- We are at Red Bull Hardline,
and this is Gee Atherton's prototype Atherton bike.
(logo thumping)
(logo swishing)
(upbeat music)
So, with this downhill bike,
it is running a 27 in the back and a 29 in the front.
Gee sits at about,
well, not about, exactly 185 centimeters tall.
With the nature of it being a prototype
we don't have our typical sizing,
and details are thin on the ground,
such as shock kinematics and reach.
So, we're going to have to wait in due course
to find out what exact size Gee rides.
In terms of material this bike is really cool.
It's carbon tubed, and it's got these
3D-printed titanium lugs.
What this means is it's got a huge amount
of adjustability, you can change the length of your tubes
and then, with the additive manufacturing,
you can change the shape and size of the lugs.
So a truly custom bike, and I'll be really interested
to see what they bring to production.
So for the wheels, Gee is running some ZTR Flows by Stans,
and paired to their Neo hubs.
Like I said, 27 in the back, 29 in the front,
and interestingly no inserts.
Not even with all this course is demanding
have they gone to a tire insert,
which I think's pretty cool.
The Athertons for many years have been Fox athletes,
so it's no surprise to see Gee running the GRIP2 damper
in his Fox 49er fork.
They've got the coil X2 on the back with a 525 pound spring.
They're being quite tightlipped
in terms of what the kinematics of the bike are,
so yet again we're going to have to find out in due course.
In terms of stopping, the Athertons are running
the beautiful Trickstuff Maximas,
which are incredibly high-end brakes,
but they're also incredibly high power.
That is paired to some 203 Trickstuff rotors front and back.
They've also got the Goodridge braided hose.
Because the brakes are so powerful
they do suffer from more hose expansion,
so you really do need a really strict grip on that hose
to stop it expanding under heat and pressure.
Gee is running a 780mm Renthal Fatbar.
He's also got 15mm stem spacers
under his 50mm Renthal stem.
So, quite a kind of high front end,
but I guess with the steepness of the track
that's hardly surprising.
But coupled with the 49er, it's quite a rise on it.
He's running the Renthal grips, I don't know what,
maybe the brand naming is,
I'm pretty sure they'd be considered
somewhere along the Super Soft lines,
they're very soft indeed.
And he's got not that much throw on his brake levers.
The bite point bites, I'd say, parallel to the bar.
And they're reasonably flat.
They're not completely parallel to the ground,
but at the same time they're not slammed down.
Pretty moderate I'd say.
Gee is running one of the WTB saddles,
which has got a really nice, custom Atherton wrap.
He's running an FSA K-Force seatpost,
which is incredibly light.
And I've got a feeling K-Force is even their road range,
so really high end.
And to finish off, his cockpit and contact points.
Gee Atherton is running some quite well used,
but in pretty good nick, Crankbrothers downhill pedals.
He's got the Mallet, and the pins are dialed
a bit more in than you'd expect to find
from a box-fresh set.
For his number board, he is running the number one plate
as last year's winner.
They haven't done anything too fancy,
no extravagant plates or anything like that,
just good old fashioned cable ties
to keep it secured really tight to the forks there.
This bike is running a SRAM drivetrain,
but with the FSA Gradient cranks that are alloy.
So this is a seven speed downhill-specific drivetrain,
and that is paired to an FSA 36-tooth chainring
on the front.
He's running a full complement of an MRP chain device,
both top and bottom.
There are flashes and splashes of rubber mastic tape,
but nothing too elaborate,
nothing, none of those bumpy chainstays
you see more and more commonly.
So you can only presume it runs pretty quietly from stock.
And that is how you spec a bike
to ride the toughest downhill course in the world.
Gee being local to here,
you have to imagine he has a pretty good idea how to do it.
Now, if you want to keep for the channel
you can click here to check out
Nino Schurter's amazing crosscountry bike.
As always, don't forget to like and subscribe,
and thanks for watching, cheers guys.