Skinny Dip

[DWNHLR01]

Wanna lighten up my stock 06 SX Trail.

Probably starting with the wheelset, bike itself with cranks, etc is pretty light.

Currently it has Mavic 325D laced to Specialized Disc hubs (20mm front, 10mm bolt on rear) with 2.0mm DT swiss spokes and just generic specialized 2.35" tyres...Think they are called chunders or something?

Obviously I want to switch to some 2.5" Minions. What wheelset would be the way to go, strong and light?
I've always sworn by Mavic, fav rims ever were my old 321s.

Anyway, suggestions please!

Added Spec List:

REAR SHOCK: 06 Fox DHX 4.0 Coil 9.0x2.75", rebound adjust, ProPedal adjust
FORK: Marzocchi 66F single clamp, 170mm travel, internal rebound adjust, alloy ST
STEM: Race Face
HANDLEBARS: Specialized OS Freeride
FRONT BRAKE: Avid Juicy 5 Hydraulic, 8" polygon rotor
REAR BRAKE: Avid Juicy 5 Hydraulic, 8" polygon rotor
BRAKE LEVERS: Avid Juicy 5
REAR DERAILLEUR: SRAM X-9 mid cage
SHIFT LEVERS: SRAM X-7 trigger
CASSETTE / FREEWHEEL: Shimano HG50, 9spd, 11/34
CHAIN: SRAM PC-971 w/Power Link
CRANKSET: Truvativ Holzfeller w/BlackSpire DS-1 Lexan Guide
BOTTOM BRACKET: Truvative Howitzer, outboard bearing
RIMS: Mavic EX325 disc
FRONT HUB: Specialized Disc, 20mm thru axle
REAR HUB Specialized Disc, 10mm bolt-on
SPOKES: DT Swiss 2.0mm stainless, brass nipples

Also any other suggestions for lightening up my ride are welcome!

 

[3viltoast3r]

Would really need a full spec-list.

Putting minions on is going to end badly weightwise..

 

[T-Rex]

My 14 YO son used to race a SX Trail in DH, they are a nice bike and pretty light. We got his down to 14kg, but we were only running that weight at certain tracks. There is a tradeoff between weight and longevity...


You haven't explained what sort of riding you are doing, but assuming it's either DH or FR, the biggest "bang for buck" you will get is converting to tubeless and running single ply tyres. Assuming you are running DH or FR tubes, replace your current Chunders with single ply 2.35 Highrollers and either a Stans kit or Stans fluid and a ghetto setup and you will save you half a KG per wheel, 1 KG all up. You get the added benefit of extra acceleration and less tendancy to pinch flat.

The other thing that stands out to me is your forks. It's at the other end of the cost spectrum compared to a tubeless conversion, but a set of Fox Float 36s, which are air sprung, weigh in at 2.2KG, which I suspect is a lot lighter than your Marzocchis.

I'm not sure I would bother changing your wheelset, the amount of cost and effort vs the weight saved could be disappointing for you. But FYI, the lightest setup we ever ran which had any decent level of longevity was Stans ZTR Flows laced with 1.8/2.0 double butted spokes. The issue for you is that the flows only come in 32 hole and I believe that your standard Specialized hubs are 36 hole, so you would be up for a complete new wheelset. IMO you would be better off putting that money into a set of Floats, or ditching your existing cranks and replacing them with a set of Shimano XTs.

Hope that helps.

PS here's a link to the Tubeless thread, lots of good info in here if you are new to tubeless:

http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/showthread.php?86107-TUBELESS-all-you-need-to-know.

 

[RealizE]

I'm currently going through the same thing with my 06 Trail. The only original parts left on mine are the frame+shock and the brakes. It's just under 15Kg.

You will lose the most weight in this order - Forks,Cranks,wheels,shock.

I've done the following :
Fox 36 TALAS forks
XT M770 Cranks
E13 SRS+ guide


I've got TBC revolution 32 wheels on my rig and these weigh 2.6Kg. I've tested some lighter all mountain wheelsets on the bike that were around the 2Kg mark and the weight difference is noticeable both in lifting the bike and pedaling it. A custom Hope2 wheel build from CRC will be around $500.00 delivered, so it would be worth having a look at the build options there.

Brakes are pretty lite and work well, so no point changing those. Bars and stems are all easily swapped out, but there is not much weight different between all those.

The last place to shave decent weight is the shock and spring. A Ti spring will save what, 250grams or so. I'm tossing up whether to get a DHXair and make some custom mounts for it, but I'm concerned that the shock valving in the custom Specialized DHX would be worth keeping. It might be better with a Ti spring and stock shock.