INCOMING !! New frame day… Bird Aether 7

The main issue with the BX lever I found was the tolerances on the pivot – wobbly AF – which didn’t help with the feel in any way. It’s poor compared to the Fox Transfer one (and that isn’t anywhere near the best lever in the world…not even a tribute), the original Bontrager one, or the Bontrager Elite one. All are better than the original Reverb button.

A mate had a Vyron and it was a PoS – always de-sync-ing, and once you pressed the button you needed to wait for the read reciept before sitting down to drop the post. He much prefers his BX, even with the original lever.

The Elite lever is quite long so has a decent throw on it, but that also gives it a nice, light action. It also has adaptors for bar mount, i-Spec and MMX mounting.

Ah – the rain is probably a massive downer on it.

I’ve ridden Swinley a fair amount with a mate from London as it’s ish a half way point between where he lives and Bristol where I live. I don’t think I use the dropper there more than anywhere else particularly – mainly because there aren’t that many technical features / downhills etc.

The rattle is an interesting one – given you have an Aether the only bit of internal cable is as it goes into the seat tube. My cable outer is almost stiff to pull through there – I wonder if the end of the cable outer wasn’t seated properly into the slot at the bottom of the post which may then rattle / cause you actuation issues 🤔

I wonder if the end of the cable outer wasn’t seated properly into the slot at the bottom of the post which may then rattle / cause you actuation issues

wasn’t the case when i took it off this morning, all seemed fine and happy and still complete. I gave a little tug on the bend in the cable where it comes out which was enough to activate the post, so it was pretty good in terms of tension, so i don’t think that’s where the issue was.

A mate had a Vyron and it was a PoS

Mine has done the de-bonding thing twice in 5+ years… i’ve had a few issues but they were resolved in 48 hours by Magura, even seding me a brand new post after mine was years out of warranty when i asked them to service it at my expense, no charge, no hassle. It’s been an absolutely great post.

The wait time, for me simply isn’t an issue, i’m not convinced it takes any longer overall to get it down than a standard cabled, it just does it slightly differently.

The main thing you can’t do is up/down/up/down in quick succession of say 1-2s intervals, but that’s not how I ride, if i need that sort of speed of change, i’ll just pedal the 25m between the 2 with it down and stand up…. That may not be how others see it as being ‘right’ but it’s not been an issue for many years for me.

Been fiddling with the sworks enduro of my lad lately. Since we’re both running the correct length and stroke shocks now it was time to try and dial them in.

We’ve spent a few days now trying to get his DPX2 dialled in and even with volume spacers we still can’t get it how he wants it to feel. Weirdly the DPX2 we sold to Tracey was a 210*52.5 but he seemed happier with it than he was with the new one we got from Bird.

So this morning we dragged out the ramp and tried settings. In the end we put the monarch deluxe RT, thus is the shock we had in his bike previously into his bike and he prefers that over the DPX2.

So I’ve now got the 210*55 DPX2 in the Bird which is fine with me of course.

2021-06-09_01-54-17[/url] by Steve Weeks[/url] – Flickr2BBcode LITE

still watching with interest, mine is “Awaiting June Shocks”

the only component selection i wasnt entirely happy with was the brakes, where ive opted for SRAM G2 Rs – as someone who had the pleasure of Avids in the past, im totally allergic to the SRAMs and chose them only to keep to my price point planning to swap for the Zees i currently have.
Chosen the Bird dropper – coming from a RS Reverb

Vyron here and charging

2021-06-19_12-52-04[/url] by Steve Weeks[/url] – Flickr2BBcode LITE

felt i was a little too long low and slack and not really getting my body position right on the Bird, so jumped on ebay and grabbed some Nukeproof higher rise bars.

2021-06-22_10-01-07 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Dropper post is installed and charged, ready to roll 😀

I think the Aether is fairly low at the front – are you running 140 or 150mm fork travel? I’m on 150mm now, with some spacers under the stem and I think a 25mm rise bar. So poppy like that it’s untrue – occasionally pop the front too high off stuff!

Off to Rowberrow tonight I think for a play on the tracks there – the Aerher feels perfect for that sort of stuff.

Good luck! After the recent rain it’s going to be mucky under the tree cover up there.

Will it be that bad – I don’t think we’ve had that much rain and we’d had a consistently dry period that had baked the trails dry prior to that?

If it’s greasy the slaughter I have on the back will be amusing…..

I’m at 150mm and about the same in terms of spacers/stem. I went for the 38mm rise bars… looking at them i’d guess my bars were about 15mm.

It’s not like i’m complaining with how it was…. but for the money it was worth trying a few new things just to see. I’m not sure i want to brave the slop today though, it’s been pretty damn wet here over the weekend/yesterday.

Guess I’ll find out tonight when I get out. Maybe at lunchtime I’ll sort out my portable jet wash solution I’ve just bought. £15 eBay 12v jet wash + 25 litre water container. Need to somehow fix the pump to the container (can feel some gaffer tape coming on) and then tie down in the car so it does go wandering everywhere whilst driving.

I really don’t think it’s going to be that muddy…..but maybe I’m being naive 🤷‍♂️

Going will be a bit greasy that side of a hill never dries as quickly. It’s rideable but take a change of clothes!

I’ve got a local mate who’s just been out and is dropping over shortly to trim the new bars by 10mm each end down to 780mm. I’ll be asking him how wet/horrible it is out our way before making a decision on whether i head out or not.

Aren’t you Swinley sort of way weeksy? I thought that was pretty all weather other than the couple of sections that seem to turn into ponds when it’s really wet…. so

The ZTTO dropper lever that my wife has on her BrandX dropper makes for a much better feel. Nice light action.

