Atherton AM.130 Review: The Trail Bike Benchmark

The Atherton AM.130 is a unique, 3D-printed trail bike that really stands apart from the crowd.

As you’d expect from mountain biking’s most famous and successful racing family, it’s a very special piece of kit.

Handmade in the Athertons’ homeland in Wales, the AM.130 uses a distinctive titanium lug and carbon-tubed frame that’s like little else on the market.

It also gets a twist on Dave Weagle’s DW-Link suspension design, which is exclusive to Atherton.

Is this the most accomplished trail bike ever? Our technical writer Luke Marshall has been putting the bike through its paces to find out.

Spoiler alert: It’s really flipping good.

Do you think 3D printing is the future of mountain bike design and manufacturing? Let us know in the comments!

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:30 Ride Impressions
02:19 Climbing
03:52 components
05:23 Tech Details
06:46 Suspension
08:13 Geometry
09:25 Outro

Listen to the BikeRadar Podcast
→ https://www.bikeradar.com/bikeradar-podcast/

Follow BikeRadar on our social media channels:
→ https://instagram.com/bikeradar
→ https://facebook.com/bikeradar
→ https://twitter.com/bikeradar

BikeRadar is supported by Mountain Biking UK and Cycling Plus Magazine –For more information and to subscribe please visit
→ https://bit.ly/3nMr3Rn

For more content like this see our latest subscription offer –
→ https://www.cyclingplus.com/subscribe-today/
→ https://www.mbuk.com/subscribe-today/

When the most famous mountain bike family starts their own bike company you sit up and take notice this is the Ain am1130 and we’ve been riding this Trail shredding 3D printed titanium and carbon Wonder to see if it lives up to the family name stay tuned for the full Tech

Rundown on this stunner but first off our own resident downhill demon and Technical editor Luke Marshall has been finding out just how this thing rides First things first a bike coming from a family of downhill world champions and race winners should descend like it’s hairs on fire perhaps unsurprisingly then the am 13.1 is in my eyes the new Benchmark for short travel trail bikes it’s so competent on the downs I actually had to check they hadn’t sent

Me the biggest sibling the 15 50 by mistake the dw6 platform offers an incredible balance between sensitivity and support turning this little 130 mm travel bike into a potent Trail rocket its Small Bump compliance irons out speed sapping Trail imperfections and high frequency bumps with a soothing

Touch of a longer travel bike yet it remains lightf footed and eager to respond to any Rider input this isn’t to say the bike mutes the trail like a plush 160 mm traveling GE bike it doesn’t but it flutters over bike park rubble and Trail Center chunk and does

Well to take the sting out of those frustratingly bumpy but not rough trails in a blind test I would guess there’s more travel on tap than the 130 mm again it can’t keep up with an Induro bike but for a short travel trail bike it eats bumps of breakfast and comes

Back for seconds while it devours the bumps well for its travel the am 13.1 is still lively and eager to charge through the turns while its stats on paper may seem Twitchy it balances its keenness to dive into turns with a stability that delivers confidence this makes the bike great for

Nipping through quick jinking turns where you can take advantage of its Nimble yet surprisingly surefooted Feeling as you might expect for a bike with so much descending prowess the am 13.1 isn’t the most spirited 130 mil travel trail bike uphill but it’s no slouch either once it settles into its sag Point there’s a noticeable absence of demoralizing Bob while seated pedaling the rear end remains stable

Even with the shock set open while still offering enough sensitivity to smooth out Trail imperfections comfortably when you stand up and push it the suspension sensitive beginning stroke becomes apparent yet it doesn’t hold the bike back when you stomp on the pedals displaying an eagerness to charge forward I experimented with the shock

Climb switch and Firming up the rear end proves beneficial it elevates the bottom bracket steepens the head angle adjusts the effective seat tube angle and subtly shifts the weight forward all this is very marginal though this puts you in a comfortable position on the bike to manage the handling on Steeps and means

You get fewer pedal strikes from the low bottom bracket the climbing performance gets an extra boost from continental’s Zen P trail tires they roll surprisingly well without feeling like they’re sapping your energy despite the grip they offer all told the am 13.1 is a solid climber happily zipping around the

Mountain side however in the realm of 130 mm travel trail bikes snappier bikes are available for those seeking an extra dose of responsiveness it’s all pretty Rosy so far now for the reality check the Shram G2 RSC brakes with 180 mm rotors might leave you wanting a bit more stopping

Power on steep descents given the price of £ 7,800 or $773 it’d be nice to see the latest Wireless Shram XO T type rather than its older x01 mechanical drivetrain and while making the change as swap to some 165 mm cranks too and if that price is

