Atherton Motorcycles is operating on a 3-d-printed DH prototype that might shake up some of the first motorcycles they ever made – a brand new gearbox-driven A.200.G. There aren’t many at the moment are fairly a couple of extra concrete main points at the new prototype mountain motorcycle but even so the identify and its implications, simply but. However that and a few social media teases give us a pleasant sneak peek at what we may in finding at the DH Global Cup this season…
Replace: Atherton has given an attractive detailed behind-the-scenes take a look at the prototype gearbox DH motorcycle challenge, sharing an in depth 20-minute video telling the primary a part of the A.200.G’s construction and its preliminary trying out!
Atherton Motorcycles A.200.G 3-d-printed gearbox DH motorcycle prototype
(Pictures/Atherton Motorcycles)
The prototype downhill precursor to the A.200 used to be the primary motorcycle the Athertons teased after they introduced their new motorcycle logo in 2019. Customized 3-d-printed titanium lugs bonded to carbon tubes.
Then, along their A.150 enduro motorcycle, it used to be some of the authentic two customized frames that Atherton Motorcycles formally introduced a 12 months later. With Gee & Rachel racing the DH Global Cup – and having every received Global Championships, plus giant brother Dan being the grasp builder at the back of Dyfi Motorbike Park, it’s no wonder that a large shuttle downhill motorcycle is once more the primary to look giant leading edge construction.
What’s subsequent?
Main points stay scant. However Atherton has published that it’s nonetheless an A.200.
That implies 200mm of rear wheel shuttle. And it’s an A Vary motorcycle – their “pinnacle of engineering excellence” – that includes carbon tubes bonded to their 3-d-printed titanium lugs. That still method 22 same old body sizes will likely be presented, plus the choice for complete customized geometry, too.
A Vary additionally method the extra advanced 6-bar DW6 linkage designed through Dave Weagle. Additionally showed through a snappy shot within the Atherton teaser of the left seatstay getting bonded into the non-driveside dropout.
What’s new?
A lot of the main points glance equivalent.
The headtube (above a ways left, and better up within the tale) and the ends of the remains on this fresh-out-of-the-printer block appear just about just like the present A.200. The chainstay yoke reveals revised shaping to transparent the brand new gearbox yoke and the motorcycle’s decrease brief hyperlink. But it surely nonetheless has the similar 2-pivot structure for the DW6 suspension design.
After all, the large exchange is the gearbox yoke/mount/lug, or no matter we wish to name the alternative for the ground bracket lug. That’s the tallest piece within the 3-d-print, and the blurry component the Atherton engineers are protecting within the lede symbol.
It’s fairly a fancy phase at hand the gearbox below the body through six bolts, whilst being bonded with double-lap shear joints onto the carbon downtube & seattube, and offering the 3 of the decrease pivot issues within the DW6 suspension structure.
Is it a Pinion SmartShift Ci-Line gearbox, with a Gates belt-drive?
We aren’t 100% at the moment are fairly positive, but it surely seems like this Atherton A.200.G is designed to paintings with Pinion’s category-leading C-line gearbox. This gearbox dummy confirms the prototype motorcycle’s identify, as smartly.
And apparently, the glimpses of the gearbox itself each characteristic a Gates centerline-style belt cog. Probably then, this Atherton DH prototype will characteristic a belt tensioner, too.
Now we will see, that’s the similar, now electronic-shifting gearbox we’ve noticed in Intense’s M1 Pinion prototype DH motorcycle ultimate 12 months, in addition to the Gamux Sego that we’ve already noticed looking to nab Gate’s as-yet-unclaimed €100K prize.
The reasoning for a gearbox DH motorcycle stays the similar for Atherton because it has for Gamux & Intense, or even one thing as disparate because the Surly Moonlander.
No derailleur getting bashed off a passing rock, absolute best shifts within the cruelest driving prerequisites, and decrease upkeep. Higher weight distribution – decrease & extra central heart of gravity. And in the long run extra skill to track suspension round a motorbike’s sprung weight.
Much more element behind-the-scenes!
In keeping with Atherton…
“For nearly two decades as they travelled to Global Cups Atherton Motorcycles’ CEO Dan Brown, Athy, Gee, Rach, and their mechanics dreamed and deliberate for without equal DH motorcycle to take to the races… and extra regularly than now not a belt-driven gearbox motorcycle can be excessive up within the wish-list.
In 2024 the chance arose to spouse with Gates Carbon Force to make the dream a truth.
Atherton’s Additive Production (AM) generation is absolute best for permitting them to check and give a boost to issues truly briefly, so pushed through the fervour and dedication of Dave Weagle, Rob Gow, and architects Scott Aisthorpe and Will Carne the group have completed an attractive excellent first prototype inside months. This candid movie is a part 1 of a sequence and paperwork the beginning of that procedure… from a titanium construct plate to the primary week of ride-testing, subscribe to Atherton’s youtube to practice the motorcycle’s construction in actual time.”
When is it coming?
On social media, Atherton Motorcycles continues to be most effective teasing person components in their A.200.G DH prototype, no entire motorcycle pics. And simply an hourglass emoji to tease us that it’s coming quickly. So we predict it’ll be fairly some time till this factor makes it into manufacturing.
However with the 2025 UCI Mountain Motorbike Global Collection set to kick off with a Global Cup go back to Bielsko-Biała, Poland in mid-Might, we’ll be within the floor looking to get some nearer undercover agent pictures from the race monitor!
Can’t omit Ridgeline VI: Kazakhstan
We will’t now not point out Gee’s newest Ridgeline video, even though he’s driving the usual A.200, now not the prototype gearbox motorcycle…
“Ridgeline, the famend mountain motorcycle movie collection identified for shooting one of the maximum awe-inspiring and high-stakes mountain motorcycle adventures around the globe, launches its newest and maximum bold instalment: Ridgeline VI: Kazakhstan.
In pursuit of a brand new problem, the Ridgeline group grew to become their attractions past the acquainted mountains of Europe. In the hunt for a spot of poser and uncooked, untouched good looks, they discovered themselves interested in Kazakhstan. Masking an immense 2.7 million sq. kilometres, Kazakhstan is the sector’s ninth-largest nation, a land that calls for a brand new stage of preparation and admire. Not like earlier initiatives the place the group may just adapt briefly, Kazakhstan’s huge and faraway stretches required a ways better making plans. With lengthy distances between petrol stations and rugged, remoted terrain, each step of the adventure needed to be moderately concept out.
Gee’s adventure in Kazakhstan noticed him tackling massive, herbal strains onboard his Atherton Motorcycles A.200, calling on each inch of shuttle to melt the rugged barren region terrain. Hitting large, free scree slopes, regularly blindly, with only one take to nail it, the revel in has redefined the group’s working out of giant mountain driving attainable, highlighting the sophisticated stability between ambition and the unforgiving truth of those untouched environments.”
AthertonBikes.com
