I’ve been tentatively considering a new bike for the first time in a good while. Justifying it as an early 40th present to myself after/during whats been a crap year to say the least!

Riding I do is a mix of natural stuff – often rooty and steep round here, some trail centres and bigger days in the lakes etc. Covering ground and climbing is important as well as the descents. Current thinking would suggest a medium travel 29er would be ideal.
I was looking at the AM9 which seems to get amazing reviews but possibly too big a bike? Then saw the new 9c framesets which look fantastic but there seems to be little feedback yet. If anyone has any experience with the 9c (or am9) I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

I was drawn to Bird because of possibility to demo and excellent reputation but any other suggestions welome too.

There is a good chance Ben from Bird will be along shortly but as far as I know none of the Aether 9Cs are in the country yet.  Last I saw the first were to arrive this month

It doesn’t fully answer your question but I’ve had an Aeris 145 and now riding an Aether 7 – so I guess the 650b equivalent of each of the bikes you mention.

The Aether is an all round better bike in my opinion than the Aeris 145 (which ran in 145 and 160mm travel). The only place it really loses out is in rock gardens and repetitive large root sections – where the Aeris ploughed through them you can feel the Aether slow a bit.

Other than that I’d say the Aether is better everywhere – it climbs better, it corners better, it’s more playful etc.

I’ve had mine since Feb (had had the 145 for just under 3 years) and it had all the build kit from the Aeris moved onto it. So Code R brakes, Lyrik, Pro4/XM481 wheels etc – so it’s on the burlier end of Aether builds I guess.

If I were to go 29er I think the 9C would be right up there on my list of bikes to demo – probably along with the equivalent Evil and Pace 29ers.

The YT Izzo / Transition Spur also look good but are probably a bit nearer ‘Down-Country’ than trail for me.

They’ve got the full range to demo from HQ now.

There is a good chance Ben from Bird will be along shortly but as far as I know none of the Aether 9Cs are in the country yet. Last I saw the first were to arrive this month

I’ve seen Demo bikes on the Bird FB Group

Definitely on my list of bikes that ticks my need/want list.

But it does have looks only a mother would love.

@joebristol What length forks are you running on the Aether?

I don’t think I’d buy one on looks alone, it is gopping. Same with the new Pace too, they just look a little to unrefined and bulbous to me? I know they’re cheaper but compared to a Santa Cruz/Yeti/Ibis/Transition they don’t look as polished. I was looking at shorter travel 29ers and went with a Spur, Ripley/Tallboy looked good, others like the Nukeproof Reactor & Norco Optic were perhaps a little too burly & heavy for me.

@stevenk4563

I’ve got a 140mm travel fork on the Aether. It started life as a 160mm Yari but now has Lyrik SKF seals, 2019 Deboanir air shaft and a charger 2 damper (rct3) – and they’re red too 😝

I thought about 150mm but it took the headangle quite close to 64 degrees so I thought that might be a bit slack. Maybe at some point I might try it at 150mm but it gets through most stuff with the travel it has now.

All very useful cheers, I’m near the Consett branch so would be very tempted to demo when they make it up here. I kind of like the looks, reckon it would look better in the metal/plastic too

@joebristol that was my hypothetical thinking between the AM9 Aeris and Aether. I’m not going to be ploughing through rock gardens or hitting big jumps and drops so a shorter travel bike seemed to make more sense on paper. And weight does matter for long climbs and hike a bike. Not completely set on 29er, current bike is 27.5 but like the idea of better roll over and grip.

I’ve had a brief play on one, it was too small for me but seemed to do well. I tore a rear tyre about 5 miles in so had to walk home. Climbing was good and i could tell it rode lighter than my 145. Didn’t like the new pike at all, but would put my helm on it and I hadn’t really played enough. Didn’t seem as planted as the 145 but once again the right size and a bit of dicking about would probably sort it. Dan has a selection now so give him a bell and go play. I’m broken now but would have tried the large if I wasn’t. Have fun.

@njcisca

I’m not sure what fork the 9C takes but a lot of AM9’s until v3 have had 150MM travel at both ends. The v3 takes up to a 170mm I think, but suspect most people will run 150 or 160.

