The Lightest Bike We've Ever Seen | 3.6 kg Build
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- Опубликовано: 16 май 2024
- Ollie has seen plenty of light bikes in his time at GCN Tech, but this is the lightest he has ever seen! Weighing only 3.6 kg (7.9 lbs), it's sure to climb like an absolute beast.
What tech is behind this light weight super bike, and what mods and hacks have been made to save weight? Watch now to find out more!
00:00 Meet the 3.6kg super light bike!
01:17 The Alpha AC Lightness frame
01:49 Super light forks
02:03 Light weight shifters
03:18 Narrow gauge cables
03:47 The cockpit; tape, stem and bars
04:40 Carbon fibre brakes and cork pads
05:50 Weight saving wheels - 688g for the pair
07:23 The freehub sound check
08:46 One-piece seat post and saddle
09:15 98g 10-speed cassette
09:34 Ollie's favourite bit - the derailleurs
11:18 The chainset
12:13 Crazy cylindrical pedals
13:02 Some weight saving things you can't see
14:18 What's the bike like to ride?
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Спорт
I'd be more interested to see a longevity test of a bike like this. I'd would love to see the cost of keeping something this fragile on the road over a period of a couple of years.
A guy in Germany has/had a bike like that ~10 years ago and rode it a couple hundred miles per week for years. However…. IIRC he was like 60kg and had great road quality and didn’t have huge hills to mash up.
@@ericpmossuphill isn't too bad, the downhill is the scary part on this kind of bike
I would imagine that the carbon chainrings and jockey wheels would need replacing every few hundred miles. And brake pad replacement would be an awkward job.
I feel like are missing the point, If you’re asking about durability. I watch because it’s cool to see but I’d never own this, even if I could.
We all know strong - light - cheap, pick 2.
The parts wouldn't probably last long, I'd say 3x faster than regular ones, but if you could afford something like this, it wouldn't probably matter.
Feather. Hill climbing. This bike.
Make it happen, GCN!
I second this motion. All in favor say aye
@@seattlegrrlieaye
He might just rise up into the sky and never be seen again! Be careful! But yes, Feather, this bike, climbing. Perfect!
@@aliensporebomb💀
Pretty sure he would break this bike in pieces when putting his normal power through it.
Magnetic hubs. Lightweight builds. F-16's.
Ollie is in nerd heaven.
tf is a magnetic hub
@@2darkdragon Google search is free
This truly is Ollie's happy place 🙌
ive added 15kg lead to my bike😂 700c/23c alloy specialized , once your up to speed you carry far more coast momentum (i'm thin build 50kg ) and can just pedal a little bit every 5secs and get around for low watts it seems , im adding more weight soon i can probably add 50kg and will only be the equivalent of a 16st lad in total including me .
I'm verrrrry lazy and more weight genuinely feels less effort to maintain speed .
@@TheCraigy83 Wait wait wait, how did you add lead, did you fill like the frame or something?
I miss GCN plus already.
Gotta love Ollie and his passion for bikes. Out of everybody on GCN he is the one I can most relate to. Mere mortal bike nerd that is passionate about it.
Likewise to missing the GCN+ aspect. But disagree about Ollie. Not entirely mortal.
The dude likely has the highest ftp of the entire crew so he's hardly the most 'mortal'
@@whatwelearned Agreed, but he's achieved it by working his arse off
@@davidf2281 and pros just get born like that? Everyone good has worked hard
@@whatwelearned He has greater FTP than the rest of the crew because he's been working harder then the rest of the crew, who have greater natural talents.
Crazy, that bike still exists. Saw it back in 2014
seeing as it looks like its got about 30miles before it snaps (in 8).
Seriously sad that Ollie didn't get to ride this one. It's like a lesson in restraint.
it's because it's can't be ride. pretty sure ollie break the saddle
@@buenox1414I think he meant it's unrideable 😂😂😂.
I think he's not allowed because it's a customers bike. But it would be a challenging ride anyway. It's a 58, and the seatpost and saddle are fixed. So it's probably just to big for him.
@@jolandhseat is adjustable. He told us the clamp weighs 6 grammes
@@KeatB he's short and the bike is about 2 sizes too big for him
Off topic but have just finished Ollie's rouvy challenge. I did the 3 climbs in a week and thought I was going to die on the last one. Ollie doing them 3 in a row is amazing, chapeau!!
Love how crudely dremeled out the carbon parts are. Tuning at its best!
