In the off season I think about both small and large improvements I can make to the bike. Usually these things are much less significant than any improvement I can make to the nut that holds the seat down (aka me) but it's fun thinking about the technical stuff.
For me large things means things that usually impact aerodynamics, like wheels or a frame or maybe an aero road helmet.
I consider any weight savings over half a pound significant also, so being able to get a BB30 Cannondale SI SRM crankset, with a complete weight of about 675 grams, was a nice move from my then-current Campy Record cranks that came in at just under 1000 grams for a combination of the square taper BB and the cranks themselves.
For those keeping track every 45 grams is a tenth of a pound. 90 grams is two tenths. 225 grams is about half a pound. That's rough but it's close - it's 454 grams per pound so you can do the conversions on any weight savings you do on your bike.
A bonus on weight savings is if the weight savings transfers from one bike to another. Saving weight on a saddle that I might use for 5 or 8 years is better to me than saving weight on a chain that will wear out in a season or two.
Back in the day I used to really hone the stuff on my bikes, really push them to the limits. I experimented with drilling out chainrings (remember that Mike?) and found, to my dismay, that my drilled out chainrings were so flexible they were virtually unusable.
On the other hand I found that using lighter titanium bolts throughout the bike would save me about 100-200 grams. If I could replace some big steel bolts, at that time in parts like the bottom bracket bolts, pedal axles, or brake center bolts, then the savings would hit 200 grams. If I only did the surface bolts, like water bottle screws, cable anchoring bolts, stem bolts, stuff like that, then I'd be closer to the 100g number.
My current favorite post, one that I've been using since about 1997, is the Thomson Elite seat post. It's well designed, it's been through a few saddle failures, at least two crashes, and it's worked super well. It's reasonably light (just over a tenth heavier than the lighter Masterpiece), and I played with the idea of trying to lighten it up.
On the black Tsunami, with the integrated seat post set up, my Thomson lost a lot of weight when I cut it down to about four inches. For the now-red Tsunami I have something like 18 cm of post showing - cutting it down won't help much.
I looked at a set of Ti bolts for the Thomson. I don't remember what it saved, something paltry like 14 grams, but I put it in my favorites just so I'd remember it existed.
At some "incremental improvement" level it appealed to me. It worked with a number of my seat posts (I have at least three Thomsons in use right now). It transfers from bike to bike. It saves some rotating weight (because it's up high I notice significant weight changes in the saddle when sprinting).
All those things made it cool.
Then, at some point, I decided to clear out my favorites of all the nonsensical whimsical stuff I saved, like a pair of bolts that would save me 14 grams. I mean, seriously, I'll pee more than that before a race.
So imagine my surprise when a package showed up.
Ti bolts for a Thomson seatpost
Apparently I didn't delete it from my favorites but added it to my cart instead. In my standard "click-click-click" I didn't notice it in my cart and now walla, it's here at the house.
I'll install it. I mean, what the heck. Lots of anti-seize, lots of care, and some weighing before and after to see if it really saved me 14 grams.
And now I gotta check my order history because I had also put a wicked cool wireless Cannondale SI SRM PC7 equipped crankset in my favorites. $15 bolts I can excuse. $3500 cranksets not so much.
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