rjhammett

I have a few bikes that I am sure I could get under or around 20# if I removed the pedals as some have done to get bikes under 20#. This could be done with their current setup which includes clincher wheels and no carbon. I would weigh my bikes as they are when I go for a ride which always includes pedals.

rekmeyata

The steel frame Rodriguez Outlaw with SRAM Red, Enve 1.0 fork, pedals and a water bottle cage is just 13.81 pounds but it also cost $10,999 and no reports of being flexy.

The lightest steel bike I have with a steel fork including pedals is the 84 Fuji Club is 20.8 and it's not flexy either, I have an aluminum fork I could put on that bike and get the weight down at least 1/2 pound, or get a carbon fork and save about a pound.

jamesdak 

Dang my Club Fuji is like 4 lbs heavier. How'd you do it?

jtbadge

I've got two. Butted steel tubing, reasonably lightweight wheelbuilds (1500-1700 grams), and modern groupsets will go a long way, even without getting into fragile weight weenie stuff.

18.5 lb Lemond Maillot Jaune



17.5 lb All-City Nature Boy Zona (still sub-19lbs w/ steel fork)

jyl

You can get a steel framed bike to be pretty light if you use modern components - carbon stem post bars saddle rims cranks etc. Throw in a carbon fork and the bike can be just about 1.5 lb heavier than a carbon bike, so 17 lb would be doable.

Come to think of it, I've spec'd out (on a spreadsheet) a Look 753 frame/fork with modern Campagnolo carbon group, Zipp carbon tubular rims, carbon bars and post, and am pretty sure it can be a 16.5 lb bike.

If you want to stay c&v, it's harder. The bike pictured above weighs 18.7 lb without the spare tub. I think that did not include pedals or cage, but don't really remember. To get there, I used:
- 753 frame and fork, 58 cm
- Super Record crankset, Super Record titanium bottom bracket.
- Super Record RD with titanium bolt, Super Record FD, Retrofriction shifters.
- Regina hollow pin chain.
- 3ttt stem with titanium quill bolt/alloy expander, Superleggera 3ttt bars, Benotto tape, Super Record headset.
- Super Record post with titanium bolts, Superleggera Concor saddle (about 240 g).
- Record hubs, Fiamme Ergal tubular rims (200 g each rim!), double butted spokes, brass nipples, steel Campagnolo skewers.
- Super Record brakeset, Koolstop pads.
- Tufo S4 Lite tubular tires (225 g each).
- 12-26 freewheel (IIRC), but it's not a special one.
- Ritchey clipless pedals (220 g). Again, I don't recall if I had the pedals mounted when I weighed the bike, but probably not.

I weighed it with a hanging digital luggage scale.

I recently got some CLB alloy housing, that will replace the original Campagnolo steel housing. I have a Zeus freewheel with alloy body/steel cogs, and a Suntour all-alloy freewheel: the former can actually be ridden, the latter would be just for weigh-in time. If I can find a beater Record/Super Record seatpost, I'll cut it short. I may also cut the stem short, since I keep it slammed anyway. Titanium bolts are an expensive way to lose weight, but chainring bolts are big enough to be worth swapping out. Drillium chainrings are really for looks, but I suppose that might lose 10 g. Alloy nipples next time I rebuild the wheels.

You get the idea, it is really diminishing returns at this point, but it's all fun and conceivably I could someday see 18 lb even, while still being all c&v and almost all Campagnolo.

There are lighter c&v components. CLB brakeset, Hi-E hubs and skewers, Huret RD, and who made the plastic headset? But I actually ride this bike. Took it on 11 miles of muddy gravel trail earlier this year.

jon c. 

I have that frame (54cm) and it's ~ 20.5 without any thought of building light.

rekmeyata

Have you had an accurate scale do the weight? Mine is a stock 84 that I only put on a couple of light tires and tubes, and a lighter seat, and that's it! And according to my LBS scale they said it was 20.8 which was odd in light of what the Fuji catalog said that the bike was suppose to weigh at 23 pounds, and mine is a 58 size frame.

D1andonlyDman

Your saddle could use some Viagra

himespau 

Now that is a sweet looking bike (even if the fork doesn't curve the way all forks should.

plonz 

For $230, you'd think those SMP Pros would come with their own prescription . Have 2 myself and love them.

jamesdak 

It's a digital scale and is consistent in how it reads. For sure my Fuji is heavier than several of my other bikes but I honestly don't worry about the weight of my bikes. Setup right they all feel fine.

qcpmsame 

Heard both of those, plus some other interesting little trivia about her. Had a HS physics teacher that always called Avogodro's number, Ava Gardner's phone number. Strange what you remember from the bad old days of HS.

