I try to balance weight with money with how much extra fat I have on myself.
My road bike is about 16 lbs and I then probably put about 4-5 lbs of accessories on it (water bottle cages, rear bag with tools & spare, pump, bento bag, lights). I could make that bike lighter by going to tubular wheels or dura ace components, and maybe I can shed a pound or two from the bike.. That's an outlay of probably a thousand or two or more to make a bike 2 lbs lighter... a bike that I put 5 lbs of accessories on and ride with way too much cellulite on me. So spending the money to get the bike lighter makes no sense. If I happen to see something lighter at a cheap/great price, I do buy it to swap on (a shorter seatpost, a carbon stem, what not).
I recently upgraded the fork on my mountain bike. My old fork was from like 1998. My new fork has lock out, disc brake whatevers, and is 6 ounces heavier than my old fork. I did while I was at it swap out to a lighter cassette (sram red's had been cheap on chainlove or something), put lighter tires on it (a friend that went 29er had given me all their old 26 tires), and took off the suspension seatpost and put a straight seatpost that I already had on it (it was hard getting the height right on the suspension)... So overall i did end up going lighter, but I did it at minimal expense. I'd love new wheels for the bike or a new crankset (that's what I'd need to really lighten it further) - but budget wise, it's not in the cards. If I see something pop up that will lighten it at a great price, i will probably grab it.
If I need something for comfort riding, I don't care how much it weighs, it's going on the bike. My ergo grips are probably heavy on my mountain bike - but hey, they let me ride with less hand issues.



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