Drillium - Drilling bike frames and parts

Nope. But why do you want to drill? Why not just get lighter parts?

Because lighter parts cost more. And as a student I am poor.

And cos drilled shit is cool.

indeed.

[gif]scoblehumping[gif]

the English guide
the American guide

Ah, thanks big block. Is there a general opinion on how far to go with chain rings? And deraileurs don't have that much power going through them, right? So they could be significantly drilled?
Has anyone tried drilling modern brake levers?

And which materials can take more drilling than others? (I assume steel will stand up to more drilling than aluminium, right?)

[Also, my interest in drillium isn't actually because I think it looks cool, I'm trying to save weight.]

Have a shit before you go out.

If I wanted to lose weight I would've gone to weight watchers ;)

Ah, thanks big block. Is there a general opinion on how far to go with chain rings? And deraileurs don't have that much power going through them, right? So they could be significantly drilled?
Has anyone tried drilling modern brake levers?

And which materials can take more drilling than others? (I assume steel will stand up to more drilling than aluminium, right?)

[Also, my interest in drillium isn't actually because I think it looks cool, I'm trying to save weight.]

Try and save some money.

na, drill away, and show us your hospital pictures

na, drill away, and show us your hospital pictures

+1

Is there a general opinion on how far to go with chain rings?

all the way round

Also, make sure you save the drillings so you can weigh them to really see how futile the whole thing was.

Or... I could just weight the parts before and after...

I don't think it would be that futile, I mean a drilled chain ring you could probably reduce the weight by 25% maybe? And I expect as parts have to be built to withstand riders up to a certain weight, and I doubt I weigh anywhere near that much, even with a reduction in structural integrity, it would still be safe as I will be putting a lot less force into the bike (at ~62kg) compared with my heavier counterparts, maybe ~85kg. Surely then, I could reduce the mass by ~25% and still be safe as long as it is in the right places, no?

And thanks for merging this unknown moderator, it didn't seem to come up in the search, maybe I missed something.

As i said further up in this thread, most parts are built at a price point. It's simple economics .. the more you're willing to pay, the more the manufacturer will spend on production to give you less, this is why boutique weight weenie manufacturers exist! Want an example? TA chainring .. the Hegoa range offered by TA is an Alize with additional CNC work to make it lighter.

At the end of the day you can say "whats the point" about most things! It's probably appropriate now to point to the collective time spent reading my comment on this thread which could have been usefully harnessed for riding ..

It might have worked on drilling pig iron steel frames and cast parts which had huge tolerances built in but as mentioned upthread modern parts designed with FEA software are likely to be much closer to their limit of weight/strength for the structure they already have.

Introducing a bunch of random stress risers to modern parts which have probably been extensively worked and forged is a very bad idea.

Miso Soup is discussing modifying lower end parts unless I misunderstood?! to make them lighter.

For me as these parts are built to cost so there is room to alter them successfully. And i have done so myself with no issues. I will say I didn't randomly pepper the part with holes, I looked at what SRAM had done to the Red rear mech and applied the same additional material relief to a Rival mech.

I've also given an example where the manufacturer actually does just that and sells at a premium in TA further up the thread.

I agree you should consider the function of the part and the risk you are taking on longevity. There are also parts from a safety aspect i would not touch. But i believe even the top end FEA optimised parts are overbuilt.

An average pro can put out about 450w at threshold peaking at about 1400w in a sprint. The average 'joe' puts out about 220w at threshold eg the part the pro is riding maybe 2x stronger then needed by the average 'joe' before adding the design safety factor the manufacturer used for unusual loading which I'd guess is 1.4 x max load

Im too fat for that shit, so I use.......

http://rlv.zcache.com/img/imt-prd/pd-137299890145917137/isz-m/at-238560305421145726/realview.jpg?urbanimage_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.urbandictionary.com%2Fproducts.image.php%3Fdefid%3D6053726%26greeting_card_outside%3D1&urbaninside_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.urbandictionary.com%2Fproducts.image.php%3Fdefid%3D6053726%26greeting_card_inside%3D1&urbanword_txt=Trollium

I imagine that this work will take you at least a few hours(assuming you're going to do it in a workshop so you don't make a mess and ruin your parts), I don't know how much your time is worth but a few more hours spent at work = higher spec/lighter parts and a reduced chance of bone death.

The only time I've seen this done on modern bike parts is trials rims.

Some people suggest Merckx would've been faster without all the un-aero, stiffness reducing holes in his shizzle.

I don't think it would be that futile, I mean a drilled chain ring you could probably reduce the weight by 25% maybe?

Maybe. So that is 20g from a chainring. What other parts are safe to drill? (assuming a chainring is)
If you save 100g from drilling parts do you really think you would notice it?
I can safely say that when I have changed a part for a part that is 100g lighter there is no way I have noticed, hence futile.

I imagine that this work will take you at least a few hours(assuming you're going to do it in a workshop so you don't make a mess and ruin your parts), I don't know how much your time is worth but a few more hours spent at work = higher spec/lighter parts and a reduced chance of bone death.

Where's the fun in just buying lighter parts? Capitalist slave! ;P

Maybe. So that is 20g from a chainring. What other parts are safe to drill? (assuming a chainring is)
If you save 100g from drilling parts do you really think you would notice it?
I can safely say that when I have changed a part for a part that is 100g lighter there is no way I have noticed, hence futile.

Well, if you can reduce the weight of the majority of the parts by 10% give or take on a 9 kilo bike you reduced it by almost a kilo, seems pretty decent to me.

And the topic of reducing weight, here's another thought, what about a bit of drilling (not too much) and a bit of sanding. I think I remember a certain professional sanding down the majority of his parts to reduce the weight, but I can't remember who...

Surly reducing the width of a chainring will save quite some weight, while not doing too much structural damage, right?
And if you round off all the edges/corners, that would save a fair amount, I expect it is unlikely that the edges provide significant structural strength to the chainring. Also, I am using a chainring as an example, the techniques could i expect be used for the majority of parts.

^ Some modern drillium

Drilled cogs. I think On-One's cheapies come with holes in 'em anyway.