Yo, dude, how much does your BMX bike weigh?
I still remember being asked that question a lot back in the days.
When I started riding BMX (20+ years ago), we didn’t care about the weight. We didn’t even know that much about BMX itself.
It was just very surprising to all of us that a BMX bike can be THAT heavy.
Luckily, the days of heavyweight bikes are gone, except for some really cheap ones – but those I don’t even recommend to anyone.
This post covers:
- How Much Does Average BMX Bike Weigh?
- How Much Does Custom Built BMX Bike Weigh?
- How To Make Your BMX Bike Lighter
- Conclusion: Don’t Care So Much About Your BMX’s Weight!
These days, almost all BMX bikes are pretty light.
However, a street bike is usually much heavier than a park or a trail bike.
I went through a phase: “I want to have the lightest BMX bike!”
Honestly, I don’t recommend it – it’s TOO stressful.
In fact, I don’t even care about the weight anymore.
I even came to the point that I would rather buy straight gauge bars than the butted ones (the weight difference can be pretty significant).
How Much Does Average BMX Bike Weigh?
An average complete BMX can weigh around 26lbs, which is 11.8kg.
As a reference, my first bike was around 33lbs (15kg). Yes, really!
Do you see how lighter BMX bikes became?
Here are a few example weights of complete BMX bikes:
- Kink Whip bike weight: 27.6lbs (12.5kg)
- Cult Devotion bike weight: 25lbs (11.3kg)
- Mongoose Legion bike weight: 21.6lbs (9.8kg)
- Stolen Casino XL bike weight: 25.7lbs (11.5kg)
- Kink Curb bike weight: 27.3lbs (12.4kg)
- Sunday Darkwave (Broc Raiford‘s) bike weight: 24.9lbs (11.3kg)
- WeThePeople Nova bike weight: 26.2lbs (11.9kg)
- Colony Prody Pro bike weight: 24.7lbs (11.2kg)
- Fit STR Freecoaster bike weight: 28.3lbs (12.8kg)
- Sunday Forecaster bike weight: 26.8lbs (12.1kg)
When it comes to completes, I would not necessarily go with the lightest and not with the heaviest one, unless it’s a pro model complete with super high-quality parts.
But what about the weight of a custom built bike? Is it heavier or lighter than a complete?
Let’s find out by building one!
How Much Does Custom Built BMX Bike Weigh?
Let’s see how much a BMX bike weighs if you build it yourself from scratch:
- Frame: Subrosa OM frame – 5.1 lbs (for 20.5″ top tube)
- Bar: Shadow Vultus Featherweight bars – 31.6 oz. (for 8.7″ rise)
- Fork: Shadow 13 fork – 31.5 oz.
- Grips: ODI Longneck ST grips – 2.7 oz.
- Headset: Shadow Stacked headset – 5.8 oz.
- Stem: Shadow Treymone stem – 11.5 oz.
- Seat: Shadow Crow’d pivotal seat – 13 oz. (mid)
- Seat post: Shadow pivotal seat post – 3.5 oz.
- Cranks: Shadow Finest cranks – 32 oz.
- Bottom bracket: Shadow Stacked BB – 5.9 oz. (for 19mm)
- Sprocket: Shadow Sabotage sprocket – 5.3 oz.
- Chain: Shadow Interlock chain – 11.3 oz. (for 72 links)
- Pedals: Shadow Ravager plastic pedals – 13.6 oz per pair
- Complete rear wheel: Shadow Symbol rear wheel – 50.65 oz.
- Complete front wheel: Shadow Symbol front wheel – 35.9 oz.
- Tires: Subrosa Designer tires – 2 x 27.1 oz.
- Pegs: Rant LL Cool plastic pegs – 4 x 7.6 oz.
Total: 26.3 lbs (or 11.9 kg / 420.45 oz.)
And if you want to add a rear brake on your bike, that means adding approximately 11.5 oz more to the total bike weight.
How To Make Your BMX Bike Lighter
If you want a lightweight BMX bike, here are some of the modifications you can do:
- Cut your bar to the right width. (Don’t cut it too much right away because you might end up needing getting a new one.)
- Cut your steerer tube. (But don’t cut it too much – your stem still needs to hold onto something.)
- Get lighter tires (for example, foldable, but I don’t recommend these if you’re riding mainly street – at least for me, they didn’t work).
- Get slimmer tires. (I feel you, street dudes! This mainly relates to park and trail riders.)
- If you’re running plastic pegs, get such with an aluminum core.
- Get a butted instead of a straight gauge handlebar.
- Replace your inner tubes with Tubolito Tubo tubes.
- Remove brakes.
- Pick up shorter cranks. (See the six main benefits of short BMX cranks.)
- Switch to a slimmer seat (if you currently ride a fat one).
- Get Titanium parts. (A very pricey upgrade.)
You can also get a smaller sprocket and shorten your chainstay length, which means shortening your chain by a few links.
What About Titanium Parts?
A few expensive bike mods to lighten your bike: Titanium bolts, spokes and cranks (or only spindle). You can also get a titanium frame, but I think it’s not worth it for the extremely pricey upgrade.
I know that the Ti parts are hype at the moment, but I don’t recommend them to beginner and intermediate riders. Sure, your needs will change when you are at a level of Logan Martin, but that comes later.
Of course, you can replace almost every part of your bike with a lighter one.
But if you decide to do that, build a custom bike instead of upgrading a complete bike.
Attention: I saw someone else’s guide on reducing BMX bike’s weight, mentioning drilling holes in the frame, bar, forks, rims, cranks, etc. (This person obviously doesn’t ride BMX.)
NEVER DRILL HOLES in your bike!
There might be some parts that come with drilled holes out of the box (like Fly Bike’s Lunar rims), but the holes are done with great care and in calculated areas.
Again, DON’T drill holes in your bike! It’s way too risky.
One more thing: Ride more, hit the gym and stretch. In short, make your body stronger, and your bike will feel lighter. And BMX can be a good exercise!
When you ride more, you begin to control your bike instead of it controlling you. And as soon as that happens, everything becomes more manageable (and lighter).
Conclusion: Don’t Care So Much About Your BMX’s Weight!
That’s one of the main advice I’d give my younger self: “Don’t worry so much about getting your BMX bike’s weight down, dude.”
Modern bikes aren’t as heavy as they were back in the days.
But if upgrading your bike with new parts and weight matters to you, sure, get a multi-butted bar instead of a straight gauge one, for example.
Compare the weight of the parts from different brands and get the lighter ones.
If you’re purchasing BMX parts from reputable brands, they’re high-quality despite the weight difference.
However, if you’re a burly street rider, get robust parts because you want your bike to withstand all the abuse you put it through.
For park and trail riders, the extra strength of a straight gauge bar isn’t really necessary.
Just please do me a favor – DO NOT drill holes in your bike.
Sure, cutting the bar and the steerer tube is OK, but holes are NOT OK. But even if you decide to cut the bar and the steerer tube, don’t immediately cut it too much.
Finally, if you need any assistance with bike modifications or getting new, lighter parts, feel free to send me an email (via the contact form on The BMX Dude ) or a message on IG.
Yo! 🤘
Further reading:
- How Much Does A BMX Bike Cost?
- How-To: BMX Bike Maintenance!
- What Does BMX Stand For?
- BMX Bike Size Chart
- 16 Amazing Health Benefits Of BMX
