Hill climb racing is a small niche of the UK time trial scene that involves going up hills as fast as possible. Being the UK, these climbs are usually short and steep, with races ranging from under two minutes to a maximum of around 20 minutes. To perform well, you need to maximise your power to weight ratio.
Normally, UCI rules would infamously dictate a 6.8kg weight limit (originally applied in 2000 and never updated) for bikes, but the CTT governs hill climb racing in the UK, and so the UCI rules don’t apply — in fact, there’s no weight limit at all.
This, combined with the fact that most hill climbs are raced by amateurs and part-time professionals (so there are generally fewer racers with sponsorship commitments), leads to some wonderfully bonkers weight weenie bikes popping up at races.
Recently, for an upcoming instalment of BikeRadar’s Hill Climb Diaries, Joe, Felix and I went to see Andrew Feather, the 2018 British Hill Climb Champion, to check out his bike for the upcoming 2019 National Championships, taking place on 27 October.
As you might expect, it’s incredibly bling. Weighing in at just over 5.4kg, it’s covered in all kinds of beautiful (and expensive) carbon exotica.
The bike is built around a 54cm 2019 Cannondale SuperSix EVO Hi-MOD frameset. Much valued for its excellent stiffness to weight ratio, Andrew interestingly says he much prefers it to the 2020 version — which, being only available with disc brakes in the Hi-MOD version, builds up as a substantially heavier bike.
Despite how light it already is, Joe noticed that there are still areas that Andrew could possibly shave off a few more grams. Andrew noted, however, that he liked certain components for their strength and reliability, and therefore prefers to stick with them rather than go for the absolute lowest weight at all costs.
You can take a closer look at Andrew’s bike in the gallery above. Can you spot any areas that could be improved? Leave a comment below and let us know what bike and components you would choose if you were building an ultimate hill climb bike.
Andrew Feather’s Cannondale SuperSix EVO hill climb bike full specifications
- Frameset: Cannondale SuperSix EVO Hi-MOD 54cm
- Front brake: Cane Creek EE
- Rear brake: Cane Creek EE
- Brake/shift levers: SRAM Red eTap
- Front derailleur: None
- Rear derailleur: SRAM Red eTap
- Cassette: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 11-28
- Chain: Shimano HG-X11
- Crankset: Power2Max Power Meter with NG Rotor Aldhu 3D+ cranks, 172.5mm crank length
- Chainring: Wolf Tooth Drop Stop 44t
- Wheelset: HUNT Hill Climb SL Tubular
- Tyres: Vittoria Crono CS tubular 22mm
- Handlebar: Schmolke Carbon Roadbar Oversize Evo TLO, 40cm
- Stem: Mcfk Stem 6-degree, 100mm
- Tape/grips: Electrical tape
- Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace R9100
- Saddle: Schmolke TLO
- Seatpost: Mcfk Seatpost, 25.4mm
- Other accessories: Garmin out-front mount, C-Bear bottom bracket and jockey wheels
