Back 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...
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...
posted by mandy at 5:35 PM
5 Comments:
G: That Dry X tire is a fast mo-fo! You are going to really like it. Like an Ignitor on steroids!
Whoops! On second thought.....you may not like 'em at all!
Scary bad on off camber hardpack with loose dirt on top. Crashed hard a couple times this weekend on those Dry X's.
Too bad you wrecked 'em. You could send them out here for me to try!
A birdie told me they were having a problem at the factory with the Dry X, which bums me out.
so these are mounted to your stans arch rims with no problems so far? I'd been told that the new bead for the bonty tubeless wouldn't work with the stans rims. I also have the stans arch rims and am currently running ignitors (only one short ride so far) but am concerned about the bead holding up. I figured an actual tubeless tire like the bonty would have a stronger bead for this purpose.
also, do you have real world weights for the jones xr 29 and ignitor 29 tires? according to their websites the ignitor is 705g and the jones is 620g. seems like a change i should make for race day.
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