Disc brake takeover and weird tech: National Hill Climb Championship gallery

Disc brake bikes have officially taken over. Men’s winner and friend of GCN Andrew Feather used the Cannondale Supersix EVO LAB71 with disc brakes

The SuperSix is Cannondale’s lightweight offering, but it errs into all-round superbike territory with aerodynamic features. For most of us those features wouldn’t be much use, but Andrew Feather climbs at speeds most of us can only dream of

Hunt’s dedicated hill-climb wheels were released in August and tip the scales at a Feather-weight 963g

Forget road tyres, Feather used the Vittoria Pista track tyre which is ridiculously lightweight

If you thought Andrew Feather’s disc brake leanings were an anomaly, think again. This Bianchi Specialissima also shunned the more traditional rim brake

It’s a bike that may spark controversy among hardcore Bianchi fans, as well as rim brake aficionados, with the owner steering clear of the Italian brand’s iconic Celeste colourway

Pure lightweight gurus will be bemused by the bar tape, which was a rare sight at the event

In the pursuit of any weight saving gains, most riders had removed their bar tape - every gram counts after all! Like on this Factor O2 VAM

Factor’s climbing bike was only released earlier this year with claims that it’s the "world's fastest climbing bike". None of the models offered by the brand have a one-by set-up like the one used here

One-by set-ups have become popular in professional cycling this season, most notably used by Jumbo-Visma, and they were also popular at the Hill Climb Championship

Winner Andrew Feather was another rider who went one-by, using a Rotor Aldhu crankset

There is some good news for traditionalists as, despite what we’ve seen so far, rim brakes were still favoured by many, including on this Cannondale SuperSix

It wasn’t the rim brakes that caught our attention, though, but the custom wheels from ZED which used string for spokes - you read that right

Those ‘spokes’ were under tension but, even so, it’s one of the most extreme weight-saving measures we’ve ever seen