Bike
Multiple championship wins don’t come by chance, and a winner’s bike set-up is often as meticulous as their training regime. This is Rachel Atherton's.
When it comes to success, no current rider knows better than the queen of downhill racing, Rachel Atherton. She’s only recently returned to the competitive scene after suffering a shoulder injury at Round 2 of the World Cup series in Fort William, so we took a look around the world champion’s carbon Trek Session 9.9 bike with her mechanic, Joe Krejbich.
Basics
At 5ft 8in (172cm) in height, Rachel uses a size Large 27.5in-wheeled frame with a 6mm reduction reach adjuster for all races. She’s ostensibly very particular about set-up and feeling on the bike. Will she be on a 29er in future? “There’s more testing to be done in the future,” says Joe.
Fork
Rachel runs Fox 40 forks up front with 65-67psi pressure and 4-5 air volume spacers depending on track steepness. Joe tells us that they went to the high end of both for Andorra’s steep track to keep the front end high. They have opened both the compression and rebound damping by a few clicks for 2017 after pre-season testing with Fox for better wheel tracking and increased traction.
Shock
A Fox DHX2 shock with 450 spring adorns the Session. Joe explains that conversely to the fork, for steeper tracks they will open the compression damping a little, allowing the bike to sit a bit deeper into its travel and to stop Rachel being pitched over the front. “They’re normally pretty quick, but sometimes slow it down a click or so to rein the back end in a bit if it starts getting wild,” says Joe of the rebound settings.
Tyre set-up
Rachel’s go-to tyre is the Bontrager G5 in 2.5in width front and rear, while they’ll only roll out the GMud in 2.35in “if things start to get a bit sloppy”. Tyre pressures are between 24-27psi depending on the surface conditions and usually equal pressure front and rear. Sometimes they’ll up the rear pressure by one psi “to protect from tyre/rim damage and increase rolling speed” and when the going gets sloppy and they swap to the GMud they might go as low as 23psi.
Tubeless set-up
Tubes or tubeless, Joe? “Tubeless! It’s not the ’90s any more. With a good tyre/rim combination and correct spoke tension on the wheel build, the performance of the wheel can be amazing. Something that’s definitely overlooked within DH I think. A super heavy/strong/stiff wheel isn't necessarily the way to go.”
Cockpit
Bar width has grown over the years and Rachel now runs hers at 775mm width with a 50mm stem. What’s the bar roll angle like? “Fairly neutral, almost rolled back a touch,” says Joe. For steeper tracks they will increase the bar height by 5mm (from a base axle to bar height of 759mm) via a stem stacker.
Brake levers are 10mm inboard of the grip as Rachel holds the bars close to the edge. They’ll play with the lever angle depending on the track – for a flatter course, that demands a more aggressive stance, so they’ll angle them down to help bring her over the front wheel, whereas on steep tracks they will be flatter. The lever reach is “quite far out, with minimal throw before they bite,” according to Joe.
Wheel builds
Trek Factory Racing build all their own wheels instead of using factory builds straight from the box, something they believe firmly in. They know just how they like the wheels from years of testing and run reasonably low spoke tension on their Sapim CX-Ray spokes.
Why not carbon rims? There’s a fine balance between performance and practicality, it would seem. “We use alloy rims, which I still think you can’t beat,” says Joe. “Yes, carbon rims can offer better performance and lighter weight if they are built correctly. But, as we have seen [with other teams and riders suffering wheel failures], they can be pretty temperamental with impacts. Carbon rims are either overbuilt and are way too strong to protect them from impacts. But then they ride so stiff and it takes away the whole point of using a carbon rim.”
See more bike checks from the 2017 UCI MTB World Cup below.
