[Closed] Bird Aeris Demo

Finally managed to get a demo on the new Bird Aeris yesterday.

Ben Pinnick from Bird very kindly drove up to Cannock after being pestered for a couple of months!

We rode for 29km of Cannock's splashiest trails including, Dog, Monkey and 3 runs down Stile Cop.

It was a fantastic day out. Really really enjoyed it.

I rode a medium orange bike kitted out with SLX 2x10 drivetrain, Pikes, Zee brakes, the X-fusion shock and their own carbon wheels (I didn't check to see what hubs).
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Ben rode a large green bike (decals are black on production model). That was zee 1x10 with turbine wheels.
[img] [/img]

I really enjoyed the ride.
For some reason (and I can't quite put my finger on why - maybe the forward geometry, maybe the shock curve), it rode like less of a handful compared to other similarly slack bikes I've tried.
I rode it in 140mm mode all day and had a blast.

Obviously this is Cannock, and not my local Peak District, but I kept trying to seek out rocks, roots and steps to test it out. I'm fairly confident I got a thorough impression of it.

The best thing I can say about it is that the bike was fairly invisible and just let me get on with riding. A bit like the Pike forks that I've ridden a few times now.
Pedalled really well (we even had a road drag), and even though it wasn't as poppy as my Maverick, it still felt as good as anything I've ridden this year.

Anyway - A deposit has just been made on a shiny orange one. Now I've got to wait and hope my current bikes can get me through the winter!

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Other bikes I've ridden in the quest for my perfect bike were:
[b]Knolly Warden[/b] with CCDBCS (Love the look of these, but felt overbiked for the first time. I would like to test again with different shock settings. Stiffest rear end by far. Also the new Endorphin might be more my style)
[b]Bronson C[/b] with CCDBCS (felt pretty good, but a little bit stuck to the ground)
[b]Solo C[/b] with Fox CTD (liked)
[b]Specialized Stumpjumper Evo Carbon 29er[/b] (little bit stuck to the ground but not as bad as Specialized-of-old and I also decided I didn't really want 29er steering)
[b]Banshee Spitfire[/b] (shock was a little broken and didn't have a dropper, but I still liked it - firm and fast)
[b]Banshee Phantom[/b] (best 29er trail bike I've ridden)
[b]Banshee Prime[/b] (also really liked - for just ploughing through everything yet still being poppy - heavy though).

Did the bargain price of the Aeris sway me? - maybe - but also Ben's attitude and speccing knowledge helped (and the fun colours). It turned it into a no-brainer vs the Solo which was coming in at £4700! Even the Banshees were difficult to build less than £3500 now that the prices are steadily climbing.

Here's a quick vid of me making a bit of a hash of some jumps at Stile Cop:
[video] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvUk264H144 [/video]