Alan won the opening round of the SA XCO Cup on Saturday, in Stellenbosch.
You’ve probably seen that Alan Hatherly kicked off his 2023 season with back-to-back wins. That’s a marathon race in late January then the opening round of the SA XCO Cup series last weekend. Yes, it’s very early in the season but those two wins, against the likes of Schurter and Koretzky, will tick Alan’s confidence up a notch.
As a former downhill racer and now three-time world title holder in the endurance formats of the sport, Alan Hatherly and wrench JP Jacobs know a thing or two about bike setup. They’re a winning combo that has been flying the SA flag on World Cup podiums for many seasons. We caught up with them in Stellenbosch to take a closer look at his component choice and squeeze as much of the top-secret setup out of JP as we could.
Alan is 1,74m tall and rides a size large Scalpel. Front and rear travel is 120mm. Alan rides the full Shimano XTR drivetrain. The crank size is 170mm, that’s a 38T chainring, 10-51T cassette and there’s a Stages Power Meter keeping track of the watts. He feels no chain device is necessary. JP and Alan are talking with Shimano about producing more 40T chainrings (bigger) to further optimize the range, for Alan. The 40T ‘feels nicer’ than the 38T.It was dusty out there! Shimano XTR brakes with 160mm rotors front and rear.It’s a long cage XTR derailleur, with 13T pulleys, tasked to handle the World Champ’s torque. The Enve bars are trimmed to 700mm and Alan runs his Shimano XTR brake levers set slightly inward from the grips. The brake lever tilt isn’t too vertical and Alan runs a dual remote lockout – which he uses a lot to ‘put the power through the bike and not into the terrain’ on traverses and climbs.That’s a 75mm Fox Transfer SL dropper.The over-bar dropper remote is mounted above the XTR shifter, pretty close to the grip. | *Click to enlarge.Prologo saddle – set with the nose dipping a little.Shap, my bru.Depending on the terrain, JP says Alan runs 23% or 25% sag. They arrive at this setting through a combination of intentional setup and rider feel.120mm Lefty Ocho fork, Enve M5 wheels with a 25mm inner diameter. Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.35″ wide ‘First Ride’ secret prototype tyres front and rear. JP wouldn’t confirm nor deny whether Alan runs inserts. Regarding tyre pressures, it’s a bit of top-secret data too but the general gig is somewhere around 16.5psi to 18psi front. In the back, they float between 17.5psi to 19psi. If the track has a lot of bigger impacts they go a little harder on pressures.Keep it pinned Alan!
