It’s Cheaper to Keep Her
Not so long ago, my intentions were to sell my Kona Coiler, and use the money towards a Salsa El Mariachi, a full rigid 29er 1×9. After some serious thought, the Coiler is staying. I started thinking of some of the epic rides planned for this summer, and the thought of having a full suspension bike for these rides sounded very appealing. Additionally, not dropping $1,500 an yet another bike also sounded appealing.
The latest plan, which is already in motion, is to put the Coiler on a diet. I also wanted to upgrade my Kona Kula at the same time. The following parts were purchased: Mavic Crossride wheel set, light weight high volume tires (WTB Weirwolf 2.5, WTB Mutano Raptor 2.4), and a pair of Crank Brothers Smarty pedals.
I just finished installing the new wheel set on the Kula. The old wheel set will go on the Coiler, saving almost a pound of weight. Rotating mass…the best kind of weight to lose!
The Coiler will get the Smarty pedals and the WTB tires. I swapped the Coiler’s Race Face Diabolus stem for the On One stem I got from Brian. This saved a 1/4 lb! The Diabolus Stem looks cool, but is made for riders with more courage than I have. The Diabolus stem found a home on my Kona Scab (Yeah, I like Konas!). A new fork is planned for the Coiler when funds allow. After the fork is purchased, I’ll still be about $1,000 below the purchase price of a new bike. I’m shopping the sales!
Tomorrow will be the first ride on the Mavic Crossrides. Stay tuned for a full analysis.
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Awesome! Get some body armor for day 2 of the Tahoe Blogger’s Ride so we can do NorthStar.
You are right about rotating mass; it is the most important weight reduction you can make to a bike (more critical on a road bike).
The Kona looks great too, but you have to lose the chainguard off the rear wheel. It looks like you just bought the bike at a big box store! :^)
Have a great test ride!
No way, Brian. The chainguard will match the kickstand that I ordered. That thing is pretty huge…
We went to the Exploratorium in SF a few weeks ago, and they had a great interactive rotating mass exhibit. You could pick different wheels with various weights placed on them, and race them down a little slope. It was amazing to see the difference! And it wasn’t only how much weight, but how close to the center that weight was.
Jeff- Remember, your housewarming gift- I accidentally ordered the Stans No Tubes kit for your coiler. You could loose even more on the rotating mass unless you hawked it on ebay.
That exploratorium test, was it worse to have the weight on the outside of the wheel?
Marcus – Yeah…I was thinking the same thing. I’ll have to see if those strips fit the smaller rims!
Yes, weight on the outside of the wheel caused it to go much slower. Think of a figure skater…when they pull their leg towards their body, they spin much faster even though the overall mass has not changed.
Figure skaters… oh yes.. you mean with their legs all bent upwards…mmmh. Oh … Ahem! yes, Jeffry, That makes sense.
I agree about rotating mass being the most important, but on a road bike sometimes going to an aero wheelset is going to give you more of a benefit than a lighter wheel. Unless you’re spending the day climbing, the watts saved with the aerodynamics will be more than saved with the weight alone. Now a superlight aero wheelset is the hotness of course, just see all the pros riding the Lightweight wheels…
James
I believe there is another rotating mass you should be attending to.