if you want to keep the bike looking mostly stock, or not like a street fighter, you could always have an aluminum rear sub frame made to replace the steel one. Also the steel gauge holder could be replaced with aluminum as well, that would probably shave 2-5 pounds. Does anyone still make a carbon fiber tank?

 

Bet it does great wheelies

 

How much does the PAIR crap weight?

After market wind screen.


If all else fails and ya need to drop more weight......ride nekid! That's a few pounds.

 

I'm all for weight reduction too, but I believe it is best to buy a bike that is light to begin with, yet still suits your needs, rather than buying one and trying to cut every little bit off it to get the weight down a relatively small amount. It's difficult to reduce weight significantly on a lot of today's bikes.

I had an 88 1000cc hurricane that I put the bigger wheels and Ohlins shock and it was great except for being too heavy for the country twisty roads I ride, so when I had a chance to buy a superhawk, I took it. From this point for me, it's difficult to reduce weight without spending a lot of greenbacks that are in short supply on this end. If I had the $$$$$$$, I would first reduce unsprung weight and buy light wheels, calipers, sprockets/chain, and tires. Unsprung weight provides the best bang for the buck in my estimation, then suspension upgrades front and rear, then lighter exhaust pipes and carb work to match.

The thing to remember is that the main ingredient is the rider. Indeed there are people riding much heavier, less capable bikes who can leave you scratching your head in wonderment when you think you are doing a respectable job on your favorite curvy road and you get your doors blown off. Don't ask me how I know.

 

You can get titanium axles and swingarm pivot for about $2500.

That's probably about $100/ounce. Must be some good S#%$.

 

lol! I bought titanium brake disc screws...

 

the most effective way to drop weight is to swap out the pipes with titanium, or aluminium, or carbon. the stock cans weigh about 10lbs each. I don't have them anymore, but my hindle ti-highmounts weighed 3lbs each. you can feel it in every tip-in.

 

lets start bicycling to loose wt soon... my VTR will not be ready for another 3 wks or so.

 

These are all of the things we could think of before the beer did us in....

Tires & wheels
Removing 4 lbs of wheel and or tire is equivalent to removing 100 lbs of chassis weight in a racecar. We would intentionally pit 6 laps from the finish to swap in tires that were almost worn out because they were 6 lbs lighter than the ones on the car. You never noticed 24 lbs so much! Also, use a tire that is easy to balance "Avon’s & Michelins" to avoid excessive wheel weights.

Hybrid sprockets "aluminum / steel"
Replace front sprocket cover with vacuum formed replacement "not as hard to find as one might think"
Cheap flush mounts
CBR mirrors
Remove one seat safety hook
Use cheap oil filter
Remove passenger foot pegs + mounts & replace with a chunk of 3/16 AL plate shaped like a T
Use tiny battery
Remove fuel level senders guts and pack tank with fuel cell foam "cuts capacity by maybe .5 gallon"
Aftermarket aluminum pipes with coarse stainless steel packing. If they are slip on's, ditch the springs that hold the pipes to the cans and rivet them into place "2 rivets per side"
Replace faring bolts with nylon Allen cap bolts "McMaster Carr"
Cut off all metal wire retainers and replace with zip ties.
Replace all hose clamps with heat shrink hose bands "EXPENSIVE!"
Trim off unused cast mounting points "reflector mounting ears on front forks"
Remove starter & relay and install blanking plate over hole "push start it"

Or..... buy a faster bike... like an RC51...

 

520 chain vs stock.....a pound or 2?

 

 

its funny you should suggest that because that's exactly what I'm doing. I tried to drag the wife into it with me but she was never much of a cyclist. but I need to lose the gut.