cn justify making mine light as im far from a good rider and i rarely push parts to the limit

ive heard of a load of those grim reapers cracking where the big slot is in the seat tube

ahhh so i have a rival in snapping up euro bottom bracket frames from ebay eh 

i love a nice english thread 68mm bottom bracket and never understood why it only lated a few years , maybe it has something to do with bmx companys trying to make bmx a specific bike and slowly phase out being able to use non bmx parts

im currently using some shimano lx hollowtechs and they are much stiffer than a tubular 3piece and i dont clout my ankles on them  , changing chainrings on them is much easier too and theres non of that crappy tight spot in the chain you get with 3piece

my cruiser will be using middleburn rs7 with an fsa ti/carbon bottom bracket , theyre just made sooo much better

im not sure i could trust a 20 spoke wheel but i guess roadies do and they put a lot of stress through their wheels  i have always wanted to use 24 decent spokes in a 48 hub and rim

[zed4130]

also no brakes helps the weight , but not the saftey  i saw a lad down my daughters school ,he had no brakes, not sure i would let my kids ride without brakes 

[perry]

yeah ive ridden for 14 years and im still a bit weary

there are a few gaps i cant do because the run off leads to a road and i dont want to take the risk

it has its place but i think it needs a few years of riding before you have the ability to stop at any moment

i only do it now because of the lack of hills , i only used to use a brake to travel to places and i hardly do that any more

stopping a brakeless bike involves

1 the classic foot in the rear tyre ontop of the seatstays behind the seat , best learnt with either feet
2 sitting down putting the tip of the shoe onto the front tyre behind the forks , weight transfer makes this a great way of stopping but only do it lightly or itl lock
3 lifting the front wheel onto the path while riding in the road and letting the rear slide along the kerb , this has great style points and helps going down a hill
4 in the event of that person stepping out or that car that suddenly appears i put my non leading foot down and flick the bike infront and to the side so im basically jogging for a few steps
5 a classy move at slow speed is a quick 180 and letting the backpedalling against the freewheel slow you down then sliding it back around

but the best method is paying attention to absolutely everything around you and leaving it to a bike used for tricks and not a bike that has to get you somewhere 

[JT71]

also no brakes helps the weight , but not the saftey  i saw a lad down my daughters school ,he had no brakes, not sure i would let my kids ride without brakes 

all the kids (and Stevie B and others on here) ride with no brakes. 

[zed4130]

also no brakes helps the weight , but not the saftey  i saw a lad down my daughters school ,he had no brakes, not sure i would let my kids ride without brakes 

all the kids (and Stevie B and others on here) ride with no brakes. 

judging by ride magazine most riders know dont have brakes,

[perry]

i bet its fashion over function though

i remember when people were brakeless because they kept catching the cable on things , breaking the lever , always having bent wheels and just not affording to replace stuff lol

i remember people doing it in the 90s so its far from a new idea

[zed4130]

i bet its fashion over function though

i remember when people were brakeless because they kept catching the cable on things , breaking the lever , always having bent wheels and just not affording to replace stuff lol

i remember people doing it in the 90s so its far from a new idea
[/quotits the whole girls jeans and tight t's , but them rememeber dayglow baggy trackies from the 90's    i mean i wear vans because they last ,and ive always wore them, but bikes set ups change alot ,

[Philbert]

all i know is those spokes aren't going to last long.

we ue to sell sunset ti spokes at a bike shop. they built them onto a £3000 xc mtb. i was the only person in the shop not allowed to test ride it because the spokes are only good on straight impact, sideways they're sh!te. a mate used ti spokes on a bmx a couple of years ago. lasted about two months till he went back to ss spokes. more elasticity and less prone to snapping

[perry]

i have no experience of titanium spokes and ive heard a lot of conflicting opinions

some say they stretch , some say they flex , others that they snap the head

i doubt ill use them , far toooo costly for my liking

im waiting for some gsport nipples though and the ratchet hub 

i remember when taj made a titanium barcode , he didnt use it for long as it flexed , it might be down to its aplication and not a fault with the material choice but .

i think titanium has ran its course in bmx , the axles and bolts are usefull but no one needs titanium pegs lol i think the next step is composites but bmx needs more forward thinkers and less copying before that happens

how about a carbon fibre or abs plastic seat clamp  , same with brake levers

[Flatcap]

Needs some brakes and the seat lifting up a bit.....but then again I'm a miserable old git!

Daz.

[perry]

[darkersomeday]

having built a 17lb bike i'd doubt that that bike on fat is actually 16lb, i'd have liked to have seen a "proof" shot

i built this proven 17pounder last year
personally i honestly think anything under 20lb is pointless, riding the ti bike was funny at first, 360 hops straight off,
but the downside for me was i couldnt trust it, theres a lot more confidence than you'd think in having a solid feeling bike under you,
plus the "21tt was too small for me

been there, done that.

[darkersomeday]

i've been running ti spokes for over a year now and as long as you keep them tensioned and use copper grease on the nipples to prevent galvanic corrosion, theyre ok,
the wheel flexes a tiny bit more but i soon got used to it.

profile cassette 36 - ti driver - ti axle - ti nuts - ti spokes - sun bfr rim - "16 tube stretched in - khe park lite tyre
light?
 

[perry]

total respect

i hadnt even thought of using an undersized tube 

did you notice any flex in the frame ? how did the "feel" compare to a light steel ?

£1500

sold on ?

ive tried to convert to tubeless but i couldnt get the tyre to seal against the rim

[Steve Shindig]

personally i honestly think anything under 20lb is pointless,

I couldn't agree more there Joe, there are zero benfits to sub 20.   My 18lber sucked balls.  21-22 is pretty stable and light enough so you don't even feel it (but still know it's there)

[perry]

ruben alcantara likes a bit of weight to his and wont ride under 25lbs 

and when you can ride like this who needs light weight

/>
low weight doesnt = high style

[darkersomeday]

total respect

i hadnt even thought of using an undersized tube 

did you notice any flex in the frame ? how did the "feel" compare to a light steel ?

£1500

sold on ?

ive tried to convert to tubeless but i couldnt get the tyre to seal against the rim

i'd describe it more as a "zing" than a "flex",
 to be fair i've ridden steel frames that felt more flexible than the ti reaper did,i actually wish i'd have kept it just to have around but i honestly just couldnt afford the risk of cracking it, it was like i had my heart in my mouth everytime i landed the fooker,
in its defence they are absolutely beautifully made frames, art in metal.

and it did prove to me that theres no better material to build a bmx frame from than steel, it feels so right to ride, almost natural, like a smooth, null feeling to it that the human body adapts to better? 

stevie's 22/23lbs is spot on, nothing to do with the bike feeling unstable in the air either, if the riders unstable the bike will be, for me its about trusting it to take the landing

the "16 stretched tube works ok and works out about the same weight as a khe twiggy tube, the downside is you cant fix it when youre out riding, both tube types are throw-away jobs,the tubes end up being so thin inside the tyre that they wont hold a patch.

i'm personally glad that folk are seeing through the whole "super=light" shite, it killed O/S bmx off at the end of the 80's,
if you end up accepting that parts and frames etc will fail then how long can you keep a sport alive? how many kids can afford to buy a frame every couple of months?

wouldnt we be better off making sure that the bike made it to the end of the day? and tomorow as well?
23lbs to 25lbs should be a good balance between light weight and longevity

[perry]

as long as alloy frames dont get popular well be ok

i had an alloy mountain bike frame for a while , i felt the rear flex in turns , back to steel it was 

i might give a smaller tube a go 

people forget its about the balance of the bike not just making every single thing as light as possible