10:50 the cage has not been swapped out on the front derailleur. That's a standard Record cage from the early 2000s. The plastic chain bumper has been taken out tho'.
I think it has actually. The arm says very clearly "record titanium" but the cage on that is curved, not square edges like this.
Fantastic Ollie thanks a great review every detail covered .
Fairwheel is such a great shop. They cater to everyone from commuters to serious bike nerds. Never miss a visit to the shop when I’m in Tucson.
Ollie had to be forcibly removed from the shop as they feared he wouldn't leave!
Yes would love to hear Andrew Feathers review of this bike after a hill climb
After a few minutes of watching, I had to do number 2. I feel 300 grams lighter 👍 amazing feeling really 😌👌
😆
"you can make quite a big saving when it comes to bearings". I will never understand weight weenies, but I really love the length people are willing to go to to reach this ultimate goal
this case was extreme, was a business trying to make publicity, on the road bike ambient, yes, the weight is importante, but, only if you're racing, or reaching goals or training hard, there's a lot of guys that weights 100 kg and his bike 9, and they chance everything to make it lighter without looking themselves, is a less is better conception, i'm saving for a bh, i was between the rs1 and the aerolight, which is heavier, but faster, there is not the point 100grs less, the aero benefict is stronger, always got to see the whole image
A Great review every detail explained nothing left out thank you Ollie.
That rear hub is crazy!
It's nice to see a rim brake on GCN
Yep, it's a reminder how ugly all disc braked bikes look... this is much better.
@@nellyx1x493 I prefer disc brakes look, looks masculine and remind me of motorcycles :)
@@Gicus94 disc brakes look masculine? er ok. Carry on, whatever it takes.
Cyclist raving about rim brakes remind me hipsters and their vinyl records
@@ssensselExactly. The same people who wax poetically about their old-school RIM cellphones that were “better.”
so refreshing to see a rim brake bike being featured on this show
We do still love rim brakes 😢
And a downtube shifter… 😂
+1000 !
Super interesting O.Keep up the excellent vids.Thanks mate
Impressive build and the level of details is mindblowing!
Just needs 1g of glue for the bar tape at 4:13
I'd love to see a sub-4 kg bike race contest. Like a bunch of people build bikes as light as possible and then compete on them. Similar to how Red Bull has their wild challenges like the hang gliders and downhill carts.
Great idea!
I love it when people make bikes like this. Impractical, yet functional and head turning!
Impractical AND functional, how does that work?
@@johnnunn8688Because it does what its intended to do its just not worth it. The weight savings do add up but the trade off is bad
Impractical yet functional... reminds us of something (cough cough) someone else 😉
@@Derpynewb, gotcha 👍.
What do you mean I practical . The fact I beat a bunch of road cyclists uphill on my 6.3kg mtb shows light bikes work .
Wow 🤩 best cycling video I have watched for a while, apart from re watching Si’s bike fit oldies 👍👍👍
i like very much, its amazing that all pins in the chain seem to be hollow, very nice machine, i totally agree about the weight sweet spot at apx 4.6 to 4.8 to give a more sturdy feel for decending, yes would love to watch andrew tackel a notorious climb on it.
I love how stoked he seemed when feeling the lightness of the wheel getting up to speed so quick and easily! That’s his utmost genuine reaction ever as the bike/science nerd he is at heart!
These videos are cool for me because I'm from Tucson. Given you all were down there making these videos Im sure you checked out Mt Lemmon (or as i jokingly call it: col de Sonmex). It would be epic if you did some kind of epic climb video in Tucson. Have andrew feather fly in and ride with Lionel Sanders and Sam Long who live down there and have battled over that KOM. Heres one for you....3 man relay up lemmon. Just to see how fast they could do it as a team. Or a 3 man GCN team against one of those guys.
Thanks for the great videos and for coming to the states!
I LOVE my Berk Saddle. It was very expensive, but it's super comfortable on my lightweight aluminum bike.
Awesome info that’s what we need lightweight bikes 😊
Regarding the pedals, I am sorry to tell you that you are wrong, you do not slide the shoe into the pedals, but yourather push down your foot into the pedal applying pressure on the edge first then it will snap on! Excellent review by the way!
Are the pedals are actually a weight saver or is the increase on the cleats eating the benefit of the pedals?
The cleat and hardware are light - mainly plastic. They work as the top commenter states. The resistance (how difficult to get in-out) was tuned by screw mounts of the cleats on the shoes. Hard to describe fully so I haven't done well here. These first appeared in the 1980s.
