Hodgepodge builds, specialist aero rigs, a go-fast tandem and more
Time trials are a core part of the racing scene in the UK, and are generally very accessible. However, if you want to be competitive, a dedicated time-trial bike is a must.
To address this, the CTT (Cycling Time Trials, the UK’s time trial governing body) introduced an official road bike category in 2022 in a bid to make time trialling “an every person’s sport”.
The move sees results split by road and time trial bike classifications in open club events, with the season culminating in separate national championship events.
There are, of course, rules that define what makes a ‘road bike’ in the eyes of the CTT.
To start, bikes must have drop or flat bars, which means clip-on extensions or tri bars aren’t permitted. Wheels can also be no deeper than 90mm and must have at least 12 spokes, so disc wheels are off the cards.
The 2023 National Road Bike Championships took place on Sunday (1 October) on a rolling 18-mile (29km) course north of Marshfield, in the south-west of England.
With 180 riders on the start sheet, the general consensus was that the introduction of the road bike category is a welcome one, with promoters FTP Racing surprised by the size of the field.
We were on the ground to take stock of how riders tackled the event.
While some have the means and desire to push the rules to the limit of their interpretation, many others choose to ride the same or lightly modified versions of their everyday road bikes.
Here are our top five weird and wonderful bikes from the 2023 National Road Bike Time Trial Championships.
Tom Burke-Nott’s 2015 Giant Propel Advanced
Tom Burke-Nott’s (Bristol South CC) Giant Propel Advanced was bought on eBay with a crack in the down tube for £200.
This was fixed “in a shed with a carbon fishing rod repair kit”, and has been ridden for tens of thousands of kilometres since.
Evidence of that DIY repair is still very much present on the down tube.
Other than a swap to the 88mm-deep wheels built for this event, the bike is exactly as it would be ridden by Burke-Nott day-to-day – and that includes all of his commuting miles.
Campagnolo Centaur shifters and derailleurs are paired with a mismatched Shimano crankset.
A silver Ultegra 6600 drive-side crank arm is paired with a newer R7000 4iiii power meter-equipped crank arm.
The very latest Giant Propel, released last year, sports all of the mod-cons you’d expect in 2023 – including disc brakes and integrated cable routing – whereas Burke-Nott’s bike harks back to the mid-2010s era of aero road bikes.
However, even today, Burke-Nott’s TT-ready Propel Advanced cuts a contemporary figure, with a narrow profile and neatly integrated linear-pull V-brakes tucked behind the fork legs and seatstays.
Joanna Legge-Knight’s Cervélo P3 road bike conversion
Joanna Legge-Knight’s (Bristol South CC) Cervélo P3 – a TT to road bike conversion – is usually the time trial bike of her husband, Andy.
Rather than build a dedicated bike, Legge-Knight switched the cockpit of the TT bike to a drop-bar setup to comply with the rules.
The bike makes the most of a (relatively) limited budget, with a Shimano Ultegra R6850 Di2 groupset and a de-stickered Zipp Firecrest 404 wheelset forming the basis of the build.
Rather than drill holes in the frame, the Di2 cabling has been neatly taped to the leading edge of the head tube and underside of the down tube.
The rear derailleur is connected to the rarely-seen EW-WU111 Di2 E-Tube transmitter. This provides wireless ANT+ and Bluetooth connectivity to older Shimano Di2 groupsets.
The rear derailleur has also been modified with a Rockbros oversized pulley wheel system.
Any lumps and bumps on the Power2Max power meter-equipped Rotor crankset have been taped over in search of marginal aero gains. The spoke holes in the rim have also been given the tape treatment.
A much sought-after TriRig Omega X brake rounds out the build.
Jonathan Dixon and Karolina Deutsch’s Calfee Firefly tandem
This custom Calfee tandem belongs to Jonathan Dixon (Audax UK) and is usually ridden with his wife, Emma.
However, for this event, Dixon’s friend Karolina Deutsch stepped in as stoker. Impressively, Deutsch had never ridden a tandem until the morning of the event – talk about a baptism of fire.
Carbon tandems are a rarity, let alone one built with S&S couplers.
These enable the tandem to be broken down into smaller sections, making overseas travel by plane possible.
The bike rolls on a pair of Rolf Tandem Carbon wheels. Rolf is one of the few wheel manufacturers producing complete wheels suitable for tandems.
These use the brand’s signature paired spoke lacing, with 24 spokes front and rear (most tandem wheels have upwards of 40 spokes). These are fitted with a pair of Continental GP 4000 S II tyres.
A Gates Carbon Drive belt drive is used for the timing ‘chain’ (the drivetrain connecting the stoker and captain’s cranks). These are popular with tandem riders as they do not stretch and can provide a more ‘direct’ feel when pedalling.
An Ultegra Di2 R8050 drivetrain is paired with TRP HyRd hybrid calipers.
As with most tandems, the bike is specced with oversized 203mm rotors – you can’t have enough braking power when you’re rattling down a dual carriageway at full pelt with a roundabout looming ahead.
Tom Sturdy’s Sturdy Cycles Fiadh
Tom Sturdy (Pronto Bikes) of Sturdy Cycles rode this oh-so-tasty fully custom Fiadh for the national road bike TT – his first race in over ten years.
Sturdy Cycles specialises in full titanium framesets. This is more unusual than it sounds – most titanium bike brands pair their frames with carbon forks, either manufactured in-house or outsourced to the likes of ENVE.
The Fiadh’s fork is 3D-printed from titanium and features full internal hose routing.
Sturdy Cycles also produces a wide array of components and accessories, and this build is a showcase for most of the range.
From custom 3D-printed titanium jockey wheels to a full titanium cockpit, Sturdy’s bike is a feast for a tech-hungry bike nerd’s eyes.
Robbie Disney’s Cannondale SystemSix
Robbie Disney’s (Aerologic RT) Cannondale SystemSix leans into many contemporary road bike trends, with a 1x drivetrain, tubeless tyres and a narrow front end.
Disney paired a fetching purple 56t Garbaruk chainring with a tight (by 1x standards) 11-30t cassette for the rolling course.
The stock rear derailleur cage has been swapped in favour of an Absolute Black Hollowcage oversized pulley wheel system.
This striking cage is said to be one of the lightest oversized systems on the market and commands a hefty £429 price tag at RRP.
As is now standard practice across most go-fast road bikes, the levers have been tilted slightly inwards on the 36cm-wide Prime Primavera Aero handlebars in search of a narrower position. The slammed negative-rise Deda Superbox stem completes the front end.
Eagle-eyed readers will note the fork doesn’t match the rest of the bike. This is a replacement after a tight squeeze with a tractor on a narrow lane wrote off the original fork – ouch.