I think the main difference is that the AM9 is more enduro focused (but can be built as a trail bike if you wanted). I’d guess the Aether is a bit more playful and would assume the carbon frame saves a bit of weight.

I think as an allrounder for fun I’d go 9C but if I was riding difficult stuff often then the AM9 would be a better compromise.

I looked at one but I’m not a fan of bikes that have a super long reach and then 430mm chainstays. Makes it feel really unbalanced and hard to weight both wheels. As there’s plenty of XL bikes these days with 440mm+ stays I looked elsewhere.

I’ve seen the bike in person a few times now, one of my localish bike shops up here in Aberdeen has one that seems to be out on demo quite a bit.

IMO it looks better in person than the photos on the website. The down tube in the stock pics looks quite angular and a little awkward in pics but it is not as noticeable in real life. The green is really lovely in person.

I mulleted my Aether 7 and I’m loving it. I lowered the forks to 120mm travel to keep the axle to crown length similar to the intended geometry of the 27.5 but have that extra grip and rollover from the 29 up front. Bird make great bikes, I’d imagine the Aether 9 is no different.

I could have written that exact post, right down to the upcoming 40th birthday treat.

I had a car park ride on a large AM9 last week & liked it. It didn’t feel as long as I expected it to, but maybe less playful & too big a bike for long day riding, the puffer, etc.

Their is allegedly an aluminium Aether 9 coming soon, which would suit probably 75% of my riding better, but their will be days @ Dunkeld etc where I would probably wish I had the AM9. Kinda thinking I need to try both. Funnily enough, I emailed Ben earlier to enquire about demos.

I’m also thinking an AM9 with an air shock, Pikes, lighter wheels & tyres might be an optimal compromise.

I could have written that exact post, right down to the upcoming 40th birthday treat.

I had a car park ride on a large AM9 last week & liked it. It didn’t feel as long as I expected it to, but maybe less playful & too big a bike for long day riding, the puffer, etc.

Their is allegedly an aluminium Aether 9 coming soon, which would suit probably 75% of my riding better, but their will be days @ Dunkeld etc where I would probably wish I had the AM9. Kinda thinking I need to try both. Funnily enough, I emailed Ben earlier to enquire about demos.

Perfect excuse for a new bike! I’d heard about an incoming alloy Aether 9 too could be worth the potential saving and I’m not in a hurry to buy.

Current bike is an older model Spectral CF – I like the playful handling and relative light weight but feels out of its depth on very steep and rough stuff. Of course my lack of skill and bottle will play a big part in this too. Its finding a balance between all day pedalling and climbing ability and feeling confident on the way down. All a compromise as usual!
Demo of both definitely the way to go.

@njcisca, I heard back from Ben this morning, demos of the new Aether9 at Consett should be starting this time next month. I’ll be trying a AM9 and Aether as soon as I can get down there.

If you want to drop me a PM nearer the time, we could take them both out (restrictions allowing)? I’ll probably try ML ones as I’ve been on a size L AM9 already.

@ceept Thanks, that sounds like a good plan I’d be looking at ML frames too.
I’ll message you nearer the time, if you hear anymore updates before then keep me posted.

Spooky, I’ve also been considering a 9C for my 40th after a crap year. Coming off a YT Capra, occasional race, golfie, hamsterley, local stuff and wanted something a bit shorter travel.Capra smooths the trails out too much while my hatrdtail is great fun but I fell battered after a ride on it. Wanted something in the middle.

Looked at tallboy, Ripley, reactor. Was tempted by an optic but can’t find one anywhere.

Anyway I now have a 9C on order. Took ages deciding on the build, almost too much choice but it’s great how you can custom build. Prices are great too.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t take too long before I can go pick it up!

Good work! I’ve got one on order too and took ages configuring it. Since the order I must have changed the specification about 4 times, each time Ben and Dan have been great and modified it no bother at all.

I was most torn on the fork….140 or 150

Wheels too

I was most torn on the fork….140 or 150

£40 for a second airshaft isn’t much on the price of the whole bike.

Hope your 9c’s are ready soon! Keep us posted on your thoughts when they arrive and plenty of photos.

@wayniac didn’t realise 150 fork was an option which did you go for?
I’ve been very tempted to pull the trigger on a frameset myself but going to hold out for a demo first. Will no doubt feel very different to my current bike so an extended test definitely worthwhile.