I've seen shoes with these cleats. They get worn out rather quickly and badly.
apologies about that! I've never used them! my bad
Feather riding a feather up a hill, ohh yes please, would love to see that. Be interesting how much quicker he would be compared to his normal bike up the same hill 👍
Deer gawd thats awesome Ollie and yes I would love to see Andrew Feather making his way up an epic climb riding the Alpha AC.
I had aerolights on a tri bike in the ‘80s. You just click in and twist off. The cleats are bulky and you must lengthen your seat post over an inch and adjust everything to compensate. Lean angle is incredible too. Didn’t know they were still made.
Carbon chainrings and pulleys are not designed to last at all. They are pretty to look at and are light, but you'll need a subscription to the manufacturer to keep replacements coming.
I'd love to see a series with a track sprinter trying to snap that thing 😂
Brad the Body builder.
Wouldn’t need a series, just .25 of a very short video clipette.
They need to get Quadzilla on the channel. Look him up, he is insane
What do you mean trying? It would break if someone who weights 80 kg try to ride it
@@larshaukenfrers is he not a rugby player?
Incredible, how cool it is that these people can work on such a level of detail!
True cycling nerd territory for sure 👀
This bike will break into pieces the moment i am coming closer than 10m. Amazing work.
Super interesting build, but as you pointed out it's just suitable for hill climbing.
Sadly the chainrings from Fibre-Lyte will be the first thing to be gone, carbon fibre tooth against titanium-steel chain... not going very far before abrasion took over
Heck Yes.... Get Andrew Feather on that bike. One:: It suits his name and two: it would be epic to see him take on an epic climb and see what he sets the KOM by.
Sponsors wouldn't like a home build embarrassing them ...
Sponsors wouldn't like a home build embarrassing them ...
I would've said: Hack Yes!🤭
This is by far the best sounding hub I've ever heard.
Yes please, a test ride!
I’m around 88 kg and I would be very uncomfortable riding this worrying about it just shattering. That said, it’s incredible what is possible when it comes to weight savings.
I’m 64 kg and I wouldn’t feel comfortable riding this down my driveway! 😀 I do like that it exists though, just not for me.
One tiny gust of wind and that would be it!.
I'm 100kg and obviously I don't ride bikes 😅 Well motorcycles, and my old Colnago Sprint
The rider weight still makes the biggest difference - That said, a bike like this will make you fly up hill 💨
@@vonderponey3596 I'm 105kg +/- and I actually have a couple of these components on my bike: the THM cranks and I currently have a 30T fibre lyte little chainring on since I could only get the aluminum KCNC down to 32T. (mountains!) As for this build overall I'd take a hard pass. I'll pay for lightness, but not for inferior functionality. (Big carbon chainring chipped a tooth on me.)
I'm curious how long it took to tune/source all of the parts for the build. It takes a lot of time to grind away stuff and have it look good in the end. Also, cost of course, not to critique, just curious how much it took to get it to that weight. Awesome build!
A build like this will take a while to really dial in 👌
Great Show!!!
wow this is so much fun
Outstanding video. Yes, I would be totally excited to follow a video of yours where Feather climbs a challenging hill with a lightweight bike like this, perhaps comparing the performance (and his impressions) with using a current, modern bike like the one the Pros use for TdF climbs. Btw, I think the climbing times will be in favor of the lighter bike, even though every race (except for time trials like the one on the last stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023) also features as much downhill and especially flat...
This is an old bike that could be made lighter. You could even get those cable housings in Carbon at 1 point. Fairwheel bikes were pioneers back in the day on the weight weenies site. I once built a 4.6 kg Scott CR1 LTD using a lot of the same components. Light as a feather but not the best to ride for any sort of distance. But, I would use the Clavicula cranks & Tune hubs on any bike. Top quality stuff.
Plenty of us at GCN used to waste/invest many hours on the weight-weenies forum back in those days!
I like that it's also very good looking bike. And that's the most important thing ;)
Reminds me of Art Stump in Santa Monica CA in the early 1970s. His black-chromed custom steel frame and meticulously drilled and pared components kept the weight around 19 lbs / 8.8kg, which was damn good in those days.
It looks beautiful too and I love the rim brakes! 👍🏼💜🇬🇧
Dig this big time. More aesthetically pleasing than most modern aero durge. Love the downtube shifter, very Lance.
