Are aether 9s efficient?

Are aether 9s efficient bikes? think mashing the pedals stood up on flattish terrain.

Stood up and mashing pedals?

Hardtail would be the best thing for that, or maybe a URT frame.

When you look at anti squat and the factors that influence it, you realise that the there will always be a big difference between sitting and standing because of where it puts the centre of gravity

As above, depends what you are comparing it to.

It does not look/feel as efficient as my old DW link Turner, but it’s definitely better than you expect if you’ve come something of age. I’m thinking of old Orange 5s I rode years back. I guess that’s mostly about the progress in shock design and frame designers only needing to worry about 1X.

Can’t say about stood up, but sat down the suspension barely moves when climbing. As in, fire road climb, finger on the shock, can’t feel it moving. On technical climbing I wish it moved more, as it does feel like it’s crashing into things sometimes.

I had an Aether 7 and it pedalled pretty well. 9 should be similar but will keep momentum up better with the bigger wheels.

Vs something like a Santa Cruz 5010 I’d say my Aether didn’t pedal quite as spritely (although it was a CC carbon frame built with a 130mm pike vs aether with a 150mm Lyrik) but it descended steep tech much better than the SC. That was a v3 5010 – both bikes with 130mm rear travel and a piggyback shock.

I think VPP like on a Tallboy probably pedals a little better than the Aether – but then the Aether pedals better than something like a NP Reactor.

If you want to stand up and mash the pedals everywhere I think you’re better off with a hardtail or pure xc bike than a trail bike.

On technical climbing I wish it moved more, as it does feel like it’s crashing into things sometimes.

I found this too. Not very responsive around the sag point unless you are moving with a bit of speed (i.e. downhill). It made it great for not much bobbing on fire road climbs, and rather less good for technical climbs in more ‘backcountry’ conditions. This was a negative for me overall and the main reason I decided to change it for something else.

I concluded it was probably best as a trail centre bike where things are generally smoother and faster.

I replaced it with Ripmo V2, which, despite the extra travel, pedals the 9C into a cocked hat in basically every scenario.

If a taut, efficient and responsive bike is your priority, you’d like the recent Orange FS ones.

Can’t comment on the Bird A9 tho

My 9c was the least enjoyable climbing bike I have yet owned. Just felt dead and joyless and energy sucking. I don’t know what was up with it. Much prefer my current Tyee, even with a coil shock.

I’m in the process of getting rid of my Aether 9…… but i found it climbed very well.

I was on the large and i’m 182cm tall – so found the bike fitted me lovely for all day riding with the ability to attack sesctions as well
The rear suspension was firm and lacked the initial suppleness… but i added a megneg which helped.

But after riding my Epic Evo over the summer i realiased how long the bird was for cornering…
I’m now swapping it for a stumperjumper Evo – which i find goes round tight corners easier for me.

I never found mine bobbed annoyingly, and that was coming from fully rigid at the time. Just a different pedalling technique.

I partially agree with the climbing comments. Mine used to feel stiff around the sag point and would squat when climbing, but adding a MegNeg cured both those things. That said, I’d still be happier with more compliance on tech climbs, and I definitely enjoy it most on the flats and descents.

I can’t give you any comparisons beacuse I’ve not spent that much time on other FS bikes. I agree with jwh about it being big – I had no trouble getting used to cornering the Pivot Phoenix I rented in Morzine this summer 😀

Edit:
I should add that I’ve loved my A9c. It’s big to corner and I agree that climbing isn’t its element, but I find it incredibly forgiving on descents, drops and jumps, and as an old man I also like how it runs out of travel before things get unstable and I run out of skill (the Phoenx gave me a couple of sharp reminders of that point). But I’m also very keen to try more FS designs/bikes and get more comparison points.

@jwh 182cm on a size large is a big bike!

6ft is in the middle of the size large.

I went with their sizing.

And I wanted to try out the long low slack style.

I really liked it, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I just can’t get it round tight corners that well.

I thought 6’2 was the middle of L. It’s 5’10 for ML (the company owners’ size) and 5’6 for M. I’m 5’8 and sized down to M.

I remember the ML I demoed felt fantastically stable but quite hard to manage in the corners, but to be fair I’m not very good. The M still takes some muscling but is much easier to handle.

The Stumpjumper Evo looks fabulous, especially with now configurable it is. I hope you like it!

182cm on a size large is a big bike!

At 178cm (but with a large ape index and short legs) I bought a ML but I’d have preferred the reach of a large but would’ve been borderline running a 150mm dropper. A 6’4″ mate hired a S5 specialized Enduro for an uplift day at Inners and struggled with the length. We swapped bikes for the day and it felt fine.

Good point. I’m sure a key factor in my preference is my short arms. I have short legs too, so I rule out frames by seat tube first 🙂

Slight sidetrack but once the Bird Aeris AM comes out that’s quite a hard bike to look past for me. Seems like it’s got more travel / more balanced front to back sizing (longer chainstays), comes in pretty light and is a bit more slack on the headangle. Said to pedal quite well but too early yet for any external review I think.

I’m on a medium Sentinel alloy 2022 but saving a few pounds whilst keeping similar geometry is quite tempting…..(I’ve had a Aeris 145lt and Aether 7 previously)

I’d quite like the carbon Sentinel but that’s £3500 with a potentially unreliable Fox X2 vs the £1995 for the Bird AM with a top spec RS Super Deluxe Ultimate. Bonkers value difference.

Best bike for efficiency standing up and pedalling hard would be a rigid bike. Its all about comprimise.

To the original question, I was very surprised how good the Aether 9 was at climbing, so I think it is great.

However, like any bike, there are situations it likes better than others. It is not super-active in the suspension, which I think is a plus for climbing, but does mean super bumpy uphills are not its forte. I generally always look for easier routes up anyway, so it is ideal for me.

So, who deliberately seeks the more difficult uphills? Even XC racers will look for the easiest line, cause it’s quicker.

*raises hand*

It not about speed. Lord knows I’m not fast up a hill. It’s about interest. If I’m not sure I can get a bike up it, its worth a go.

Interest drives virtually all my riding choices – doesn’t matter if its up, down or along.

i reckon FS fall into two categories

The ones that are really obviously FS. You can feel the suspension working a lot, they feel very pluch. My old cotic rocket is like this.

The other category is those FS that you forget are FS until you barrel into something rough at high speed and realise you’ve negotiated it with the minimum of fuss. The aether is this for me. It feels almost a bit hardtail like until you really want it to swallow stuff. Thats good for me on my local riding – efficient for pedalling up edge of exmoor hills without sapping energy but capable of coping with some decent descending.

I’m riding my new one on everything in lieu of the rocket and hardtail and enjoying it