So I took the 9C for a 4 hour test ride round Swinley a couple of weeks ago.

I tried the Medium and was coming from a Zero 29.

It’s good. Very good.

It’s really well balanced and whilst it is a little on the slower side to get going, being a 29er it picks up speed and rolls really fast. I was hot on the tail of my mate one his Aeris 120, and he knows the trails.

Climbing – it isn’t a Hardtail, but it gets up there with minimum fuss and bob, even without the suspension being dialled in perfectly. Out of the saddle is not too bad.

On the fast smooth berms I found it gave more confidence than my Zero, and the grip was always there. Tight corners need you to muscle the bike in, but that is possibly down to the wheel size.

If you get it wrong and lose speed (as I did a few times) it does take some effort to get going again.

I didn’t notice any kick back on the drive train.

Decending, it loves it and even when I got it wrong the bike took it in it’s stride. It is very playful and I got a pleasant surprise on some jumps.

I found myself more in the centre of the cockpit than my Zero and it did feel tall to start, but I got over that quickly and brought the saddle up so that I could use all the 150mm drop of the post.

It really is a great do it all bike. The demo bike could have had better brakes and I’m still no SRAM fan and the dropper post really needed a service, but even at base build it is very very good. I preferred it to the YT I tried, both in ride and price.

If I could get the build I want so would have one on order and also the other question is whether the carbon is worth the extra £600 over alloy for greater stiffness and a 200g weight saving. For someone of low skill and talent..

But that carbon, in green..

I went for 140 but sounds like I will be getting hold of a 150 air shaft too.

So it’s the same chassis between 150 and 140 so you can chop and change on either direction?

@wildfires what height are you? And was it a medium or medium long you tried? I am 182cm and could have gone medium long or large, went for the former as even that size is bigger than my XL Capra. The L and XL are huge bikes!

I’m 170cm and tried the medium. Perfect for me.

The Medium Long would have been too much.

@wayniac thanks for the feedback all really useful. Sounds like exactly what I’m looking for in terms of do it all ability. Out of interest do you remember if the demo bike have particularly draggy/heavy tyres on? Wondered if that affected the feeling of slow acceleration.

@wildfires3 interesting on the sizing. I’m 172cm and had assumed I’d be on an ML but seems Med would probably fit better with how long these frames are.

On sizing I think it depends on your proportions rather than outright height. Plus what kind of feel you like from your bike.

Bird suggested at 5’9 I’d probably be on an ML. However I have quite short arms / torso and longer legs in comparison.

I’m 5’9 (about 175 cm I think) and I ran an ML Bird Aeris 145 for nearly 4 years but it always felt on the stretched side – as a result I often found I was struggling to weight the front wheel as much as I needed to.

I swapped that frame out for a Medium sized Aether 7 in Feb and I much prefer it. The bike feels a bit smaller / more compact and I’m cornering faster and happier on tight technical trails. Obvs it’s shorter travel so it’s more fun on tame trails – on fast rocky / rooty trails it gives up a bit of speed / momentum over the Aeris but I’m good with that.

On the flip side I’ve a mate I ride with that is shorter than me (5’7 ish) who rides an ML Aeris and loves it. I’d suggest he has longer arms – but he also likes a longer / slacker bike than me.

So if you’re short of arm / torso and / or like a smaller feeling bike then medium. If you have a long upper body and / or want something as long as possible for more stability then ML.

Prob not helpful, but I have an AM9 built faily light. With lightish wheels, air shock and pikes and am loving it. Only two months into ownership but it is almost the best of both worlds / sits on the boundary of Enduro and trail. I’m in no doubt how capable on steep and techy stuff it is and have been pleased with what it is helping me to ride, but it moves along on well enough when out for more of an XC ride, but here’s my main point – I’m most surprised by how nimble it is. It feels like such a non 29er. Way more thrashable than I was expecting. It’s some damn bike.

I don’t think I’d buy one on looks alone, it is gopping.

Agree – same as the rest of the range but in comparison to pretty much everything else out there it seems like good vfm.

I don’t think I’d buy one on looks alone, it is gopping.

