{"id":228535,"date":"2025-10-27T17:21:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T17:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/228535\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T17:21:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T17:21:14","slug":"this-14-year-olds-budget-weight-weenie-bike-weighs-5-7kg-has-aliexpress-parts-and-features-uphill-brakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/228535\/","title":{"rendered":"This 14-year-old’s budget weight-weenie bike weighs 5.7kg, has AliExpress parts\u00a0and features \u2018uphill brakes\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finn Miller may only be 14 years old, but he had one of the best bikes that we saw at this year\u2019s National Hill Climb Championships \u2013 a weight-weenie special that would make any seasoned hill climber proud.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The nationals took place on Bank Road in Matlock, Derbyshire \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s hill climb championships were a family affair, with his sister and dad also competing in the nationals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ChoppedMiller’s bike has a cut-down handlebar. Jack Luke \/ OurMedia<\/p>\n

He enlisted the help of his dad to modify his Viner Maxima RS 4.0<\/a> hill-climb bike, which the father and son pair sanded down to remove the paint.<\/p>\n

Miller said the frame originally weighed 950g. \u201cI got it down to about 790g after taking the paint off,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

And how long did it take? \u201cAges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s dad might take issue with the 14-year-old saying ‘he’ got the weight down. \u201cMy dad complained that I didn\u2019t do most of it,\u201d Miller said, \u201cbut I was at school, so I couldn\u2019t really.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AliExpressThe saddle cost \u00a310 and weighs 91g. Jack Luke \/ OurMedia<\/p>\n

The final build weighs just 5.7kg. It has a SRAM Red 1x drivetrain<\/a> with a 36-tooth front chainring, a chopped-down handlebar and a host of AliExpress parts, including the saddle, which cost \u00a310 but weighs a svelte 91g.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While there are plenty of hyper-expensive bikes at the National Hill Climb Championships, there are also plenty of hacked, cheaper builds. Miller\u2019s Viner is in the spirit of the latter. \u201cWe built it for \u00a3950,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There is one compromise with the build \u2013 but one that doesn\u2019t really matter for hill climb season: the \u2018uphill brakes\u2019. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re useless going down. I\u2019ve had to walk down every single hill climb I\u2019ve done because they\u2019re just useless,\u201d Miller explained.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MechanicalMiller’s bike has a 1x mechanical SRAM Red drivetrain. Jack Luke \/ OurMedia
\n\"FrontMiller described the brakes as ‘uphill brakes’. Jack Luke \/ OurMedia<\/p>\n

Miller\u2019s bike also became a canvas for the hill-climbing scene\u2019s great and good at the weekend’s nationals. <\/p>\n

The bike is covered in signatures from the likes of Andrew Feather<\/a>, as well as the winner of the 2024 and 2025 men\u2019s championships, Harry MacFarlane.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are also some NSFW additions to the frame, inspirational quotes, and the signatures from the presenters of one particularly big cycling YouTube channel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his hill climb season, Miller said he was \u201cdead, tired, cold\u201d… but he still wishes there were more races.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"UpThere are some NSFW graphics on Miller’s bike \u2013 and inspirational quotes. Jack Luke \/ OurMedia
\n\"TopThe hill climbers’ mantra: “Pain is an illusion”. Jack Luke \/ Our Media
\n\"ForkMiller finished 31st in the junior category. Jack Luke \/ Our Media
\n\"Chainstay“1,000 watts all the way!” Jack Luke \/ Our Media
\n\"ChainstayMiller’s dad helped him sand the paint off the frame. Jack Luke \/ Our Media
\n\"SeatstaysA Viner Maxima RS 4.0 frame is at the heart of the build. Jack Luke \/ Our Media
\n\"VisionVision hubs keep the wheels turning. Jack Luke \/ Our Media
\nMore from the National Hill Climb Championships<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finn Miller may only be 14 years old, but he had one of the best bikes that we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-228535","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}