revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Interesting regarding the Atherton & Session.
Is it the mullet set-up that he doesn't get on with?

Good that he's got the support of TFTuned and DMR so that changes aren't a complete PITA.

Well last year when testing he ran mullet and 29/29 on the Session at Dyfi for 8 runs, 4 on each.

He was within 0.2s on a 4 min track on both setups.

You'd arguably think the Atherton being a mullet SHOULD turn quicker, but he can hustle the Session around switchbacks and transitions easier.

The Atherton does have a longer wheelbase... but we're wondering if it's the carbon/Titanium rather than the Alu of the Session. Truth is, we don't know why. We just know he's more at home on the Session.
We could spend another month, year etc messing about and trying to get the speed/feeling right on it, then still not manage it.

Or, move to the Session and know he's happy. It's a no brainer really

weeksy wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2026 2:57 pm Well last year when testing he ran mullet and 29/29 on the Session at Dyfi for 8 runs, 4 on each.

He was within 0.2s on a 4 min track on both setups.

You'd arguably think the Atherton being a mullet SHOULD turn quicker, but he can hustle the Session around switchbacks and transitions easier.

The Atherton does have a longer wheelbase... but we're wondering if it's the carbon/Titanium rather than the Alu of the Session. Truth is, we don't know why. We just know he's more at home on the Session.
We could spend another month, year etc messing about and trying to get the speed/feeling right on it, then still not manage it.

Or, move to the Session and know he's happy. It's a no brainer really

And brave to come to those conclusions on the Atherton, when so many see it as the Holy Grail

Mr Moofo wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2026 4:54 pm

weeksy wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2026 2:57 pm Well last year when testing he ran mullet and 29/29 on the Session at Dyfi for 8 runs, 4 on each.

He was within 0.2s on a 4 min track on both setups.

You'd arguably think the Atherton being a mullet SHOULD turn quicker, but he can hustle the Session around switchbacks and transitions easier.

The Atherton does have a longer wheelbase... but we're wondering if it's the carbon/Titanium rather than the Alu of the Session. Truth is, we don't know why. We just know he's more at home on the Session.
We could spend another month, year etc messing about and trying to get the speed/feeling right on it, then still not manage it.

Or, move to the Session and know he's happy. It's a no brainer really

And brave to come to those conclusions on the Atherton, when so many see it as the Holy Grail

We were of course one/two of them. When he tested it at Dyfi it wasn't as fast as the Session, but the assumption was that when we set it up and got used to it, he'd be faster on it. But that seems not to be the case as per testing times and feel. We've done all we can realistically having had the bouncers setup, the tyres are the same, same forks and even arguably a better setup shock on the Atherton this weekend.

It's an expensive lesson as i'm going to drop £1000 easy but the only thing that matters, is speed on the clock. That's it, that simple.

Is it the size difference - could it be a simple case of wrong size?
Seen a few post about sizing down on the Atherton Owners FB page.
Having 22 sizes is great, but you can't beat S,M,L &XL......
How do the numbers stack up on reach, wheelbase etc?

DirkPitt74 wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 9:31 am Is it the size difference - could it be a simple case of wrong size?
Seen a few post about sizing down on the Atherton Owners FB page.
Having 22 sizes is great, but you can't beat S,M,L &XL......
How do the numbers stack up on reach, wheelbase etc?

Reach is 5mm longer on the Atherton
Stack is 3mm higher on the Session
Wheelbase is 21mm longer on the Atherton.

Whilst the wheelbase is longer, nothing jumps out at me massively. Looking at the numbers you'd think they'd ride pretty much the same.
So is it the frame material/config or maybe the DW6 vs the standard Session linkage.
I honestly don't know mate, i wish i could give you more as maybe then we could tune the Atherton differently to compensate.

https://geometrygeeks.bike/compare/trek ... ll-2020-l/

Don't get me wrong here, this isn't going to be the difference in the National Champs between 15th and P1 for him, but it could pick him up some places. More importantly though is that we both feel it's the right decision for the right reasons.

I've had a couple of bites/interest on his A200, one as a frame and one as a semi-built. But nothing too concrete yet... It'll sell though, of that i'm 100%.

Was it custom geometry or off the shelf?

Sure it’ll sell but it’ll be full of time wasters and chancers so I don’t envy that

iamlegend wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 10:27 pm Was it custom geometry or off the shelf?

Sure it’ll sell but it’ll be full of time wasters and chancers so I don’t envy that

Standard size 7.

I've had a few chats, but nothing that useful yet

weeksy wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2026 5:50 am

iamlegend wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 10:27 pm Was it custom geometry or off the shelf?

