How to make BMX Bike Lighter

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If you are reading this article that means you are riding a BMX bike for a while. You know some tricks and stunts or learning these. But you suddenly felt that your BMX is weight more than others. Maybe your BMX’s weight is making things difficult for you to learn certain stunts. Otherwise while checking your friend’s bike you found out that your BMX weight is more than his. You can make it lighter. A lighter BMX could help you to gain more control over it that eventually helps you to achieve some incredible tricks and stunts.

Making a BMX lighter depends mainly on its parts that you can be replaced by the available lighter versions. But you need to analyze it first. After all, you have to spend your tight budget on BMX to make it lightweight. So spend accordingly.

If you happen to have a cheap bike and thinking about spending money on it to make it lighter then analyze and predict the final result first. Think about if it is even worth spending money on or you should get e new lightweight BMX bike.

On the other hand, if you have money, you can easily get an expensive Titanium or Carbon Fiber BMX which is the easiest and most expensive solution instead of making your BMX lighter. But if you happen to have a tight budget then making your BMX lighter is the only option for you.

There is plenty of reason for your BMX to weigh more than it usually is. But don’t worry. You could decrease your bike’s weight in much amount. Just keep going through this article. All the tips will be presented to you simultaneously.

What increases your bike’s weight?

There are plenty of things that could add weights to your bike. Almost all the parts of your bike have their individual weight which is added to your bike’s weight in total.

But all of the parts come in alternative with a less weight version which might cost you more. You probably thinking that spending more money on your bike and bike parts could help to decrease your bike’s weight. Right? Well, you are a bit right. But spending money blindly on the parts with less weight is foolishness. However, not all lightweight parts are worth changing and spending money on due to its usefulness in your fat bike and durability.

So the first thing you need to know is the parts of your bikes. Later think about changing these parts depending on your needs is a clever trick.

A BMX is consisting of many parts.

  1. BMX Frame
  2. Pegs
  3. Pedals
  4. Brakes
  5. Sprocket
  6. Handlebar
  7. Rims
  8. Tires and Tubes
  9. Sit post etc.

All these parts add weight individually to your bike and increase your bike weight in total. All of these parts come with expensive lightweight versions. But you should think and analyze first if it is worth changing or not.

You should also know that you can decrease your bike’s weight in many ways without spending any money.

The Ways of making a BMX bike lighter

There are many various ways to make your BMX lighter. The first thing you need to do is removing unnecessary parts.

Removing Unnecessary parts

There are plenty of parts on your bike that are unnecessary. Those parts have been used but the usefulness is very little.

These parts are not being that useful in your daily ride and you can manage without these parts well. Thus you can take off this part from your bikes and not dragging with your bike anymore. These parts are

  • Kickstand

Every bike usually comes with a kickstand. For BMX this kickstand is extra and tiresome. It could sometimes be the reason for disturbance to you while riding. Thus you could get kickstand off your bike and can manage well without it. It will remove some weight and harassment from your bike.

  • Chainguard

If you remove the chain guard you might need to be more careful while riding but it will save you a lot of extra weight.

  • Pegs

Pegs are very important parts of your bike. But four pegs will add a lot of weight to your bike. So you could remove two and keep them on the sides where you mostly need those two. You can store detached two pegs and can attach them later when you need those before doing specific stunts.

  • Reflectors

A complete bike comes with some nice-looking eye-catchy reflectors. If you don’t usually ride your BMX at night then you could get these off. By doing this you could save some unnecessary weight.

  • Seat Post

A lot of professional riders don’t use sit post. It’s because to lose some weight. If you are a pro in riding a BMX, you could leave your seat post home. It’s will save you a couple of weight there.

  • Brakes

Various BMX riders variously use brakes. Some only use the front brake, Some only uses the rear one. Some pro BMX riders don’t use brakes at all. You can just lose some weight but removing a brake according to your riding style.

  • Gyro

If you don’t have any use for it then you can remove it to lose some weight.

  1. Cutting off some extra part of your bike parts

It might sound extreme if you are not an experienced advance rider. It’s is pretty common among professional advance riders. In this way, they can get rid of a lot of extra parts that help to loosen much weight from your bike. Using a normal metal saw, you can cut off these extra parts from your bike.

  • Seat Post

Most of the riders use the seat post at a very low position. A lot of weight can be saved just by cutting down the extra lengthy tube from the downward. But check the “minimum” or “min” mark before cutting. If you miss it then just cut it by keeping 3 or 4 inches inside the frame from the clamp. This

  • Handlebar

The handlebar is the longest part of your BMX. If you feel that the handlebar is too wide then you can cut a bit from them. In a shorter handlebar, you could feel them better. Make sure to take perfect measurements from each side before cutting. If you feel unsure then cut little by little. After cutting use sandpapers on the edges to increase its grip.

