New Atherton alloy bike imminent?

see where this fits price wise

Probably still a fortune

Yeah i don't know if all of this makes sense. They've made a niche of carbon tube, weird connections and the DW6 suspension, but also from being 100% race ready as a directly influence from WCDH bikes. Therefore having quite a targetted market. From what i see they have a waiting list of customers for bikes and build as many as they can sell...

So jumping into other markets, well for me that's a big risk. Especially with the markets being the way they are at the moment. Most bikes are reduced withing 6 months of release, i think the Privateer E-161 was reduced within a month of release.
I hope it's not a mistake for them.

Looks to be similar lug & tube construction (or just for prototype?) 

Yeah, could well just be to prototype and test.

I'd have thought a standard Taiwanese alu frame but with the 6-bar suspension would have been the hot ticket.

Plenty of good 4-bar options out there already eh.

that button on the headtube looks like the button you press to take half a parasol tube off the other half. Maybe its fully collapsable? 🙂

that button on the headtube looks like the button you press to take half a parasol tube off the other half. Maybe its fully collapsable?

I thought it might be an ejector seat button for Gee - seems to have crashed a bit lately.

I think it'll be an ebike.

@weeksy

From what i see they have a waiting list of customers for bikes and build as many as they can sell…

What makes you say that?

I've seen it on various places wbe people are trying to buy one to be told there's 6 month wait list/build-queue.

That looks like a DW link like Ibis use - not a standard 4 bar Horst link. Wonder if they can get some more seat tube insertion for longer dropper posts - the carbon one has a kink in the seat tube that limits it.

I had a really good look at the prototype at Dyfi back in September.

Its aluminium tube into aluminium lugs, with what looked like a CNC-machined rear end. Picking it up (with permission) it wasn’t heavy, on par with the lighter end of aluminium enduro bikes. 170 F/R I think. Geo looked very similar to the AM 170.

The latest pictures around show a more refined version so I suspect it’ll be released very soon, the rear is a bit different from what I saw. The prototype had been absolutely battered, given about 5 years of riding in one summer and no issues at all.

They’ve just bought/ leased a new warehouse industrial unit so I wonder whether that’s for the upscaling of the business, including aluminium frames. It doesn’t look like a sensible decision with the way the bike industry is going, but seeing the average buyer of the existing Atherton range and having met one, they’re not in the demographic for whom spending money on bikes is an issue.

I rode my mates AM150 in south wales at the weekend (my dropper gave up the ghost).

I was thoroughly underwhelmed. It felt really lethargic and slow on the flats/climbs.

And on the downs it felt like it was trying to throw me out the front door all the time, despite being very similar geo to my Enduro bike.

An odd experience. But the owner loves it, despite a bit of a balls up with production, a long delay and having to take it back as something wasn't bonded in properly in the seat tube.

I'm sure the new bike will receive lots of praise tho and will sell well.

Maybe they've hit a limit on how fast they can produce the current bikes and want to expand into another construction method? Looks interesting

That looks like a DW link like Ibis use – not a standard 4 bar Horst link

My reading comprehension mistake, the same suspension as the posh bikes would still obviously be more of a draw - but an affordable DW bike with progressive geometry could be a strong proposition too.

Adding bikes to a range is always a risk. But when you have a 6 month waiting list less of a risk than it might be

Maybe that black bit near the headtube is for one of those deflopulators / steering damper things?

I was thinking the same thing.

Top tube storage?
Top tube cable tourism?

Is a changeable HTA/reach adjust type scenario a daft suggestion?

Straws/grasping...

I’m fairly certain the DW6 design behaves almost identically to what’s possible with a normal DW link system, but that extra pivot at the axle end of the chainstay makes it possible to change the length of the back end of the bike without significantly affecting the kinematics.

Interesting manufacturing concept for the alloy bikes - if they want to make their alloy frames in the UK, is it even financially viable to do it like the Taiwanese builders would? Not just the cost of skilled welders but also all the supply chain for tubes, forgings, castings, hydroforming, etc.

Ebike. No pint in using carbon once you slap a heavy motor and battery on

I’ve seen it on various places wbe people are trying to buy one to be told there’s 6 month wait list/build-queue.

