How much does your mountain bike weigh? We’re pretty confident it’ll be more than this one. Fair Wheel Bikes of Tucson, Arizona is better known for its high-zoot roadie builds, but it does fat tyres too.
Based on Open’s One+ frame, which weighs in at 923g in a size large, this no-expense-spared build features all manner of weight weenie exotica and comes in at 7.2kg including pedals.
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The One+ sports a hyper-niche German:A Xcite Zero 29er fork with 100mm of travel, which weighs just 1,102g despite its 36mm stanchions.
The wheelset is from Alchemist and it uses the company’s own hubs and carbon rims, laced up with Sapim CX-Ray spokes for a total weight of 1,248g.
Gearing and braking comes courtesy of Shimano M9000 XTR components, matched to SRAM’s 10-42 XX1 cassette and THM’s insane Clavicula M3 cranks.
Keeping with the boutique German theme, the full-carbon cockpit is a Schmolke bar held in the delicate embrace of an Mcfk stem, for a total weight of 176g. Anyone can build a lightweight bike, but it’s the obsessive attention to detail that makes this machine a little more extreme than most.
Fair Wheel saved 28g by swapping out the frame’s stock headset and seat clamp, and shaved a whole 5g off the shifter with an aftermarket barrel adjuster and replacement bolts.
The gear cable is a standard Shimano item, but it’s housed in Alligator Mini I-link outer for a total weight of 21g.
With a steep head angle, longish stem and fixed post, the Open has quite an old-school Euro flavour.
Nevertheless, the build aimed to achieve minimum weight without compromising on “functionality and race-worthiness”, so that meant usable tyres (Schwalbe Rocket Rons) and a normal cassette rather than an aluminium weight weenie special.
For a full breakdown of this build including the weights of literally every component, head over to the Fair Wheel Bikes blog.
