To pile onto the bolt-gram-counting-train, Paragon Machine Works is having a holiday sale and you can get some nice M5 and M6 Ti bolts for about $1-2 each. That falls under Bill's $1/g (approximate) limit. Bonus for being local!
I picked up a few for fender mounting and to save some weight on the seatpost binder bolt. Collin in Bolt-town On Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 4:33:26 PM UTC-8 Bill Lindsay wrote: > In my original post I said: "The bolts gives (sic) the opportunity to do > some gram-chasing." > > I got a $90 McMaster-Carr order in today, featuring 20 aluminum bolts and > 8 Titanium bolts. By my count, I think 10 of those 28 bolts are going to > end up on my CHG build. > > Bill Lindsay > El Cerrito, CA > > On Thursday, November 28, 2024 at 8:48:47 AM UTC-8 Bill Lindsay wrote: > >> There's another thread on how I'm going to take a run at a <9kg Gallop >> build. I've started this thread to lay out exactly how I plan out all the >> builds in my workshop. I'll apologize in advance for the long narrative, >> but hopefully the few of you who poke around on Thanksgiving Day are >> looking for something to read... >> >> My freshman year of high school, in the Fall of 1983 (Troy High School, >> Fullerton, CA) I took a typing class as an elective. It made perfect sense >> to me as preparation for taking a computer elective the following semester, >> ha ha. We had a project in typing class to type up a formatted outline, >> following all the rules of categorization with the indents and headings >> just so. Each student had to come up with their own content for the >> project and type it up. In the Fall of 1983 I was a habitual cover to >> cover reader of Bicycling and Winning! magazines. I was obsessed with a >> Bruce Gordon Chinook in one of those magazines, and I used the build list >> for that bike as the content for my typing project. From that moment >> forward, every build fits into the same framework. Every build is >> comprised of five categories: >> >> 1. Frame set >> 2. Wheels >> 3. Drivetrain >> 4. Components >> 5. Accessories >> >> I throw every build into a spreadsheet in those five groups. It serves >> to organize my thoughts for every build, and as a checklist before a build >> begins, and sometimes helps me pull the build together mentally to >> anticipate the places where a nuanced build might have places where I could >> paint myself into a corner. Sometimes, but not always, I'll use columns >> for each line to list the weight and/or the price of the stuff I'm pulling >> together. By filling out that spreadsheet exhaustively with best guesses I >> can get into the ballpark on total price or total weight as a preview. As >> guesses become certainties, the numbers come into focus. As I've gotten >> older, most of my builds have targets that have nothing to do with price or >> with weight: they are more about how exactly I want to experience cycling >> on that particular machine. The term I use to capture that relationship >> between the build and its target is the "build concept". >> >> So, let's start running through the build for my Gallop: Section 1 is the >> Frame Set, which has three main parts >> >> 1. Frame set >> A. Frame >> B. Fork >> C. Headset >> >> When I get my frame set, I'll remove the fork and weigh the fork with the >> fork crown. I'll pop out the headset cups and weigh the headset minus the >> fork crown. I'll remove the pre-installed bottom bracket and weigh the >> bare frame. Then I will remove every bolt that is screwed into the frame >> and weigh that collection of bolts separately and re-weigh the completely >> stripped down frame. >> >> The Riv page for the FSA Headset claims it weighs 93.8 grams. That's >> very light. 100g is the typical placeholder for a headset when I'm planning >> something out. Over 100g and I could substitute something lighter. Under >> 100g is pretty good. If it's really ~94g I'm keeping it. >> >> The bolts gives the opportunity to do some gram-chasing. Big picture, >> bolts are always steel, there are ways to make those steel bolts lighter. >> They are: >> >> 1. Air is weightless. Can you live without that bolt? If so, consider >> leaving it out. That's free and totally weightless >> 2. Plastic is almost as light as air, and is very cheap. Plastic metric >> bolts in all sizes are made. They weigh almost nothing and cost very >> little. If you don't need to bolt anything to that threaded hole, but want >> to plug the hole, consider plastic and screw it in with just your fingers. >> 3. Aluminum is 1/3 the weight of steel. Virtually every high end >> mountain bike has aluminum water bottle bolts. They break sometimes, but >> 19 out of 20 times they break, it was because the person holding the wrench >> over tightened them. For low-stress bolt on applications, aluminum is >> great. They are not free, but if you buy them in bulk, the per-bolt cost >> is not that much. If you bought them a while ago and they are just there >> on the shelf, it feels like they are free. >> 4. Titanium is half the weight of steel and nearly as strong. Pretty >> much anything steel on a bike could be done in Titanium. It's a bit >> lighter and is really expensive. >> 5. Shorter steel bolts are lighter than longer steel bolts. Sometimes >> water bottle bolts are 16mm long when 10mm bolts still have 100% >> engagement. Swap 'em out if you have them laying about. >> >> A gram or two doesn't make any difference but if you look for a gram or >> two everywhere, they can add up. You eat the elephant one bite at a time. >> >> The last consideration in this first chapter will be steer tube length. >> If the final build has me slamming my stem, then that will signal that I >> don't need that much steer tube. Typically Rivs come with ~30mm of headset >> spacers. If I can pull the spacers and cut the steer tube down 30mm, >> that's more free grams. 1" steer tubes weight almost exactly 1g/mm. If I >> want to keep the extra stack of the long steerer and spacers, then I'll >> keep it. >> >> That's section 1 of my upcoming build. Section 2 is wheels, and that's >> the only section that is 100% complete right now. I'll get into that >> later... >> >> Bill Lindsay >> El Cerrito, CA >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. 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