And 'infinite trimming' of the front derailleur.
Amazing bike.❤
I’ve had a LOOK 695 XL equipped with 10s SRAM red and Mad Fibers wheels at 5.8KG. Solid all-round climbing bike.
Would love a road fixie superlight weight build. ( 50/18 165mm cranks, front brake etc).
Something to think about.
That's what I was thinking about, or at least a single speed. Can it break the 3 kg wall taking off shifters, a brake (in case of the fixie) and so on?
@@claudiofiero8523 Thinking about this, I can find pos 500g. I'm sure it could be done
I built a fixed gear with a custom frame currently 3.8kg but could be made lighter if i had infinite money
Fixies and front brakes are a bad mix. If you do an emergency braking with the front brake, the momentum from the back wheel will make the bike buck and send you flying head-first into what you are braking from. That's simple physics.
I rode a fixi for apr. 20,000 miles as a messenger three winters a couple of decades ago (single-speed freewheel in the summer half of the year) and I never used a front brake. In stead, I learned to brake and manoeuvre properly with the rear wheel.
That's the standard issue carbon fiber cage on the Record derailleur. They've been carbon on Record since around 2005. Looks funky, is very light, but unfortunately also a lot less durable than the aluminium cage on Chorus...
Other than that, I liked how Ollie goes on and on about the acceleration of the rear wheel. However, what REALLY is unusual here is how insanely many engagement points there are on that prototype Tune hub.
I want that hub!!
The Campag Record FD cage is steel with an outer carbon overlay.
@@space.youtube I recently broke one from about 2016, and I can guarantee that it's just carbon fiber. Maybe some model years were carbon-wrapped steel.
@@Antti5 The FD on this bike is badged "Titanium" which dates it to circa '04-'06, so the 2016 iteration is almost irrelevant. It's from the late square taper carbon crank, black brake caliper era. I do not have this Record 10v groupset, but I do have earlier and later Record 10v groupsets. So I checked what I have.
The '07-'08 Record "UT Ultra Torque/QS Quick Shift" era FD has a heat treated alloy cage with the outer plate reinforced by a carbon layer. The FD chain interface is still metal on metal, both shifting up onto the big ring, and down.
Campagnolo may have utilised a full carbon outer plates in '04-'06 Record, but for whatever reason (durability, stiffness perhaps) it didn't in the UT/QS 10v Record era. It seems odd to me that they'd take an apparent 'step back' though? Maybe they had issues that were later resolved in time for the 11v era? Or maybe the '04-'06 Record 'Titanium' FDs were in fact also alloy with carbon reinforcement?
If the Tune hub is anything to go by, we need to get a look at some more prototype components!
That might be the best sounding hub I've ever heard. Damn.
Oh, wow!! 🙌🏾❤️
You can build a sub 6.8 kg rim brake bike without even trying. No special light weight components, no compromises on safety or structural integrity, and compared to modern bikes at a fraction of the price. The old paradigm was a harmonious, refined set of complimentary components that when combined thoughtfully produced a bike that was much more than the sum of its parts.
Road bikes were better before disk brakes.
They were far worse. Thank God rim brakes are a dying relic of the past.
I'll second that emotion!
I love my discs.
i imagine walking this bike down some stairs with my chest out, put it down on the road and confidently mount the bike, with one pedal stroke i accelerate to 30k get two punctures and then can’t brake
If you knew anything about AeroLite pedals, you'd know that the cleat snaps down onto the roller bearing supported barrel (black piece_ and to release, you tilt your foot outwards (away from the bike) instead of twisting at your heel. I owned some in the early 90's ... super smooth, but walking in cycling shoes with those cleats is SUPER DUCK walk!
Watching this makes me wanna go to my basement and start playing with carbon fiber, build a bike like that one! Ollie you rule! Whoever's idea it was to build this bike and make it happen, you are awsome!
"We could use your support" was a worrisome comment. ☹️
That said, I'll always be a fan of Red 10. It was way ahead of its time and is still an impressive mechanical gruppo. I loved the bike i had it on.
Weird combination. A 2x which you dont need for hill climbs, but brake levers which will snap the first time you have any serious braking on road.
Where are you meant to ride this?
Ride it? Nah, it's just to look amazing hanging on a scale. Screwball stuff like this was all the rage before the UCI minimum weight rule came into force.....just like Spinaci bars... remember those..coolest things ever...until they were banned?
