It wasn’t all downhill bikes on the Atherton Bikes stand at the London Bike Show, Dan Atherton had his custom 22″ BMX on display too.
The beauty of owning your own bike company and 3D printing things, is that ideas don’t take long to come to fruition.
We all know Dan Atherton loves a bit of BMX and he had his custom Atherton Bikes 22″ BMX that he developed with Ted James to ride dirt jumps in Wales with him at the London Bike Show.
Jamie caught up with the eldest Atherton sibling for a chat.
In Dan’s words:
“Here we are at the London Bike Show, on the Atherton Bikes stand and I have behind me here, my new 22” BMX.
It’s been a project I’ve been working on with Ted James for probably over a year now, anyone who knows Ted James knows how passionate he is about everything in the industry and pours his heart and soul into every project, so we didn’t want to bring this bike out until it was perfect.
It’s pretty much come from a need to have a BMX I can ride on dirt jumps in Wales really. We don’t have the best weather or the smoothest jumps, so I’ve put a disc on it, I built it out of titanium so it’s a little bit smoother, with a softer ride.
Geometry-wise, it’s pretty similar to the S&M 22″ BMX, about a 22″ top tube, we went with a slightly lower BB, a slightly slacker head angle, just so it feels a little be more stable for me.
Spec-wise, I put mountain bike cranks on it because I don’t like grinding my ankles out on a 3-piece BMX crank but I should probably put a BMX crank on it so I don’t get ripped too bad.
The ride is nuts really. I spend a lot of time swapping between bikes, whether it’s downhill, enduro, BMX or motocross, and to have 22″ wheels with a disc it just feels way more natural to swap. I ride it in the park a lot and it’s fine, it’s a good, fun bike”.
Check out Jamie’s chat with Rachel Atherton about how the Atherton Bikes frames are made here.
Read our Wise Words interview with Atherton Bikes’ co-founder Piers Linney here.
Everything else Atherton Bike-related can be found on their website.
