The bargain-bucket in cycling shops rarely contain a few gems, but for hill-climb specialists who are weight-saving-hungry, items destined for the tip can be the difference between winning and losing.
Adam Kenway (SportGrub Kuota Cycling Team) is one of the favourites for the RTCC National Hill-Climb Championships at Jackson Bridge, near Holmfirth, on October 25.
The 28-year-old has had a strong start to his hill-climb season since refocusing his aims on negating steep gradients as opposed to road racing, with five wins and a second-place at the Monsal Hill-Climb.
Kenway, who was third at last year’s Nationals, is riding a featherweight Kuota Khan Hill-Climb bike, weighing 5.5kg, and he has embodied the spirit of marginal gains with his stripped-backed modification of his Fizik Antares carbon saddle.
Adam Kenway's stripped down Fizik saddle
“At the shop where I work [Lovevelo, in Derby], we spoke to Fisik and asked if they had got any damaged saddles or ones that didn’t have any warranty on them because of the damage.
“They sent us this one for free and it was worth £250. The only thing wrong was that the padding was a bit ripped so they couldn't sell it on.
"We stripped it down, took the felt off and have just kept the base of it.
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“I may even drill holes into the saddle – I’ll see how bored I get!”
Kenway is using a Dura Ace chainset with one chainring, opting for 42t on the front and 11x27 at the rear. There is no front mechanism.
His gearing, however, scuppered his chances of success at Monsal, where his training partner Joe Clark won by 0.2 seconds.
“School-boy error alert: I put a Dura-Ace cassette on a four-month old chain. It wasn’t in gear, the chain kept slipping and I couldn’t get a good rhythm. I nearly got off halfway,” he explained.
“I’ll leave the gearing as it is, though. The 27 is there as a back up if I need it.”
Cycling Weekly photographer Andy Jones pictured Kenway's bike on Sunday
Profile Design SVET bars. "There were no carbon bars so I bought a set of super-light, super-stiff TT bars," Kenway said. "The TT shifters and brake levers are 200 grams lighter than the Dura Ace ones."
Di2-TT-Changers
Di2-changers
Kenway's Edco Neggia carbon rims; he will change to Reynolds RZR for the Nationals which are 200 grams lighter. His tyres are Continental Grand Prix TT 23mm. "The GPs are good tyres," Kenway said, "but I wanted Continental GP SuperSonic tyres but no one has them in stock."
The front and rear brake (pictured) is gold anodised Zero Gravity Ti brakes
Brake detail showing trimmed down brake blocks.
Lightweight gold quick release levers
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A freelance sports journalist and podcaster, you'll mostly find Chris's byline attached to news scoops, profile interviews and long reads across a variety of different publications. He has been writing regularly for Cycling Weekly since 2013. In 2024 he released a seven-part podcast documentary, Ghost in the Machine, about motor doping in cycling.
Previously a ski, hiking and cycling guide in the Canadian Rockies and Spanish Pyrenees, he almost certainly holds the record for the most number of interviews conducted from snowy mountains. He lives in Valencia, Spain.
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