Outrageous Lightweight Bikes And Mods | 2025 Hill Climb Championships

The 2025 National Hill Climb Championships did not disappoint on the tech front! With no UCI rules in sight, we went on the hunt for the hottest, most lightweight race bikes, including several well below the weight limit and the winning bike that weighed a jaw-dropping figure. From sanded-down frames and AliExpress hacks to pro-level custom builds and a budget bike, check out the wildest and most unconventional weight-saving tech in the UK’s most unique bike race.

Chapters: ⏱️
0:00 – Intro & The Hunt for Light Tech
0:34 – Harry Hudson’s World Championship Winning Bike
2:51 – The Stripped-Down Cervélo R5
4:00 – The Modern Cervélo R5 and Prototype Wheels
5:18 – Budget Build: The Giant TCR for an 8-Year-Old
6:57 – Di2GP’s Lightened Giant TCR & Cassette Hack
10:11 – Finlay Hudson’s Super-Light Planet X
11:23 – Adam Pinder’s Insane
13:42 – Harry Mack’s Winning Trek Emonda
15:34 – Darren’s Bike

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What was the craziest weight-saving hack you saw? Let us know your favorite bit of wacky hill climb tech in the comments! 👇

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We’re at the National Hill Climb Championships 2025 on the hunt for hot lightweight tech. And there are no UCI rules here, so expect plenty of bikes way below the 6.8 kg and a few rim brakes. Plus, we’re riding as well. That’s why I’m warming up. Yeah, I’m done. in a car park in the rain. [Music] This bike won the UCI Junior Men’s World Championship. It’s being ridden by this man, Harry Hudson, who’s about to talk us through it. Quite a special bike, Harry. Firstly, what’s the make? Quick pro. It’s in slightly different form to the World Championships. It’s about a kilo lighter, but other than that, I mean, the base of the frame is the same. It’s a Quick Pro R1. I mean, the big change is the wheels, but also it’s now one by cuz I don’t need the 54 on it. So, yeah, wheels and then no bar tape, saddle, that sort of thing. Just lots of little bits which end up saving about a kilo, I think. So, and what are the wheels? Talk us through everything. Uh, the wheels are our Caris ones. I don’t know if they’re available to buy yet, but they’re Joe’s own brand. I think my set’s 750 g. Um, he was a bit surprised when we said that, so I think usually they’re a bit heavier. Yeah. Um, there’s like cyber cranks, but I always have them. They’re super light. Bars are carbon one piece. The saddle was like 50 g, so that’s crazy light. Cassette’s a super light six wheel. What else have we got? What’s the cassette? Who? Six wheel. It’s a super light six wheel cassette. And then there’s a overfast carbon through axles. Yeah. To save like 10 I think it’s 20 grams what dad said. So it’s all just adds up. And then tomorrow I’ll probably take the bolts out. Just a bit of psychological. Yeah. Unless it’s rainy and then I might not. And then in terms of the tires, they’re slightly different to what you raced as well. Uh they’re the same tire. They’re just a set that I’ve ridden for however long. They were set I took off because they were too worn. I didn’t want to race them. But now I’ve put them back on because um they’re a tiny bit lighter. So it’s a bit bit better. Okay. Right. Well, it’s freezing out here. So I’m going to let Harry go inside. But just before we do, I’m going to let him do the honors of seeing how much this bike weighs ahead of the hill climb champ. So there you go. Right. Moment of truth. Oh, it’s attached. Bye. 6.7. No, no. 5.6. So, it’s pretty 1.1 kilos below the UCI weight limit. Happy. Yeah, very happy. Yeah, that’s pretty perfect, eh? We’re going to be even happier when you get warm inside. I’ll let you do that. Cape back on. I found a really cool bike here. So, this belongs to a chap called Beamer, and it’s incredibly light. You might not be able to tell what it is because it’s had the paint stripped off it to make it lighter. Um, but it’s an old Sevel R5. And I think this is a really really cool build. So you’ve got light cables, you’ve got very lightweight brakes on here, you’ve got tubs as well. Got a road chain set and Stram red 22. Also classic uh hill climber weight saving tips. Uh it’s got the bars chopped off the drops are chopped. The shifters are positioned quite far back a bit like sort of what Andrew Feather does. and also the shifter hoods. The sort of rubber