Finn Miller may only be 14 years old, but he had one of the best bikes that we saw at this year’s National Hill Climb Championships – a weight-weenie special that would make any seasoned hill climber proud.
A rider for Matlock CC, the host club for this year's nationals, Miller went into the event having claimed several second-place finishes in the junior category at local events through the hill-climb season.
The nationals took place on Bank Road in Matlock, Derbyshire – an 834m course, with more than 100m of elevation gain and an average gradient of 14 per cent. Miller claimed 32nd place in the junior category with a time of 3 minutes 39.8 seconds.
Miller’s hill climb championships were a family affair, with his sister and dad also competing in the nationals.
He enlisted the help of his dad to modify his Viner Maxima RS 4.0 hill-climb bike, which the father and son pair sanded down to remove the paint.
Miller said the frame originally weighed 950g. “I got it down to about 790g after taking the paint off,” he said.
And how long did it take? “Ages.”
Miller’s dad might take issue with the 14-year-old saying 'he' got the weight down. “My dad complained that I didn’t do most of it,” Miller said, “but I was at school, so I couldn’t really.”
The final build weighs just 5.7kg. It has a SRAM Red 1x drivetrain with a 36-tooth front chainring, a chopped-down handlebar and a host of AliExpress parts, including the saddle, which cost £10 but weighs a svelte 91g.
While there are plenty of hyper-expensive bikes at the National Hill Climb Championships, there are also plenty of hacked, cheaper builds. Miller’s Viner is in the spirit of the latter. “We built it for £950,” he said.
There is one compromise with the build – but one that doesn’t really matter for hill climb season: the ‘uphill brakes’.
“They’re useless going down. I’ve had to walk down every single hill climb I’ve done because they’re just useless,” Miller explained.
Miller’s bike also became a canvas for the hill-climbing scene’s great and good at the weekend's nationals.
The bike is covered in signatures from the likes of Andrew Feather, as well as the winner of the 2024 and 2025 men’s championships, Harry MacFarlane.
There are also some NSFW additions to the frame, inspirational quotes, and the signatures from the presenters of one particularly big cycling YouTube channel.
Reflecting on his hill climb season, Miller said he was “dead, tired, cold”... but he still wishes there were more races.
More from the National Hill Climb Championships
- 6 ultralight bikes from the 2025 National Hill Climb Championships
- Don't try this at home! I love these super sketchy hacked eTap shifters
- A £150 bike with £4,799 wheels: this veteran rider's hill climb bike won my heart
- 'The hipsters rocked up' – how Britain’s #1 hill climb expert turned a London fixie into a race bike
