Yes, chipping away at many of the smaller and seemingly insignificant parts is a big help in reducing weight as each part contributes to the end goal. While the big ticket items like pipes, wheels, battery, seat, clip-on bars and weights, brake rotors, sprockets, chain, chain guard, center-stand and side-stand are the go-to parts of the reduction plan, there is a lot of weight savings to be had by including as many of those smaller parts as possible even down to bolts and washers.
When these bikes were designed and built weight was not at the top of the check list so parts like pivot bolts and bearing spacers were made the way they had always been made - with solid steel, tough, reliable and heavy! Thankfully a hollow pivot bolt and an aluminium bearing spacer will do the same job at less than half the weight.
Yeah, the OEM bearing spacer is pretty sad. It came with the donor swing arm and thankfully all I needed was the swing arm.
OEM steel pivot and bearing spacer by
Max Mutarn, on Flickr
Hollow pivot and ally spacer by
Max Mutarn, on Flickr
The best weight saving is when parts can be deleted completely rather than modified or swapped. A couple of kg have been saved by deleting parts completely:
Anti-dive unit top section, hoses and brackets
Front brake hose manifold
Front wheel speedo dust cover
Front guard speedo cable rubber guide
Wire speedo cable guide on fork lower
Fork OEM steel brace
Centre-stand
Tool roll bracket
Number plate bracket
Rear guard sub-frame
Rear foot pegs
Air box and filter
AUX 12 volt switches
Helmet lock and bolts
Lift handle and bolts
Seat strap
The goal is 180 kg from a starting point of 232 kg and at this stage it is in the low 180's however, I don't think those last few kg are going to be easy to find. I like your confidence and I hope you are right.
OEM antidive by Max Mutarn, on Flickr
OEM anti hose bracket by Max Mutarn, on Flickr
nthego:
