INCOMING !! New frame day… Bird Aether 7

Option 3 is I could swap a new Ohlins or new Monarch+ RC3 for the S works

Lets see how this week goes then 🙂 In the ideal world i’ll keep and use the DPX2… They seem very good shocks, so if it fits and i like it, it’ll stay… but that remains to be seen of course.

So the shock arrived and was a bit of a faff…. i tried it with a few settings, first was just bottle cage, no good.

Next was cage and angular bracket, that was close but again, no good with water bottle.

I then tried it with relocator bracket and angled bracket and that’s what we have fitted and fits fine.

I then flipped the shock, well i tried to. Fitting the shaft at the opposite end and reservoir up top. No good as the compression lever gets in the way and hits the bracket. So i tried fitting shaft at opposite end and reservoir down, again not even close…

So that’s what we’ve got and that’s where we are with it.

2021-05-27_04-04-17 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Threw some air pressure in it and did first little test..

Dpx2 baseline by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Lastly, due to the overall linear feel, the shock doesn’t have a lot of pop. It takes more effort to pop and bunny hop as the shock absorbs a lot of the force you input. Although, this creates a ground huggy ride, it is more difficult to jump as it requires more energy to do so.

That’s interesting – I find my Aether really quite poppy with a deluxe rt and Megneg aircan. Far poppier than the Aeris 145LT I had before. Maybe it’s a difference in the base tune in your RS shock if it wasn’t specifically for an Aether.

Have to see how your Dpx goes – the one on my mates SC 5010 seems really nice and quite adjustable.

The origin of the RT is completely unknown. I’m running 185psi and 1 large spacer in it.
Whilst I don’t font it poppy, I still love how it rides. But we’ll try the dpx2 this weekend as I’m at FoD for 2 days. I then may swap back to the RT for Swinley on Monday as a comparison. I’ll happily keep the dpx2 but only if I feel it’s worthwhile having over the RT.

Dare I say it, would it not have been better to buy the frame with a shock that was tuned for it?  Seems that you’ve spent a fair bit of time and money chasing a shock that works on the Whyte (appreciate the original was a dud) and now the Bird when the simplest thing would’ve been to get the right one in the first place.

Dare I say it, would it not have been better to buy the frame with a shock that was tuned for it? Seems that you’ve spent a fair bit of time and money chasing a shock that works on the Whyte (appreciate the original was a dud) and now the Bird when the simplest thing would’ve been to get the right one in the first place

Potentially, but wasnt viable at the time.

None of the shocks they had were anywhere within my budget. Plus i already had the Monarch RT here in the spares, so just made sense to use it. Don’t get me wrong, i’m not particularly unhappy with the RT, but as it’s at the end of it’s rebound adjustment and this DPX2 came up at silly money of £250 for a 2021 model shock, it simply made sense to jump on the DPX2 as well.
I’ve got it fitted and ready for this weekend, but i’m not 100% set on it staying, if it doesn’t feel ‘better’ than the Monarch RT then i’ll take it off and try it on my boys Sworks. If he doesn’t prefer it over his Monarch then it’ll be sold on. I’m not one of these people who need bling for the sake of it, it either feels better or it goes. I don’t mind either way.

That said, i’m hoping it feels absolutely brilliant. It’s got the Shockwiz on it, so we’ll see.

Today was it’s big boy ride, Forest of Dean with Taff, his boy and the usual riding crew for us of his mates and dad.

First trail i was a bit “woah” as the Bird didn’t want to turn as quickly as i’d like. However that really was quite a short issue as i soon came to terms with it. We were on the off-piste riding today which we all absolutely LOVE… despite it being a bit of a trawl back to the top each time. But the trails are rooty, twisty and bloody good fun indeedy. They’re also quite jumpy, not massive jumps, but certainly enough to keep you on your toes that’s for sure, there’s a couple of 3′ high ones, but mostly 2′-3′ you get a nice pop off them and a nice bit of a launch, but they could all be rolled if you wanted too. However we tried our best and hit them as well as we could manage.

Once i came to terms with the handling it was cracking on the Bird, it’s composed and stable, holds a line well and the new Fox DPX2 is basically exactly what i want and love in a shock, soft and compliant, but without bottoming out. Ace stuff. Added a smidgen more pressure to it after the first run down as the Shockwiz wanted a bit more air, but after that i whipped the Shockwiz off to fit to Taffs bike and i’m more than happy.

Couple of minor issues, and i do mean minor.
1. My gear cable tensioning bolt wasn’t tight enough and the cable slipped a bit… took a minute or two to sort that.
2. Irritating creak on the bars/headset. I’m sure it’s just a tiny bit of lube/cleaning needed though.

It was then down to the Fountain Inn for an epic burger and 2 beers, before hitting the trails again. Sadly that’s where it went a little wrong, my lad spannered himself last weekend on the scooter and put a 3″ x 3″ scuff on his knee, which he’s been letting heal for the rest of the week. We then got to the bottom of the last trail for the day and wonderboy comes off in a bit of mud and rips the scab off his wound and there’s blood everywhere ! i wasn’t concerned about any major issues, but it could be a game changer for tomorrows riding or not as the case may be.

Hope your lad’s OK weeksy – next time maybe he should just have the one beer? 😃

Maybe tell your boy he’s only allowed shandies when bike riding as he can’t handle it 🤷‍♂️

It didn’t hold him back too much

That’s ace!

I might get him to do it on my Bird Aether7 and then pester Dan and Ben to sponsor him with a new frame ha ha. That’s got to be worth it for them having a cool kid launching a Bird.

2021-05-31_06-23-16[/url] by Steve Weeks[/url] – Flickr2BBcode LITE

The water bottle’s a disgrace.  No attempt to properly accessorise. Colour match as a minimum. Plain black if all else fails.

They were £1.99 on planet X, I bought a gazillion of them. Might as well use em.

😉

Minor change on the Bird. It’s now official that my Fox DPX2 has been stolen by the boy for his Sworks. Whoops. Wasn’t my brightest idea fitting it to his bike for testing then…. but hey, you don’t know what’s better/worse until you try it.

So the Bird generally runs a 210*55 shock, the only shock i had in spares was a 210*52.5 so fractionally less travel, but Bird confirmed it’ll be fine.

Removing my lads shock from his though does now free up a 210*55 which i’ve fitted to the Bird for tomorrows ride up at Sherwood Pines. I’ll be curious to see how it feels. I’ll also be taking some volume spacers to tune it if i get some time.

I’m also in some potential negotiations for a 210*55 DPX2 along with a CC DBIL air in a 210*55 but not sure yet how either of those discussions will go.

I’m also in some potential negotiations for a 210*55 DPX2

Consider the DPX2 bought… lol.. Ace service again from Bird Bikes.

It’s the same on some motorbike stuff, some are measured from fully clockwise, some from fully anti, so in effect you are technically doing the opposite of what you stated.

I noticed on the trailhead site, RockShox give rebound numbers from the slowest position, and the number given is negative – which makes sense. “10 clicks of rebound damping from zero” vs. “10 fewer clicks of rebound damping than the maximum available”. IMO giving a positive number counted from the maximum damping end is not intuitive.

2021-06-02_07-45-57 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Went up to Sherwood Pines with Couchy yesterday for a play, first ride was a lap of the red on the Bird. I’d set it up with the Monarch R shock which for some reason, even with the pressures the same, the sag the same, the Monarch R feels a LOT closer to how i like bikes to feel, far more plush and compliant. Throughout the ride i just needed 2 clicks of tortoise as it was set a little fast on the rebound.
The ride itself was excellent, sure Pines isn’t the hardest thing on the planet but it’s mostly flowy fast fun. Couple of bits i don’t much like with some weird rollers that kill all the fun of it, but other than that it’s brilliant as far as entertainment goes 🙂

For some reason, the front end isn’t quite as poppy as i think i’d like, but i’ve got some slightly higher rise bars arriving this week i’ll try out to see if i can get it a bit more poppy.

Fine performance from the bike though, impressed.

It took me ages to find some but I fitted 40mm rise Renthal’s on the Geometron. It makes it much more comfortable and easier to lift the front wheel. I don’t think long reach bikes and flat or low bars mix very well.

