Blog - 11 August 2024
What do the reigning World Champion and European Champion have in common?
The Atherton A.200...
Atherton A.200 Downhill MTB
At European Championships in Champery this weekend Andreas Kolb found an incredible three-second gap against the rest of the field. After a scorching run, including an insane second split Andi crossed the line 2.98 seconds up.
Andi said “This track is different to anything else we ride on the UCI World Cup circuit, you need to step back a bit, and ride with a bit more flow. For my final run I overcooked the first section a bit which was a sign for me to go a bit more steady and try to find a rhythm, the steep sections felt great!
That’s where our bike really comes to life, on the super steep and super rough stuff! It shows how good the bike is on stuff like this with Charlie 5th and Dom in 12th, solid work from the whole team, it’s pretty sick! I was pretty tired at the end, and made a few mistakes, so when I saw the lead of 3 seconds I was stoked.
These last few weeks with second at Les Gets and then the win yesterday have been a massive boost, after 2nd place behind Charlie last year there’s a fire burning in me for World Champs!!
Andi rides a standard size 8 with Charlie and Dom on a standard size 7.
A.200 - Andreas Kolb's Downhill Bike
Head Technician Ben Lovell said...
“Champery couldn’t have been a more different track to Fort William World Champs instead of torrential rainstorms we had 30 degrees of sunshine, instead of mud, dust, lots of dust! Fort William isn’t that steep, but this weekend the (Hayes Dominion A4) brakes got seriously abused, we put a larger rotor (223 mm) on the rear to deal with the heat, and we also went firmer on the fork (95psi) and softer and slower damping on the rear.
We raised the bars 5mm to take a bit of the weight off the riders hands. No change on the tyres, as in Fort Bill we ran Kryptotal, we did think about Argotals for the sand but there was still quite a lot of hard pack which is where the Krypto is amazing.”
Frame: A.200 (Size 8 of 12 standard sizes, 480mm reach)
Suspension Shock: FOX DHX2 225X75mm, 500lb spring
Fork: FOX 40 Factory 95psi
Brakes: Hayes Dominion, Purple Hayes. Galfer rotors and pads with sharkfin disks, 223 front rotor 223 rear rotor
Wheels: 29" front, 27.5" rear, Stans Flow EX3 rims and stans M pulse hubs.
Tyres: Continental Argotals with tubeless Stans sea;ant
Drivetrain Cassette: FSA K Force
Derailleur: SRAM DH XO7 Speed
Shifter: SRAM DH XO 7 Speed
Chain Ring: FSA 36t with O-Chain
Chain Device: MRP G5
Chain: KMC
Cranks: FSA Gradient 165mm
Pedals: Crankbrothers Mallet DH
Cockpit headset: FSA
Stem: FSA Gradient
Bar: FSA Gradient Alloy 780mm
More on the A.200...
Super agile and responsive in handling, the A.200 opens up more line choices than ever before. Whether you're on the racetrack or just having fun at the bike park you’re going to love this bike.
- Available in 12 standard sizes + custom
- 3 Build options, plus frame only
- Custom build option - replicate Andi's bike or spec to suit your ride style: email: sales@athertonbikes.com
More like this...
2.77 seconds ahead of the pack - Charlie Hatton takes the win in Rheola, where conditions were very, very muddy. Here, the World Champ gives us his 7 top tips for riding and racing in the mud.
Charlie's guide to racing in the mud
The question of whether the bike is going to work and be strong enough, since the very start of Atherton Bikes it’s never entered my mind, from the beginning strength has been an absolute priority.