Hi everyone, I have a 2022 specialized epic evo comp coming in a few weeks and I’m looking at saving weight as I believe it’s about 27 lbs out of the box in size medium and I’m planning to race marathon XC with it. I was planning to buy the expert but my lbs is only getting one epic in medium size for 2022 and that was the only option. I’m looking to get the bike to about 25 lbs without pedals. I do have a decent budget in upgrades but 1500 USD is my max. Here’s what I have planned:
Carbon Renthal fatbar lite 35
swap the stock tires for Specialized Fastrack S-Works 2.35 - run tubeless as well
Change wheels to the new Roval Control Carbon 6B
I think I’ll save just about 1 KG with these changes but I’d like to know if you have cheaper ways to shave a similar amount of weight without spending the full 1500 USD?
Below is a good place to start. Generally though it’s usually wheels and tires, then maybe cockpit and saddle/post. After that you’ll be chasing grams and the gram per dollar amount gets increasingly bigger. It’s fun to chase grams, just make sure you’re not sacrificing performance and comfort especially considering XCM.
Not to mention, all your weight savings can be negated by carrying too much and/or heavy kit, gear, tools, etc. So just don’t consider the bike, but the total weight on race day (bike, gear, nutrition, hydration and yourself). You’ll find there’s plenty of opportunities to lose total weight when optimizing everything.
That’s a great point. The marathon race series that I’m planning to do next year has event of just about 60 km (37 miles) so just about 3:00 -3:30 hrs race time. I have a lezyne bottle cage multi tool and would normally run 2 bottles, with a Co2, lezyne handpump, tireplugs and spare tube plus a few gels. That’s as light as I can run without having to race with a camelbag.
Does the 2022 evo comp come with a 35mm stem? I spent decent money to get a carbon 35mm bar and stem and didn’t lose a whole lot of weight compared to stock on my 21 epic evo. The factory bar and stem aren’t that heavy. Upgrade the cassette to XTR and a new wheelset, those save weight. Also like you mentioned, go tubeless. I can upload a screenshot of my weight savings if you want.
Edit:
On my 2021 Epic EVO, the bar/stem/grip weight was 502 grams. Replacing it with a raceface stem and oneup bar and ESI grips was 469 grams. The ESI grips were the majority of those savings. Moving from my stock cassette to XTR was 227 grams, but I went from deore to XTR (2021 epic evo base models used deore/SLX hybrid parts). Moving to tubeless and LightBike AM927 wheels saved me 866 grams. Also moving from the factory rotors to XT saved me 141 grams total. Everything else was less than 100 grams (crank, pedals, etc).
Can I recommend the tubolito spare tubes. I have the S I think which is the teeny one that the valve comes unscrewed. Weighs nearly nothing, takes up hardly any space, and is supposedly a lot more reliable and nicer to ride than butyl anyway. I also optimised my pump and mutlitool for weight. I got the Lezyne with the allow chain breaker, there’s decent grams there over the alternative with steel tools on it (and I was buying anyway, I wouldn’t say you need to replace your tools everyone a lighter one comes).
Interesting thread, I’ve often thought about taking the plunge on a Syncros IC handlebar to save ~150g over my aluminium bar and stem combo (730*80), but it’s a bit too much $ for me to justify still. I have even briefly considered the AliExpress copies, but I just can’t quite accept that risk of failure there.
For 2022, all epics are exclusively specced with Sram so no Shimano parts. They also switched to 35mm bar and stem. The Renthal bar I have is about 190g so for sure it’s lighter than the stock aluminum bar. Not sure by how much. I will also for sure get ESI grips.
Ah OK. Well then discard all of my weights lol. Should have looked online before responding. The wheel and tubeless weights should hold unless they changed those as well.
(Without looking at the spec sheet.) Saddle upgrade might save a bit of weight, not much but it all counts, plus it’s up high so you’ll probably notice it. Or, don’t do anything else except buy the lightest wheels and best tyres you’re willing to throw money at.
You’ll save over 200g by putting on a bike yoke divine sl dropper, which is the only other big item. 100g to replace the cassette with x01 when it wears out. Wheels give you the most. Enjoy the bike!
I’d be curious on the weight of the stock stem and saddle. There’s a pretty wide range of weights even among alloy stems. You can probably save weight on the saddle if you’re willing to spend money on Ti rails (new or used). ESI grips if you can tolerate them are usually lighter than anything else. Small things all add up. I’m not a big fan of chasing grams on tires. I’ve found picking tires based solely on weight usually results in kleenex casings that can’t hold up for very long. I’ve been really happy with Vittoria Mezcals for my trails. I don’t have any experience with the S-works tires.
Wheels and tires are the 2 most important things when dropping weight. It’s rotational weight and will make more of real life difference than any seatpost/handlebar/stem/carbon seat or the obligatory “lose weight, it’s cheaper” response. Not sure of what or where you ride, but for me a dropper is not necessary and that drops a good amount of weight. Also, cassettes can weight a ton. Look at Garbaruk.com
Are those personal stats? There were some creaking issues with some older models. But since, I’ve heard positive things and I’ve always have had luck. There are big wait times now due to the pandemic.
No sure I would risk buying an non-sram branded cassette as I’ve read that they don’t shift as well as the SRAM stuff. Of course SRAM cassette are absurdly expensive and I wish Specialized would of stuck with Shimano instead of going all-in on Sram components. They are just so finicky to adjust and parts are way expensive to replace.
. I’m already pretty light at 150lb so let’s pretend my bodyweight is optimal.