The zone being that special place where you have to suppress rational thought and just hit the order button, as I’ve just done on a Bird Aeris.
Does anyone else do that when they make a decision for an expensive purchase? I know my bank card numbers by heart so I just enter a little trance, tap them in and press send without letting myself really think about the consequences (first and foremost, very upset wife :D). I feel pretty relieved to be honest, having spent so many weeks researching and testing and generally wasting time on MTB websites (those with configurators are the biggest culprits).
Thanks to those of you have answered some of my earlier questions on the STW forum. In particular the main other bike I was thinking of was the Rose Granite Chief, which, as I am an earner of €s, would come out much cheaper (not that Bird is expensive at all, just that the €/£ is painful). Indeed, I even found the Granite Chief easier to ride than the Aeris when I tested them, in the sense that it was more ‘obvious’ and less demanding. I’m not a skillful rider at all but I want to improve and felt the Aeris would give me the better learning curve. I also miss Blighty terribly and wanted to use my French civil servant salary to support the already quite healthy UK economy 😀
Build-wise, I’m going for all X-fusion suspension and a 1×11 set up, either XT M8000 or GX, plus Race Face Aeffect finishing kit. I’ll have to sort out a dropper post in the New Year as I’d rather get top wheels (DT EX1501) from the outset. Oh, and Zee brakes. Never used ’em before but never been happy with my XTs (785) and look forward to my eyeballs shooting out in front of me.
Happy Saturdays all,
Gaidong
