Worth the weight?

I wrote last time about changing the project bike's wheelset, specifically swapping out the stock 2016 Giant SR-2 alloy clinchers with a pair of Mavic Aksium Elite hoops that I'd sourced secondhand.

Well, I haven't done the back wheel yet, as I'm waiting for a new lockring tool to be delivered, but the results are in for the front wheel. And they are, truth be told, a little underwhelming.

The weight of the front Aksium Elite, bare except for rim-tape and skewer, registered as 882g on the Kitchen Scales of Inaccuracy^TM. The Giant SR-2 front wheel, in the same bare state, clocked in at 910g. So a weight saving, sure ... but 28g isn't much. I must admit to feeling a little disappointed. Part of the reason for this is that Giant make it very hard to find weight information for anything they sell, whether that's a stem, a wheelset or a whole bike, to the extent that you're reliant on reviews to find any weight data. Unsurprisingly, I hadn't been able to find any reviews of a six year old wheelset, just this comment on Reddit that gave the weight of the front wheel as 930g.

Anyway, it's not all bad news. Since I had the wheel off and the scales out, I weighed both skewers separately too. The Mavic skewer showed as 60g, the Giant at 56g. So the Giant skewer went on with the Mavic wheel. Another 4g saved.

I also took the opportunity to fit a light weight inner tube whilst I was at it, specifically a Schwalbe Extra Light. My size of choice is the 18c-25c with 50mm Presta valve, so I can tell you that size weighs in at 76g. As for the Vavert that came out of the tyre, well, it's quite hard to fit a deflated, user tube on some kitchen scales ... the only reading I managed to get was 125g. I'm not convinced that's right but, if it was, I made more of a weight saving changing an inner tube than I did replacing a wheel...

Oh, and since prospective Giant owners have to rely on bloggers and reviewers for weight data, let me reiterate the following:

A 2016 Giant SR-2 front wheel, bare except from rim-tape and skewer, weighs 910g.

The skewer that comes with a 2016 Giant SR-2 front wheel weighs 56g.

It's unlikely, but I hope that helps someone.

About dust

A word to the wise about dustcaps... don't do them up too tightly!

If you do, you run this risk - if enough dirt and grime gets up in the thread for it to stick, you end up turning too hard to undo it and then ... whoosh! The whole valve breaks free in your hand, your tyre's instantly flat and you're left cursing and scrabbling around for tyre levers and a replacement tube, because there's no fixing this. And after all, dustcaps don't need to be especially tight - they're only there to keep some dust out, not to keep air in. Learn from my mistake, people!

Note also how, at some point, I must have bent the valve head, probably by pulling my track pump off carelessly. Another schoolboy error!

Some new bits

A flavour of some new bits for old faithful...

Hutchinson Fusion 5 Kevlar Pro Tech

Schwalbe Extra Light

SRAM PG950 11-28T 9-speed

Less is more

There are whole corners of the cycling web devoted to weight reduction. Go on, Google "weight weenies", I'll wait.

Quite a rabbit hole, isn't it?

Now I'm not going to get into a bespoke set of bike-weighing scales (yes, they exist) but I have been quite inspired by the thought of upgrading my trusty old road bike, in part inspired by this excellent video. The final push has come from the recent spate of punctures though, prompting me to replace my somewhat worn tyres. So out go the brilliant (until this week) Schwalbe Durano Plus, which have put in well over 2,000 miles in the last nine months. And in come... what?

After extensive Googling, in will come Hutchinson Fusion 5 Kevlar Pro Tech. Yes, you read that right. Kevlar! Whereas the Durano Plus relied on an extra 5mm of rubber on the outer surface to provide sterling puncture protection, the Hutchinson have Kevlar. That, and the fact that they're foldable tyres, rather then the wired Schwalbe, should equate to a fair weight saving. Ditto the new Schwalbe extra light tubes I'd ordered.

That's what I thought when I went to bed last night. This morning, I got the scales out, to see whether this was rational in the cold light of day or whether I was falling down the weight-weenie rabbit hole. The results are in:

Part-worn Schwalbe Durano Plus 700x25c wired	494g	(Unscientifically weighed with, er, kitchen scales)
Hutchinson Fusion 5 Kevlar Pro Tech 700x25c folding	215g	(Claimed)
Potential weight saving of (494g-215g) x 2 tyres =	558g
Schwalbe 700c 18-28c 60mm Presta tube	113g	(Kitchen scales)
Schwalbe Extra Light 700c 18-25c 60mm Presta tube	80g	(Claimed)
Potential weight saving of (113g-80g) x 2 tubes =	66g
Potential total weight saving =	624g

Now part of me thinks brilliant, that's a great saving! And part of me looks at my old-man's paunch and thinks that there are much bigger weight savings to be made, if I could only stay off the flapjacks and Minstrels. But the point is, I may save nearly two thirds of a kilogram just by judiciously replacing things I needed to replace anyway, and without breaking the bank. That's a win, surely?

Next consideration - the wheelset. I weighed the Giant IOU333 front wheel that came with the bike, twelve long years ago, and it clocked 865g with the quick-release spindle in. That's not bad, actually. But I've been looking at the Prime Baroudeur SE Road wheelset from Wiggle (Prime being one of their in-house brands), where the front wheel weighs in at 661g. Assuming a pro-rated saving on the heavier rear too and I could be looking at another 465g of weight saving, just by upgrading my wheels. Except, brilliant value though the Prime wheelset is in the Wiggle sale, it's £175 that I don't actually need to spend...

Diagnosing punctures

Yes, it's puncture season. Yes, my excellent tyres have ~2,000 miles on them. But having repaired an inner tube last night, today's fresh puncture crop seems excessive, look:

And yes, I have checked that there's nothing inside the tyre causing this ... this outbreak of punctures. Four on a five mile ride! Gah!

I've ordered some new tyres, and some brand new tubes. Until then, I've got more patches on the go than a smoking cessation clinic...

A small prick

5mm of thorn, cut from a hedge and left lying on a cycle-path, that's all it takes. And people wonder why I don't like cycle paths...

And I've got good tyres, with excellent puncture protection and durability, and the one that took this thorn only has about 2,500 miles on the clock...oh well.