Wileyone 

Anyone have one? If so how did you do it?

repechage

Can be done IF you are using light tubing and not too big. Yes, the "flexy" light stuff.
Columbus KL or Reynolds 3/10 ga. 531. A smaller early Masi 3V could do it too.
Tubulars, 28 or 28/32 hole wheels, and weight weenie compromises.

Frame tubing and frame size is your biggest mass budget consumer.

Don't be afraid of the French either.
Huret Jubilee, TA cranks… Mafac plastic body levers, Weinmann 500 brakes or Aero Gran Compe calipers if you are in the 80's era. It all adds up. 250 gram tires..
forget traditional leather saddles…
a few guys got between 18-19 lbs but nothing bigger than 56 cm center to top.

cb400bill

My Trek 770 is pretty light. I'm sure I could get it under 20 lbs with a light weight saddle, a tubular wheelset, and no cages.

busdriver1959

Here's a True Temper S3 frame with SRAM Red components. Not vintage but it is steel. I'm not fond of the 90 degree stem, may try to fix that one day. Came in at 14.8 lbs. without pedals. Gitrekalized Bikes weighs theirs without pedals so I kept the playing field level. No problem with flex. Still has the steel ride but the 38 mm downtime keeps the bottom bracket where it should be when stomping hard. Unfortunately, TT is getting out of the bike biz but there is a company in Ohio that seems to want to jump into the opening .Screen Shot 2016-07-31 at 10.51.05 PM.jpgedit: the picture came out really fuzzy. I'll try to fix it tomorrow, it's late.

DMC707

This may seem like cheating and -- its only 12 years old , but a 7800 D-A groupset is 2 generations back, and Pinarello abandoned steel in 2006

Seat is heavy - Mavic Cosmos training wheelset is heavy -- but overall - bike is under 20 as is ( weighed it without a chain and pedals at 17.9 -- so I am guessing 19.5 with chain and pedals )

FBinNY 

We were building sub 21# steel bikes in the late sixties. Some even got them under 20 with some expense. Given the availability of lighter components building a nice steel bike under 20#s shouldn't be difficult today, especially if you allow some CF components, or at least bars or rims.

Darth Lefty 

If you are building from the frame up, you can nickel-and-dime it. If you are starting from the 22 pound bike, you need to look for a few high-payoff items to swap. Wheelset, tires, and saddle are places to save large fractions of a pound.

Someone a little while back posted a link to a weight weenie build of an (iirc) 16 pound bike with no carbon parts. It had a very light aluminum frame but also had a good discussion of grams per dollar of various choices he made, and a lot of cheap nasty eBay options like $10 titanium skewers from China, and destructive tricks like cutting down the inserted portion of the seat post.

Darth Lefty 

If you are building from the frame up, you can nickel-and-dime it. If you are starting from the 22 pound bike, you need to look for a few high-payoff items to swap. Wheelset, tires, and saddle are places to save large fractions of a pound.

Someone a couple weeks back posted a link to a weight weenie build of an (iirc) 16 pound bike with no carbon parts. It had a very light aluminum frame but also had a good discussion of grams per dollar of various choices he made, and a lot of cheap nasty eBay options like $10 titanium skewers from China, and destructive tricks like cutting down the inserted portion of the seat post. https://2lo8.wordpress.com/
Also contains gems like this...

Chombi1 

19.25 Pounds....
How it's done, you start with a very light frameset. In this case, a frame made from Supervitus 980 DB steel tubes. Pretty much the lightest frame tubing to come out of France in the 80's. Then I followed through with lightweight components like Stronglight A9 headsets, Stronglight 106 crankset, Mavic 801 derailleur set. and Mavic GEL280 rimmed tubular wheelset.
I'm planning to eventually install my lighter CLB Professionel brakeset and Look carbon blade pedals on the bike and might get it just below 19 pounds.....

OldsCOOL

With sewups those were advertised at 19.9 in the brochures. I put a set of tubular wheels on my '86 Trek 760. With Tufo S33 Pro's it weighs in the 20's somewhere. I need a bike scale if I'm going to get serious.

randyjawa 

I have owned a lot of vintage steel bicycles and none, not one, has come in under the twenty pound mark. If I want under 20# I have to go with an aluminum frame set. Both my ALAN and Vitus managed to come in just under but only by a hair. I wish I lived somewhere else where weights and scales must be very different than what I am used to.

Anyway, when I was interested in measuring actual weights, this is what I came up with...

