> heavyweight

I can agree with you there if by heavyweight you're referring to it's explicit definitions.

However, have you tried a "SharedModule"? You can throw any number of tiny components into however many shared modules (one shared module for your small-medium sized application vs n-number of lazily loaded shared modules for your large+ applications.)

I myself enjoy wrapping even helper components in modules because I then know exactly what a component needs and it's scope of dependencies.