INCOMING !! New frame day… Bird Aether 7

My new Fox DPX2 arrived today…”What, i thought you already had one”…. No, that’s ended up on the Sworks Enduro of the 12 year old, so i’ve been running the Rockshox Monarch Deluxe R.

The thing is, i’m really happy with the Monarch R and it feels lovely…. So if i’m going to keep the DPX2 it’s going to have to be mind-blowing
2021-06-09_01-54-17 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

At the end of the day, i bought it for a great price considering it’s almost brand new, so i won’t have any trouble selling it on if i need to.

But i’ll certainly be taking it out on the next jump sessions with the small ones.

Well I’m not exactly sure what to do here, the dpx2 feels soft and nice without doubt, but I’m not sure if it’s any ‘better’ though, well I’m not actually sure how to define better. But in terms of, what is the better shock, a Deluxe R or a DPX2 I’m sure internet wisdom tells us the DPX2 is the superior shock, but how/why/what I don’t really know.
Maybe I’m just not good enough to know better.

I don’t exactly ‘need’ the money back for it, but I’m not seeing a lot of point keeping both shocks.
My only real debate is whether changing the shock bushings sorted the creaky noise (just in case it was the shock itself) but as I can’t get either shock to make a noise now, I’m guessing we’ve resolved the issue. I can’t be bothered testing in this heat today so I’m taking a rest day from the pedalling and will ponder what I do next.

We can call this a stealth advertisement for a 210*55 dpx2 if you like lol.

Pity its not the 210 x 52.5 that you bought earlier or I would have been very tempted

Lol it easily can be, that’s on the boys bike but arguably he should run 210*55 according to bikeyoke

Let me know either way

@weeksy – I know you like playing around with bike bits and I’m exactly the same. I’ve been thinking for ages about a Cane Creek db air Il or db coil il- thinking it might give me ’more’ of something. Been riding the A7 quite a bit more recently rather than the hardtail and appreciating the rear suspension more and more.

A few rides ago I stuck a new C1 RS airshaft in the Lyrik – 150mm travel vs the B1 140mm one I had in there before. Generally uphill it’s much the same – other than on the steepest climbs it’s lifting the front wheel a little earlier. But on downhills it’s a beast – keep getting pb’s at the moment on trails I’ve ridden a fair amount. The standard shock just with megneg airshaft is doing a fantastic job – feels quite plush but also still poppy on jumps. I think I’m just going to stick with it for now – I’m not sure what more I could get out of it.

Also changed the rear tyre a few times since winter – gone 2.4 dhr2 wt (for the thickest slop) to 2.3 Dhr2 (whilst still mucky but drying a bit) to a 2.4 wt dissector (really decent all round tyre) and now on a 2.6 Slaughter Grid. This latest tyre was in a sale for £12 and I couldn’t resist trying it. For me it’s very light on tread but in the current dry hero dirt conditions it’s awesome. Still got side grip for cornering but the centre tread rolls so fast. Lack of breaking grip on steep stuff the main issue when it gets wet I think.

I decided to keep the Rockshox Deluxe R shock for mine, part of the reason was because i’m not unhappy with it, but also we have 4 shocks currently,
2 are 210*55 and 2 are 210*52.5. Now we CAN run 52.5’s on either bike…. but arguably it should be 55… I had a buyer (the lady who sold us the Sworks actually) who wanted the 52.5 in particular, so my lad now has the 210*55 DPX2 that arrived from Bird yesterday and i have the Deluxe R in a 55 fitted on mine. Happy with that and think it’s the right move. Didn’t lose any money on the DPX2, arguably i could have sold for more, but she did me a favour on the bike so happy to sell for what i paid (arguably i did lost postage lol… no biggy)

We’re off to Swinley Summit jumping at the weekend, i’ve got a few little targets in mind for me and the Bird, one of them being a drop i’ve not ridden off yet… i’ve ridden off it’s smaller brother, but not this one which is about another 18″ added.

@joebristol
Funny you mention tyre type things, i’m actually thinking “should i get some fast rolling rubber and a 2nd set of wheels for faster XC type days. There’s not many days out where i would massively benefit from them, but some, I’m currently running the standard WTBs that came on the G-160 along with Specialized Butchers in 2.35s… So maybe something light and fast for things like Snowdon would be a plan.

Won’t you want strong and robust coming down Snowdon?

Won’t you want strong and robust coming down Snowdon?

Never been to Snowdon :)

I assumed it was a gravel path up and down.

Nor me but all the descriptions I looked at when planning a trip suggested rocky.

I don’t think I’d go massively light on casings for Snowdon to be honest – it’s not gravel up and down. Llanberis is fine as you’re going slow up anyway, but Rangers down is loads of rocks as the main surface sticking up at all sorts of angles. I think I did it on my Aeris 145LT – it had a DHF 2.5wt exo 3c front tyre and a WTB Tough/Fast Trailboss on the back. I only got that wtb as I was doing Antur Stiniog the day before and wasn’t sure if an Exo would have survived. In hindsight I think an aggressor would probably have been ok but would have run a little more pressure in it.

