Introducing the A.200.G our Gates belt-driven DH bike

The earliest memory of talking about Gearboxes would be like, probably my first year working with the team, 2006. I think it was probably, yeah, giant days, so proper old school, and we'd be cruising across Europe, big Sprinter van, notepad in hand, just talking about product development, bike development, and kind of the ultimate downhill bike, I guess. Yeah, I think the Gearbox bike's always something that's been there in the back of our minds and we've wanted to do, but having the support from Gates, I guess, is the key thing, and just having someone who's so motivated and committed to the racing is amazing. That aligns so well with Afton Bikes. Yeah, I guess we started talking about Gearboxes and Afton Bikes quite early on. We'd have, you know, probably a night down the wipe talking about what would be possible and how we could possibly do it, and yeah, myself, Rob and Dan, who spend kind of long nights chatting and debating it through. It was always kind of a bit of a pipe dream, but the opportunities have risen this year to bring that to life, and yeah, we're all buzzing for it. You're the only man that hasn't seen it now. What are you wearing? Are you in the office? Yeah, just me and Callum are just, uh, just sitting there at the desk. Always working. There you go, buddy. This is your plate. This is your new bike, mate. You might go faster running down with that. Run Gearbox. Yeah, Nick's gonna go headbutt it now, and I'll take it to the machine tonight. A huge commitment to go from idea to first prototype. That whole process is, for most people, takes years to do, ultimately. Obviously, with our manufacturing processes, we're really fortunate it's a matter of months, and, you know, full shout out to Dave Weagle, to Rob Gow, to Scott, and to Will, the design team. You know, they've really smashed us out in a matter of months. You know, that's something that we can do here at Afton Bikes, but not many others can, and we will continue to use that technology to develop and iterate this product as we move closer to the season. Yeah, so we've not long had our lugs back from machining, and so a couple of weeks ago now, we sent the parts to Renishaw to print. So when we're doing an accelerated build like this, we send the parts to them because they've got their own in-house furnace, so the parts go through much quicker that way. So they printed and heat treated the parts, sent them back to us, and we can have a look over the parts, review them for distortion in the print, and fetter the parts, and then get them out to our machining partner that's just down the road. So we've worked with them to develop machining fixtures for these parts, and then once the parts have come back, we can check that they're all in spec, and kind of all the tolerance things right on the parts, and get them cleaned, ready to bond. So they've just come through the ultrasonic cleaner now, and we've doused them all through with IPA as well, and then we'll use our standard toughened epoxy to bond the lugs to the carbon tubes. So not long in there, the frame will be fully cured, and then we're ready to build it, and ride it, and yeah, see how we go on. Exciting times. So we've got most of the front end built up now, but we're waiting on a part from machining to finish this chainstay off. So for the moment, we've just got a plastic chainstay, so that we can check clearances as the bike moves through its travel, and get started on brake routing method, and stuff like that. We're all chipping in, putting bits of bikes on. Bits of bikes on? Bits of parts, bits and bobs onto the bike. Yeah, we're all chipping in. Too many, yeah, too many chefs spoil the broth, I'm definitely one of them. Making a meal of it, trying to put this brake on. So the aim is just to basically get every part on the bike, and make sure everything's as it should be, there's no surprises. Just so when we get it all ready, it's good to go, basically. So yeah, exciting times. Yeah, I think it should be, should be fast. So a project like this, I mean, you're starting from a good place, because we have the A200M, which obviously, we refined over five seasons of racing, had great results on. The race team had given loads of feedback, so it was already a really tuned in product, so that's a great platform to go from. So anything that's common there, you use as a starting point. Obviously, the big change here, and the big challenge was the fact that we're mounting a gearbox, instead of a bottom bracket, so that changes the structural challenges around that part of the bike. And also, really significantly, the manufacturing challenges, because you're making such a large titanium part. And then also the mid-pivot. So those were the two big technological challenges, which were different from everything we'd done before. I guess here we are, with a prototype gearbox bike. The plan today is, first ride on the new bike. I think basically, a bit of a recce, make sure everything works, anything doesn't fall off, basically. