STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX & ONTO THE TRAILS
The Atherton AM.130is a real conversation starter on the trails. Not only is the frame unusual – handcrafted in Wales from carbon fibre and titanium, using a far-from-common construction method – but so is the six-bar suspension linkage out back. And then there’s the name on the down tube, which will be forever associated with pushing the limits of gravity riding. How does all this translate to a short-travel trail bike, though? Can the AM.130 live up to its looks?
THE FRAME
Atherton Bikes use an additive manufacturing process (3D printing, essentially) to produce titanium lugs, into which carbon fibre tubes are bonded. The beauty of these lugs is that they can be made in almost any shape, so the brand are able to offer 22 frame sizes, along with custom geometry options. They also design every tube in-house, in a bid to give their frames the best balance of strength (for acceleration) and compliance (engineered flex, for cornering grip). Frame features are kept simple – a water bottle mount, internal cable routing, and protection on the down tube and chainstays.
There’s a deliberate lack of leverage curve details and anti-squat graphs to be found online, shrouding the ‘DW6’ suspension in secrecy. What we can tell you is that the six bars of the linkage comprise the mainframe, two short links connecting this to the chainstays, the chainstays and seatstays (each counted as one bar), and the upper rocker link. Combining features of twin-link and four-bar Horst-link designs, Atherton Bikes claim that this set-up lets them control the suspension kinematics more independently, in order to fine-tune the bike’s ride character.
We tested a size ‘5’ bike, which sits towards the smaller end of the Atherton Bikes sizing range, with a modest 450mm reach and middling 617mm stack height, a trail-friendly 65.5-degree head angle and a steep 78-degree effective seat tube angle. The chainstay length is a stubby 433mm, bottom bracket (BB) height a low 335mm, and the seat tube is also short, at 380mm.
THE KIT
The AM.130.1 is Atherton’s most expensive build and has a decent spec, but isn’t dripping in the latest kit. A top-end RockShox Pike Ultimate RC2 fork and Super Deluxe Ultimate RCT shock take care of suspension duties. The drivetrain is mechanical SRAM X01 Eagle, not one of the new wireless Eagle AXS Transmissions, although the bike does use a UDH (Uni
