Having settled back into the sultry south Wales from the carbon downhill bike test in Italy we headed north to Llangedwyn and the very real conditions of a North Walian spring to get a ride on Gee Atherton’s new Fury downhill bike.

The last time I rode Gee’s bike was his Commencal at the end of the season that he won the World Cup series 2010 – 47.5 wheelbase, 62 degree head angle and 40.3lb for the title.

For 2011 he made way for the new Supreme which had lengthened to 48.62, 61.2 and similar 40.3lb weight.

It’s no secret that the carbon Fury production bikes were heavily modified by the top riders which included headset cups and shock offsets. Still it was a good bike that had won the toughest race on the circuit – Val Di Sol – in the hands of Marc Beaumont.

At the end of last year it was time for change and GT knocked the team up some new chassis structures to experiment with and this is pretty much what we have here today with the new angles – 49.75 WB, 63 HA and under 36lb total bike weight with pedals. Now that is impressive.

Out on the hill up to my bars in muck the new bike feels like a large bike should with no need to overcompensate due to tight cockpit space. All the numbers add up. Yet whilst it’s easy to draw on length and head angle it’s not as simple as that – it’s the interrelationship of all the bike’s numbers. In this version they’ve got it correct and Gee commented that he’s already feeling the benefit physically, especially on the longer runs.

Obviously we had a quick chat about wheels and its obvious that the boy’s have something in mind given the large amount of space in the swingarm with 26” wheels fitted. However they will need to try different shock tunes and get used to the different timing needed for the larger wheels. That said I cant for one second see that they will not be on the big wheels at some point this year. Even today maybe?

It was good to get back on some ali with a bit of feeling on wet rock and root with some excellent Conti rubber. The Fury would have stood its ground very well indeed with the carbon crew. The weekend looks set to be dry, fast and wild. Gee has won here before, now he’s on a better bike……

This bike will be available to the public in the next few months.