(He said, replying to much earlier post)

I’ve got a local mate who’s just been out and is dropping over shortly to trim the new bars by 10mm each end down to 780mm. I’ll be asking him how wet/horrible it is out our way before making a decision on whether i head out or not.

Sorta Joe, but it’s still 40 mins in car from me… so not exactly local local.

I am doing the same with my Aeris 120LT. Felt the front stack was a little low with the 20mm rise Raceface Atlas bars it came with and now got an order in for a 35mm Bird Big Baw Handlebar…just under £28 delivered from Bird. Bargain!

Bars feel loads better. They were a bit too far rotated forward but I didn’t take tools out, so that’s where they stayed until I got home.

Happy bunny

How was it joe?

Trails were running great in the end. No slipping about even with the lightly treaded rear tyre. Couple of puddles in dips between roots but that was about it. Got pb’s everywhere uphill and downhill as it was so grippy. The top of the blue is getting a bit overgrown on the entrance due to all the rain / sun we’re getting but aside from that it was ace.

Awesome news.

I’ve just had to do the lower bush, it was a TFtuned one and didn’t seem to last long at all.

Looking forward to getting up Rowberrow on mine, my C2W voucher request is in, I’ve paid the “difference” (to cover the charge that the c2w provider takes from Bird) and I’m just waiting on the certificate to send to them now.
Need to shorten my Yari’s and we’re good to go.

@mugboo just the top hat bushes or the metal axle as well? How far had it gone?

Just those grey plastic top hats.

Nice one pimp, look forward to hearing back!

I rode twice yesterday, once at Hebden, tackling some of the steeper off piste tech that scares me when its wet (definitely a skill I struggle with), and then later with my 10 year old and his mate at some local jumps.

Unless I’ve just generally improved this year, this bike has really upped my steep game and it jumps beautifully.

So the only thing that I’m not entirely confident about, compared with my Airdrop Edit, is rattling flat out into rock garden type situations. Is this what Rimpact, ect are for?

On the bush front I wore mine to the point I had a small knock within a year. I replaced them with a new bush kit from ‘offset bushes.com’. Just a normal set – I didn’t want to make the bike slacker as it’s already pretty slack with even a 140mm fork for a trail bike. So far so good.

I just go bombing into rock gardens the same speed as I did on my Aeris on my Aether. Maybe I’m not massively fast but I haven’t had an issue yet. I’ve been running exo tyres all year round on the Aether – either DHR2 2.3 or 2.3 / 2.4 dissector – but currently running Slaughter Grid 2.6”. I felt a bit nervous about these so I have stuck a Rimpact in the rear. Done the same with the Forekaster 2.6” I’m running on my hardtail as both tyres felt a little flimsier than the other Maxxis I’d run. Again – no dramas so far 🤷‍♂️

For me to an extent i’m not sure the bike matters in terms of what i will or won’t hit and how hard… I just kinda ride things to my ability. The G160 deffo helped my jumping which has crossed over onto the Bird too i think.

The biggest influence i’m hoping will be a day i’ve just booked with Katy Curd for skills training. My lad has done 5 sessions with her now and loves it, he has an absolute blast and always picks up lots of information/speed/skills/stuff. This time, his riding buddies didn’t fancy it, so in for a penny, i thought i’d jump on the day with him instead. We’ve got a crazy busy 2 months coming up with BPW, Afan, Racing Enduro, Silverstone trackdays, Pembrey trackdays, DH racing, a family holiday in the Peaks and now adding this in will be chaos LOL

I think its more in my head Joe rather than actual reality. EXO Minion on the rear and the only puncture was in a G out after steep drop where I hit a sharp edge of stone hidden under the leaves.

Yeah i like the new riser bars… out with them today… nothing too techie though as i was on a time schedule for a meeting at 12.
I turned them back a bit the other day and maybe fractionally too much, so will go forward a degree or so. But they deffo feel nice 🙂

Lightbulb 💡 moment on the jumps today at Swinley Summit. Listening to small child and his technique of pumping near top lip, difference is huge, more height and clearing the table and landing nicely on the downslope

Continued as it started really today, the difference when you actually manipulate how the bike jumps is just remarkable. I was hitting it slower but the pop and lift was greater so still landing it fully on the landing zone instead of just about sneaking it over the top.
It’s then really a question of getting used to it so it becomes normal and second nature, I wouldn’t say I’m 100% yet but I’m certainly moved on a little from when I turned up there earlier.
Awesome

Glad you had a break through 👍.

I was at Swinley earlier as well (nursing tired legs from yesterday’s epic). Looked out for you as I went past the Summit just in case. Clearly your bikes not quite bright enough 😆.

See what you’re doing now is jumping your bike, as opposed to riding your bike over jumps. Top man!

That’s essentially completely correct mate yes, they’re very very different things.
Don’t get me wrong, Ive not turned into a jump god. But well, I’m jumping stuff now and landing on the landing instead of a semi case

@nixie I’m not exactly inconspicuous!

Now you’ve got it in your head though you’ll not lose it, so well done.
The only thing I’ve ever been better at than my riding buddies is jump, but they’ve worked out how to do it now so I’m having to buy a short travel Aether to get me a bit closer to the on the climbs!

Now you’ve got it in your head though you’ll not lose it

I like your optimistic perception on my actual skill as a rider 😀

Just fitted a 30T chainring for this weekend. It’s a SRAM one so a different fitting than i’m used to, but was simple as.

Reason is, we’ve got a Snowdon adventure planned, most of the boys are on Ebikes, i’m on a manual though. I had a 32T fitted i’ve had for ages, but with the hilly bits i thought lobbing a 30T on there may be a wise move.