Agree – same as the rest of the range but in comparison to pretty much everything else out there it seems like good vfm.

I’m hoping it’s one of those bikes that looks better in person then on photos. If I ever go 29er it’d be on my shortlist.

I like the aesetic of most of the Bird bikes – but then if I didn’t I probably wouldn’t have had 2 of them. Particularly like my raw Aether 7 with red Lyriks.

I’ve just built up a Santa Cruz 5010 for my mate and it is very nice though.

Bird are long, I’m considering the 9A/C or a Privateer 141. The Privateer comes in somewhere between the M and ML for the Bird across most of the measurements. The Privateer geo is a little more aggressive too.

However the Bird (especially for the 9C) is a fair bit more expensive, especially if you spec it up with Fox and SLX.

But I believe the 9C will be about 1kg lighter and the 9A about 750g lighter.

It may come down to price as the 9C is looking to be about £1.4k more.

Fox spec from Bird tends to cost quite a lot – the Rockshox options are more reasonable and they spec a lot more of those.

The one thing on the privateer I probably wouldn’t want on a hard charging trail bike is the Hunt wheels. Keep hearing of them denting quite easily.

Easy to see why the 9C is more expensive being carbon – but the 9A when it comes along is probably going to be a chunk cheaper. If it’s like their other alloy bikes it’ll probably come out around the £1300 with basic shock.

The Privateer does have very decent suspension at both ends for the price by the looks of it.

@joebristol I’m similar in terms of longer legs so medium sounds like the best bet. Even that is considerably longer in reach and top tube length than my current bike.

@julioflo I’ve not ruled out the AM9 option with a lighter build. Tough one as I’d really like to demo both but might not be possible for a while now. At the same time the itch for a new bike build/lockdown project is growing!

The Privateer is coming in at a better price point that the Bird, the 9A is going to be around £600 cheaper than the 9C and the 9C is a cracking bike.

I guess Bird don’t get such a good deal on Fox as they do on Rock Shox as they have only just started doing them, but to spec up to Fox it is an extra £800 odd, which is a fair chunk of change.

The Privateer is sub £3k all in, which is damn good all in all. Heavy though, someone said it’s around £1 a gram to save which is about right on the frame.

Back on the 9C, I’m 170, with a 30′ inseam and had no issues with size at all in Medium. I was originally concerned about the post height, but I inserted it all the way in and ended up raising it about 25mm out of the frame and probably could have gone more.

Its only £455 to up spec from Ultimate fork and Super D shock to 36 and DPX2, which would be the comparable jump. We only do the factory stuff as the perf elite rear shock is OE only (we don’t buy enough Fox to warrant a full OE order) and the forks the price difference doesn’t really make sense – if you want to pay the extra for fox (given service costs etc. over the lifetime of the product vs. RockShox) then you may as well be all in for the Factory 😉

A full Ultimate shock and fork specc’ed deore bike (I would take Deore over SLX) with XM1700 wheels and our (pretty decent I would say) finishing kit will be £2900 on a Aether 9a when it comes out. Thats probably the value price point at the moment. Pricing will fluctuate as OE stock goes in and out so its always worth checking every part – you may find some parts are not as expensive an upgrade as you may think if one part is OE and the other aftermarket.

Aether 9a builds (with dropper etc.) are from 28 lbs if you wanted lighter…. And thats all you’re going to get from me until it lauches 🙂

Cheers Ben!! Much appreciated info and much to think about!

12.5kg is well under Privateer’s 14.5!!

I loved the 9C and if I could make the sums work I’d order the 9C, Deore with XM1700 and XT shifter straight off!

So when is the Aether 9a out and when can I order one! Money is waiting.

Ben

I’m definitely looking at aether9 C or A
On the subject of fox it looks like you’ve run out of fox dpx2 when are you going to get them back in stock?
How come you guys don’t stock the rockshox super deluxe ultimate in 210*55 for the Aether9?

A couple of things, deore over the slx? Just because it’s better value if you want to keep the price down? Only hear good things about slx ( but you’ve sold out of that as well)

I’m a heavier dude, would you go for guide re, g2 rsc or code RSC or go for a shimano break.

I’ve ideally got a budget of 3k ish but it keeps on changing.

Cheers

Ed