Review
"I went from having three bikes to just one Atherton Bike"
26 Sept 2024
"The S170 really can do it all, it’s all I need!"
Meet Furnz, a 21-year-old DJ who spends every summer in Morzine. Furnz produced our Hemispheres launch film and liked the looks of the S.170 so much that he bought a bike straight away…
Furnz: I want to be the best that I can be at everything. I’m a passionate snowboarder, and bike rider and I am super into DJ’ing and music production. When I got the opportunity to create the soundtrack for the s170 launch video I had a blast making the tunes and working with Robbie, Gill and DB to make it the best it could be.
I saw the S.170 in those “Hemispheres” video rushes then at the Park in real life where I’m friends with the dig crew and I was blown away, It looks unreal in silver alloy!
My parents used to ride so I’ve been around bikes my whole life. We would go up the woods with my dad and my brother and try to jump in the small dells we had there. I used to watch loads of the bike DVDs. Seasons and “Where the Trail Ends” were a big part of my growing up.
I live in Buckinghamshire UK, an hour out from London and used to love going to Aston Hill to ride rougher stuff and training with Ian at Firecrest MTB every weekend. But it got logged so the riding scene isn’t massive strong there now, I mostly ride dirt jumps back home and drive up to Wales with the boys to ride Dyfi, Dirt Farm and all the bike parks we all know and love. It’s a trek so we can’t do it too often, so to fill the downhill void I spend my summers (and winters) in Morzine, I have done every bike and ski season from the summer 2022 . It is my second home.
I’m not a big racer, I had a couple of local podiums years ago but it’s not really what I enjoy doing. I’d be keen to have another go at some point to see if I’ve improved at all!
I have a small circle of mates that I’ve known from Aston Hill, they all rip, but the scene in Morzine is so much stronger. You can start the day by heading to the loft by yourself not knowing who’s up and end the day having ridden with 20 people! It’s really important to have a versatile bike for Morzine as the terrain there has everything…smooth, rough, fast, and steep.
Why the Atherton S.170?
I went from having three bikes to just one Atherton bike, the S.170 really can do it all, it’s all I need! I chose the S170 as it is the perfect match for riding the park and still maintaining smoothness and stability on descents.
Having not ridden the bike the first thing that made me want one was the way it looked. The silver pops in the sunlight and it doesn’t look like many other bikes out there with the way it is machined and engineered. When I first pulled up at my apartment in Morzine I was getting unpacked and had four people in the first ten minutes ask if they could take a picture J People always look at the bike in the lift queues and ask how it rides…
I need something playful that can be thrown around so I can have fun jibbing and jumping off things when I’m going down a trail, as well as a bike that is tough enough for the abuse. It’s hard to set up a bike that is good for both downhill and jumping but Atherton has managed to do exactly that with the S.170!
I was very excited to test the bike in Morzine. I had finished building it a few days before I left the UK so I hadn’t even got to tune it yet or anything. As soon as I got to the bottom I wouldn’t shut up about how good it was.'
I was comfortable straight away and felt super relaxed on it. I noticed immediately how it descended as if it was a full travel DH bike but still had that playful enduro bike feel. It was like riding both of my old bikes at the same time! I’ve set it up with a triple clamp fork, it doesn’t feel front-heavy in steeps but also feels like a chopper while riding jumps. I felt like I could carry consistent speed everywhere and I was able to hold speed through rough stuff as it feels like it just floats over it all!
I am about 5ft 8" and I ride a Size 7 frame (465mm reach with a 180mm fork, a little bit less with my triple clamp). The length of the reach is right in the middle of the last two bikes I’ve had so I feel right at home on it.
I’m a total Atherton convert!
I was lucky enough to test ride the A.200 for a while during the summer and it completely blew my mind. It’s so smooth and planted and I felt as if I’ve been riding it for years. I entered the Bike Morzine mates race whip-off and came second, last year I wasn’t even in the top 10!
I feel way more comfortable and confident riding steep and rough stuff. The geometry is just so right that you have a nice riding position without even trying. On fast bumpy stuff it feels so smooth, especially when traversing the bumpy Morzine fire roads; people will be complaining about their hands while you’re flying past them sat down haha.
The S.170 gives me the perfect riding position to push with confidence and not feel too much over the back or front. It also feels super comfortable when taking off jumps, nothing feels odd or throws you off balance in the air. Usually on a downhill bike, you go off a lip and the whole bike just wants to throw you one way or another as it completely absorbs the lip, but not on this bike.
I’ve ridden a lot of downhill bikes, Nukeproofs, Specialized, Santa Cruz, and Banshees… since I was 16 I’ve always had a DH bike in the fleet, despite this being a trail bike it feels so much more stable and smoother than any of them. I feel like I have found the perfect bike for my type of riding…
I love finding new off-piste loamers in Morzine and riding them blind. I come from a BMX and dirt jump background so I would describe myself as a free-rider for sure. I knew that I always wanted a trail bike to set up as a triple clamp and when I saw the S.170 I knew it was perfect. The S.170 makes you want to push how far you can go when descending. The rear end has that perfect amount of compliance where you can lean into turns with confidence that you’re not going to slide out so you can go in much harder. And it feels playful, you find yourself doing more jibs down the trail as it’s such a compact setup and doesn’t feel too long or heavy.
Just flying comfortably down a trail and having the confidence in yourself and the bike to do side hits and land flat on everything is awesome but I also love how well it pedals. I was working in Morzine and I lent it to my mate who’s an EWS rider so he loves to climb; he wouldn’t shut up about how good it was and ended up borrowing it for the next 3 days!
Key take-away's:
- More comfortable and confident
- The geometry is just right for my riding position
- It feels smooth on the fast bumpy stuff
- The rear end has the perfect amount of compliance where you lean into the turns, with confidence that you’re not going to slide out so you can go in much harder
- Feels playful and you find yourself doing more
- It doesn't feel too long or heavy
- "I love how well it pedals"
The Verdict...
The bike was everything I hoped it would be, I don’t have a single bad thing to say about it and I’m usually really fussy with my set up. I put the bike together and rode it and I haven’t touched a thing since. I don’t even think I’ve adjusted to the shock, it just felt good right out of the box!
I’m super excited for the UK riding on this bike as it is set up perfectly for the type of terrain we have here which is all fairly flat and mostly jumps. I’ve only ridden the Atherton in Morzine so far. But I’m so excited to get up to Dyfi and ride the massive jumps and techy trails. I have a feeling I’m going to feel a lot more confident riding there than I ever have before!