At the launch of Dyfi Bike Park’s latest red trail, 3rd Degree Berms, Pete got a closer look at Wideopenmag alumnus Charlie Hatton’s Atherton A.200.G.
This Atherton A.200.G belongs to Charlie Hatton, a man who used to fly the flag for us in his days as a yoof. Now a former World Champion and rocking a very special Atherton Bikes downhill rig.
We caught up with Charlie’s mechanic, Ben Lovell, to find out the details of this rare machine.
Charlie Hatton’s Atherton Bikes A.200.G:
- Frame: Atherton Bikes A.200.G
- Shock: Fox DHX2 Factory
- Fork: Fox 40 Factory 200mm fork
- Wheels: Stans Flow
- Tyres: Continental Kryptotal Downhill Supersoft
- Bar: FSA Gradient Bar
- Stem: FSA Gradient Direct Mount
- Grips: ODI Longnecks
- Pedals: Crankbrothers Mallet DH
- Seat Post: FSA KFX
- Seat: Proxim Nembo
- Brakes: Hayes Dominion A4
- Cranks: FSA Gradient X Pinion
- Gearbox: Pinion Ci
How many of these bikes exist?
We’ve got nine right now. Charlie’s got two, Elise has got two, George has got two…
Talk to us about geometry…
We have two sizes of this bike, 475mm reach and 455mm reach. Luke Wayman rides his with a +6 cup in his, George rides the 475 with a -10 cup in or the smaller size with a +10. Technically we could print any size we want but we can share the bikes across riders. These bikes cost so much to make plus squeezing them into manufacturing production bikes. Head angle is 63 degrees. The chainstay is shorter than we usually run, it’s a 438mm but at sag, it sits to where our old bike would at sag, due to the high pivot changing the dynamic sag level.
What does the high pivot offer on this bike?
We have a reward axle path and a linear progression to the kinematic. Once you’ve taken that hit, the bike doesn’t then just keep growing. The older high pivot Commencals just kept getting longer in a corner… The DW6 allows us to tune in the rearward axle path then become very linear. This makes it easy to tune and makes it very predictable.
What can you tell us about the top shock yoke?
Simply, this allows us to sit the shock lower in the frame to move the centre of gravity lower, give space to clear the top tube… We could use it to change the BB height… Well, we don’t have a BB… The gearbox height. We could offset it to change the progression but with a simple part that we can make quickly.
The testing videos showed testing with the chainstay brace, how has this evolved?
Went to a thinner carbon layup in the chainstay. We started with what we call our gravity carbon which is a thicker layup. Charlie quickly realised that he didn’t want the brace in there. He was riding it as flexible as he could make it the whole time. What we’ve done now is to take some material out of the carbon which also leads to a smaller Ti print on the lug which will also flex more. Now, he runs a brace in all the time and we can alter this by adding or subtracting braces.
Talk to us about the red button…
What red button…?
* Awkward silence *
It makes it go faster…
How does Charlie like his bike to feel?
Charlie is pretty middle of the road on setup to be honest. He runs it pretty fast compared to most, but I think a lot of the World Cup riders run their that way. He’s very particular about his bar roll and lever angle. There’s nothing that we’re doing that’s outrageous.
He used to be very ‘set and forget’ but we’re breaking him out of it a little bit. He’s riding brilliant and we want the bike to perform better for him. Before, he’d not change his setup once in a season but now we’ve had as many different shock tunes as we’ve had World Cups this year. We’re on a much stiffer tune with the new monotube DHX2 from Fox.
Why run the shock through 90 degrees?
This is all about centre of gravity and getting the shock lower in the frame. If it was pointing forwards, it would hit the downtube.
Let’s talk gearboxes. What does a gearbox allow you to do that a normal drivetrain wouldn’t?
You can put a belt on it (laughs).
Weight is a huge point. I mean we were strapping a kilo of lead onto our bikes last year, Jackson is running 1.3kg. Weight in the right place is really good. We have very minimal weight on the rear end now thanks to the gearbox. We have to run the brake there, the belt weighs less than a chain, our Ti ‘snubber’ is tiny and just keeps the belt on, so our unsprung mass there is ideal. It makes tuning the suspension much easier, the belt is dead quiet and all you can hear is tyres. It’s very much that same feel you get from an ebike having all that weight low down and getting that planted feel. You don’t want that weight at the top… But in the right place, it settles the bike.
Speaking of weight, do you know how much this weighs?
You’re looking at somewhere between 19 and 19.5kg (41.89-43lbs).
The back brake has rubber hose wrapped around it, what can you tell us about that?
The routing has a bit of space where the cable can rattle so the rubber is just sound deadening. With the gearbox and the belt drive, you can hear any other noise from the bike. Charlie likes having a quiet bike, I think everyone does… The fork has the same rubber, the brake hoses have velcro on them they don’t make noise on a number board and even our numbers have rubber on the back.
Let’s say this bike went into production tomorrow, is there anything you couldn’t buy on it?
Yeah, it’s either from us, something we’ve made or yeah, a part from a bike shop.
You can check out Atherton Bikes over on their home page here.