I cba with 2 different wheel sets as then you either need to swap the cassette or run 2 cassettes and 2 chains etc really. Dhf on the front for 2-3 seasons of the year with a Magic Mary 2.6 / Hillbilly 2.6 in the slop. It’s back tyres I tend to mess about with more really.

I have read recently that much of the Rangers path had been sanitised. I’m not entirely sure what this means or how much has been covered, but a few on here not so long ago expressed the view that it probably wasn’t worth it anymore.

@weeksy How do you get on with the large frame? I’m also dead on 6 foot and I’m about to order a frame, the size chart shows me plumb in the middle of M/ but my last full sus was a Large Giant Reign and the M/L seems a little shorter in ETT even if the reach is a little longer. I always found the Reign a bit short when seated so wonder if the large Aether might be a better fit. I doubt I’ll get a demo ride anytime soon and I’m impatient to buy…

TBH matey, it’s a toughie to answer. The L feels long to me coming from the G160 and arguably low too LOL… however that’s how they are and how they come of course. Physical size i’m happy. I do find at times i run a little wide on a few turns because of the geomtry/handling, but nothing i can’t work with.
I didn’t try the M/L though i must admit.

Ah cool, I think of Whytes as being quite long so I think if you’re finding an L to feel longer I’ll probably go for the M/L.
Shall get the order in!

Just to add the reason the ett is shorter despite the longer reach is likely to be the steep seat tube angle. So w lot of bikes feel great stood up but a bit short sat down. Not sure what the answer is really – other than slide you saddle back. The steep seat angle is to help in winch and plummet style tech climbs more then anything else.

“ The L feels long to me coming from the G160 and arguably low too LOL… however that’s how they are and how they come of course”

If you mean that the bars feel too low and too far away, stick some more spacers under the stem or swap to a higher rise bar – that’ll neatly fix both issues.

Just chiming in, but I’m similarly between sizes at 5’8 and I opted to size down for my 9c (similar geo apart from the higher stack).

I demoed the ML and the M at Swinley. ML felt nice and stable going straight down, but I was wrestling it in the corners (up, down and flat) and wasn’t weighting it well. I gave it a good go but never felt confident on it. The M felt great, and now I own one I don’t ever miss the extra stability of the longer bike. If anything, perhaps because I can weight it easily, my M now feels more stable to me than the ML did on demo.

I have a long torso and shorter arms and legs, so ymmv.

Edit: I’m also very much not fast 😀

I bought and fitted the Brand X dropper, tested it in the road, then removed it and put on the classifieds.

I just prefer the Magura Vyron, so ordered a new one.

Seriously, you could have given it a bit more chance than a quick go in the road! It’s just a dropper rather than being something like a fork / shock where you need good damping etc. A dropper just goes up and down – needs to do nothing more than that……other than keep going with as little maintenance as possible.

I didn’t like the lever actuation, the lever was the wrong angle, the wrong position and worst part was it felt very heavy to push, even for a bit strong boy like me. Although arguably that was only when it was weighted, if i wasn’t sitting on it then the lever actuation was OK, but then i can’t push it down if i’m not sitting on it. I’m quite a fussy person with bikes, i know what i like and what i don’t and this didn’t do it for me at all.

I gathered – you seem to buy bits and sell them on within a few days….you might have found you got used to it. The Brand X isn’t a particularly hard dropper lever to push – and you can get different levers that are nicer then the standard brand x one. I’ve actually got 2x Oneup droppers at the moment and I’d say the brand x had a lighter lever action and needed less maintenance. Yet on the trail I just don’t notice as I’m concentrated on the trail 🤷‍♂️

OK, i’ve just refitted it.. LOL… See, i can listen to people :)

I’m going to get a mate to sanity check it later before i finish cabling the lever end as i’m wondering if i’d routed it wrongly through the grommet/cam adjuster thing, so just to check, i’ll get him to look as he’s got a couple on his and his kids bikes too. It’s just waiting for that and we’ll test it at Swinley this evening.

I’ve got two one ups. One is easier to push then the other. Both are using wolftooth light action levers and brand new cables. Both have done very few miles. 🙄

got a link to the levers mate ? I don’t wanna go nuts on spending, but i’m not against it.

edit… wow.
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/wolf-tooth-dropper-lever/rp-prod208107?gs=1&sku=sku846719&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=base&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5auGBhDEARIsAFyNm9Hk2sXIuvA0HRH6gfBKjdfIAQ_jKuwlG_vqgm9IxSq85g1CrBKEXa0aAi9cEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

£70. eeek.

Just get this

https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/equipment/cycling-components/bike-stems-seatposts/bike-seatposts-accessories/bike-seatpost-parts-and-accessories/bontrager-line-elite-dropper-under-bar-seatpost-lever/p/27219/

There a craven Ztto copy of the wolftooth lever on ebay. I’ve had one of each and the Ztto lever is indistinguishable, but alot cheaper.

cheers @teethgrinder

is that the right style in terms of end barrel being at the post end, so just cable at the lever end, or do people run it in reverse to the standard setup?