Too much to stomach Aon offer a full range of bikes in lugged aluminium 2 with prices starting from £4,800 for complete builds still it’s nice to see a complement of x01 across the board rather than see a downgrade shifter chain Ora set as is often seen on some

Rivals rockshock take care of the suspension with the 140 mm Pike Ultima rc2 with a charger 2.1 damper there’s also a Super Deluxe Ultima RCT shock again it would be nice to see the pike equipped with the latest Rock shock charger 3 damper rather than the older

2.1 model we’ve got an exclusive on those aluminium bikes so check out our short video on them with the banner above or check out the latest issue of mbuk magazine for more details right then now we’ve covered the ride Impressions let’s get our nerd hats on and see what makes the am1130 so

Unique after additive manufacturing involves 3D printing these titanium logs imagine old lugged road bike frames bought into the 21st century and you’ll get the idea a renish short machine uses for lasers to melt together thin layers of titanium alloy powder creating Logs with up to 3 and a half thousand layers

Over approximately 16 hours after printing the logs undergo heat treatment are cut from their base and received a hand finish touch for that final appearance threads and bearing seats are precisely cut before being B bonded to the frames carbon fiber tubing the beauty of these 3D printed logs and

Carbon tubes lies in their versatility the logs can be designed to almost any shape and the tubes cut to specific lengths because of this adaton are able to offer the am1130 in an impressive 22 frame size options along with the option for custom geometry frames this gives

You far more sizing options than its Rivals which normally have four or five maybe six sizes to choose from the manufacturing process is both complex and kind of simple at the same time a bit like the features on the bike itself there’s no internal frame storage adjustable geometry or extra mounts for

Tools however it does include practical elements like a water bottle Mount internally sleev cable routing and thoughtful frame protection on the dam tube and chain Stays while the frame features might be stripped back the dw6 suspension is actually pretty complex DW refers to design at Dave we while the six refers to the fact this is a six bar suspension design bear with me while I explain because this isn’t easy the six bars

Include the main frame two short links connecting the chain stays the chain stay itself the seat stay and the upper rocker link so you could see this pivot setup as a mix of a twin link with a horse link you still with me right going into more detail the

Chain STS connect to the main frame through two short links creating its own Center of curvature that moves during compression think of it as a twinl bike from Brands like Ibis pivot and giant however instead of a solid rear triangle an extra Hors length pivot splits the

Rear triangle the axle and brake mount find their place on the seat stay driving a rocker on the seat tube to compress the shock just like a Hors length design the idea is to give atin and Weagle more control over the suspensions kinematics and keep them consistent as the frame size Chang

Changes it’s cool to see this Twist on two established designs as we often see H link or duel link DW or VPP style systems on Rivals such as specialized Thum jumper or Santa Cruz’s 510 going back to those whopping 22 size options loot tested a size five for his 173 CM height this gives a modest 450 mil reach a trail friendly 65 and 1/2 de head angle and steep 78° effective seat tube angle these combined to give the am1300 a comfortable 581 mm effective

Top tube length there’s a short and snappy 433 mm chain stay length and low 335 mil bottom bracket height which likely help explain the bike’s playful demeanor the seat tube is a short 380 mil allowing plenty of room to move around the bike and fits a long travel

Dropper Post in many areas the aeton sits close to some of its more mainstream Rivals mainly noros fluid and transition Smuggler both of which have very similar numbers on paper the key stats aren’t boundary pushing and some would argue they could be a little outdated but there’s more to a bike than

Just the geometry figures and if you think you can do a better job than Aton you can always go down the custom geometry route but as Luke found they’ve done a sterling job with the stock numbers in a crowded Market full of bikes often accused of being literal car

Copies of each other it’s nice to see a bike like the am1130 stand out from the crowd the manufacturing process and approach to sizing and customization are fairly unique and there are few brands that can boast such famous races as the owners being handmade right here in the

UK has its own appeal but does come with a heav price at nearly 8 Grand either side of the Atlantic you pay a premium over its Rivals the overriding thing though is just how well the bike rides in our eyes it sets a new Benchmark for

Short travel for bikes it might not be as Poppy and playful as the Norco fluid as efficient as transition Smuggler or as adjustable as specialized stump jumper but the am1300 plows its own path the suspension performance when descending is exceptional but not at the expense of being a lumbering beast on

The climbs yes there are more pedal friendly trail bikes out there but few bikes have been this engaging and this much fun to ride and come on can you name a better looking bike than this one let us know your thoughts down in the comments if you like this video please

Give it a thumbs up it really helps us make content for you to enjoy and if you want to see five more bikes we think should be on your radar check this out ah ah