Lightweight road bikes that offer fast acceleration are ideal for climbing hills, and if slopes are a big part of your regular rides then an aerodynamic bike can improve your times by lightening the load when going up and improving your speed on the flat and the way down.
If the weight of your bike is a major consideration, then you’ll find climbing road bikes that skirt the UCI’s minimum weight limit for competitions: 6.8kg. This limit exists to keep competitors on relatively similar bikes, and to ensure their structural integrity isn’t whittled away in the quest for ultimate slenderness.
Materials such as carbon fibre help shave off the grams, but the popularity of disc brakes has piled a few on again. Modern lightweight bike frames maintain stiffness yet manage to integrate newer technology while keeping the weight down, and if you’re looking to pump up hills at top speed, or post better times on Strava, then the less weight you’re carrying the better.
Bikes bought with climbing in mind aren’t always the same as aerodynamically designed mounts made for top speeds on the flat, but they can share some elements in common, such as the shapes of the tubes and the profile of the wheels. Thin tyres are the norm, and these aren’t the bikes to buy if you’re looking to ride off-road - check out the best gravel bikes if you want to go fast on rougher terrain.
One thing with lightweight climbing road bikes is that, with all the exotic materials and cutting-edge design involved, you can end up spending a lot of money in the pursuit of the fractions of a second that make the difference between a standard-speed ride and a new record. Spending more than £10,000 is completely possible, and purchases at that level may provoke a spirited debate in some households, but it’s possible to get a bike that will see you power up hills with barely a watt wasted without ruining your bank account or relationship.
Best road bikes for climbing at a glance:
- Best for climbing performance: Specialized Aethos S-Works - £12,000, Sigma Sports
- Best for a better value ride: Giant TCR Advanced Pro Disc 2 - £3,199, Cycle Solutions
- Best for all-round excellence: Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8 Di2 - £6,199, Canyon
- Best for nimble cornering: Trek Émonda SL 6 Disc Pro - £3,900, Trek
- Best for Italian design: Bianchi Specialissima RC Dura Ace Di2 - £10,999, Sigma Sports
- Best for the latest version of a classic: Scott Addict RC 10 - £6,399, Tredz
- Best for a bargain: Cannondale SuperSix EVO 4 - £3,000, Tredz
- Best for electric shifting: Cervelo R5 Ultegra Di2 - £8,299, Sigma Sports
See the full reviews below
Specialized Aethos S-Works
Best for: climbing performance
Yeah, that’s a lot of money, but if you want a ridiculously light bike that’s seen professional use in the peloton, then there are fewer better choices. The Aethos has a lot in common with Specialized’s Tarmac SL7 race bike, but has had its structure reshaped to shave off weight but retain stiffness.
You won’t be using this in any UCI competitions, though, as it’s well under the 6.8kg limit. No matter. There's a Shimano drivetrain and disc brakes included, and while the wheels come with a 26mm tyre as standard, there's clearance for 32mm boots.
Buy now £12000.00, Sigma Sports
Giant TCR Advanced Pro Disc 2
Best for: a better value ride
Proof that you don’t need to spend over ten grand on a road bike unless you really want to, this is a great all-rounder that, as you might expect from the price, hasn’t taken the sciences of weight reduction and aerodynamics to the extreme. Despite this, it brings carbon fibre wheels (with clearance for 32mm tyres) and a Shimano groupset with it, to make a good value ride for tackling those hills.
Buy now £2309.00, Cycle Solutions
Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 8 Di2
Best for: all-round excellence
This stiff and lightweight road bike from Canyon offers some nice aerodynamic touches to cut down on resistance as you power up the slopes. There's a more expensive model that shaves the weight down to the 6.8kg limit with its component choices, but the 7.3kg version is cheaper and just as good if you’re not in a competition where every gram counts.
There's a 12-speed Shimano groupset at work, and of course, there are disc brakes. Overall, the bike provides a good combination of speed, lightness and climbing power.
Buy now £6199.00, Canyon
Trek Émonda SL 6 Disc Pro
Best for: nimble cornering
The Émonda SL is a carbon fibre bike with a firm ride and excellent responsiveness due to the stiffness of the material. Its relatively short wheelbase makes changing direction easier, but when you’re going up the hills what really matters are the bike’s low-speed aerodynamics, which along with the 25mm tyres it’s built for (28mm will still fit) and full internal cable routing mean you’ll be cutting through any headwind resistance.
At just over 8.2kg there are lighter bikes out there, but for the price, the Émonda SL offers a lot of climbing potential.
Buy now £3900.00, Trek
Bianchi Specialissima RC Dura Ace Di2
Best for: Italian design
You’d expect something special from Italian cycle house Bianchi, and the Specialissima is nothing if not distinctive. Almost all the parts, apart from the gears, brakes and tyres, are made in-house, and this enables the weight to be kept down to 6.6kg.
There's plenty of carbon fibre in its construction and even the paint is lightweight. You can fit 32mm tyres, but 26mm come as standard, and the default handlebar position keeps you very low for extra downhill speed. Handlebar spacers are provided if you find this uncomfortable, but this is an aggressive race bike with firm handling, so every extra ounce of speed is valuable.
Buy now £10999.00, Sigma Sports
Scott Addict RC 10
Best for: the latest version of a classic
In 2007, the original Addict was a very light bike, with a frame that weighed less than 800g before you started adding things like forks, pedals and wheels. That lightweight ethos continues today with the RC10, which comes in at 7.9kg fully assembled, though an even lighter version, the RC Ultimate, weighs 6.7kg. You’ll pay more than £12,000 for that, though, and this cheaper version of the Addict is still extremely fast up the hills for half that outlay.
The frame can fit 28mm tyres, and you get an SRAM Force eTap AXS wireless electric groupset plus hydraulic brakes.
Buy now £6399.00, Tredz
Cannondale SuperSix EVO 4
Best for: a bargain
The cheapest bike on this list is a slight upgrade over the EVO 3 and weighs in at just over 7.3kg, which is very good for the price. It’s a carbon fibre frame with a 12-speed Shimano drivetrain and disc brakes.
It can fit 25mm tyres, and thanks to wind-tunnel testing the bike’s shape is sculpted to cut through headwinds and make climbing hills easier.
Buy now £3000.00, Tredz
Cervelo R5 Ultegra Di2
Best for: electric shifting
The R5 is designed to be an all-rounder, and as such it’s not so light that it feels as if a stiff breeze would blow it over, but there's still plenty of capability for uphill speed. At 7.5kg, it’s not too far behind the very lightest bikes, but every gram can count when you’re striving for the best times.
The groupset is electric - unusually, this is the only type the frame can take - and there's a 12-speed cassette at the back. You can fit 28mm tyres for a more comfortable ride if you find the 25mm defaults too slender and want more grip.
Buy now £8299.00, Sigma Sports
Verdict
A climbing road bike isn’t necessarily for everyone. There are, however, particular groups - the competitive types who pour every watt of power they’ve got into getting faster times - for whom a bike like this is an essential part of life, and hang the cost. For them, a bike like the Specialized Aethos isn’t something you take out at the weekend but something you ride as often as possible, and think about when you’re not in the saddle.
Such bikes can be mighty expensive, though, but there are more reasonably priced options, such as the Giant TCR Advanced Pro Disc 2 and Cannondale SuperSix EVO 4 that are a bit easier on the wallet.
