Atherton bikes, what’s the latest news.

That’s really interesting to read through it all qwerty yeah…

I don’t ever forsee my buying one due to riding ability and costs.. but i love the theory.

Frame weight of the AM150 is 3.65KG according to the Athertons

That has to be with the shock & hardware, doesn’t it?

but **** looking after all those bearings

I guess if you’re paying that much for a frame, you’re also paying someone else to change the bearings.

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flag Will-AthertonBikes (15 hours ago)
While each bike is different based upon the amount of titanium/carbon, but it is approx 3.65kg without a shock.

Bedmaker – oh dear. I had a hefty Nukeproof Mega alu frame a few years ago that was 3.8kg without shock.

So the fancy titanium lugged construction is basically adding weight over cheaper full-carbon rivals?

It’s all those (18!!) bearings that increase the weight lol

How does that weight compare to other DH frames (been a while since I’ve been in that game)? Is it that they’ve just taken the DH frame and tweaked the geo to turn it into a 150mm trail bike?

They look great, would be interested if I had the £

So it’s a little over 9lbs for the am150 with shock, is that why they’ve gone with a superdeluxe to save weight over a fox, lifetime warranty though so it’s overbuilt.

lifetime warranty though so it’s overbuilt.

Gee Atherton riding it so it’s overbuilt.

Gee Atherton riding it so it’s overbuilt.

Yeah, bombproof appears to be priority. Breaking one seems highly unlikely. I can’t be bothered digging back into the PB comments, but someone asked about strength.
They sent one bike over for testing, and used the same bike for all seven (iirc) tests, after it had been hammered by Dan for months.

Apparently some manufacturers send a frame for each of the seven tests as it’s assumed they will break.

Fair play to them for putting up the weight figure when questioned, knowing it’s probably not really what many people would have expected.

Much prefer this vid

Can’t help but think that they are too much bike for the type of person who can afford them

They need to do a shorter travel trail bike

They’re lovely bikes, and the amount of engineering going into those frames is really good to see, from the above video it looks like they’re making a few, and selling them, so should be a few around the places!

It’s good to hear the plans for the future as well, can see a 130mm being on the site soon, as it’s an easy market to break into and sell too, but that additive manufacturing process for the Ti parts will be a real issue going into larger production numbers, they are a god send for our industries for rapid prototyping, but way too complex and expensive for mass manufacturing!

Can’t help but think that they are too much bike for the type of person who can afford them

eh?

Think it’s a ‘all the gear, no idea’ comment, personally I don’t care who rides what, in this instance it’s letting a uk company try and expand, so good to see.

Can’t help but think that they are too much bike for the type of person who can afford them

eh?

I think he means that if you’re rich enough to blow 8 grand on a bike you’ll be spending all your time at work and if you ever find the time to visit a DH track you’ll get smoked by teenagers on old Spesh Big Hit’s.

oddly, the more i look at them, the more i like them….. it could be a genuine ‘bike for life’.

Frame only price isnt as bad as it first seems, when comparing to some other options. But equally, i know that carbon tubes cost bobbins, so its the rest of the process you need to really buy into to achieve any sort of ‘value’.

I think he means that if you’re rich enough to blow 8 grand on a bike you’ll be spending all your time at work and if you ever find the time to visit a DH track you’ll get smoked by teenagers on old Spesh Big Hit’s.

That’s the poor state of the MTB industry right now, summarised beautifully.

I think he means that if you’re rich enough to blow 8 grand on a bike you’ll be spending all your time at work and if you ever find the time to visit a DH track you’ll get smoked by teenagers on old Spesh Big Hit’s.

That’s the poor state of the MTB industry right now, summarised beautifully.

Hmmm, I think the original comment was uninformed bollocks. Like anyone’s going to struggle to use a 150mm full-sus bike effectively.

Kids on cheap bikes going faster than middle-aged blokes has always been the case.

Like anyone’s going to struggle to use a 150mm full-sus bike effectively.

Really? Loads of people on this very forum still refer to them as ‘skills compensators’.

Like anyone’s going to struggle to use a 150mm full-sus bike effectively.
Really? Loads of people on this very forum still refer to them as ‘skills compensators’.

Those forumites probably not in this thread though. the only Atherton they have heard of is Michael.

If I have ever used the term it was a) only a joke and b) only in reference to my own bike.

I wonder if we’ll ever see a hardtail – Robot bike co had one designed and produced just before the Atherton’s bought them.

Really? Loads of people on this very forum still refer to them as ‘skills compensators’.

OK, like the majority of semi-competent hobby MTBers are going to struggle to make use of a 150mm bike.

Used to have one (150mm travel bike) but found it too much travel as I just wasn’t riding it hard enough…on a 130mm rear now and find it much better…however, I’m a terrible biker so suspect I’m ticking the boxes due to genuine lack of ability and not due to buying the biggest travel I could get my hands on as it was a bigger number so gonna be better.

I guess when it boils down to it, the main aim of the initial prototypes which have evolved into the models offered was to afford a platform to Atherton Racing so

a) They actually had bikes to race on

and

b) They could prove the concept with race results and death defying doolallyness

If that is indeed the case, then it’d make sense for the initial focus to be a DH bike, followed by a hard hitting all rounder that could lend itself to Enduro races if necessary.

Obviously, now they have a production facility and are beginning to find their feet, there is now scope to diversify and show the true potential of this exciting technology across a range of models for all abilities and riding styles…

That said, my lusting for a schweet 26er 100mm 4x bike might be some way off yet!

Out of curiosity I looked up some old articles on robot bikes and their 27.5″ R160 was around 7lb with rockshox monarch shock and that also had a lifetime warranty.

I see people are still dragging out the old Specialized Epic and saying that the Atherton is made in the same way. Ironically the Specialized has as much in common with a bike from 1910.