Blog
The Second Atherton Bikes Owners Day
22 May 2025
Dyfi Bike Park
7th May 2025
Wow! What a day!
Last Wednesday 100 of our favourite customers gathered at Dyfi Bike Park to ride with Dan, Gee and Rachel and Charlie Hatton. This was a massive leap from 2024’s event when 40 riders attended and it was fantastic to see the firm friendships that have formed within the group and to give a little something back for the great support that these guys bring.
Rene Mathys, who flew in from Aarau, Switzerland, said, “The Atherton Owner's Group, sparked by Henrik, has forged deep and lasting friendships. We’ve connected with incredible people from around the globe. The highlight is the annual meet, riding alongside the Athertons, sharing trails and stories. This unique, personal connection with the riders and the brand truly sets Atherton apart from other bike companies. I’m already looking forward to the next meet, hoping for an even longer ride-train!”
The Owners group is growing in range and scope, and almost all of the credit is due to Henrik Hedberg, who started a Facebook group, now 721 strong, with an estimated 600 actual owners and 120+ more “interested” learning about the brand from those who know it best.
There was a big bonus for Henrik this year; new bike day! His special edition A.170 (1 of 1 A.170 with gold accents!) was presented at the start of the day, complete with a personalised seat clamp and ready to shred!!
Henrik said, “This year was of course, very special to me since I was picking up my brand new A.170 Gold. It even has my name on the seat clamp. The amount of appreciation I get from both the owners and the Atherton Bikes team is almost overwhelming and gives me a lot of energy for keeping on doing this. I was like a kid at Christmas that had maybe peeked at one of the gifts with the updates from the sales team during the production!. To receive it on the Owners Day during the welcoming speech will be a memory for life. Got some great help from Gee on the initial setup to get me going. So big thanks to Gee for that!
The bike is just wow, I mean I knew what to expect since I also have the A.150 and also tested the A.170 last year. Still, I’m blown away by this bike and already from the start, I felt so much at home and after some tweaking of the settings, it felt even better. I also got some great help with suspension setup from one of my friends from last year, Joe Carlino. I really learned a lot from him this year. The Atherton bikes make me a better rider because they give me so much confidence. So even with a broken shoulder six weeks earlier, I managed to conquer some new tracks in Dyfi that I haven’t done before. This bike is such a machine, and it amazingly tracks the ground, the suspension feels endless, and it probably saved me a few times when overshooting some of the jumps.
Continental Atherton Racing
New Continental Atherton riders Luke Wayman and George Madley also joined and had a brilliant time towing riders into some of the bigger features while Head Race Technician Ben Lovell replaced bearings, bled brakes and tweaked set-ups, basically keeping everyone on two wheels and maximising their enjoyment of the day.
Joe Carlino flew in from Los Angeles and said, “I flew from LA to Wales to meet up with over 100 other riders who all own Atherton Bikes; for four days, we rode, talked bikes, and just had the best time. It was my second trip out there, but it still felt like something off the bucket list. What made it even more special was the people, no matter where we came from, it felt like one big family brought together by a shared love for bikes.”
One of the highlights of the day was the 100 rider train that started on Lovey Dyfi and ended on Super Swooper – and the fire-road drone shot that gives some idea of the scale of support for our young company - all models of Atherton Bike were represented from the OG A150 and A.200 to our brand new S.200 and all ages of rider – from Olly and Ray (age 9) and upwards to 60+.
Phil Johnson was with us both in 2024 and 2025 and said, “What a day, great fun and such progression! Partly thanks to the amazing A.170, which has already made me a lot more confident in trying new things, and partly I was able to ride with some awesome riders who positively moved me forward in completing some tracks I didn't think possible…Fire in the Booth, the big drop midway down, Turns in the Ferns, and Slab Track! (Check out Phil’s YouTube film of the day...)
But the last word on the day should go to Henrik “To be honest, I was a little bit worried that the format hadn’t changed much from last year. However, I guess when you take something that was so great and make it happen again, it’s actually more of a recipe for success and the beginning of a tradition. Wales also delivered the same amazing weather, and with the number of owners joining close to tripled compared to last year. Everywhere you looked, there were smiling people riding their Atherton bikes together. Together is probably the key word during these days. I hope and think that everyone felt welcome and even if you came alone without knowing anyone before the owners' day, I believe we all left with some new friends. I want every owner to feel welcome like I did from the very beginning when I first contacted Atherton bike, it’s like a big family. For me personally, this was a day I had been looking forward to for so long. I probably started looking forward to this one the second I left last year. Seeing all the familiar faces from last year mixed with a lot of new ones as well was so great, and I definitely left with a lot more new friends. I’m so glad that we made this happen again, and I would really like to encourage people to stay for a few more days next year so that I can get the chance to ride with even more people. I got the chance to ride a few laps on El Hippo with Rachel on Saturday afternoon right before we were packing up the bikes to go home. Unfortunately, I sliced my rear tire on the last run, but I guess Rachel heard me cursing about that because she stopped immediately and handed over her A200 to me so that I could finish my lap while she walked my bike down. Thank you, Rachel, that meant a lot since I really wanted to finish in a positive way!"