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jono84
The ultimate goal is a touring bike, loaded with comfy camping gear, which is as fun and responsive as an unladen race bike. It should also be comfortable, aero and light enough for climbing. This may be unattainable. I need to win the lottery. Compromises will have to be made. But I have to try because the best roads are the ones I go to when touring, and it's tragic to ride them on a 70 lb donkey. Very occasionally I have enjoyed such roads to the full by hiding my bags under a bush before going up and down a mountain. Or leaving the bags at a hostel and having a day ride. But it would be so much better to do a proper journey on a light bike, with the freedom to stop anywhere. And I want to be comfy - I won't do it like that madman who sleeps on a scrap of bubble wrap. http://ultralightcycling.blogspot.com/
The first compromise is that I have to take my cat, who weighs 5 kilos. She hasn't tried cycling yet, but I reckon she'll love it. Her bulk endangers the whole project, but I'll still have a go. My starting point was a used Parlee Zero I bought a few weeks ago. It weighed about 6.5kg, with Etap 11, Lightweight Meilensteins for tubs and Enve bars and stem.
The frame was custom made for somebody not that differently shaped to me, and it's a great fit and amazingly comfortable, even on gravel with 22mm tyres. I've changed the saddle to an Infinity one and I'm halfway through changing the brakes for some carbon Zero Gravity things, 138g per pair, which are being sold off cheap on Aliexpress by the Chinese manufacturer https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003081042664.html because Ted Ciamillo, the Zero Gravity proprietor, has run out of money and pissed off everyone in the industry. They seem to be an unreleased narrow rim version of the Lekki8 https://www.lekki8.com/product-page/copy-of-lekki8-black https://www.roadbikereview.com/threads/ciamillo-lekki-8-brakes-review.381565/
I've also swapped the bars for a pair of Haero H.380TR https://haero-carbon.com/shop/h-380-tr/ which I've flipped and chopped into bullhorns. I have to tour on TT extensions for comfort, and clip-on fittings usually add 250g or more, but the Haero ones just have sleeves to stick the extensions in. The extensions aren't adjustable and they're almost flat, so I'll probably chop them up and make some custom angled ones. The new riding position is bloody fantastic, much safer in town because I'm covering the brakes all the time. I wish I'd switched to bullhorns decades ago. Dropped bars are stupid unless you're in the pro peloton.