Merida Scultura 5000: Frameset Weight

After completing the latest upgrade on the Merida Scultura 5000 road bike, I have changed almost all the components on the bike. Only a few components have not been changed, such as the Ultegra 6800 road shifters, the stock Merida stem and seatpost and also the bar tape. Even so, I have also weighed those parts, and now I have a complete list of the components with their individual weights.

With that info in hand, I can then calculate the weight of the Merida Scultura frameset, by deducting the total component weight from the full bike weight.

View of the upgraded Merida Scultura 5000!

Mostly Dura-Ace 9000 components on the bike

As shown below, the weight of each of the components have been listed down.

Full component list and the weight of each of them

The full bike weighs 7.6 kg (7.2 kg without the pedals), which is a really nice weight for a road bike. It is not a super light bike that is less than the UCI standard 6.8 kg, but is definitely not a heavy road bike that is more than 9 kg.

After deducting the weight of all the components from the full bike weight, the remaining weight is around 1635 grams. This weight is inclusive of the frame, front fork, seatpost clamp, RD hanger, headset cups and bearings, stem spacers and lastly the stem top cap. To get the pure weight of the frameset alone, some estimation is required here. This amount will be deducted from the calculated value above to get the pure frameset weight.

Seatpost Clamp + RD Hanger: Around 50 grams
Headset Cups + Bearings: Around 70 grams
Stem Spacers + Stem Top Cap: Around 50 grams

This gives a frameset weight (frame + fork) of around 1465 grams, which is a decent weight for a mid range carbon frame. High end super lightweight carbon framesets can weigh less than 1000 grams, but they cost a lot more than this. If I estimate the front fork weight to be around 450 grams, this gives a frame-only weight of about 1000 grams.

All these are estimations, with some assumptions made along the way. They may not be very accurate, but it gives a rough estimate of the frameset weight and how it compares with other road frames.

From what I see, the only areas where there can be further significant weight reductions (>50 grams) would be the shifters, wheelset, QR axles, tires & tubes, cassette and pedals. The other components are pretty much as lightweight as possible, without sacrificing function.

Change to Dura-Ace ST-9001 Road Shifters: Save 60 grams
Change to lightweight tubular wheelset with titanium QR Axles: Save 500 grams
Change to tubular tires (no inner tubes): Save 200 grams
Change to Dura-Ace 9000 cassette: Save 50 grams
Change to lightweight pedals: Save 140 grams

If all these changes are implemented, there is further potential for weight savings, reducing another 950 grams, and cutting the full bike weight down to around 6.7 kg with pedals, or 6.5 kg without pedals. This would make it a really lightweight bike, but also very expensive.