Dan Evans’s hill-climb machine
Dan Evans’s Rather than shaving weight, the National Hill-climb victor focused on power
his is the machine that carried Dan Evans to his second National Hill-climb Championship at Hedley Hill in Northumberland on Sunday, beating defending champion Adam Kenway by five seconds.
Cannondale-sponsored rider Evans won his first title in 2014 on a Supersix Evo equipped with Dura-ace Di2 that weighed just over 5kg. This year he had been using the latest Supersix in red with a SRAM Red etap wireless groupset and for the championships built up this all-new battleship-grey 5kg Supersix.
Unlike some of the top hill-climbers, Evans did not take a hacksaw to his drops, strip the padding off his saddle or drill holes in components. “Hedley isn’t really a lightweight course, it’s more of a power course,” he said. “So a few grams here and there on your bike isn’t going to make a difference. You’re better off with a decent set of tyres rather than chopping off your handlebars or peeling 20g of leather off your saddle.” Evans used 140g Vittoria Pista Speed track tubulars.
The most significant weight-saving modification is to the drivetrain: the front derailleur has been removed and a single 44-tooth Cannondale Spidering fitted — already a super-light system since it combines the chainring and spider. “I knew the course undulated a bit, I’d been up and ridden the whole thing in the big ring, a 53,” said Evans. “And although that felt OK, ultimately it was going to be too big so I settled on a 44 as that was the best Spidering I could get my hands on that was in the right sort of range. And it worked out absolutely perfectly.”