MegaSack DRAW - 6pm Christmas Eve - LIVE on our YouTube Channel
I was on the hunt for an Aluminium trail bike but struggling to find anything that really ticked the boxes, wanting 27.5" wheels with 130mm-ish rear travel and something on the trail rather than heavy hitting Enduro end of things. I spent a while trying to find an older 5010 frame initially, but then saw the raw finish Bird Aether 7 and a phonecall later to enquire about shock choices for a frame-only purchase led me to an unplanned deal on one of their stock factory builds as the man-maths worked out quite well! I did my best to get it muddy on the first ride yesterday at QECP, but heading back soon for more laps and more mud 😀
First impressions are that it climbs and accelerates brilliantly, you can feel it gets slightly more knocked off line on roots compared to my Cotic Jeht but it feels so much nicer to turn into tighter switchbacks/berms both up and down. Being ~5'8" I've struggled a bit with muscling full 29ers around (a lot of that is technique/lack of I know) so this feels really good now.
Longer term I might try a coil shock and a higher-spec fork (Lyrik Select currently) but initially nothing I'd change except cutting the bars down a little. A sort of before and after (if I've managed to upload the photos in the right order!)
Nice. Approximately how much was it, out of interest?
That looks lovely, one of my riding buddies just picked up a bargain Aether 9C second hand and he's loving it. If I can justify buying a new bike next year it's definitely on the shortlist.
What size Jeht were you on out of interest? That's also on my shortlist (and I do love steel. And Cotic)
Nice. I'd like to try one after a few years on big wheels.
Nice. Approximately how much was it, out of interest?
It was £2k delivered with:
Lyrik Select Fork, Deluxe Ultimate Shock
DT Swiss Wheels & Maxxis DHRII/Dissector already set up tubeless
Full Deore 12-Speed with the 4-pot brakes and 200mm rotors
Bird (I think rebranded BrandX?) 170mm Dropper and all the rest of the cockpit is Raceface
Basically nothing that I feel the need to change/feels like a cost-cut which is nice!
@flyingmonkeycorps I was on a Small Jeht (before they went C sizing) and this is a regular Medium (rather Medium Long).
Actually another thing that was a factor in changing is I can run a 170mm dropper slammed on this and it's spot on, whereas I could barely get away with a 150mm on the Jeht due to my stumpy legs and the pivot through the seattube. Other than that the Jeht was fantastic, it was ace in the Alps but didn't often feel like the riding I did at home justified getting it dirty!
The dropper is made by TranzX...they also.made the Brandx droppers, just changed the badge...I think TranzX do 4 or 5 different models...they are good bits of kit.
I'm loving my Aether 9 and I'm kind of glad I didn't get ride of my Aeris 120 as that was a great bike as well - which is used by the young one when the mood is there.
Your bike looks really nice...the Bird range does look 'right'. Looks like an excellent choice.
Nice, cheers @jfab. I'm having much the same debate with myself - would the Jeht be just a *bit* too much for day to day riding, even if it'd be ace on occasional trips to the Peaks and the Lakes?
Also really helpful on the sizing. I ride a medium 26" Rocket at the moment so trying to second guess what would fit best. If I convince myself and MrsMonkey that it's a good idea...
Nice - and I'm enjoying a sentimental reminisce looking at those photos of QECP.
I've got a Aether 9C - I like it, but it doesn't get as much use as I thought it would - some slight buyers remorse. No idea why I went for the carbon rather than the aluminium now.
Are you going to keep the Jeht? For me they are a bit too close to justify owning both unless I built them up very differently. To be honest a Jeht is what I wished I'd bought when I bought the aether. Or maybe the Flaremax.
Ha I'm also looking at second-hand FlareMaxs.
Well if anyone is after a Small Gen1 Jeht or a Small Gen4 (one of the UK-Made batch) Flaremax frame & shock let me know! The man-maths did rely a bit on this replacing both...
The Jeht originally was built up 140mm both ends, fairly light trail tyres and wheels so quite similar idea to this, however before I went to the Alps it got a 150mm Lyrik Ultimate and some beefier wheels, tyres & brakes which was perfect in the mountains but it's largely sat unused since as I turned it into a bit of a beast. Logically I could have just rebuilt it again but I fancied a bit of change anyway and with the seed of going back to smaller wheels/rear wheel planted in my head regarding the bike handling I thought why not give it a go..
Doah, if you'd just have eaten your greens more as a kid and grown a bit I'd have been having an issue with which one to buy!
Going back to the orginal "short travel little wheeler"
if any of you taller folks are after a Bird Aeris 120LT (frame) in large send me a message.
If I'd been a bit taller I might not be changing them as I wouldn't struggle for dropper height/cornering 🤣
Haha small is no good for me sadly, looking at a medium/C2 I think. Plus I need a whole bike really.
Very nice Aether!
I've got a 9c and for what it does, it does it really well IMO. It's a fun, lively bike. I do sometimes wish mine was aluminium, but only because the cables rattle a bit in their inner frame housings and it's no looker - nothing that affects the way it rides.
In terms of the rear shock, I've got the same as you, but will also upgrade one day. Everyone seems to agree that a more linear shock compliments the progressive rear geo. To the best of my research, coils work great at smoothing everything out, but some owners reckon you lose something in terms of climbing and general pop in exchange. The other option that seems popular I'm tempted by is one of those Cane Creek DBil Air shocks.
Yes for me the look of the raw aluminium frames really sold it, I like metal bikes (and industrial/mechanical looking things in general!).
My thinking is that in the summer if I do have some Bikepark/Alps riding planned I could swap in a coil shock and maybe fork (tempted by a Z1 Coil) to try it out and then just swap back if & when I wanted to as it's only a handful of bolts.
They do apparently work very well with a coil shock like you say as the frame is progressive. I'm not too much of a jumper so I'm interested in seeing how it rides in a spec that'll really hoover itself down to the trail and soak up the chatter.
When I was going to order a Bird I was going to spec the Formula Mod shock. Then if you don't like the characteristics you can switch the CTS to change it.
Looks great, whenever I see a full 27.5 it just looks so much more "right" than a 29er 🙂
Particularly on smaller frames/frames with a lower top tube I think the proportions do look better with 27.5" wheels and some chunky tyres.
