Atherton Bikes A.200G prototype

A short teaser video has appeared on the Athertons’ YouTube channel offering glimpses of what looks like a gearbox downhill frame project. Entitled ‘A.200G – Something’s cooking!’ the social video reveals a fresh set of titanium lugs coming out of the additive manufacturing printer and being bonded to a carbon tubes with a DW6 suspension design. So far, so run-of-the-mill Atherton, if you could call a printed and bonded, carbon and titanium suspension bike run-of-the-mill.

Where it gets interesting is a shot of an engineer walking downstairs carrying a black box, about the size and shape of a gearbox. Or a motor. Then follows a blurry shot of a large additive manufactured part with a mounting pattern for a motor or a gearbox. Followed by some blueprints of said part, and a blank used for testing fit and tolerance stamped A.200G.

What’s in his hand? Is it a motor or a gearbox?

Now this could be Atherton Bikes working on an e-bike, but given the construction technique, and the relative lack of space for a battery in a tubular down tube, we suspect it’s more likely to be a gearbox bike, particularly given the A.200 designation, as 200 in Atherton Bikes convention means 200mm travel.

This could be a blank for testing tolerances.

That doesn’t mean that Atherton Bikes couldn’t produce an e-bike with an external battery, as Cotic has done with the unconventional Rocket, but given that Gates Belt Drive has offered a cool €100k to anyone who wins a World Cup Downhill race with a belt drive (the Gates Belted Purse competition), we think this is all the incentive needed to start playing around with gearbox prototypes.

This large BB lug has a six-point mounting on it for attaching something drivetrain-related.

Just look at Intense with its prototype Pinion/Gates equipped M1 on display at Eurobike last summer. Sadly for Elenora Farina of the MS Racing Intense team, who won the Les Gets round of the World Cup on last year, she did it on a bike with a conventional chain and derailleur. Maybe 2025 will be the year that someone – such as Charlie Hatton – scoops up that purse. Now that would be some payday!

Charlie Hatton on the Atherton A.200G prototype DH bike

UPDATE! A further teaser post on the Athertons’ Instagram account includes an image of Charlie Hatton riding the A.200G gearbox prototype. It’s unclear whether the image has been Photoshopped to remove the belt drive, or whether it’s tucked behind the chainstay and out of sight. Either way, the new A.200G looks like it’ll be a high, or mid high-pivot design, with a more rearward axle path than the current DH race bike. Judging by the single cable at the shifter, this looks like the Pinion Ci gearbox that uses electronic shifting – cable-shift Pinion designs use a dual cable system. The Ci unit has an E-Trigger shifter that’s far superior to the twist-grip design found on other Pinion units, being more ergonomic and requiring less effort.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Atherton Bikes (@athertonbikes)

One of the advantages of the Pinion. gearbox is that it’s possible to shift while not pedalling, so racers can coast into a section and pre-select the correct gear to pedal out of a corner. Something that could be an advantage on certain downhill tracks. Equally there’s less chance of destroying a drivetrain by clipping a tree, stump, or even a course marker. And centralising the weight of the drivetrain may have benefits when it comes to improving the stability of the chassis and the suspension performance. On the flip-side, there is more drag and friction with a gearbox, and there can be limits on shifting under high torque loads – fortunately that’s less of a concern for downhill racers. With the recent news that Reece Wilson will also be racing with a Pinion gearbox and Gates belt drive-equipped Gamux in 2025, the battle to claim Gates’ €100k bonus is well and truly heating up.