Light weight campaign.

[Lawson]

Anyone tried to make their e-sommets a bit less portly?

What have you done?

This weekend I'm going to have a bit of an investigation as to what weighs a bastard tonne, and what I can swap out to try to make it a bit more nimble......obviously expecting a ?head response regarding getting rid of the battery and motor......

 

[StuE]

Probably done the obvious, converting to tubeless and lighter tyres,after that it's the law of diminishing returns small reductions in weight for the application of large amounts of money

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

weighs the same as a lot of way more expensive bikes.. add the weight of the motor and battery and subtract it from the current weight and see where it stands against the standard non ebike equivalent model.. if you do that with a Levo then you end up very close to the weight of a stumpjumper so I guess the answer is, buy a non ebike

 

[GrahamPaul]

what I can swap out to try to make it a bit more nimble......obviously expecting a ?head response regarding getting rid of the battery and motor......

But it's true though, isn't it? The biggest weight in the bike is the motor and battery. Anything else is a tiny weight reduction when compared with that 7 or 8 kg.

The biggest weight on the bike is you. I reduced the weight on my bike by 9kg - by reducing my waistline. A much bigger weight saving than a few grammes on tyres and tubes or a new bar. Cheaper too.

 

[steve_sordy]

Several years ago now when riding analogue bikes I did a bit of "back of the fag packet" research about the cost of weight reduction on a bike and came up with £1 per gm, or the more "gosh-wow" figure of £1000 per kg! Yes, I'm sure we can all find examples of cheaper weight saving (and more expensive) but for general stuff £1/gm seemed to do the trick. I wonder if it still works?

Even further back, ten years or more, I asked one of the mtb forums, in all innocence, "how much body weight loss is equivalent to bike weight loss?" That was an interesting debate! After much to-ing and fro-ing, my consensus was 10:1. In other words, you have to lose 10 lbs for it to feel the same as a bike 1 lbs lighter. Again, holes can be poked in the result, "not scientific", "depends where the weight is lost", ............and so on. But this was my out-take from the debate.

 

[GrahamPaul]

Several years ago now when riding analogue bikes I did a bit of "back of the fag packet" research about the cost of weight reduction on a bike and came up with £1 per gm, or the more "gosh-wow" figure of £1000 per kg! Yes, I'm sure we can all find examples of cheaper weight saving (and more expensive) but for general stuff £1/gm seemed to do the trick. I wonder if it still works?

Even further back, ten years or more, I asked one of the mtb forums, in all innocence, "how much body weight loss is equivalent to bike weight loss?" That was an interesting debate! After much to-ing and fro-ing, my consensus was 10:1. In other words, you have to lose 10 lbs for it to feel the same as a bike 1 lbs lighter. Again, holes can be poked in the result, "not scientific", "depends where the weight is lost", ............and so on. But this was my out-take from the debate.

I can see an awful lot of pints being sunk during that conversation! ?

In the world of marginal gains, it's interesting to see you the pro peloton cyclists weight has dropped to a super svelte 68kg average, even though they average out so darned tall.

This is a rabbit hole to go down and never see light of day again:

Body Size of Cyclists in the Tour de France

Of course, you could just pay the £10k to save the 10kg without the pain (except to the wallet)


Specialized Levo SL is a 16.9KG Super Light emtb

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

forget all that expensive stuff, I have solved your problem !!!

Mini Rig Down hill BMX bike TEAL RKR select wheel and grip colour | eBay

 

[Gary]

Anyone tried to make their e-sommets a bit less portly?

. Might help if you tell us what yours weighs

Mine's 47lb WITH PEDALS FITTED.

It costs practically fuck all and isn't rocket science getting them to that weight.
Any lighter is either going to cost a fair bit or compromise durability.. It's a 170mm Enduro bike afterall.

 

[Gary]

for general stuff £1/gm seemed to do the trick. I wonder if it still works?

It didn't then and still doesn't now. Plenty light weight parts cost no more than heavier alternatives. Simply build the bike light in the first place.if that's your aim.

 

[RocketMagnet]

I agree with Gary.. It's a 170mm Enduro bike additionally there are better options for lightweight Ebikes.

Due to the motor then I've found even my 170mm Enduro Ebike is fine as XC, I've done big lakes rides on it with significantly less effort than my XC bike.

IMO lightweight is a hangover from normal bikes where every gram had to be lugged up the hills under your own steam.. with an Ebike your so overpowered that this simply isn't an issue IMO and you get the added benefit of DH weight bike on fast rough technical descents. IME lightweight bikes are seriously compromised when the trail is technical DH, hence why you don't see any true lightweight DH bikes. Enduro compromises as you need to ride up as well

If your just riding fire roads and gentle flow the Vitus E Sommet is serious overkill and admit the advantage of the higher weight is wasted here as it's just reduced assistance capacity in that unique instance, but it's not an XC bike yet as above due to the motor the true EXC bike is pointless IMO.
We've had years of the biking press highlighting the above and even saying 20Kg was the sweet spot... but suddenly they seem to have forgotten this recently... I can see a market for certain people for a light Ebike but not Enduro.

Also losing weight off the bike is not the same as weight off the rider as ideally the rider isn't deadweight