The chain reminds me of an Everest that I used years ago. Everything slotted and hollow. the Everest had Al side plates. The didn't stretch but they would wear and get so loose side to side that you couldn't shift them because the chain flexed so much.
I love lightweight bike videos.
Lightest bikes are usually 1x, but this one is 2x. I bet it will be much lighter if he ditch those fd
And remove front brake. Who needs a front brake for climbing?
@@williamko4751 Remove the rear brake instead. Shorter cable to the front. Better to have brake up front for stopping as well.
Wonder what the weight would be with the lighter frame and as a fixie?
That's what I don't understand. There are very very few rim brake frames lighter than this (one is a unicorn from Japan). And I don't know of any fixed gear frames built to sub 700 grams
I actually looked at that bike in person. It is was more amazing than this video can show.
BTW, the bike was at Fair Wheel Bikes warehouse on Park Avenue in Tucson Arizona.
BTW, this bike was covered by Bicycling magazine and was listed as 6.8 pounds vice the UCI limit of 6.8 Kg.
I didn't see mention of the price, but when it was built it cost in excess of 30k USD for all the work and parts.
them tyres are amazing, been riding for over decade
Yikes! I've eaten biryanis that were heavier than this bike.
Dude, please send some F16 here to Ukraine, we need it so much(
We are with you if we can ever get the US congress off their butts long enough to send you money! Probably training your pilots here right now. Praying for you guys! 😢
i believe will be there very soon
That's a quarter of the RAF!
Never been into the free hubs sounds but that sounds 🚀
Perfect Paris-Roubaix bike :)
Small cables are stupid. Doesn’t save anything lmao and they’ll break, rather than brake
Insane!!
Awesome bike!!!! Want one pretty bad!
Diminishing returns has entered the chat.
light weight and high price!!!
perfect!!!
I miss GCN+. Thanks Ollie for keeping it exciting after the closing of GCN+. I know that’s tough!!
Absolutely agree!
I just like the simplicity of those gorgeous components. It is impressive but only as an experiment. Loved the video nonetheless. Cheers
Love You!!!
These bikes are excellent we can all run carrying these bikes up hills and stairs and ride effortlessly to work.
So sick!
only Ollie makes quality video nowadays
I built a weight weenie bike similar to this a few years ago, down to 9.6 lbs. After a while of riding I found that the drivetrain was not as responsive and reliable, so I took off the fibre-lyte chainrings and put on Di2 shifting. Now it's much more of a daily driver, up to 10.7 lbs. It's still pretty scary going down long steep descents, so better to use another bike for that. The aerolite pedals are very good and efficient and easy to use, but if you are sprinting hard especially uphill and you move your knees outward, the foot can come out of the pedal since this is the way to get them out. It's a knee-in and knee-out to clip in and out (not sliding in and out as Ollie mentioned).
I built a Klein Attitude in the 90s that weighed around 7 kilos. My ex girlfriend stole it and later sold it for £300. Around one thirtieth of its value. Three decades later I'm still pissed off about it.
I had some Aerolite pedals back in the late 80's ish, I pulled my cleat/foot out and hit my knees on the handlebars multiple times before I understood why people used the heavy Look ski binding platform
Definitely want to see you ride it! Fairwheel rules.
I love these ridiculous projects, fun.
This is perfect for some DH ride or even RB Rampage show.
Fairwheel! The local bike shop I have gone to for forty years!
Jason Woznick of Fairwheel Bikes in Tucson, Arizona did a 2.7 Kg road bike.
The acceleration of the back wheel is given by how quickly you manage to do your one rev
What?
A beautiful bike to keep on the decorative wall, because it's true that it can't handle a hard pedal after a curve
Awesome video Olly, I'm salivating at the 'tuning' of that bike. 🤪👍
Some newborn.... great video
The freehub is the best thing about this monstrosity of a bike. I can't imagine being such a weight weenie that I must own the highest possible everything; train harder and get fitter if you want your bike to feel lighter.
My bike weighs around 16.5 lbs with nothing on it and I don't even feel it because I weight train daily from November-April, ride the trainer from January-whenever the weather breaks (March/April), and by the time I'm back on the road I've gotten so much stronger that my bike feels like it weighs nothing even when it's loaded up
Loving the Withnail reference
Insane
Omg get feather on that beast!!!!
we'd love to make it happen!
Incredible :)
Let’s go Feather!!! 🚴💨💨💨