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be the first time testing the bike, so with such a new sort of design, and something we've never tried before, yeah, it's going to be pretty interesting. Definitely a big learning process, but I'm excited to start. Keen to get riding it. Yeah, there is some element of, like, if the bike's not going to be as good, but I think, yeah, we've got all the right people around us, and all the right technology to make it really good. Obviously, we've got Dave Weagle on the other end of the phone, so I think, yeah, we should be able to make it absolutely insane. Obviously, everyone at Atherton Bikes as well, so all the pieces are there for the recipe. Just got to, yeah, let it cook. Angry lady. One run, breakfast, then we'll do another ten. Hello puppy. That's the ultimate drop test. When you take it off the uplift, and it doesn't make a sound, that's when you know your bike's dialled. Right, let's get up there. Oh my days. Absolutely silent. Literally, you hear absolutely nothing. It was sort of like, as I expected. Super heavy down low, so tracks the ground insane. I kept saying, right, this is the first run. This is the first run. Just go slow. Make sure nothing falls off. I was just riding, it was like, just wanted to go, and I was like, oh ----. But, yeah, pretty bloody good, I think. Nothing fell off, so we're doing well. Anything fall off? No. Right, first run. Don't be an idiot. They just wanted to go, and I was like. General function, shift feel and precision, suitable, suitability of gear ratios. I don't know what I did with it. You got it in your hand. Alan, can you get me to move? No. Suitability of gear ratios, general feedback, battery life, SM and mechanic feedback, kinematics, ride feel, drive train and linkage robustness. Looks pretty good for an e-bike. Extra protection for this. Absolutely silent. You can just literally hear the tyres and the rain hitting your head. I'm, yeah, I don't want to speak too soon, but it feels ******* amazing. Same, same, different. No, I mean, the cockpit doesn't look, obviously, doesn't feel like you're on your own bike. And I can feel the back just wanting to step a little bit, so that's why I just thought I'd try it without the brace, see what it's like. So it would be, why don't we start third gear? There's so much adjustment, but today, in the first three to four times of riding it, it's literally just getting the laps in, making sure it all works. So, yeah, I'm sort of jumping ahead a couple of steps, so I just need to wait. I did initially take the brace off. I thought it was a little bit stiff. I mean, we're trying to ride and there's a couple of flat corners, which are quite slick. So I thought I'd try it without the brace and it definitely helps. So it's really nice knowing that we can just take this in and out. I mean, this is very prototype at the minute, but it does the job. So yeah, it's perfect. So much easier than changing a whole rear end as well, which we have done in the past, but this is much more adjustment on the fly and, yeah, much easier, basically. It's really good. That's what we want, as much adjustment as possible, as easy as possible. So like a lot of times this year, we get to the top, track will be dry, and then 10 minutes before a race when it starts to absolutely pour down, then we panic in trying to make it like into an almost a wet setup. So I remember in Leger, Ben was literally taking the rear end off the bike, bolting the other one on, which didn't have a brace in it. Whereas that is four bolts and it's off. So literally probably you could do it in under a minute, which is, yeah, so much more useful. So yeah, it's really good. Definitely a step forward. Wow. Good, eh? It is, isn't it? Really good. Sticks to the ground. Yeah. Sticks to the ground, but there's still that like, supple, it's still got that mid-stroke support. It like holds you up more. Yeah. Pinging out of turns. I can see why you were carrying more. Positive, isn't it? Yeah. I can see why you were carrying more pace for those fast, flat turns. Which you think with the like higher pivot, it would be worse at that. Yeah. I thought it might feel a bit sluggish, but it was real positive. Yeah. Held you up well, but still that top sensitivity. Yeah. I mean, it's a softer spring, but still noticeable. Oh, it was really good. Yeah. It was really useful actually following. Limited because I couldn't stay behind him the whole way. But even like when I was right behind him, you could just see how in touch he was with the ground. I felt like I'd be fighting a bit to chase him and he kind of looked planted, solid, just