Pawlus

A few months back I laid my hands on Nishiki Olympic bike from 1978. It was 52 cm c-c size and was build with Tange Champion No.1 tubeset. A proper racing machine fitted with complete Dura-Ace 7200 and sewups on Araya Gold 16b rims. The bike weighted 8,5 KG (18,74 lbs), as advertised by Nishiki. There was also a criterium model called Olympic Royal that was advertised as 8kg bike. Definitely one of the bikes classic/vintage bikes I ever owned. Unfortunately, that's the only pic I got.

ridelikeaturtle

10kgs / 22lbs, 57cm frame



Crystal tubing being "not the best" Colnago steel, I'd say it'd be fairly easy to get under 20lbs with a higher-end frame & light wheels without breaking the bank.

qcpmsame 

My Medici Pro Strada is 22lbs as it sits. No lights, or spare tub under the saddle, using the as stock 36h wheels (Ofmega hubs, db spokes, Mavic GP4 rims and Conti Giro tires. A lighter wheel set might bring it close to 21 lbs, and doing some spending on lightweight bits, like a saddle, and the seat post, would get it fairly close to the 20lbs mark.

But, I don't feel the need to get any of this done. I have my CAAD10 that is right at 18lbs with the blinkie and front flasher, right now, and that could come down with a lightweight wheelset and some hi-zoot tires, and a judicious application of money into carbon fiber bits.

Both are fine for my needs, as they now are set up, but the best weight reduction I did for my cycling was to myself. Shedding over 100lbs makes for a big difference in how things perform.

Bill

Pompiere

Jamis advertises their Quest Elite as 19.5 pounds, without pedals or any other accessories. The fork is the only carbon part, so it would be possible to shed a bit more weight. I weighed mine the other day and got 24.0 lbs., ready to ride, including pedals, Brooks B17, pump, bottle cage, and saddle bag.

bulldog1935

a couple of 18-lb French beauties from the mid 40s (no, not mine)
Herse racer

RHchrome45racer

Singer Technical Trials

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2011/...hnical-trials/

My daughter's 52cm Team Fuji is just under 20 lbs, aside from the very small frame, some of the weight weenie edges are Kinlin rims, BHS extralight hubs, low spoke count, Veloflex tires, carbon-pan saddle.

texaspandj

I haven't invested in a scale yet, hopefully I will soon. Currently more concerned with my own body weight and enjoying a good riding bike.
But man I like this bike. Finally a trek I would keep. NICE!

exmechanic89

https://www.bikeboompeugeot.com/Broch...20Page%208.jpg

One of my two road bikes is a stock '88 Peugeot Triathlon (listed as 23lbs from the factory) I've thought about trying to lighten it up, but if I were to do it I'd want to use high quality components. That inexpensive titanium junk you see on eBay from China doesnt interest me at all, neither does cutting things shorter, lol. I'd want the bike to be strong and rideable.

If I were to take a shot at it though I'd probably put in a titanium BB, replace all the steel bolts with titanium, change to alloy cable housing, a drilled chain, and go with a light tubular wheel set. And definitely a light seat/seat post. All that ends up being so expensive though it's hard to justify doing it, lol. Be fun to try for 20lbs though.

plonz 

Compelling article but I will have to file this one under "have to see it to believe it". Maaaaaybe if it was weighed with no accessories and pedals. Nah, that still wouldn't get it there. Take the tires off as well (which they admit to) and we might get an 18lb weigh in.

bulldog1935

bet you don't believe Ava Gardner had an 18-inch waist, either.



not only that, but on the set of Sun Also Rises, she drank Hemingway under the table every night

Bad Lag

It's the archer not the arrow.

PeregrineA1 

9.95 pounds as it sits. Stainless steel. $15,000.00

francophile 

@Chombi1 that's a real beaut. Seeing this w/A9 is what sold me on rebuilding my '84 PGN10 with an A9 over the B10. Something about the alloy vs. Delrin cups really sets things off with chrome forks. I take it given the seat stop braze-on in the rear of the ST, this is also an '84?

John E

In 1973 I saw a 19lb. steel-framed bike. Custom framebuilder A D Stump rode his personal black chrome bike over to our shop (original Bikecology on Wilshire Bl. in Santa Monica). It didn't hurt that he was a little guy, even by my standards, who rode about a 52cm frame. During that era all of the mid-to-high end production bikes were coming in at about 22 to 24 lbs.

Bikerider007

I have been thinking about weighing a few of mine. What is everyone using as the standard? No pedals, no saddle, empty bottle cages? Or everything but bottles?