Cannondale Supersix 2008

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Thomson
Posts: 130
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:19 pm

by Thomson

No I havnt yet. It's on my list as a cheap weight hit. 👍

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themidge
Posts: 1528
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Location: underneath sweet Scottish rain

by themidge

Yeah there are still quite a few parts that are quite heavy. As you said the expander, the pedals are extremely heavy (326g! :shock: ), and the saddle and seatpost are starting to look a little lardy too at ~170g each. I'll get round to it eventually, as you can see in the thread title the goal is now to get under 6.5kg :D.

by Weenie


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Thomson
Posts: 130
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2019 7:19 pm

by Thomson

170g a little Lardy? Haha my standard cannondale synapse seatpost is 298.5g. Just starting out making it lighter. With both wheels off the standard frame is 6.6kg. Am sure you will do it in time. 👍

burglarboycie
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Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2015 6:58 pm
Location: Northamptonshire UK

by burglarboycie

Such a cool build dude, once you've ticked off the last few weenie upgrades it's going to be perfect :beerchug:

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themidge
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Location: underneath sweet Scottish rain

by themidge

Thanks!
Re: saving weight, it's all a matter of perspective, the first wall I'll run into will be lack of funds :D.
The real culprit on this build is the frame, which at over a kilo is very heavy by today's standards (and to be honest, it wasn't exactly super-light in 2008). However, I really like how it looks so there are only a few frames that I'd replace it with, namely the old Cervelo R3 from the team CSC days, or a Saeco Six-13/Caad 8 would be nice even if it wouldn't save any weight. An old WW classic like the Scott CR1 might be alright with a less ugly fork, and Parlee's look nice.. hmmmm :wink:
I'm dreaming really, the next upgrade will probably be a power meter which will add weight! Also might get some new rims because these Wolber Profils are extremely narrow (not very comfy) and quite flexy (rear wheel doesn't want to stay true, but that's probably my amateur wheel building skills more than anything), also the front rim has an annoying wide spot at the join which makes the braking a bit interesting. When they're working though, phew they feel good going up the hills! :P

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themidge
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by themidge

themidge wrote:
Tue Mar 31, 2020 11:09 pm
...might get some new rims because these Wolber Profils are extremely narrow (not very comfy) and quite flexy (rear wheel doesn't want to stay true...
Well I said it, didn't I :lol: .

I'd had enough of those Wolber Profils, they will now only be used for stretching tubulars. Got myself some lovely (and quite expensive, as these things go!) Ambrosio Crono F20's which are oodles better! They're 20mm wide which is better for the Ciamillo callipers, and the actual braking surface is the same that people rave about on the Nemesis rim, actually they might be made of a different alloy, in any case they're very good :thumbup:.
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Of course the main benefit is the stiffness. Well, being 28h F/R on Sapim Lasers they aren't exactly stiff wheels, but at least the rear one doesn't keep coming out of true every five minutes. I used brass nipples on the rear drive side which made building much easier.
The classic Ambrosio logos are nice to have too:
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Both rims are exactly the same weight, which is hopefully indicative of quality manufacturing. The Wolber's were 20g apart!
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Overall only 80g added, and it's definitely worth it.
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^ furthest right column is actual weights

The bike is otherwise exactly the same. Still got these awful blue Michelin's on - they ride nicely, but the look is a bit weird!
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themidge
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by themidge

Since I've been doing a lot of miles recently (well, more that usual anyway!), sometimes in the rain so I decided I needed some training/backup wheels.
Unfortunately my good old Mavic Aksium rear died a sad death due to corroded alloy nipples, so I looked for a suitable replacement and found a 32h Mavic Open Pro on Shimano 105 5700 with Sapim Race for the princely sum of £25.
Nice and strong, nice and heavy :thumbup:
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Paired with my in-tact Shimano DA c24 front, which keeps the total wheelset weight at a somewhat reasonable 1634g
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The usual parts knocking around in the parts bin again have gone one, all of them boat anchors:
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I really love and would recommend the Michelin Pro4 Endurance as a training/winter/wet riding tyre, they feel really fast at 70-80psi, don't puncture all the often, and don't weigh too much.
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boring heavy inner tubes
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easyv
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Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:11 pm
Location: USA, Bay Area, CA

by easyv

themidge wrote:
Sat Feb 15, 2020 3:06 pm
The mid-2000s WW vibe keeps developing :D. It took like 15 months but I finally got a 26mm stem to go with those 3T Prima 199 bars.
Deda Newton 120mm - pretty heavy to be honest, but I wasn't going to lighten my wallet too much for an 85g extralite and I couldn't be bothered waiting any longer for a Syntace f99 (~105g) to come up.
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Still really pleased with the bar weight though:
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Which brings the total weight to 350g,
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Because the stem is so heavy, that's only a saving of 24g from the current combo, which is a Kalloy Uno (106g) and Ritchey WCS neo-classic (268g), but I reckon it's worth the like £30 total it cost :thumbup:.