Bill

vinfix

If you really want to drop weight off an (old) steel bike, make it a fixed gear. I know that's heresy to some here, but if it had junky components or isn't collectible it's no loss. Take off a freewheel, outer chain ring, derailleurs, shifters, cables, rear brake, extra chain links. Change the bottom bracket to a cartridge type, put on a modern saddle & pedals, track wheels & cog, and you're under 20#.

seypat

I weigh all of my bikes with frame/fork and the headset/BB/spindle included.(because that's the way I started doing it) I do it on the same Postal scale close to my office. Anyway, here are some ones I weighed that can give points to start with. All of these bikes have a TT around 56cm.

1972 Crescent Pepita 56cm 531DB NR HS/BB 7.82lbs
1972 Lejeune TDF 54cm Sauvage "Alliage" gaspipe Generic HS/cottered BB 8.15lbs. Switched BB to Stronglight and dropped to 8lbs.
1983 SR Semi Pro 54cm Tange #2 Tange Pro HS/Shimano BB6200 BB 7.15lbs
1985 Miyata 912 57cm Miyata TB Splined Tange Falcon HS/Shimano BB-6207 BB 7.42lbs
1987 Centurion IM 56cm Tange#1 Tange Levin CD Shimano BB-1050 7.45lbs

When fitted out with their various components they all weigh 22-23lbs except for the Lejeune. It has Wolber 58s and 27 x 1 1/4" Panaracers.
The 2 72s are 120/36H HF hubs and the SR is 126/36H LF. The rest share the same wheelsets, 32H LF 23 or 25cm Panaracers and MKS Urban Platforms. The Wolbers, bigger Panaracers and a Blackburn rear rack add about 2lbs to the Lejeune.

All of the stems are in the 90cm range. Nittos tend to be heavier than their WIN/Kusuki counterparts. The french ATAX is light, but a 22 French 115cm 3ttt Record Strada first version was a lot lighter than all of the 90 I have weighed.

fietsbob

Bare steel premium tubeset frames are Light .. what you Put on the bare frame adds weight ..
NB: Real weight weenies Weigh every Part to the fraction of the gram.

Weight Weenies

rekmeyata

I don't worry about my weights either but that's what the post was about...lightest steel bikes we own, I didn't include titanium since it's not steel. My touring bike weighs 25.8 not including the fenders and rack which probably brings at least another pound, but it's very comfortable to ride on when loaded, and the weight of the bike never even comes into play.

Slash5

I weighed this at 19.8 lbs. Wheels were the lightest I've ever lifted. Picking the bike always made me grin.

abellanti

My 84 Trek 170 built with Reynolds 753, full Campy super record with alloy freewheel and titanium bottom bracket weighs in at 19.5 lbs. (includes modern speedplay pedals)

Cougrrcj

I don't have a single bike under 23.5 pounds. Even that one ('86 Miyata 710) is triple-butted CrMo, with a CrMo fork. BUT that is riding on 700c clinchers. Even if I was to go with tubulars, I doubt I could get it under 21 pounds.

At that point, I'd have to point out that I am carrying more weight than I should, so if I was to take off my extra weight, that'd more than make up for the 'heavy' bike difference!

Cougrrcj

6.02 x 10^23rd? It has been 40+ years since school, but I still remember that... Now what REALLY would be weird would be if her phone number was really 602-1023!

Sorry, please excuse my engineer's humor...

Scooper

This Rob English fillet brazed 953 steel bike, which weighs 9.94 pounds as shown, was displayed at 2016 NAHBS in Sacramento.

Rob built it for himself.

RobbieTunes

If you build it with weight in mind, it's not hard, but you need to have light everything on it, focus on it.

Luckily, I ride a 56cm, so a sub-20 Simoncini was not difficult. 20.4 with cage and pedals. I could have gone carbon on both, plus the post.



Modern-wise, a Wraith was absurdly easy to build, steel with carbon fork, at 16.34 lbs, with non-carbon post and stem.
Campy Carbon would have been lighter, or a non-ISIS bottom bracket.

velomateo

I don't focus so much on weight as I do durability and cost. I don't spend huge amounts on my bikes and I'm realistic about what benefit I will gain from the gear I choose. My latest build, my US National Team GT is Reynolds 853, it weighs in on my trusty bathroom scale at 19.8 lb.s. - as pictured. Alloy bars, stem and seat post. SRAM Rival 22 is fairly light, but could easily shave another pound if I had gone with SRAM Red. I always estimate weight loss at $1K per pound.

Bradleykd

Pretty frame, but the post and saddle make me want to vomit.

gioscinelli 

My current 95 Cinelli SC as pictured. Weighs in at 19.6 lbs



The lowest weight before equipping the Cinelli with Record C was 18.6 lbs