“F*** the UCI” — We take a look at the National Hill Climb Championship-winning bikes as rim brakes and 1x dominate

This year's National Hill Climb championships took place in Hexham, Northumberland, where Illi Gardner and Harry MacFarlane claimed the female and male national titles, respectively. 

Cycling traditionalists will be pleased to know that, in complete contradiction to our feature on the rise of disc brakes at hill climb events last year, both riders achieved victory on rim brake bikes (though unfortunately for said traditionalists, they did both also opt for 1x gearing). Let's have a closer look at the gravity-defying tech that contributed to their success. 

(Andy Smith)

The British National Hill Climb Championship is held annually by Cycling Time Trials (CTT), and this year, it took place on Dipton Mill Road climb, which stretches 1.2km with an average gradient of 9.8%. Although far from the steepest ascents, it still tops out at 13.4%.

Since the event operates outside of the UCI's regulations, the infamous minimum bike weight limit of 6.8kg doesn't apply here. This freedom allows riders to experiment with radical and ultra-light modifications, creating some of the lightest road bikes - many hovering around the 6kg mark. Function is of course the primary concern with comfort taking a back seat in an event that lasts just a few minutes.

Harry MacFarlane won the men's event, with Illi Gardner the fastest woman. Time for a bike check. 

Harry MacFarlane - Cervélo R3 SL

(Simon Warren, X)

TAAP Kalas Racing rider Harry MacFarlane won the men's event on a Cervélo R3 from the previous decade, beating reigning four-time National Champion Andrew Feather and his £17,500 disc-brake SWI superbike by two seconds. 

The Cervélo R3 SL was actually the very first bike we reviewed here at road.cc. R3 riders have secured numerous Paris-Roubaix victories in the past, and the frame is from the model year 2009 that we reviewed in 2008, getting a near-perfect 9/10 score from our very own Tony Farrelly. Mr MacFarlane clearly has great taste and is influenced by all the right people, we can hear our Head of Content saying... 

The bike of course features rim brakes, and is equipped with a previous generation SRAM Red eTap groupset modified to run a 1x Absolute Black narrow-wide CX chainring, which appears to be 40T. The SRAM Red XG 1190 cassette is 11-30T. 

(Simon Warren, X)

It's the custom 'paint job' that grabs the most attention though, complete with “F*** THE UCI” graffiti that inspired the title of this article. 

MacFarlane bought the bike with the paint stripped which is claimed to save around 150g of weight from the frame and forks and tells us, "I wanted to do a little project and get everyone in the hill climb community to sign/draw on it (spectators, kids, riders, time keepers, organisers etc) and it looks wicked, can't wait to clear coat it". 

(Harry MacFarlane, Instagram)

> The lightest road bike frames and components in the world

The wheels are Shimano's Dura-Ace C24 Carbon Tubular wheels wrapped in tan wall 25mm Vittoria Corsa Speed tubular tyres. While tubeless tyres dominate the pro peloton, tubular setups remain a solid choice for hill climbers as they are often lighter than both clincher and tubeless options. 

Like many hill climbers, MacFarlane forgoes bar tape and bottle cages for the most marginal of marginal gains, resulting in his race-day set-up tipping the scales at around 5.25kg. However, he did ride with an Insta 360 X3 camera and a pair of sunnies... 

Illi Gardner - Factor O2 

Illi Gardner rode home in a time of 3 mins 58 seconds, making her the only female ride to break the 4-minute barrier and securing her third consecutive National Hill Climb title. 

(Illi Gardner, Strava)

Gardner's rim brake Factor O2 is shown above which is mostly a stock build, but her race-day setup features AX Lightness wheels and a single 36T chainring paired with an 11-30T cassette.

One easy way to save a couple of hundred grams is by opting for a 1x setup, removing the outer chainring and front derailleur. As Illi told road.cc, "It’s the first year I’ve used a single chainring; there wasn’t a great deal of variation in gradient on the climb so it worked well (and definitely felt nice!). 

"The set-up meant that I didn’t have a power meter which I kind of prefer." 

Andy Smith

> Should you run a 1x set-up on your road bike?

As previously mentioned, bikes at the National Hill Climb Championships are not subject to the UCI's 6.8kg weight limit, and Gardner shared that her race-day setup weighed in at just over 6kg.