Atherton bikes, what’s the latest news.

Not heard anything about the first 50, so whose got one.

They’ve gone quieter than Sick! 😁
Not seen anyone posting pics in the usual places. Hope they got some out before lockdown. I also hope they are back manufacturing now.

Fair bit of activity, showing manufacturing and fully built customer bikes, Plus responding to queries on their insta (inc Rach, Gee and Dan’s Feeds)

They still seem to be operating a ‘if you want one, email us’ sales strategy, with plenty of people asking, and getting that response & there’s enough knowledge of them in the market that they don’t really need to do much promo/wasting time and effort on tyre kickers. Plus none of the ‘ermagerd the angles/measurements are aaalll wrong!’ ‘Experts’ criticism for what is a fully customisable frame

First customer bike (frame) I’ve seen, outside of Atherton social media

Looks so much nicer than the Robot Bikes frames that these have developed from. The carbon tubes look nicer finished and the much darker lugs look slicker. Would love a shorter travel version of this (poppy 130mm travel bike) but suspect it’d be out of my budget / the wife would kill me if I swapped frame again!

Another one here that would be interested in a 130mm trail bike.

Did they ever intend to sell any or was it just to allow them to race as the UCI require them to ride stuff you can or intend to sell to the public?

They do look pretty good.👍

Rachel Atherton did a terrible sales video in which she pretty much said they were not selling very well

Did they ever intend to sell any or was it just to allow them to race as the UCI require them to ride stuff you can or intend to sell to the public?

Is that a rule for MTB (it is in road racing)?

If so, where can I buy Minnaar’s Honda?

Pretty sure the rules changed…at the time of the Honda there was no concern about that, it was a one-off (well a 3-of) and was never intended to go beyond seeing what could be achieved at the top end of competitive DH racing. From what I understand, all 3 versions were crushed at the end of it all (I hope at least 1 was kept as a momento of some sort!).

What is really worrying about that video is that the chat she is spouting seems to be the same as the next door neighbour’s 5-year old. Their 8 year old doesn’t even chat like that. Are they marketing to the rich kids that have the money to burn and think they are still 5 year olds??? That is mental…I genuinely didn’t realise someone who is old enough to vote spoke like that!

(I hope at least 1 was kept as a momento of some sort!)

There’s always rumours doing the rounds that Minaar, and possibly brendog, got to keep one.

There’s always rumours doing the rounds that Minaar, and possibly brendog, got to keep one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEQAHpzWPKs

3:39, In Greg’s shop in SA.

Ah excellent stuff…does look like it is built to do just 1 thing!

The Atherton bike looks good as well, just wrong wheel size and too much travel for my own taste but suspect it is a properly capable machine.

On the Atherton Bikes sales thing it doesn’t feel like they are properly attempting to sell them. You can’t go on the website and browse bikes / setups etc – you only get any detail if you were signed up to their mailing list.

If they haven’t therefore sold the first 50 bikes they have released slots for they only have themselves to blame really. Just list the bikes on your website to buy – I.e either the downhill or enduro model – but then once an order has been placed contact the buyer to finalise any custom geometry tweeks they’re looking to get.

They’re making them, still working on the first 50 (were on number 10 when Fahzure dropped in the other week) plus some new ones. A park bike for Dan Atherton and a shorter travel something that Dan Brown (team director) can pedal up at Dyfi and ride back down. Sounds like the actual making them is a slow process that they’re working to speed up, and ultimately Dan A hopes that one day they’ll have a test fleet at Dyfi, but that’s a way off yet.

joebristol

On the Atherton Bikes sales thing it doesn’t feel like they are properly attempting to sell them. You can’t go on the website and browse bikes / setups etc – you only get any detail if you were signed up to their mailing list.

You can barely figure out that they make a DH bike and a 150mm bike. There’s no information all all on the site. Not even a couple of build pics to get people interested. Maybe they’re not wanting to create more demand while they still figure out how to get the manufacturing process up to speed, but they’ve definitely lost any momentum that the initial hype created.

I said the same thing on the old Atherton Bikes thread.
Ive always felt that they did the press releases too soon. So much time has passed that at this point it starts to look like a failed attempt (regardless if it indeed is or not) which further depletes potential costumer confidence.

It seems they used all the press ammo too soon, then a period of silence, then a sales kickoff announcement almost with no details, particularly technical ones, no info on the website (you can find a PP or PDF tech/geo thing online, but you almost need to dive into the darkweb to find it). At this point there are still no relevant reviews online, and even an Instagram search gives no costumer results.

To make things worse, Gee’s performance on the new bike is kind of meh, to me it always looked stiff, nervous and unstable, quite contrasting to what he looked like on the Trek (pure bro-science here, pardon me). We don’t notice that with Rachel, but I believe that’s more related to how bonkers her riding is compared to the other female athletes.

Maybe this is all BS and they’re doing great, I don’t know. But this is an online forum as we’re allowed to speculate

zezaskar

To make things worse, Gee’s performance on the new bike is kind of meh, to me it always looked stiff, nervous and unstable, quite contrasting to what he looked like on the Trek (pure bro-science here, pardon me)..

Maybe more to do with injuries and age than anything else.

On the Atherton Bikes sales thing it doesn’t feel like they are properly attempting to sell them. You can’t go on the website and browse bikes / setups etc – you only get any detail if you were signed up to their mailing list.

I guess that these bikes are expensive enough that you aren’t going to sell to those that are casually browsing. These bikes are £5k plus with custom geo, while there are people that have that money burning a hole in their pocket that they want something off the peg NOW, people spending that amount are going to do a fair bit of research, so having to look into stuff a bit/sending an email isn’t an issue (indeed, it’s part of the fun for some) Also, given how fast geo is progressing, and how slow the production is, you might put as many off as you attract with a list of numbers, even if it’s just a baseline.

