10 May 2007 - 21:35Back in the Saddle Again

So I was totally prepared for the very involved process of changing the tires on Kermit. I had all of my Stanzing supplies at the ready. The compressor was full of air. I was ready.

And wouldn’t you know it, those Bontrager tires aired right up! The beads snapped into place and sealed instantly. I was shocked.
Bontrager has developed thier own tubeless wheel system that uses a different kind of sealant, but so far, it’s working with Stan’s. They also have a new tire called the Dry X, which I am looking forward to getting my hands on.

To recap, I had put a bunch of new parts on this bike to get it to a more racable weight. All things being equal, a large steel bike with a steel fork is going to be heavy. I managed to get the weight down by going to a tubeless set up, which I wrote about in this post over the winter. I lost a pound, going from 24.49 to 23.53. No small feat.

Well, I replaced the Mary Bars with a low rise Easton Monkeylite. This one component change got me almost a full half pound. And the front end is so much more quiet now. Those Mary Bars, while comfortable, did little to damp any vibrations or bumps from the ground.

Then I replaced Moo I with a WTB Devo Carbon saddle. Carbon? Well, I figured on a singlespeed, I wouldn’t be sitting that often, so why not get an extra 20g? Turns out, this is a VERY comfortable saddle.

And now that the big 2.55 tires are off, Kermit is a scant 22.46! And you can really tell the difference in ride. It will do just about anything you want it to, when you want it to. I don’t anticipate being able to loose any more weight on this bike and still have it hold up to my abuse. I will not go the route of Ti hardware to loose grams, and while a carbon seatpost will get me almost 1/4 lb, I’m not prepared to do that…….yet.

Now, if I could only do something about taking weight off the motor…