The world's cheapest weight-weenie bike

In October I promised myself I could put my Caad away and build another bike out of all the frames and parts I have, October came and went, so did November.. still no winter bike.

I purchased a Muddy Fox bike as something to thrash around to the gym, local climbing centre and general training. I associate 'Muddy Fox' with crap early 2000s full suspension bikes from Asda but I just needed something that required very little work to get going, this was perfect. I have to admit this bike actually rides really nice, the frame weights a ton but it's pretty rigid.

Me being me I couldn't keep it stock or simple. I wanted to upgrade the bike as much as possible with 3 things in mind:

. weight reduction
. strength/ride quality
. parts I already have

...I stupidly didn't weight the whole bike before doing anything to it but I can work backwards when I'm finished with it.

Here it is in current state, I actually think it looks quite cool!

My photo-bucket isn't playing ball but here's the weight reduction:

Bar + Stem
Was: 531g
Now: 518g

Spacers + top cap
Was: 29g
Now: 22g

Saddle + post
Was: 725g
Now: 529g - 80g post cut down. Total 449g

Rear skewer
Was: 69g
Now: 59g

Front skewer
Was: 70g
Now: 50g

I've got plans to replace the current ones with carbon (current ones weight roughly 2.5kg, carbon ones I've got weight roughly 1kg with a super long steerer). I'd also like to switch the chain-set out to something a little better, I'll have a rummage around what I've got..

I'm going to go old-school drillium, stripping paint and doing just about anything to get the weight of this bike down. I know once I'm finished it will still be a tank and will probably be a very ugly bike but I enjoy these projects just as much as the expensive super light stuff and it keeps me occupied and doesn't drain my bank like car projects do!

Watch this space!