Light Cyclocross Bike #1: John's Morati

So, I think there are some bikes out there that deserve a little more
bandwidth because theyre pretty bad ass. And seeing as how I have this
thing with light cross bikes, Im going to start featuring cyclocross
bikes on this site that are under 18 lbs or 8.17kg. If you have a bike
thats under this limit, drop me an email at

Bike #1: John's Morati

A really sweet Euro-titanium rig with matching Morati fork. John
reports that he had a custom steel (read: high end Norcal framebuilder)
fork on there before and that the bike's ride quality improved
dramatically with the addition of the Morati ti fork.

Other totally bling so bright it hurts (bsbih) components are the no longer in production
Sweetwings cranks.

Lastly, John previously rode on carbon Zipp rims and Tune hubs but recently
ordered the Reynolds Stratus DV wheelset. Pretty nice. Build spec and
additional pics below.

Some might argue that the AX Lightness saddle and the EC90 bars would
be too weak for the rugged abuse a cross bike endures, but John being
at 140 lbs doesn't put too much stress on these components.

For more information about some of the components on this bike check out the following:
Write Up about Sweetwings Cranks
Morati Website








Build Spec:
52 cm Morati Frame (1525 grams)
Morati Fork (570 grams with cut steerer)
Sweet Parts Sweet Wings crankset w/TA Specialites rings (38t-46t)
Dura-Ace STI shift/brake levers
Dura-Ace Front Derailleur
XTR Rear Derailleur
Dura-Ace cassette (12-27)
Spooky brakeset
959 pedals
Sram PC-89R chain
Avocet O2 saddle (switched to AX Lightness for racing)
Salsa Shaft seatpost (difficult to find a good 27.0mm one with setback)
Ritchey WCS Stem
Ritchey Bio-Max Pro handlebar (soon to be switched to Easton EC90)
Tires-----Tufo Elite 34mm, Dugast Typhoon 34mm, Schwalbe CX Pro Lite
mud clinchers
Wheels---
Mavic Reflex Ceramic laced 32h to King hubs,
Velocity Aeroheads laced 28h to DT Hugi 240 hubs (for mud),
and soon....Reynolds Stratus DV 20h-24h

Total bike weight: 7893 grams with zipp/tune wheels and 7923 grams projected
with the Reynolds wheelset.