plastic has been removed off the back there. Uh we’ve not got a Stram red uh cassette on there, but this is 11speed and having just weighed it, it’s 5.9 kilos. Oh, a couple of other things actually I’ve forgotten to talk about. The lights, they’re very minimal taped on with a bit of duct tape on the front and the rear. And also the chain that is that is definitely waxed. That’s probably the most waxed chain I’ve ever seen. I’ve got the bike of a competitor called Frankie Lavson. And this is another Sevel. This one is a more modern uh R5 than the previous one. Um but this already is incredibly light. I’ll weigh it in a sec. Uh but first, it’s got some really cool parts on it. So, they’ve done the same chain ring strategy that I’ve gone for, which is one by, but not with an arrow wide, just with the inner Shimano ring and some short track bolts on there. Um, the wheels on this bike are really, really cool. So, these are some prototype Mavics with big thick uh carbon spokes, very light. Um, they were actually built, I’m reliably informed, as prototypes for none other than Emma Pulley, which is really cool. We’ve got some good AliExpress components on here. So, these very light brakes on the back and the the front and then also this saddle which we’ve seen on a few bikes here. It seems to be quite a popular choice. Um, we’ve got power measurement on the side there with a 4i uh power meter on the uh non-drive side crank arm and tires are Victoria Corser speeds. So, yeah, very light and they’re 25 mm. That’s it on front and the rear. Um, right. I’m going to weigh this and see what it is. 5.73. Oh, very light. Very light. Right. This is a very unusual bike. Um, but that’s because this bike has been specially set up uh for an 8-year-old um who’s competing. And that’s one of the amazing things about the Hill Climb Champs is that, you know, kids can come do it, old people come do it. It’s amazing. And um you get to experience the same atmosphere. But the other cool thing about this is how it’s been done uh on a budget. So, this bike frame, which is an old giant TCR carbon frame, was picked up from a bike jumble for just 40 quid, which is amazing. And then we’ve got loads of other sort of hodge podge bits that have been put together. And it’s also been modified in a way that it’s ideal for um a younger rider who’s smaller. So, we’ve got 135 cranks on there. Super tiny. Um narrow little bar. What’s the bike say? 30 32 wide bar. UCI’s got no jurisdiction here. and this negative stem uh down there. Also, the uh the uh expander bung has been removed and just a 3D printed cap has been put in place just to hold it in for the effort. We’ve got uh this same saddle that is super popular here. Like everyone is using this AliExpress saddle um because it’s very light. We’ve got micro shift gears and this is a really cool mod. So, the riders the RERS’s dad has actually put an extra lever added on there to make it easier for the small hands um to actually reach it on the micro shift. So, that’s really cool. Um, but let’s weigh it. We’ve also just got XTR group set on there and this little chain ring. But, let’s uh let’s give this away. 6.39. There you go. UCI illegal. Got a really cool bike here. So, this is another giant TCR. Um, this one actually belongs to a chap called the Di2 GP who fixes Di2 components on uh on Instagram. Uh, but he’s lent it to one of his friends to ride and it’s already been ridden to a blistering time at this year’s race, but it’s got some amazing mods on it, this thing. Um, so the first thing is this quite weird saddle that’s quite striking and that’s because this bike has an integrated seat post because it’s the the top of the range uh giant TCR. Um, and so that’s been that’s been put on just so that the rider that’s borrowing it can have a slightly higher seat um that they wouldn’t ordinarily be able to achieve. We’ve got a narrow wide one by chain ring setup on there. Saves weight. Uh, on the back we’ve got the Di2 rear mech, which I think is an Altegra one, I think, but it’s been lightened. So, we’ve got what looks like a frames and gear uh mech hanger here. Um, we’ve also got it’s been dremelled out. That’s extraordinary just to save weight um on the rear mech. And then other things as well that I’m noticing like the brake calipers aren’t standard Shimano ones. They’re from AliExpress and and they’re just again just slightly lighter saving a bit of