JohnDThompson 

I'd say Hi-E wheels with Clement silk track tubulars, but good luck. Not only are they rare, but also fragile and proprietary. But for weight-weenie street cred, they're what you want.

Fahrenheit531 

I've seen this more than a few times and have always been confused by the "with no pedals" statement of weight. Pedals have always seemed an essential part of the bikes I've owned... why would the weight without them be of any interest at all?

verktyg 

We advertised them at 20 1/2 lbs. but my 56cm 1980 Bertin C37bis came in at 19 1/2 lbs. The Selle Italia saddle had alloy rails, Super Champion Arc en Ciel rims with light weight sewups, Ti BB, all alloy components and a Super Vitus 980 frame. We weighed a bunch of them on a accurate scale.




verktyg

jyl

Quite difficult to get a C&V steel bike much under 20 lb.

My lightest C&V steel bike is 18.7 lb. That is a 753 frame in 58 mm, all Campagnolo Super Record group except shifters, super light tubular rims, very light tubular tires, alloy rail saddle, titanium quill bolt and alloy expander in stem, hollow pin chain, Benotto tape.

Might be able to take 1.0 lb off with lighter but still period components, more Ti fasteners, alloy cable housing, cutting stem and post short, alloy body freewheel. I'd like to get it below 18 lb. But you can see that I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as weight reduction measures go. $/g is getting silly.

randyjawa 

Bingo! I discovered this years ago and, to this day, cannot understand the "look how light my bike is" thing. To me, it smaks of ego concerns rather than performance. If performance it the target, vintage steel rigs are, most likely, not the best choice.

Don't get me wrong - I have no issue with anyone who wants to lighten their steel bike. In truth, I used to be very concerned with reducing the weight of my bike(s). In fact, I put tBICYCLES AND WEIGHT - STARThis page together, reporting actual weight measurements that I took. As you will see, should you choose to look, there are not any steel bikes under the twenty pound mark. These days, I still weigh my bikes, once built, but really don't care much about it anymore.

These days, I have one bike under the twenty pound mark, and it is not steel...

Mackers

Pretty sure all but possibly one of my (12) steel bikes come in below the 20lbs mark.
But those all have 10 or 11 speed Record or Chorus, modern saddles (Fizik Arione or Antares) and tubular wheels.
All have steel forks, quill stems and either steel or aluminum seat posts.

verktyg 

Hmm, hmm, weight weenies...





I stopped weighing my bikes because all I could think about when doing a hard climb was how much the bike weighed!



Does this bike make my ass look big!

verktyg

RiddleOfSteel

Since the OP hasn't responded since making the thread, I think we have enough here. OP rides tall bikes like I do. Getting to 20-21 lbs with steel is tough. How to do it? $$$ of course. Well that and knowledge from research. To do so for an upright city bike....why?

For the record, using an official Park Tool hanging scale (like the one pictured above), I got my 1987 Schwinn Prologue (with pedals and bottle cage) to 18 lb 15 oz. 7900 Dura-Ace for everything, 7850-era super light Dura-Ace wheels. I put all those parts on my 2015 Trek Emonda ALR (aluminum) and it weighs just over 16 lb.

Aubergine 

cb400bill

I only posted that as this is how the manufacturers weigh them.

jamesdak 

Well, I'll say that when you ride 54-56 cm frames it's really not that easyto get under 20 lbs. I've got a few that way just by doing upgrades to modern parts and wheels.

My 87 Paramount is 19 lbs even but it does have a lot of C.F. The fork, seat post, and handlebars are the "plastic" stuff and all but the seatpost came with the bike. Then it does take my set of 1400 gram Zen Cyclery wheels to get there. This is with pedals, saddle, bottle cages and sensors.

Then the mid 90's Giordana XL Super is at 19 lbs and 9 ozs with a steel fork. No C.F. on this bike at all but it does have some 1525 gram clinchers and a modern Athena 11 speed groupset. I've no doubt this could easily be lighter with some money spent on better components and wheels. But its so perfect on the road that I'm not going to mess with it.

I think the other light steel rides are more modern. The GP&GS Lemond is 18 lbs, 7 ozs but it's more modern 1999 frame with light Dura Ace 9 speed on it and that C.F. fork.

