Project 18 pound...

"Don't ask me what I think of you I might not give you the answer that you want me to." Oh wait, that's a song lyric. What I meant to say is don't ask me how much my bike weighs because I don't know. I think I weighed it once, but promptly forgot. So it was an interesting task that was bestowed on me to build one of my frames up to weigh 18 pounds without pedals. One aid was to forgo my steel fork (which with a 1 1/8" steerer tube does add a bit of weight, but rides great) in favor of a carbon Seven fork the prospective owner already had. The length was within a few millimeters of the stock fork so handling won't be changed.

It's been such a long time since I looked at weights of components. My research came up with a SRAM Force build. Compared to Ultegra, the Force parts (shifters, derailleurs, cranks) are quite a bargain compared to Ultegra and also weigh quite a bit less to boot. Double bonus. So, here she is. All 18 pounds 6 ounces (without pedals or other gear) packed onto a 62cm frame. Pretty damn good. Handbuilt wheels with Velocity A23 rims, White Industries hubs, 32 spokes front and rear, brass nipples, DT Revolution spokes up front and on the left rear, DT Competition spokes on the right rear, Conti 4-Season 25c tires. Ritchey WCS alloy seat post and stem. Salsa 46cm bar. Salsa quick releases with stainless shafts. Just a bunch of good, quality components that will last a long time. Nothing chosen because it was stupid light. And it turned out to be a great looking bike.

And now that I've spent about a half hour watching various covers of "Oh Well," here's the original and a pretty great cover by Tom Petty.

(What's playing: John Stewart July, You're A Woman)