Our bike diet project initiated last summer finally paid big dividends once the Easton Carbon Haven wheelset came in.
The carbon fiber hoops alone, equipped with lighter tubes and tires (Continental Mountain Kings), took a full 3 pounds off our Pivot Firebird (replacing UST rear Mavic 821/front 521 rims, Hadley hubs and 2.35 Nevegal rubber).
Weighed on my Alpine digital scale, the Firebird came in at 28.63 pounds. At the Downhill Zone shop in Seattle, the Park digital scale read 28.75 pounds.
This is with pedals, so we’re beating the build advertised by Pivot at 28 pounds. Sans pedals we weighed in at 27.79 pounds.
Both Adam and I were blown away by the drop. Originally our goal had been the 30-pound range, with considerable doubt whether we could come in under the magic number itself.
How did we pull off this miracle? With Adam’s expertise and more than a few Benjamin Franklins.
Still, it’s remarkable that a light freeride/aggressive trail bike can come in that far under 30 pounds. The full verdict on our build can’t be fully tested till this summer, but we’re looking forward to stretching the Firebird out!
Here’s the full rundown:
FIRST CUT
FINAL BUILD
Great post Paul!
I was drooling the entire time watching these videos. I’m curious to know how much the upgrades cost. I’m also wondering if after calculating the original bike purchase plus the upgrades, minus the selling of the old parts, if it would have been more cost effective to purchase an entirely new bike.
Manny
Can you list down your gear ? thanks
If you want to get a wheelset that is not far off of the weight of those carbon wheels the Sun Charger Pro wheels are a quarter of the price and come in at 1700 grams and have the same bead as a Stan’s Flow rim. Plenty wide enough for big tires with a 22mm inside width, and probably better if you ride in rocky areas. Plus you can set up standard or UST bead tires on them. If you want to get the weight of your Firebird down close to what these guys did, for a lot less money, that is a good route IMO, and is what I did on mine.
Thanks Val, glad they’re workin out for ya. Stan’s own wheels, the Arch EX with Stan’s hubs, come in at only 1585 so they’re worth a look as well. Lots of options, see ya on the trail!