Sure it’ll sell but it’ll be full of time wasters and chancers so I don’t envy that

Standard size 7.

I've had a few chats, but nothing that useful yet

HAve you had chance to talk to the Athertons ? Or is that a step too far?

Mr Moofo wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2026 2:31 pm

weeksy wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2026 5:50 am

iamlegend wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 10:27 pm Was it custom geometry or off the shelf?

Sure it’ll sell but it’ll be full of time wasters and chancers so I don’t envy that

Standard size 7.

I've had a few chats, but nothing that useful yet

HAve you had chance to talk to the Athertons ? Or is that a step too far?

Sorry, i meant with potential buyers. I've not chatted to anyone about the bike, it's in a box and being sold

The weekend was Milland, Southern Enduro. He'd booked 'mixed pairs' as he wanted to race with the GF. She's been away for 2 months so they wanted to spend time together.

https://www.rootsandrain.com/event15212 ... 3/overall/

They ended up 1st in mixed pairs, but in truth there's not many mixed pairs out there who'd beat the 2 of them.
Mostly as well though it was to see where he's stacking up against the proper enduro racers as he's still pretty new to it.

He stacked it and twisted his bars 30deg on stage 2 and lost 12-13s, but if we remove that, then he's top 10 overall in all Cats. Which is pretty handy as there's some fast lads there.

Next up for him is his 18th birthday this week and a load of us are racing at FoD and eating cake afterwards

With him getting his licence etc he's decided to go hardcore and race the National Champs Enduro

https://www.manxmtbenduro.com/2-day-enduro

He'll take himself over to IoM and see what he can do.

The Cycle 360 Manx MTB Enduro consists of a 40km loop with 1,300m of climbing, spread across 5 unique stages. Not for the faint-hearted, this event is for an experienced mountain biker looking for a challenge.


The race comprises the best natural and manmade trails the Isle of Man has to offer.

Transition times are not included, but stamina is essential; a daily cut-off of five hours is enforced for safety.
All stages are marked out 1 day ahead of the event, so you have an opportunity to practice.

We start and finish in St. John's, where we are equipped for your every need with live result timing, good tunes, beer and burritos

We were out play racing last night and the boy was on his super fuel. He was really impressed by the Zebs as he's not ridden them on any trails he knows, so last night was trails he's ridden before and he was blown away by their performance.

We've got TFTuned rebuilding his Vivid next week, but won't be back in time for this weekends testing at Revolution sadly. But it'll be great to get the Session back out, so today i'll have the spanners out on that making sure it's 100% for the weekend. Early start tomorrow to get up there and riding, but the weather looks friendly, so should be a good one.

20260704_093145 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

The Session is back in full service and once the Vivid arrives back from TF, it will be fully sorted again.
The weekend was Revolution Bike Park for him, practicing on the Nation Champs track for the race in just under 2 weeks. It went well it seems and he was coming down happy each and every run. They've made the track... well, into a pump track for some reason... Weird decision if you ask me, but it's all groomed rather than being natural. Not sure how much that suits him or not...

After that he was out Enduro'ing on Sunday with his new riding mate. Lots of lapping, riding, pedalling and fitness... Working hard as always and flying.

LBS built up a couple of wheels last week. I had a mare getting the tyre on the other morning, the Contis are REALLY tight lol.

I gave up and fitted a spare as i ran out of time for taking to Revs. So i managed to get the tyre on yesterday, but due to a dink in the rim (flat spot) it wasn't fully holding pressure.

So out with the old and in with the new
20260707_122112 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

20260707_122116 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

This went slightly better than the previous go with slightly better tools, but still in reality, not perfect. I still need to hone the technique. It didn't help that my mate slightly broke my tool so that made it a bit harder installing the nipples.

I've kinda trued and tensioned it as i ideally wanted it for this weekend. But i'm debating whether i just take a spare 27.5 instead and leave this to get checked fully at LBS before taping and throwing on a tyre

Well the newly built wheel is holding pressure, which is better than the old Halo anyway.

Whether it's true enough and dished, is open to debate as i've used a pretty basic technique, so will need to get it checked next week over at Rotec, but i'm pretty happy that it would at the very least, survive a race run or two.

Top day and night at FoD. The boy was coaching @crust in the morning, then we left him to it and went for a ride.

He went racing in the evening and went fast.
20260709_190831 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

I chilled and had a couple of beers

20260709_172636 by steveweeks59, on Flickr

P1 today for the lad. It was a lower level race compared to Nationals, a regional i guess you'd call it.
But its his first win of 26 and hopefully a bit of a comeback trail in terms of feeling confident etc.

There's also coaching related reasons he raced today as its in the forest he coaches in so getting his name out there can only be a good thing.