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So the Atherton's are releasing two new alloy bikes - S150 and S200.
Guessing pricing will be similar to the S170.
They seem to be making a good go of it at Atherton bikes . It's cool how it seems to be standing on its own 2 feet without relying on the name recognition thing .
The race team has done well without Gee or Rachel which has helped .
I really like the bikes , they'll probably be out of my price range but that's true of most high end stuff these days .
I'd love one. The weight of the alloy frame and price of the carbon puts me off
4.1kg without shock for the S170 according to Bikeperfect.
AM170 carbon is 3.5kg so still a heavy bike.
Raaw Madonna 3.9kg, a well known heavy alu brand. Competitive comparable carbon bikes we'd be looking at 2.5-3kg I think.
Having seen the S170 at Bespoked manchester I was very interested in a possible S150. In the end I ordered an A150 after some contemplation and a convincing test ride.
Interesting that the Ss are all mullets like the A200 and A170 whereas the A150 and A130 are 29ers.
It’s cool how it seems to be standing on its own 2 feet without relying on the name recognition thing .
Not sure I agree with that, given how well the Robot Bike Co wasn't doing before the Athertons became involved.
However... saw a S170 at the weekend. Wasn't expecting much from seeing photos, but thought it looked cracking in real life
Robot wasn’t winning world cups/champs though, which Atherton have, with and without an Atherton piloting them. Also think Atherton have had a lot more funding poured in, via govt grants and crowdfunding that Robot didn’t.
The A and S range both look very nice imo, I was at Dyfi bike park a few weeks back and saw lots in the flesh.
The aluminium one might not be super light but it's got a lifetime warranty and looks like you'd never need to take advantage of it.
I think they are still too niche market.
ie those that are loaded, or very very good riders.
Niche maybe what they are trying to do is establish a 'thorough bred' market before releasing cheaper bikes that 90% of the mtb riding population will get use of.
From 4.8k and available on c2w means that whilst it’s not cheap, it’s on par with other much bigger manufacturers.
Who decided alloy suspension frames should start becoming absolute tanks, the S170 is over 10 pounds with air shock, over 11 pounds with coil, a medium 2020 nukeproof mega alloy was about 8 pound with a super deluxe ultimate air shock fitted, adding a full kilo seems a bit excessively overbuild.
adding a full kilo seems a bit excessively overbuild
For a brand headed by Gee, Rachel and Dan....? I think built for "anything" is exactly the right positioning. Strong enough for the average rider to do average riding would be short of the mark.
From 4.8k and available on c2w means that whilst it’s not cheap, it’s on par with other much bigger manufacturers.
Personally I can't see myself ever buying one, even though they are on par, purely down to cost. Other manufacturers will have end of season sales and discounts, which I can buy into - Atherton never will due to the on demand manufacturing process.
Yep, weights on most Enduro frames have been going up, I would be surprised if there are any 170mm Enduro frames at 3kg now.
They need to be capable of the extreme Enduro demands.
I guess with weight the question is whether you consider a bike that fits "optimally" (ie loads of reach/stack increments) is more important than one which weighs less?
I'm a bit surprised orange don't go down the custom geo path - they have so many SKUs/colours its clear that they build each frame to order - surely it can't be that much harder to allow full (within reason) custom geo?
Who decided alloy suspension frames should start becoming absolute tanks
This does seem to be a bit of a trend, but I'm fairly relaxed about that.
There are lighter frames available for riders like you and me who prefer them.
I have a lighter aluminium trail bike and a heavy framed enduro bike actually.
Will be keeping an eye on the 150. I'm thinking of changing my Ripmo AF at some point next year, unless Ibis release a new AF themselves.
FunkyDuncFree Member
I think they are still too niche market.ie those that are loaded, or very very good riders.
The A range is pricey, but its a top end MTB
you can easily spend the equivalent on a Santa Cruz or a Pivot, in fact I’m pretty sure some of the peg spesh stuff is more than an Atherton
you can easily spend the equivalent on a Santa Cruz or a Pivot, in fact I’m pretty sure some of the peg spesh stuff is more than an Atherton
indeed. On my list were the new SC Hightower and Ibis Ripmo. Rode the A150 figured I didn’t need to ride the others. Nice bikes with some great features though.
regardign weights, given the athertons, and their riders, batter the absolute crap out of them at Dyfi, you would expect that building lighter bikes, with an inevitable higher failure rate, is less of a priority.
yes for the average dad the failure of a tank of a frame is less likely but given the crap/grief brands get on re-occuring frame failures erring on teh side of caution for a new brand (where riders are actively encouraged to go as hard as possible!) is probably wise.
i really like the look of them and would love one. Weight wouldnt be an issue for me but i'd need to live somewhere where the trails justified the bike. there is no wharncliffe on the south downs for example.
i've avoided buying brands frames that have weight limits or use parameters. i've not snapped many frames (ive done 2) but I'm not gentle.
Lifetime warranty for the first owner! That requires a seriously strong frame considering how some riders seem to be able to break any bike and the Atherton’s run Dyfi Bike Park!
“I think they are still too niche market.”
They don’t have the production capacity for mass market.
For a UK made bike they’re good value and if I lived somewhere with gnarly trails they’d be at the top of my shortlist.
Pre-Launch/investor sale of the S200 starts today.
Not sure when the specs/prices of the various options will be on the website.
I'm not sure they're bothered about getting into "mass market". There's a lot of competition out there and it's cut throat, race to the bottom stuff. I doubt they're interested in that as a family/brand and I doubt the kind of people that buy their bikes are either.
