What are some of the lightest bike frame materials?

Question

I purchased a bike but it turned out to be far too heavy and is hard to ride on hilly roads. I need something lighter for regular use. What are the top few types of materials used to make the lighter bike frames?

I ride on city streets!

Thanks.

Answer 1

Carbon fibre, ALUXX aluminium, Giant FCR or SCR good bikes to look at. Get correct size.

Answer 2

really expensive carbon fiber bikes might weigh 17 pounds and cost $3000 and up.  reasonably priced aluminum might weigh 20 lbs and cost $1000.  that's 3 pounds.  are you carrying a few extra pounds around the middle?  a pound is a pound.  the best weight reduction and maybe cheapest for a bike is getting lighter tires and tubes.  some would suggest lighter wheels too, but that starts to cost a lot of money.  btw, i heard about a guy that trains by ADDING weight to his bike.  that makes us think, huh?

Answer 3

The lightest road bikes these days weigh as little as 16 pounds.  First, it may be that you are not properly using your low gears on the uphills.  Also the cheapest upgrade to help you is to buy the lightest tires and wheels you can and keep the air pressure in the tubes very high.  Also the sronger you get the easier the uphills become.  ---  The lightest current bikes have a lot of carbon fiber and titanium, expect to pay around $1000 to? $5,000.  Suggest you first get stronger, use your low gears (if you don't already), use a high pedal rpm, like 70-100, air pressure check, and the lightest tires you can get.  Then... later if you still want to, get a decent Road bike.  Oh, see if you can find some experienced people to ride with, that's the best thing you can do to speed up your learning curve.

Answer 4

I won't worry about frame material too much, unless your willing to lay out some serious $$$ for a bike. The frame on a bike, in general weighs about 20% of the total bike. So you see, you're looking at only a small fraction of what the weight of the bike is comprised of.

Furthermore, all standard frame materials can be quite light, it depends on the design. An alum. framed bike a Wal Mart will weight ton. My Cannondale Alum. framed bike weighs <16lbs.

Answer 5

maybe  change your seatposts/handlebars/etc to Carbon, its quite light.  It could get expensive to convert your bike...perhaps go to a bike store and trade in and upgrade.  Commuter bikes are getting better now, but I prefer road bikes or hybrids.  The lighter the bike the more expensive it gets.

Answer 6

Saving one OUNCE off each wheel is like saving one POUND off the frame as far as performance.

Unless your bike frame is really bad (in which case your wheels and other parts probably are as well), forget the frame thing and concentrate on your wheels.

AS MR implied, any material can be made into a light frame but an aluminum frame on a discount store bike will be far heavier than an aluminum frame on better quality bikes.