You can also cut the crossbar in addition to losing some weight.

  • Hub axles

Hub axles depend on whether you use pegs or not. You feel like your axles are sticking out more than you need then you can cut a big portion of it.

Buying lightweight Parts

Check your wallet then check again before you are ready to buy a couple of brand-new lightweight parts.

You first need to take a look at inexpensive parts like pedals, seat posts and pegs etc. However, keep in mind that for all parts of your bike there is a “lighter” version. Just start by changing the parts from where you can lose the most weight in the least amount of money.

But never go and get the most lightweight plastic parts for your bike

  • Avoid Chromoly or Steel Parts

Most of the cheap parts come in Chromoly or steel. These Chromoly steel parts are durable but very heavy and add a tremendous amount of weight to your bike. So whenever buying bike parts just avoid Chromoly or steel made parts. If you have a tight budget then try to get aluminum parts.

  • Getting Titanium Parts

Titanium parts are very lightweight and durable. Spindles, bolts, and spokes made from Titanium are lighter substitutes of heavy Chromoly and steel parts. Some companies even made titanium bars and cranks. But these are highly costly though worth it. If your budget is high then you can get these titanium parts.

  • 36 Holes Hub

In past there were wheels of 48 holes. Nowadays we have 36 holes hub for BMX which has 12 fewer spokes than the previous wheel. This saves a lot of weight from your wheel. This makes bikes feel much lighter and helps you to ride smoothly.

  • Kevlar Bead Tires

Many companies call these tires “Foldable” tires, are very much lighter than the steel bead tires. The lightweight tire can make a very lightweight impact on your bike while riding.

  • Thinner or Smaller Tubes

We all used heavy-duty, thorn resistant tube with another skin tube over it. But these used to add lots of weight to the bike. Though thinner tubes may not last long. But it will provide less weight which makes your riding more comfortable. You can get an 18” lightweight tube instead of a 20” heavy-duty tube to lose some weight from your bike.

  • Lightweight Sprocket

If you don’t usually race then you can downsize your sprocket. Having a freewheel hub can help you get 36-13 gearings. However, a cassette hub, a 25-9, 28-10, 30-11 gear, these hubs will help you to get a shorter chain and save some weight.

  • Short Stem

This small piece of part seems lightweight but it’s heavy if not hollow inside. So replacing the stem with the hollow inside ones will help you to lose a lot of weight.

  • 2 pc Bars

BMX usually has 4 pc bars that have more weight. Changing it to 2 pc bar could help you to decrease some weight.

  • Lightweight Fork

The material of the forks counts. Expensive forks are made of Carbon Fibers or Titanium. But if your budget is very low then you should get an aluminum fork. If you could increase your budget, Magnesium forks are worth looking into. It could decrease a lot of weight from your bike in total.

  • Aluminum Handlebar

Though getting a Titanium or Carbon Handlebar is very expensive but you could afford a heavy aluminum handlebar which is pretty strong and lightweight.

  • Lightweight Pegs

Pegs are made from various materials such as plastic, titanium, aluminum and Chromoly. The plastic one is the lightest weight but deteriorates from each landing. Thus getting lightweight aluminum is a good idea.

  • Seat Post

Changing your seat post to a one-piece pivotal seat post combo is a good idea. It will help you to feel lighter and to adjust the angles of your seat.

  • Get Lighter Little Things

All these small pieces of metal such as bolts, spacers, washers, nuts are things that can be replaced with titanium, carbon fiber, aluminum versions.

Drilling Holes on your Bike

This is the same as cutting off extra lengthy things from your bike. Though only advanced riders do it to their bike to lose some weight. So I would recommend you take consultation or help from a BMX expert before drilling anywhere on your bike. Though your bike could look like a bit strainer but you can do some cool artistic design on your bikes in this way.

Keep in mind that more holes in a part will make it weak and more likely to get it broken.

You can drill these parts below.

  • Frame
  • Handlebar
  • Forks
  • Rims
  • Hub Shell
  • Cranks

Final Suggestion

Before doing anything to your bike just measure the weight of your bike first and try to predict what you can do to your bike and what could the results be, how much weight you can decrease.

It’s a very good idea to get support from experts, from your friends who have done sawing or drilling on their bikes before.

Moreover, take extra precaution while sawing and drilling. Work on Flat, steady and resistant surfaces. Always wear gloves to protect your hand.