I’m not sure £5k is out of the ordinary anymore looking at list prices of a lot if bikes these days. It’s a few £k more than I’d spend but seeing all the carbon Santa Cruz’s etc at any trail centre you go to a lot of people are spending that sort of money.

Maybe they deliberately wanted a soft launch as they don’t have the manufacturing capacity to cope with more than 50 bikes sales this year. But if they actually haven’t sold that number out and need to then they need to make it easier to browse what you’re getting.

They could quote middle of their possible geometry as a baseline then the margins either side you can generally go. That’d be a step ahead of a number of custom build type small companies – it feels like they want Atherton bikes to be seen as a bigger brand with the amount of initial hype.

If the way they’re manufacturing frames could knock a chunk of weight off my current bike but replicate the exact geometry that would be quite compelling.

tomhoward

I guess that these bikes are expensive enough that you aren’t going to sell to those that are casually browsing.

Whether you’re a casual browser or serious buyer, you’re not going to want something that you can’t even see or don’t know exists. They have a really interesting, unusual product but make no attempt to sell it. It’s odd. They don’t have to publish geo charts or specs, but their site doesn’t even have a link to the bikes, or photos of the bikes, or any info at all.

I don’t see them as that crazy expensive, they’re in line with Specialized or Santa Cruz prices, not in Unno boutique territory

Their instagram does though, with the guys responding really quick to enquiries, filtering out the less commited ‘I might be intersted in a…’ types from the outset.

As with the Specialized Status. Nothing on the website, loads on social media, & you can buy them in the shops, if you go in and ask.

as mentioned above, if they are making number 10 now, the one I linked to is number 9, they might not be able to cope with big (or small) increases in orders and the problems that creates. No doubt on advice from their race team brake sponsors…

I think it’s funny that the opening image on the Atherton Bikes webpage is of Gee Atherton riding a Muddy Fox branded Intense M1… This seems to sum up their apparent lack of enthusiasm for generating sales.

I have emailed and, consequently, have the first 50 pdf brochure. They very much have standard sizes/ geometry configurations (custom sizing is offered for an extra £350). There are six standard sizes for the DH frame, and ten standard sizes for the Enduro 29”.

As others have mentioned above I find it gobsmacking that they haven’t published this geometry information and pricing on the Atherton Bikes webpage. Every Atherton Bikes Instagram post is followed with a flurry of questions asking about geometry/ sizing, pricing and availability. All these replies are invited to email/ DM, but surely it would be easier to publish this information on the website?

All these replies are invited to email/ DM, but surely it would be easier to publish this information on the website?

Makes the customer feel special, they are dealing directly with WC racers/owners of the company (even if they arent really).

Does seem odd, but then again we imagine someone isn’t doing this part of the job properly. Could be that with a small outfit, they just dont have someone who could do it.

Also they may lack the business experience – they race bike at the highest level, not run businesses.

Perhaps it would be like us turning up to a World Cup DH race and everyone wondering why we couldn’t even manage the track-walk never mind the practice.

They have (had?) Piers Linney in the background, one would have thought he’d chip in if they were making glaringly obvious errors.
I should propbably say, I’m not in any way, shape or form associated with them, don’t have an order with them or anything like that, I get it looks like im jumping to defend everything they do, I can just see why they are doing it, and I like what they are doing.

I’ve seen both the DH and the trail bike in the flesh as, I guess, has anyone that has been to Dyfi BP. They’re very nice looking and if I had the money to spend on one I’d be happy to buy one.

Given the current rate of sales and the number of bikes they have built for themselves someone must have very deep pockets and is prepared to wait along time for a return. Then there is the race team to fund without a big brand sponsor as they have had in the past.

That would be Piers Linney, ex dragon with a 9 digit net worth…

I don’t see them as that crazy expensive, they’re in line with Specialized or Santa Cruz prices, not in Unno boutique territory

Yes but given the choice why would you ever pick one over a Specialized or a Santa Cruz? Proven designs with amazing warranty, hell I would have an Unno over one every day of the week.

From what I saw,  they are working earnestly on getting the designed dialed for each of the Athertons’ needs and those of their customers. They have probably built about 40 for the Athertons and testing and another 10 (semi-custom) for customer, in addition to the website and Covid adaptation. Seems like a thorough program for moving into small production to me. Got a question or request…email them and ask, they won’t bite.

@Rick Draper , that was actually my point, that their price was not the reason for hypothetical low sales.

Yes but given the choice why would you ever pick one over a Specialized or a Santa Cruz?

Having owned more than one of both, I’d go Atherton every time. DW link is a proven design and I can pick my own geo, unlike with Santa Cruz (historically conservative geo) or Specialized (a global mega brand, but poor value at that end of the market). Warranty has never factored into my buying decisions, that said, if you have a personal relationship with them, I guess they would look after you. Be a pretty cool brag to break something they couldn’t too…

Doing all that work for them seems to be stopping the customers getting their bikes. As someone has said, all the hype and fanfare and practically nothing outside the 3 siblings to show…I think they went too early with the pr machine.

That would be Piers Linney, ex dragon with a 9 digit net worth…

he didn’t get to that without getting a decent return on his investments. Which still leaves the question how long will he be happy burning rather than earning money from the venture

tomhoward
Full Member
That would be Piers Linney, ex dragon with a 9 digit net worth…

This is interesting I presume we are talking about Jonathan Piers Daniel Linney of outsourcery.

How many cuts in that video though? Could she not get a single sentence correct in one go?

The Athertons have a habit of saying “you know” every 5 seconds, that’s probably the reason for the edit.😄