weight. Gala rotors on there which are a bit of a popular choice. The lights which are ridiculous. This little one on the back, little one on the front. Them the rules. And we’ve also instead of a head unit, we’ve actually got an Insta 360 camera on the front, which is really cool to capture the action. The bars are very narrow. I think they are they’re like 30 or something or 32. No, I think 36. They’re very narrow bars. Um, and the tape that’s on the bars is actually the same stuff that we had on the Super Light Hill Climb bike. Um, which is that special tape that you use actually to it’s used in cars to wrap cables in engines. Um, but it saves a lot of weight over normal bar tape. And then we’ve got these hollow bar end plugs. Tires are uh Victoria Corser Pro speeds, very light, very fast with TPU inner tubes. And the wheels are by Light Bicycle. Also, can you just see that the mount bracket here as well is a lighter one for the front brake caliper. Um, looks titanium also wax chain. Right. I think this is going to be blumbing light. So, let’s see. 6.08 with with an Insta 360 which is about 300 g. Yeah, about that. That’s really light. Got a really cool cassette hack here. You may have seen something similar before in a video sided years ago with ceramic speed, but we’ve removed some of the spa some of the rings on the cassette, the ones you don’t need, and we’ve got a big spacer put in their place because, well, the riders worked out that this is all the the rings that they’re going to need on on today’s climb. So, um well, there you go. And if you’re wondering what happens if they shift lower down than that, they will drop their chain. They have to remember not to go beyond that point because they haven’t been able to lock off those gears. So, uh, well, there you go. Saves a bit of weight, right? This bike belongs to a rider who I think you should keep an eye on because a lot of you might have heard of Harry Hudson, who recently won the World Championships. Uh, but this is his younger brother, Finley Hudson’s bike, and it is ridiculously light. It’s an old Planet X frame which he’s sanded down all the paint off. Well, apparently his dad did most of it. Um, but it’s just got all the other mods tricked out. So, one by we’ve got Stram Red 22 on there. Um, with an 11-speed cassette and he’s chopped his drops off. He’s taken the the hoods off the the the hood grips off the bike there. Corser speeds very light. Quite a substantial light on the back there actually. I think you could have saved quite a bit of weight there. But um let’s weigh it. What do you think it is? Do you know? 5.15. You’re going 5.15. 5.28. 5.28. That is the lightest we’ve had so far today. That is blooming good. I’ve got a fantastic bike here. I think it looks absolutely beautiful. It’s a um a Canyon Ultimate CFSLX and it belongs to Adam Pinder who’s well fun fact he’s uh he first rode this course as a junior uh back in 2008 where he was 10 seconds quicker than what he was today but he still did a blistering time. How much do you reckon your bike weighs? 4.8 4.8 bare. So, with a bit more with a computer. 5.1. That’s still the lightest I’ve found today. Yeah. And it is absolutely spectacular. So, it’s had the paint sanded down off it. Um, it’s got uh le cranks on it. Very light carbon ones. Is that the titanium spindle in there or the Yeah, titanium spindle. Um, super light EE brakes front and rear. They look beautiful. uh Z wheels, very popular amongst hill climbers. Uh we’ve got a Wolftooth uh single 38 ring and Stram uh red 22 on there. Wow, that is a very light. And also, well, Favero pedals, the new ones. Um and waxed chain patrol waxed. There you go. How what have you waxed it with? There you go. Silka. Silka. So, this is a Cannondale Super Six Evo. Is it high? Is it the uh high mod? Yeah. Rotor cranks on there. Sear ceramic bottom brackets. Um, what are the wheels on here? AliExpress. The nose. AliExpress. The nose for the wheels. Great. This looks like a Tre uh Bontra handlebar on there. Yeah. And we’ve got Stram red, but I can see it’s the uh the one with the green flashes on, which was a limited edition they did on the Cannondale bikes. The Sagan had it on his bike back in the day. Yeah. Yeah. This saddle is uh has been stripped back by the lots of things. What is that saddle? AliExpress special. AliExpress special for the saddle. Brilliant. So many AliExpress bars. This is This is