Comparing it to a China produced carbon wonder isn't really fair. How does it weigh up against a Nicolai? Probably a pretty good comparison given the European manufacture and construction method.
Why do they have to do a lighter frame? It obviously isn't a major consideration to make the lightest bike possible and that's not the kind of bike these are. There are plenty of other lighter, long travel bikes with significantly less warranty backup
THe bit that is of more concern to me is the chemical reaction between the carbon and the aluminium in the aluminium/titanium lugs. Aluminium and carbon corrode each other forming Aluminium carbide which cant be good for frame longevity. I can only presume the adhesive creates a good enough barrier to stop it
THe bit that is of more concern to me is the chemical reaction between the carbon and the aluminium in the aluminium/titanium lugs. Aluminium and carbon corrode each other forming Aluminium carbide which cant be good for frame longevity. I can only presume the adhesive creates a good enough barrier to stop it
The A bikes are titanium lugs and carbon tubes. The S bikes are aluminium lugs and aluminium tubes. They don't make any frames that use carbon and aluminium together.
Prices:
Frame only is £2799
That's pretty good value for a domestically build frame.
In general it's a pretty good looking bike but that side view is the worst angle for it. I hate the way loads of current bikes aim the downtube about a foot ahead of the BB. In this case it might be necessary for clearance to the shock reservoir but it looks awful. Other than that it's a dead ringer for one of the best looking bikes ever the IH Sunday
THe bit that is of more concern to me is the chemical reaction between the carbon and the aluminium in the aluminium/titanium lugs. Aluminium and carbon corrode each other forming Aluminium carbide which cant be good for frame longevity. I can only presume the adhesive creates a good enough barrier to stop itThe A bikes are titanium lugs and carbon tubes. The S bikes are aluminium lugs and aluminium tubes. They don't make any frames that use carbon and aluminium together.
It’s a titanium alloy, a mix of titanium and aluminium. Its not pure titanium
It’s a titanium alloy, a mix of titanium and aluminium. Its not pure titanium
Ahem
Additive manufactured lugs in titanium
Additive Manufacturing technology allows us the design flexibility to create custom sizing, and the ability to create innovative joint interfaces. Titanium (aerospace grade Ti6Al4V) gives the optimum strength/weight solution for these loaded areas of the frame and works brilliantly when it’s bonded to carbon fibre laminates.
Our lugs are produced by the Ren AM 500Q in a Metal Powder Bed Fusion process, with Ti powder particles in the 10-45um range melted together by four high power fibre lasers, heat treated for optimal mechanical performance and then CNC machined for bearing, headset and bottom bracket fit.
From Here
Ooof, that's a decent bit of kit for £5.5K. Looks like a very fun ride.
THe bit that is of more concern to me is the chemical reaction between the carbon and the aluminium in the aluminium/titanium lugs. Aluminium and carbon corrode each other forming Aluminium carbide which cant be good for frame longevity. I can only presume the adhesive creates a good enough barrier to stop itThe A bikes are titanium lugs and carbon tubes. The S bikes are aluminium lugs and aluminium tubes. They don't make any frames that use carbon and aluminium together.
It’s a titanium alloy, a mix of titanium and aluminium. Its not pure titanium
It’s the most common form of titanium in use. We don’t call it titanium alloy like we rarely call aluminium “aluminium alloy” even though it always is. You can’t consider an alloy just a mix of different elements within the main metal, the whole point of an alloy is that the different elements change the behaviour in complex ways, eg bronze is harder than both copper and tin even though that’s all it’s usually made of.
Summary from a research paper:
”The demand for the use of carbon-fiber-reinforced materials in automotive industry is increasing worldwide. However, a destructive galvanic corrosion is inevitable when carbon fiber contacts with metals. In present research, the galvanic corrosion between carbon fiber and three kinds of well used metals, steel, A356 aluminum alloy and Ti6Al4V titanium alloy, was studied. By employing the potentiodynamic polarization tests and zero resistance ammeter testing (ZRA) method, the corrosion potential and their difference in values were figured out. The corrosion behavior of the uncoated samples and the coated aluminum alloy was evaluated in a 3.5% NaCl solution. It was found that when coupled with carbon fiber, steel and A356 aluminum alloy were corroded while the titanium alloy remained almost intact. To address this problem for the lightweight aluminum alloys, a plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) technique was employed to synthesize an oxide coating on the A356 alloy and Ti6Al4V titanium alloy as well. The results of the experiments showed the rate of the galvanic corrosion current could be decreased significantly when the PEO coatings were applied on the aluminum surfaces. The coatings prepared using duplex unipolar and bipolar treatments had a dense surface and as a result, showed the lowest corrosion current and highest corrosion resistance in the polarization corrosion and ZRA tests. For the Ti–6Al–4V cases, both coated and uncoated samples exhibited excellent galvanic corrosion resistances in the test environment.”
It’s a titanium alloy, a mix of titanium and aluminium. Its not pure titanium
Ahem
Additive manufactured lugs in titanium
Additive Manufacturing technology allows us the design flexibility to create custom sizing, and the ability to create innovative joint interfaces. Titanium (aerospace grade Ti6Al4V) gives the optimum strength/weight solution for these loaded areas of the frame and works brilliantly when it’s bonded to carbon fibre laminates.
From Here
Ti6Al4V is titanium alloy, it literally tells you the composition. Titanium + 6% aluminium + 4% vanadium.