My 2003 Tourmelet is under 20 but needs a C.F. fork, modern components (ultegra/dura ace mix), and a Williams System 30 wheelset to get there.

All that said, I've got plenty of vintage steel in the 20-21 lb range. It just takes more to break under that barrier.

StanSeven

Fahrenheit531 

Well that's more information than I had before. We'll call it "all about marketing."
Thanks!

HarborBandS

Exactly. If you want to see how your old steel bike compares to newer bikes, the newer bikes always have the weight posted without pedals. Because you buy a new road bike without pedals. It just serves to give a fair comparison to today's bikes.

RobbieTunes

Pink is light and airy.

RobbieTunes

Here are a couple of modern steel (and the connection to my avatar)….

16.34 lbs. With pedals. The only steel is likely in the frame, chain plates, and bolts. It could be lighter with a CF post.


My current one is 17.9 lbs, almost completely due to the wheels. They're supposed to have enough aero effect at 20mph to compensate for the weight.
If I could just get up to that speed, eh?

noglider 

@RobbieTunes, I'm sure your spokes are steel, too.

Different pedals have different weights, and since the consumer chooses the pedals, it makes at least a little sense for manufacturers to list weights without pedals. But yes, it's annoying as a spec after the bike is bought.

GravelGuy

I had, still have a early 70's Colnago Super that in it's day came in sub-twenty pounds, maybe even sub-nineteen. But I started with an advantage, it's a 53cm SL frame. Then I ran as light of stuff as I could find and afford. 28 hole Hi-E hubs with Fiamme Yellow tubular rims, silk Clement Seta Extra tires that supposedly weighed 195 grams each, a Zeus 2000 freewheel, alloy and early ti bolts throughout, plus drilling out brake levers and stuff like that. And when I felt I had to go lighter, a naked Unica saddle, not comfortable but light.

The bike was light, but I had friends and teammates who hated to be near me on descents because they figured the bike would disintegrate at any moment.

mstateglfr 

Its absurd.
Ive seen the argument that pedals are swapped out from what is sold, so they shouldnt be included in the weight. But saddles are often swapped out from what is sold, so by that reasoning saddles would also be excluded from weight.
Who knows- it just seems like a way to show a lower weight.

cb400bill

Ding! We have a winner.

capnjonny 

I was hoping that my original post would lead to an interesting discussion and it sure did.

I am going to use all the advise to put something together.

Just so you know , the only riding I do is to and from the YMCA, about 6 miles total . Thus the "city " bike build.
my goal based on what I have.
4.5 lb frame
sew up tires on Campi rims with Shimano tri color hubs,
single chain ring
5 speed close ratio freewheel
suntour Blue line, or Cyclone rear derailleur
plastic flat pedals
strong light crank
Dia comp upright style levers . maybe only front brake.

Salamandrine 

Well of course it is. While it makes a certain amount of sense in today's reality of everyone having their preferred pedal system, it is obviously also a good way to make it seem like bikes have gotten lighter than they really have. Pedals, clips and straps added about a pound. My old Masi then was under 19.5 lbs by that standard with race wheels. More like 19.25 IIRC.

WRT light wheels: a pretty standard race set was Campagnolo low flange hubs with Fiamme Ergal rims. Typically 36h. Those would be 1450g for the pair, plus the freewheel. Add 500g for a pair of Criterium Seta yellow labels. Add another 100g for typical training wheel rims.

Some people were bold enough to run Medaille D'Or rims, but they were really too light to be practical, and there were lots of funny stories about them getting destroyed, especially if there were built up 28h or something. You could get really crazy and run super record ti hubs, or Hi-E as mentioned. Similarly silly were the Zeus 2000 alloy freewheels.

violini

Columbus steel frame: 1.64 Kg
Wheel set : 1.4 Kg
Carbon fork: 0.37 Kg

violini

Columbus steel frame: 1.64 Kg
Wheel set : 1.4 Kg
Carbon fork: 0.37 Kg
Pedals: 0.165 Kg
About 16 pounds. This is a cheap bike, there is no need to use carbon fiber wheels.

Oldbikeride

I fully agree with everything SteelThisBike had to say. There is a certain beauty in keeping a vintage bike original. As for weight I think it is best for the rider to lose weight and/or build up more strength.