Yeah I’ve only gone for 25mm rise, I’ll see how they look unmounted and whether I think I should go even higher.

lastjump2 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

lastjump5 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

lastjump4 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

The bike has developed a creaky thing. Twice per pedal revolution, only when I’m pushing hard on pedals, which led me to think it was the bottom bracket, but seems not.
I’ve cleaned the pivots with the weirdest ever bolt configuration, swapped the saddle, cleaned the seatpost and clamp and swapped the pedals.
I’m Really hoping that’s it done now as I’m not sure what else to swap. Can’t swap the dropper as I don’t have a spare, but can try a static post to test again. But it’s not always present, it never appeared until 8km into the last ride and kinda came and went. It increases with cadence in relative terms. It’s more of a clicky clicky than a grindy graunchy noise. Will be interesting to see when next out if we’ve fixed it!

They’re locking collets – they work brilliantly vs other fs arrangements I’ve had before.

Click click sounds like a bb / crank thing. I’ve got a bit of that now but I’m 99% sure it’s the gxp bb on it’s way out.

Check the lower shock bush.

Also check headset/stem/bars.  I’ve had similar before and solved with a thorough clean and re-grease.  Otherwise also do the same if you have a direct mount chainring.  Raceface cinch especially.

They’re locking collets – they work brilliantly vs other fs arrangements I’ve had before.

Hopefully this is just a one off then.

Click click sounds like a bb / crank thing. I’ve got a bit of that now but I’m 99% sure it’s the gxp bb on it’s way out.

It does indeed sound like a BB/crank, i swapped the BB for another GXP, but due to stock levels in UK it’s another used one, not new, so i can’t be 100% it’s perfect. But i’ve got a 3rd used one in spares too if i need to try it.

Check the lower shock bush.

Yeah should be good, all pretty new.

Otherwise also do the same if you have a direct mount chainring

IT’s a SRAM GXP type with the 3 bolts on the back, checked them and all seem OK. I will whip them off and clean though if i still have any noise.

Question for you guys then..

Things like pivot bolts, shock bolts, etc, are you cleaning them and putting them in dry, or a light bit of clean grease on them ? I’ve always been a fan of a bit of grease on all of these sort of things. But curious to get others thoughts too.

Check the lower shock bush.

Yeah should be good, all pretty new.

So were mine and that was where my click/sticking came from. You could feel it as well as hear it though.

Loctite on the threads, light grease on the smooth bits (at least on the collet bolts) for me. AM9 with several bearing changes and nothing seized and no broken bolts.

Bird spec torque numbers and loctite grades on the data sheets and I’m sure have said to grease but I can’t find that in writing at the moment!

So were mine and that was where my click/sticking came from. You could feel it as well as hear it though.

Going to have to wait 24-48 hours as my spares suspension drawer is right out of bushings ! Jeepers… thought i had half a dozen, so i’ve ordered a pile.

Flip the shock if you can. The upper bush rotates a lot less. If it’s the bush then the noise should change or stop. Mine I could feel when hand compressing the suspension. Took it apart and reassembled with a tiny bit of grease. Was good for first ride but not had enough time to tell if the issue is sorted.

good shout…. i’ll see how we go and find out.

When my lower bush went recently I could feel it as a small knock – it was the lower one that had gone but I just changed both I think (I forget now).

With the collet bolts I bluenloctite the threads and use waterproof grease as a light coating. I also tend to put a bit of waterproof grease on the face of the bearing seal to try and stop water etc getting in. So far so good – had an Aeris for 3 years and have had an Aether a year and a few months. I’m probably due to strip it down and check all the bearings soon, but I don’t have any play or squeaking yet so 🤷‍♂️

Edit – the postage cost from Bird for small items is quite expensive – so I picked up a replacement bushing kit and tool from offset bearings.com

Looks like lower shock bushing may be the culprit. Will confirm 100% but I think it’s silent

I drove the youngsters over to Goring yesterday evening to jump. Took the Bird in the car too, so i could see how it did there. For the first time ever, i cleared the tabletop 5 times on the bounce. I never clear it every time, so that was pretty damn epic.
I don’t know how much is the Bird being a better jumper bike than the G-160 or how much of it is me getting slightly better at jumping, but it actually felt like i could roll in at a lower speed and still clear the jump. Sure, i’m still a long long way from popping it as the 12 year olds do, but if i can land consistently on the down-side then i’m more than happy with that for a performance that’s for sure.

I’m sure we’ll be back there in another few days for more of the same. 😀

This time i’ll be running a Fox DPX2 which arrives today.

I’m not good at jumping, but the Aether definitely pops better than the Aeris I had before it.