There’s a clamp for the cable on the lever. I run mine with a One Up with the nipple at the post end.

cheers boss… Appreciated.

I’ll see how it goes today and may order one of those up.

I’ve also got a ztto. It’s not indistinguishable but it’s pretty damn close. Slight machining shape differences. The lever, clamp etc are interchangeable. The lever is the same length as the light action lever. Functionality yes they are identical.

I’ve only two Wolftooth’s as the first I got before the ztto was available and the second for the purple lever. One is actually using the bar band from the ztto 😁.

I’ve got a Wolftooth light action and a ZTTO and both work equally as well.

The other interchangeable bit is the red pivot of the ztto. It’s metal while the wolftooth is plastic and designed as a brake away part. That is one cheap bit of the wolftooth that you can use to get rid of the red if it clashes too much (yes I know 😂)

Well none of this is going to sound positive and mostly like i’m whinging like a bit** , but that can’t be helped.

I did a ride yesterday evening with the Brand X, it was a complete disaster and i wanted to throw the Bird in the hedge half way round.

I think a certain amount of it is down to me being used to the actuation on the Vyron as much as anything else.
First issue, bloody heck the lever is hard !!!! going down it’s just a complete disaster and even when you unload the seat a fraction before hitting the button, it’s STILL really hard pressing/pushing it.
You also have to leave your hand on it for what seems like forever while you wait for it to drop.
The seatpost has a wiggle/play in the top, which is at least as much play as the 6 year old Vyron had, i expect some with a dropper, but this felt excessive even after 1 ride.
Now as very little of the cable is in the frame, i thought cable rattle wouldn’t exist on this, but it’s either cable rattle or just seatpost rattle, but i had to actually get off twice and check my shock wasn’t falling out it was making that much noise on the trails.

It completely spoiled my ride.

By the time we got to Babymaker, i checked to see I had 4g and ordered a Vyron and raised a return via CRC for the absolute piece of garbage Brand X.

“ I think a certain amount of it is down to me being used to the actuation on the Vyron as much as anything else.”

I think that’s it because I can’t recall seeing any positive reviews of the Vyron, with every reviewer moaning that it doesn’t behave like cable/hydraulic dropper posts. Similar to how riders used to derailleurs struggle with gearbox shifting.

I think that’s it because I can’t recall seeing any positive reviews of the Vyron, with every reviewer moaning that it doesn’t behave like cable/hydraulic dropper posts.

Yep. I had a demo bike with one, it was the most infuriating POS I have had on a bike for a long time. It doesn’t take much to see that they are an acquired taste – great idea (at the time), appalling execution. There is a reason why Reverb AXS’s are everywhere & these things arn’t.

I really really missed it yesterday, even when the Brand X was kinda working and i honestly tried hard to get used to it, but i dunno, i just couldn’t at all.
I’ve not used many cable/reverb types of droppers i admit, so maybe it’s not quite as bad as i’m making out, but the push actuation was ridiculous, i’m certainly my lad couldn’t even activate it. This was the 2nd cable we’ve tried and fitted with a mate who’s got 2 Brand X droppers just to make sure 100% i was fitting it correctly. Even compared to his, mine felt stiff. “maybe it’ll get easier with a bit of use” was his thoughts, but i used it a fair bit last night and if anything it got worse at the end of the ride.

I’m hoping CRC give me a refund as i don’t want to be stuck with a post i hate, but i can 100% say, irrespective of what they say, it won’t be going back on a bike i own.

Just got to wait for Winstanleys to ship me the Vyron now, but TBH after the rain last night and today, there’s no rush :D

Lol – sounds like something isn’t right + you’re used to an electric button (with a delay) that doesn’t have much, if any, resistance to it.

I’ve got the ZTTO lever on both bikes and they’re both fairly easy to push. I fitted a 170mm brand x to a SC 5010 I built up for a mate and it feels much the same. There is more play on the brand X than the Oneups though – rotationally. Never had one with play front to back.

I just don’t get how a dropper can ruin a ride / make it a disaster – drama queen much 🤣

If you are a fan of the vyron, stick with it.
But the brand x should have a very light action. We have a couple and they work a treat with both the over bar lever and the under bar lever. One is an external one that needed the cord to the actuator tightened up…so i did that and then serviced it. Now that one has the lightest action and the fastest return speed.

Maybe something up with the actuator on yours?

Maybe something up with the actuator on yours?

DUnno mate, i guess we’ll see when CRC get it back and what they say.

I just don’t get how a dropper can ruin a ride

Rattle, wiggle and a lever that won’t work properly, at somewhere like Swinley with it being tight and twisty etc you want it up/down/up/down a fair bit ideally and it just completely ruined the ride…. the fact it started raining after 40 mins and then rained solidly for the next 90 mins didn’t help though :D