This year is going to be a big one for Atherton Bikes with a new range of models in development and now global distribution, all thanks to the brand’s successful crowdfunding venture.
The Atherton’s bike brand raised a ridiculous £1.5million in just 17 days, smashing its initial target of £600,000, meaning Atherton Bikes will soon be found on trails all over the world.
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The first 50 Atherton Bikes have now been sold to eager investors who jumped into the crowdfunding venture, hosted on Crowdcube. The big idea is that all this extra money lets the brand increase its production and lower its costs, shaking up the big players in the bike industry.
How many bikes are we talking about? Atherton Bikes says it will be selling 2,500 annually by 2023, and 7,500 two years after that. And it won’t just be trail bikes, by that stage another enduro bike, kids bikes, an e-bike and a park bike could all be on offer. The Athertons can’t tell us the exact details yet, but with complete control of their own construction processes, a hefty cash injection and decades of bike design experience, you can expect something pretty interesting. At present we’ve only seen their brand’s enduro bike, called the 150, and the Atherton’s own downhill bikes.
Anyone not familiar with the Athertons must have missed practically all of the last 20 years of mountain biking. Gee, Dan and Rach are mtb royalty, having raced at the highest level for decades, founded the Dyfi Bike Park, launched Red Bull Hardline, and since 2019 their own bike company, Atherton Bikes.
What’s so special about the Atherton’s bikes then? Well, for starters they’re made in the UK from carbon tubing. Nothing too unusual there, but those tubes are joined together with lugs, 3D printed using titanium powder that is melted by lasers, with each frame requiring 16 hours of machine time to print. It’s all then glued together to save weight. Now we’re interested. It’s this innovative use of technology that the brand thinks will give it the edge and shake up the bike market – without the need to hold months worth of stock like other brands do, Atherton Bikes hopes it can drive down costs. Let’s hope it’s right.