Shedding the pounds...

I don't have a fancy scale like this...

...not me, the bike. When I bought it, mumbles indistinctly years ago, I was told it weighed 9.8kg. I was quite pleased with this back then, though of course I never checked. But for the sake of argument, let's say that was accurate.

In the intervening years, I've added some bits (light brackets, a Rear Guard mudguard, the fitting for my GPS) and some bits have come off (the front reflector, the toe straps on the pedals, that kind of thing). The net effect of all that is that, until recently, it still weighed about 9.8kg.

At this point I should add that I don't have some fancy schmancy bike scale like the one pictured. I just hop on the bathroom scales, take a reading, pick up my bike, take another reading, and calculate the difference. Maths, in other words.

Anyway, I've recently started looking at ways to reduce my faithful steed's weight, in advance of the challenge that lies ahead. So far, I've changed one tyre and inner tube for lighter equivalents, and swapped my bottle cage... said faithful steed is now down to 9.6kg. I have another tyre and tube to put on the back, plus I have just ordered a new wheelset that should be quite a bit lighter. On the flip-side, I've also got a new cassette waiting to go on, that might actually add a tiny bit, due to the size of the largest cog...

The upshot of all this is that I'm starting to wonder if I can trim the bike down to under 9kg? Maybe even 8.8?

Of course, anything is possible. With some of the carbon and titanium goodies available from Extralite I could probably get Old Faithful down to about 7.5kg... if money were no object. But money very definitely is an object, and an object in short supply at that. My total budget for all bike mod's is probably about £400 (and with the wheelset ordered, I'm up to about £300 and counting), so I'm going to see how low I can get without going crazy. I'll keep you posted.