Originally Posted by masi61

Interesting thread. I just started a thread on the Clydesdale/Athena forum dreading winter and (seemingly) inevitable weight gain. I have a plan to try to not go over 200# this winter. But you are asking about taking steps to reduce bike weight. I used to just ride steel bikes and the only weight trimming I would do was by swapping out heavy clincher wheels for lightweight tubular racing wheels. The difference is clearly noticeable.

But being more experienced with bike builds, I now try to reduce the weight from a lot of components: the seatpost, the saddle, pedals and still rims, hubs, spokes, quick release skewers and even my chain.

Just going to a superlight carbon seatpost, carbon handlebars, Dura Ace 9000 pedals, lightweight racing clinchers that are either tubeless or with latex tubes have all been very effective and change up the ride quality for me significantly. The only caveat is concerns of increased noise and decreased durability. Some of my lightweight choices have to be fully dialed in to be completely strong and quiet. I would rather have a slightly heavier component that is completely silent as opposed to a creaky one. Riding an unnecessarily creaky bike with less than robust parts does not make a person faster in my opinion. Even though the bike is lighter, the distraction factor nibbles away at your focus making you feel off. I would rather feel calm and grounded to the road. Lately I'm not there.