Britain’s Harry Hudson won the junior men’s road race at the 2025 UCI Road World Championship just over a week ago, and this is his bike built around a frameset from lesser-known Chinese brand Quick Pro – a chunk cheaper than a mainstream alternative.
Two Britons won golds at the 2025 UCI Road World Championships in Rwanda: Zoe Backstedt in the women’s under-23 time trial and 18-year-old Harry Hudson in the men’s junior race.
Hudson won the junior category in the British National Hill Climb Championships in 2023 and 2024, and also took victory in Liege-Bastogne-Liege Juniors earlier this year (it was a controversial race, a police motorbike rider swerving across Hudson’s rival in the sprint finish, although it was judged not to have affected the result). He’s scheduled to join Lidl–Trek Future Racing UCI Continental team for 2026.
At the World Champs, Hudson attacked with 35km (22 miles) to go and went on to establish a 36-second lead. Although the chasers did reduce that gap, he crossed the line 16 seconds clear of his closest rivals to become Britain’s first-ever world champion in this event. Congratulations, that man… but what of the bike?
It’s a Chinese Quick Pro AR:One. We found out about this bike earlier in the year from Joe Whittingham, CEO of China-based online retailer Panda Podium, who was involved in its development. Of course, there are millions of China-made bikes in the West, but bikes from Chinese brands are far less common.
Harry Hudson’s complete bike weighed in at 6.83kg ahead of the World Championships, although lighter builds are certainly possible if you’re not worried about the UCI’s 6.8kg minimum weight limit for racing. For example, Joe Whittingham’s own bike, complete with power meter pedals, bottle cages, sealant in the tyres, and a GPS mount up front, hits the scales at just 6.3kg, and you could get down to about 5.9kg with lightweight climbing wheels. We’re certainly not suggesting that weight is everything when it comes to choosing the best bike – not by a long way – but this shows you what’s possible here.
The frame is made from Toray’s T1100 and M65 carbon fibre – which is high-quality stuff – and weighs as little as 680g (XS size) in its raw form, just out of the mould.
A medium-sized frame in a matt black finish weighs from 762g with titanium bottle cage bolts and derailleur hangers in place. Panda Podium says that when it QCed Harry Hudson’s medium frame, it weighed 811.5g. The frameset in the Harlequin finish used by Hudson is $1,999 (£1,489).
Joe Whittingham reckons it would cost around $6,000–$7,000 (£4,470-£5,215) to build up a complete bike in a similar spec to the one used at the world championships. Okay, before anyone points it out, we know that’s still a lot of cash, but bikes ridden to global titles are usually much more expensive.
That Harlequin paint job was designed by Joe Whittingham and it’s fair to say that it’s distinctive. Ideal for getting noticed at the world championships. If it’s not for you, you can save $100 (£75) and a little weight by going for a more conservative finish. There are five other options to choose from.
The Quick Pro AR:One is a true monocoque, produced as a single piece rather than being made up of separate parts that are bonded together after moulding.
The Quick Pro AR:One is built with a BSA (threaded) bottom bracket and has space for tyres up to 32mm wide. Former WorldTour pro rider Martin Laas, who was involved in the development process, apparently had the stiffness dialled back a notch or two, but we’re still talking about a frame that prioritises efficiency over long-ride comfort.
As you’d expect, the geometry is highly race-focused. Harry Hudson’s medium frame comes with a 534.6mm stack height and a 386.7mm reach, giving a stack/reach of 1.38. That’s aggressive. The head tube is 130mm on the medium model. Even on the XL size, we’re only talking about a 160mm head tube, so if you want a lofty front end to keep your back and neck happy on relaxed café rides, look away.
The Quick Pro AR:One frame comes with a 20mm offset seatpost as standard, but you can buy a zero-offset seatpost for $99 (£81), and that’s what you see on Harry Hudson’s bike. He rides with 1cm of spacers under the stem of his Quick Zephyr SSL handlebar ($350/£260).
The carbon-spoked Craft Racing Works (CRW) CS5060 wheelset ($1,680/£1,250) has a 50mm-deep rim up front and a 60mm-deep rim at the rear, and has a claimed weight of just 1,280g.
Hudson’s bike is built up with Cybrei carbon cranks ($799/£595). He is 1.76m tall and those cranks are 165mm long with 54/38 chainrings. Cybrei also provides a pair of carbon bottle cages.
We’ve not ridden the Quick Pro AR:One so we can’t comment on the performance, but this looks like an interesting bike and demonstrates what’s possible if you’re willing to give Chinese brands a go.
8 thoughts on “Check out the Chinese bike that Harry Hudson rode to World Champs gold”
If they release a model
If they release a model called the Quick Pro Quo I will buy it
I think it would have a
I think it would have a Shimano Clarice groupset and be delivered, of course, with with some fava beans and nice Chianti* 🙂
* Or Amarone if you’re more of a bookworm than moviegoer 😉
Cayo wrote:
Chapeau – the internet is yours for the day.
Trouble is you’ll be wanting
Trouble is you’ll be wanting another one after a couple of hours.
ErnieC wrote:
Woohoo, my first ever day owning the Internet! 🤗
Finally, that Lector I attended on bike marketing pays off. 😊
Chinese frames and wheelsets
Chinese frames and wheelsets manufacturers are in the process of setting up European distribution centers in order to shorten their delivery lead times from one month to 5 days. This is a game changer. They mostly sell under DDP terms which makes ot easy for the buyers. It’s about time to see some real price competition on the ever-so-expensive road bicycles market.
Not sure if the unaligned
Not sure if the unaligned wheel decals or the early 90s multiplex paint job is hurting my eyes the most.
What’s unaligned about the
What’s unaligned about the wheel decals? Everything looks intentional to me, even the tyre is aligned with the valve