Here is your basic question: *"Has anyone built a Clem up with lighter parts? Does it make a big difference? As in, is it worth the money?"*
To pick an analogy, in the world of race cars, the adage is that *"Speed costs money."* The question of how much money it costs can be turned on its head by asking, *"How fast do you want to go?"* Putting that query to use in the case of making a lighter Clem, the question becomes, *"How light do you want to get?"* The simple answer is that making a (meaningfully) lighter Clem could get very expensive. And the question would remain, have you made it *meaningfully* lighter? The fact that any Clem starts life with a very robust frame and fork is a hindrance in the quest for lightness. The desire to retain the front derailleur makes that weight non-negotiable. The same would be true with retaining the racks. Not to mention adding a front dyno. And what about the bags? This leaves a huge share of the existing mass intact and relatively few parts to change. You could skip fenders entirely (you're already half way there!) and replace your wheels and tires with the lightest parts that would serve your needs. Almost everything else is really small potatoes in its cumulative potential for weight reduction and absurdly expensive for the meager grams of weight-saving. This is my long-winded way of saying that, sadly, a Clem is an unlikely candidate for light-weighting, especially with the equipment you'd like to retain. The one area that might help to enhance a feeling of lightness would be a very light wheel and tire combination. That would at least fee more spritely when accelerating. The best answer might be to leave your Clem in its satisfyingly competent configuration for its current uses. Then, build your upcoming Cheviot as the lightweight. It's simply a better start in that direction. Bob Sharp - owner of an embarrassingly heavy Clem On Wednesday, April 8, 2020 at 12:02:00 AM UTC-4, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! wrote: > > I’m not fully committing to this yet. Roberta and I get into trouble > because we talk on Marco Polo and then we get ideas and then we like each > other’s ideas and the next thing we know our wallets are on fire. > > So, I am ordering a Cheviot, and I am spending extra $ to build it with > light parts. But that bike is a long way off, months, in fact. Meanwhile, > Roberta is giving her beloved Appaloosa a makeover and it is getting lots > of new parts and she’s having all the fun. And since we’re #Rivsisters and > I’m like that little sister who wants what her sister has, I want to > explore what it would take to lighten up my Clem L, which is my only bike > at present, and which is quite heavy. You’ll have heard me mention this in > Joe’s What Is A Cheviot thread. If my Clem could lose a little weight it > would be the most perfect bike anyone could dream up. A Susie version of > Clems would be just so ideal - someone should tell Riv. > > Anyway, if I got aluminum Bosco bars, and new wheels (don’t ask me what > kind, how would I know?) would this make my bike feel considerably lighter? > I don’t think I can give up my front derailleur because I use it for Killer > Hill. And what if I wanted to add dyno while I was at it? Would that negate > my weight savings? Also, I’m keeping my racks; I can’t part with those. > Maybe I’m not the best candidate for this... > > Has anyone built a Clem up with lighter parts? Does it make a big > difference? As in, is it worth the money? > > Thanks! > Leah -- 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. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/5c182f97-cd0e-49f8-999a-3b7c9a74450b%40googlegroups.com.