like the national AliExpress championships right here. It’s amazing. Well, this is amazing. I’ve I’ve I’ve got one like this, an old suit, and I love it. But yeah, they’re cracking bikes. Nice work. So, we’re just in the prize presentation room. The race has been won by Harry Mack. Uh an astonishing ride, like massively smashed the course record. But this is his bike. He actually boasted a YouTube video on his bike on his own YouTube channel. It’s really cool. But it’s amazing to actually see it in person. There’s some really interesting details on here. So, this is a trek frame. Um, but he’s actually cut off cut out here and had a different carbon put in place as an inlay to say Mac for uh for his name on there, which is amazing. There’s also a B composite saddle on here that looks like it’s been customized as well. Um, his lights, he’s got his little LED on the back there. They look even lighter than my tokenistic lights, which is very impressive. Um, we’ve got some EE brakes on the front. super popular with the hill climbers and the back. Really nice like industrial looking brakes. Hi pedals singlesided on the left side. Apparently he did about 700 watts for for 2 minutes to win this uh race. Unbelievable. Um another interesting detail is this chain ring. So this is like a sort of an oxagonal weird chain ring. It’s uh made by a a chap called Doug and it’s called a spring ring. It’s supposed to be more efficient. I don’t know if it is, but that’s the claim. And well, he won today, so there you go. Um, this thing’s amazing. I love the paint splatter on the back. And he’s taken the old uh the old speed sensor pod off here and again covered that up with some carbon. Removed all the paint. Amazing. Um, I don’t actually have scales with me right now. I’ve misplaced them in here somewhere. But without the Garmin on there, it is about 4.9 kilos. So, the lightest one we’ve found. and the winning bike. Definitely, that’s the reason why he won. This bike is blooming amazing. It’s got a bit of a story behind it. So, everyone that that the owner, Darren, uh has has met at the hill climbs over the last few weeks, he’s been getting them to sign it and write messages on it. And that’s because a year ago, he was in the hospital with lymphoma. And it’s amazing that he’s come back and he’s able to race on hill climbs. And this bike was also used by his son uh in the national hill climb championships and him um this year which is amazing and it’s just that whole thing about anyone can come and race the hill climbs and I absolutely love that and it’s just cool to see all these messages on it. Now this was a viner frame they’ve taken the car they’ve taken the paint off it to strip weight about 150 g and then just turned it into a hill climb beast. We’ve got Stram uh red 22 group set. Stram red cassette on there. Very light. Some nice light uh titanium quick release axles. AliExpress saddle that I’ve seen on so many bikes here today. Bars chocked and um light cable linkage as well. I mean AliExpress brakes on there. This is great. And the the other amazing thing about this bike is that it’s Oh, I’ve just noticed as well no uh no steer bunk in there to save weight. This weighs about 5.4 4 kilos and it cost just £900 by just shopping around on eBay and marketplaces and getting bits. And that is the other amazing thing about hill climbs. You don’t have to spend loads of money to get an amazing bike that can be really competitive. Proper cool. Harry Hudson’s going to sign it now. Everyone’s signing it. Feathers signed it. Harry Max signed it. We’ve just been at the prize presentations. It’s dark now. Um I feel like I’m losing my voice because all the screaming through all the cheering, but I’ve had an amazing day. This has been great. Um I would have liked to have seen more tech, but I was kind of preoccupied with racing myself as with the rest of the people. I don’t know where Lloyd has actually got to. Um I’ve not seen him for a while. I think he’s probably having some mineral waters. Anyway, let us know uh what your favorite bit of wacky hill climb tech was because it feels like the bikes are getting lighter and lighter every year and it’s I just love seeing all the little mods that people do and I love that you don’t have to spend loads of money. But um yeah, hope you’ve enjoyed it. Let us know your favorite. I’m going to go now. Love you. Bye. Got to drive back to Bath. Bye.