strong. Like there was, you know, 20% more to go if you need it. Just calm and like, dum, dum, dum. And then when I ride the bike, you can see why it was, that was the case. Just, just everything calmed down a bit. Very successful first day, I'd say. Lloydy bless him. He's a bit of a panicker. So, I mean, yeah, we were slightly worried that something wouldn't work on it or there is a lot of moving parts though. There's a lot of things that could go wrong. And I guess because there's such an unknown at the minute, it's yeah. Going, coming in today, a bit apprehensive really, but I think 11, 12 runs, not a single problem. So yeah, so far really good. Quite impressed with it to be fair. It's the first version of the bike. The platform feels like, so like, bottomless basically. So that was really good. But just, yeah, I want to get it on a really rough fast track now because I think that's when it'll really come alive. Charlie's, yeah, Charlie's come into his own this, this last few months. I think having the opportunity to be on site and develop this bike is one that he's really taken to. He's, yeah, I mean, obviously he's got a vested interest in, in doing well on the, on the bike and he doesn't want to leave anything to chance, but yeah, he's been really well connected and really involved from, from, from the start. And yeah, it's, you know, he's really taken it on as his baby. So yeah, that's been, been helpful. And yeah, his feedback is, is second to none. It's concise. It's, it's informative and it's a long way from where he started back, back with us in track days. That's for sure. His product knowledge has come on an awful lot. It's like herding f***ing cats. This is day four of riding. So yeah, I had it about just over a week now, the bike trying to ride as much as possible. Yeah. So far, so good. It was such an unknown really being a brand new bike, a whole new concept for us. So, so far it has gone really well, touch, touch wood. And yeah, I'm really impressed with how it's feeling. So definitely a positive start. Yeah. So we rode at another place, Llangollen, it's probably not how you say it, but something like that. And yeah, it was great to ride it somewhere else as well. I mean, Dovey's great for testing, but it's always good to ride at a different place. I mean, you race all different types of tracks. So yes, great to have a variety. And it felt yeah, good. It's a bit steeper there, quite tight. So I thought with the gearbox, obviously with the extra weight, it would be quite hard to manoeuvre around, but it did. I did some back-to-back testing with the old bike and it did feel a bit sluggish, but then just felt more settled. So I think the weight is definitely a positive. We did some back-to-back timing and the times were good. So yeah, it's a good start. Is that all right for you, sir? Look at that for service. I'm pro now. Top team manager. Cheers, Lloydy. Look at that for a day. We don't do measuring tape here. What do you want? Yeah, that angle's good. Yeah, we rode a totally different track today. A lot harsher, bigger compressions. So the first couple of rides was just making sure it was all good. And then now I'm getting more confident with the bike, starting to send it a bit more now. But it was really interesting to see the differences between this bike and the old bike. What we found was there were certain times where you'd sort of blow through the middle of the travel, which for some off-camber sections, it was nice and sensitive. Then on bigger hits and when you're going fast around corners and you're really pushing into the bike, that was when you noticed it just pushed through a little bit too much. And you could obviously compromise with that with a shock, but then you're going to lose that nice bit of mid-stroke support. So there's always a compromise. So yeah, we seem to have found a much better balance already, which is great. Obviously, we're still early days. There's still so much to try and test. So yeah, it's good. I thought I'd ride the bike instantly and I'd be able to feel like, okay, it needs to be more progressive or needs to be more linear or this is happening and it needs to do this. But so far with the tracks I've ridden, I've not really noticed a whole bunch. So I mean, that is a great thing because we're already at a decent starting point. But I think, like anything, you're never going to be able to build a race-winning bike with the first ever iteration of it. And if you do, that's going to be some achievement, I guess. So yeah, we're going to be constantly trying to make it better. And I think the racing is when we're going to probably find a few little bits because I think it's not easy to get a bike to 90, 95%, but it's them last percentages, the hard ones to find and the ones that really do make the difference. So yeah, that's going to be the tricky bit.