Ways to make the bike lighter...

[Cudzoziemiec]

So that's what Ham's doing!

[Torslanda]

Have we had 'only using one pad in the disc caliper'?

It didn't work . . .

[spesh]

Have we had 'only using one pad in the disc caliper'?

It didn't work . . .

A case of been there, done that, told the customer he was a stupid conehead - and BTW, they'll be needing a new caliper, pads and disc? 

[Karla]

Have we had 'only using one pad in the disc caliper'?

It didn't work . . .

There was a guy a few years ago who went the whole hog and removed his rear brake for the national hillclimb - on a geared bike.  He got DQ'd, from a top 10 placing, and his pleas of ignorance got about as much consideration as they deserved.

[Kim]

Have we had 'only using one pad in the disc caliper'?

The Brake-Shaped Object on the front of our former Tandem-Shaped Object appeared to be this way by design.  Instead of the usual stationary pad, it had a fixed piece of metal which stopped the rotor bending any further over.

It didn't work . . .

Neither did this.  Unless you count making scraping noises and technically counting as a braking system for legal purposes as working.  Much like a Fiat handbrake, in that respect.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Have we had 'only using one pad in the disc caliper'?

It didn't work . . .

There was a guy a few years ago who went the whole hog and removed his rear brake for the national hillclimb - on a geared bike.  He got DQ'd, from a top 10 placing, and his pleas of ignorance got about as much consideration as they deserved.

What if he'd been on a "Dutch" style bike with back pedal brake only, imported as a temporary visitor from a country where that's legal? My understanding is that it would be perfectly legal to ride it on the road here, but what do the hill climb regs say: do they specify a brake on each wheel or do they just say something like "compliant with road traffic regulations"?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Getting back to lightness: yesterday I must have ridden, ooh, at least a mile, up a little hill and back again just to check the gears. Unusually, I had an absolutely empty saddle bag, and it reminded me how different the bike feels when it's lighter: it's not so much that it's faster, but it's more responsive and seems to handle better, floating over the road. It's probably weight distribution as much as absolute mass, but I'd say it's definitely worth clearing out your saddle bag as much as you dare.

[Karla]

Have we had 'only using one pad in the disc caliper'?

It didn't work . . .

There was a guy a few years ago who went the whole hog and removed his rear brake for the national hillclimb - on a geared bike.  He got DQ'd, from a top 10 placing, and his pleas of ignorance got about as much consideration as they deserved.

What if he'd been on a "Dutch" style bike with back pedal brake only, imported as a temporary visitor from a country where that's legal? My understanding is that it would be perfectly legal to ride it on the road here, but what do the hill climb regs say: do they specify a brake on each wheel or do they just say something like "compliant with road traffic regulations"?

It says this:

On tricycles and tandem tricycles, two brakes may operate on the front wheel but otherwise the braking systems must operate independently on both front and rear wheels.

Linky

The thought of someone doing the national hillclimb on a Dutch bike with a coaster brake is somewhat comedic   Anyway, he wasn't on a Dutch bike: here he is.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's certainly comedic. I'll have to try it just for laughs, as I'll be slow anyway! You still get a time if you're pushing the bike, right? 

[ElyDave]

just for grins, I weighed my carbon fibre speed machine and the alu framed current-audax-machine today I was surprised to find only 1kg in it

[sam]

On my singlespeed, which has a natural advantage in this game anyway, I recently swapped a 48T chainring for 46T.

[hatler]

Another thing to do would be to remove alternate teeth on the chainring.

[sam]

That would play havoc with my gear inch calculator.

At any rate it was just a trial run; I went back to 48T. I cleaned some muck off in the process, so perhaps it evens out.