A New Bike?

I've recently been on a quest to lighten the Gunnar, my trusty, always ready to ride singlespeed, after I weighed it as 27 Lbs. Much heavier than a singlespeed should be for me, when I only come in at 136 or so myself. So now making it lighter has become my obsession, something to keep me up late at night combing through forums, comparing the weights of different components, and making notes of weights -- and prices of course. An expensive obsession to be sure.

The first thing I did was ditch the Nevegal on the front, which never had as much grip as I thought it should anyway, and replace it with the Ignitor I originally had on it. I also replaced the WTB tube with a Salsa (Kenda), and tossed the extremely heavy Continental tube that was on the rear wheel in the trash, replaced by the WTB one. That and removing the rock ring, which I've only really needed at Michaux, got me down to ~25.6 Lbs. Better.

Early last week I ordered a new WTB Shadow V SLT saddle to replace the heavier Speed V I'd been using, a Chris King stainless steel cog to replace the heavier Surly, and a WTB Nano Raptor 29er racing tire to try out. I put those on during the week, and Thursday after work I went to Gambrill, anxious to see what the recent changes would do to my ride. Brrr! The (hopefully last) big cold front had blown through and it was down to 40 degrees by the time I got on the trail at 6:29 PM; it would be 35 by the time I finished. My fingers were numb after the first 15 minutes (isn't this April?), but it didn't take me that long to figure out the Gunnar was feeling exceptionally fast. I'm sure some of that was the decreased weight, but the Nano Raptor with it's lower weight and very low rolling friction probably accounted for most of it. The bike accelerated much more quickly too, which surprised and delighted me. I was having a whole lot of fun! I had been concerned the Nano wouldn't have enough grip to satisfy me, but I didn't have any problems with it at Gambrill, though conditions were admittedly ideal -- dry and with most of fall's leaves swept away.

I finished the ride with the tough climb back up the blue trail to the lower parking lot. The time was 7:29 PM. One hour! I was frankly surprised. That was certainly the shortest time I'd ever finished a long yellow loop (previous best an hour ten?) and I'm not in nearly the shape I should be in at this point in the year. This weight obsession could turn out to be a very good thing. What to replace next, and do I have the money for it?