I haven't made any lighter hoods for the Sram levers yet, and I put them on the winter bike so I'll get round to it in the spring, maybe heat-shrink rather than felt :noidea:.
If you're interested in the Extralite but consider it too expensive, have you considered a Wren stem? Nearly as light and seems to function just as well from anecdotal experience...

https://wrensports.com/product/crazy-li ... inum-stem/

$80 USD but available for less on the open market:

https://www.nashbar.com/wren-super-ligh ... oAQAvD_BwE

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themidge
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by themidge

^ The Wren stem saves weight, but only if one has normal 31.6mm bars, mine are 26mm. In any case, the Kalloy Uno is only 100g with Ti bolts and much cheaper. That's enough to keep anyone happy until they save enough pennies for an Extralite, Darimo, or McfK stem. It's my opinion that, on the whole*, upgrades should be made once and for the best, especially when we're talking expensive parts. That's why I rolled around on 105 and then jumped straight to Sram Red/Force (red is often prohibitively expensive used), similarly I still have my basic pedals.

*obviously if you can save a bit of weight for very little money, like I did with the handlebars and stem, then it's fine even though I hope to get something really nice and light one day. Mmmm I'm dreaming of Schmolke and Darimo now :P.

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themidge
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by themidge

In related new, it's upgrade time again!
I've wanted these chainrings for ages mostly for the looks and the small weight savings, so since I needed a set in order to keep the winter bike running at the same time as this one, I finally got some.
Stronglight CT2, 50/35t, 96g + 37g.
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yes it really is a 35t little ring, just for fun :D
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I also got a new chain, PYC SP1001, weight for 104 or 105 links, I can't remember.
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If I remember my WW studies correctly, this is down near YBN Titanium weight. Add two grams for the quick link that I forgot to weigh, but still :thumbup:.

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themidge
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Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2017 4:19 pm
Location: underneath sweet Scottish rain

by themidge

Another wee bit of weight saving :D. Picked up an old Selle Italia SLR "135g" for quite cheap, with a mind to save some weight and free up the current saddle for the winter bike (nothing more annoying than constantly swapping parts).
Two notable things, 1. it's blue! :scared: 2. it actually weighs 135g, which is more than can be said for most Italian manufacturers.
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Not for long though, it wasn't too much effort to get rid of the leather and padding. Already 18g saved, and the saddle actually got more comfortable! I'm used to the 'flow' version of the SLR and I guess the padding was just a bit thicker in the centre of the saddle compared to the actual shape of the shell.
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Bit sad about the giant scratch across the top, not sure whether that comes from the manufacturing process or I did it when taking off the padding :( . I may yet cut a channel to make it into the 'flow' version, which would save some more weight and get rid of the scratch, but I'll see how I like it for the moment.
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Total weight saving from the old saddle is 58g, which brings the total bike weight down to 6549g and 7142g depending on the wheels.

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DOUG
Posts: 382
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2016 9:54 pm

by DOUG

Great build @themidge. Nice to see one of the older Supersix frames getting some love and Ive enjoyed watching this one evolve as new parts come to hand. How are the wheels holding up? Ive thought about trying my hand at wheel building but have yet to commit.

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themidge
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by themidge

Thanks :) It's funny you should ask about the wheels, I'm typing this as I walk to the bike shop with the rear wheel to get someone who knows what they're doing to tension and true it. The wheels were absolutely fine until I broke a spoke (while just riding along, as the cliché goes) so I thought I ought to let an expert fix it.

As far as building your own wheels go, I'd still say go for it, you won't die :D. Definitely at least lace them up yourself, it's very easy and gives you a bit of appreciation for how wheels work.

Edit: wow all these new lockdown cyclists must be destroying their bikes left right and centre! The bike shop couldn't fit me in until July, just as well I'm not in a hurry :D

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DOUG
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Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2016 9:54 pm

by DOUG

Haha yeah bike shops everywhere are getting hammered, its the same here in Australia. Good to see and hopefully will broaden their customer base a little in the long term to make up for the loss of trade to online stores.

Ive sort of been procrastinating on the wheelbuilding front but I should at least get some basic tools for keeping the wheels i do have well tensioned and running nice and true. From there I could try my hand I guess and see how it goes. Would be nice to be able to to pick and choose components and build something up myself, Im an engineer by trade and wheelbuilding has always interested me from that perspective.

by Weenie


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themidge
Posts: 1528
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2017 4:19 pm
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by themidge

It's definitely a good idea to have a spoke key for those occasional adjustments, even if they are quite rare. Worth noting though that quite a few factory wheels have proprietary nipples (shimano and mavic come to mind), so you might need a special tool depending on what wheels you have.

That's another great thing you pointed out about handbuilt wheels, getting to choose all your own parts. Factory builds are often needlessly heavy, especially in the hubs, and you can tailor a custom build to your weight and what roads you ride on.

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