That suggests they have very limited production. I’ve never seen one in real life

If you’ve got alloy tubes and lugs they’ll glue it. Like original vitus

I’ve never seen one in real life

I've seen a few as you may expect... but it really is a handful rather than a pile of them. Well, apart from the times at Dyfi where there's plenty 🙂
But i wonder if even if it wasn't the Pro riders on them at Dyfi/Antur/Llangollen etc, you'd still probably see a fair few up that way because they're ridden where intended.

A 2024 geo IH Sunday sounds like a great idea though I doubt there'll be a DH bike as they don't sell in big numbers.

Not surprised they'd use lugged construction for prototyping as it's tech they have and doesn't require welding or heat treatment, both of which are expensive and specialist (very little 3rd party capability in UK).  I'd imagine, similar to Starling, that they'd do the back ends in Taiwan and the rest in the UK, that would allow them to keep the costs down and still off the customisation they currently offer.

Don't like the monolithic head tube so hopefully that gets a bit more sculpted but otherwise I think it looks/sounds like a great addition. best of luck to them.

The article does though beg the question WTF is Bike Perfect? 🤔

Rubber_Buccaneer

Maybe they’ve hit a limit on how fast they can produce the current bikes and want to expand into another construction method? Looks interesting

Any expansion of current setup would require buying mode titanium 3D printers whixb I auspect are not cheap. This just seems a logical way to expand.They might have spare CNC hours. ut not printer hours, this would allow them to use them

@chrismac production is very limited, mainly due to the lugs - they're hand finished so many hours goes into each set (16 I think) before they're ready for use.

Lead time was 18 weeks a couple of weeks ago.

If they really want to get more people on their bikes, surely fixed-size S, M , L & XL frames made in Taiwan is the way to go?

It's not hard to find frames with good geo now, but IIRC the DW Link ones all tend to have short rear ends or be carbon and very expensive.

Ebike. No pint in using carbon once you slap a heavy motor and battery on

Not sure, I agree.  If you ride an ebike because you have to (Like me now), part of the reason behind having a lighter-weight ebike - was to make it easier to move - when you were not riding it.  Putting my old e-bike on the roof of the car was a 2-person job for me, and simply getting in the back of the car was difficult.  It doesn’t sound a lot but the weight of a 23kg ebike is much more unwieldy than an 18kg one - it makes a huge difference.

Given the construction method is it such a big hassle to make a downhill bike? They have geometry and the ability to print lugs, they just need to do that for geometry B rather than usual geometry A and put them together ( which is the same methodology etc.)

Eh? They have a DH bike already
https://www.athertonbikes.com/bike/downhill.html

you’d still probably see a fair few up that way because they’re ridden where intended.

Does that not make them suitable for being ridden elsewhere?

There's a write up in the MBUK mag on these out today. Can't be far off a general release now.

Just seen this crop up on Facebook:

Full builds from £4800......

Sorry but I'm out!!!

There's another magazine?

Full builds from £4800……

Sorry but I’m out!!!

Same ballpark as the new Privateer. Considering Privateer's whole spiel is around being accessible, Atherton doing a budget version and getting close price wise is a big win in my eyes

I think that's an ok price these days for a 170

As a headline figure it seems fine. Devil is in the detail though if running Sram SX for that money. Will wait for actual details

We need more DW bike options. This is a good move for that.

Sorry but I’m out!!!

It's too expensive for me as well... but seems more keenly priced than I was expecting. They'll sell lots.

Depending on spec it seems pretty ballpark price wise, imo.

I think it comes down to the spec to a certain extent. Just to pick another British designed full suss the Bird Aeris 9 could be given an epic spec for £4500 ish. 180mm rear travel / 180mm Zeb Ultimate RC2 / Vivid shock / Ex511 rims on Hope Pro5’s / Hope tech 4 V4’s on Hope floating rotors / Full XT drivetrain etc.

Atherton might be a more premium name but will need to see how good the frame is / how many sizes available etc. As I understand it the alloy is a DW link rather than the DW6 on the Carbon one. Still decent but less unique.