INCOMING !! New frame day… Bird Aether 7

Yeah it’s a cheap way (assuming steel sram ring) to get some slightly lower gears for sure. Sram direct mount is nice and easy with the 3 bolts.

Snowdon isn’t that bad really – other than the really steep tarmac bit at the start up to the bridleway. Other then that it’s just a slow spin most of the way other then the Rocky step section and the steep slippery bit after you go under the railway. Those 2 bits were a carry / push. Ranger path is fun on the way down 👌

Tbf – you should get the lads on ebikes to tow you with a towee or something 🙈

Well i could take the Embloden E+ but hey where’s the fun in that :)

BIt of a weekend epic coming up here, so grab a coffee :)

Started off on Sat with a trip to Afan, bunch of adults and a bunch of teenagers. By golly they’re getting quick.. both up and down !

We spent the day on ‘Y Wal’ (The wall) which is a trail i really like. It went fine and happy up until one of the adults caught a rock and smashed his rear mech to bits… He had to go back down and get it replaced while we cracked on.

2021-07-04_08-17-29 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
2021-07-04_08-17-25 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Pic was near the top of the climb.

On the way down i was honestly really struggling with the Aether7. I’m finding it a bit well, long on the turns, i can’t get it to get round stuff and the front end wasn’t exactly filling me with inspiration. I got down everything, but wasn’t what i’d call ‘on it’.

It was hard to compare Strava times as we kept stopping and waiting for different parents, youngsters and the odd mechanical/punctures.

In the hotel that night consuming beers and massive burgers me and Beancounter and Tall Dan set the world to rights and i had a bundle of doubts about the Bird.

The next morning brought Bike Park Wales, jumpy droppy, fast, crazy stuff. Same group mostly but Crust had gone home.

We started with me leading the small ones down and on Sixtapod, it’s a fast flowy blue and we all had a blast, from there into Willy Waver, again, loads of fun. Of course i was holding them back, but i was enjoying it LOTS and keeping them sane as a few of them had never been to BPW, so trying to keep them in check.

After that we jump on Sixtapod again, but a left 3/4 of the way down into Locomotion, a red with some drops….. Well they seem to have grown !!!! They were more substantial than i recall. By this time we’d had 4 people hit the deck whoops. All youngsters who bounce so all was good :) They were fine.

We then jumped on a few reds, like Vicious Valley, A470 and a few new trails like Merthyr Rocks…. again, lots of fun.

Any worries with the Bird had evaporated there, it was fantastic at BPW and on the flowy stuff i was going really well. Again, hard to check on Strava runs as we stopped for people, crashes and rests at times, but i think i did OK overall.

Coming toward the end of the day, my lad wanted to do A470 again.
This isn’t my video but it’s the same jump, same landing and same over the bars tumbling down the other side too.

The trail is 12-15 of these, some bigger, some slightly smaller. In terms of height they’re about 15-18′ tall and 25′ in length. The last few, including this are sort of step ups, so the landing is higher than the take off, unless you make the full other side. Which at my level is bloody hard.
So as I land I semi plant my front which bucks the back and sends me over the bars, landing head and shoulder first, then tumbling over and over to a stop.

I’d had 3-4 warnings on it, almost doing it on other runs, bit was feeling good still at the time. Right up until it wasn’t good of course.

Only real damage is a dead leg from where I landed on my car keys and an overall feeling of “ooooohhhh” that’s all a bit stiff when I move. The body armour did it’s job. My jersey is ripped in several places, but hey, it’s far from terrible.
2021-07-04_08-17-14 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

2021-07-04_08-17-05 by Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr

Bike needs a new mech hanger which is £15 so no biggy.

But overall i went away happy… The day was fantastic, a few beers, some laughs and some crashes of course :D

I am of course sitting here thinking, does the Aether7 go up for sale and what would i get for it… I think it’s worth £2000 as it sits, but you don’t get a lot for that and i end up with the same possibility of getting something not quite right.
I’m going to start of by fitting the mech hanger, getting it fully cleaned and then fitting a WTB Vigilante on the front. I’ve run Vigilantes for a while on the front now on the G-160 and love them.
I’ve been running Specialized Butchers at 26psi and i dropped 3-4 psi out today, so was it the pressures that helped me ? Or indeed was it just me yesterday ? But overall i’m still not fully in love with the LLS geometry of the Aether7. I also had more pedal strikes than i’ve had at BPW today, although not big ones, they were still enough to irritate me.

Bloody hell Steve, didn’t you only just buy that Aether? 😃

Few thoughts:

When are you going to the Peak? Could give you a go on my Occam if you want to try a different bike…

Give it some more time. I really wasn’t that pleased with my Occam fur the first few months. But then I gelled with it ( and rode it on some harder stuff) and now love it.

Regarding LLS…. Interesting you have that view. I too think ( thought?) the whole LLS thing was annoying bollocks. I hated not being able to pedal the damn thing up rocky climbs. I also found it sluggish on easy stuff. I solved the pedal strikes by swapping the utterly effing stupid 175mm cranks for 165s. It’s sooooo much betterer. And, as above, taking it on some more techy stuff has made me see the virtues of LLS, so I’m happier to forgive the downsides. Not sure how applicable this is to you as you seem to be much more into your jumping than me, but perhaps it’s relevant.

I bought as frame only buy have modified a few things on it. 4-5 weeks ago I think.

I’ve also just got my Shockwiz back today so that’ll be going on to test and set up shock and forks.

It’s a funny bike, sometimes and some aspects I love it, I jumps better and XCs better than the G160, but as I say, Afan it wasn’t my friend much.

We’re in Peaks from 22nd-30th aug.

Specialized tyres are shit.

We’re in Peaks from 22nd-30th aug

Where you staying? Is it a family trip or a biking trip?
Could perhaps meet one evening midweek ( we’re at Coed y on the bank holiday weekend.)

PS, there’s only one of them (Peak) ;-)

Just outside Buxton in a village called Tideswell.

Interesting above on the Spec tyres, they were not holding my lad back today lol. Although I think he’s running my Vigilante on his now if I’m not mistaken, I’ll check tomorrow

With them being shit, I have always found they need to be bang on with pressures. 1psi too soft and the squirm, 1psi too hard they ping off everything. They grip, but there are too many other downsides.

YMMV

Interesting as it felt way better today than yesterday, I took some out this morning on the front. I’ll put the gauge on in the morning.

Sounds like you had a great time despite the mishap.

I’d give it some more time to get used to it, at least till you have had the Peak holiday.

Not had a problem with Specialized tyres but tend to run them at lower pressures than you. Butcher, Hillbilly and Eliminators usually in Blck Dmnd casing but a couple of Grid and Grid Trails

2.8 15psi
2.6 22psi
2.3 24psi
We all use the same digital tyre pressure gauge

They were spot on for Antur Stiniog, Coed Y Brenin and Flyup 417 last week and most weekends in the Peak or Wharncliffe

Was the weekend a birthday treat

Yep, birthday fun with all his buddies

Lucky lad 😎

I think it’s too early to twist and move on yet. The aether is actually quite manoeuvrable on twisty trails via properly lls bikes as it has shorter chainstays then most other bikes.

You need to ride forward / more aggressively in general vs more conservative geometry but once you’ve got it, you’ll be faster pretty much everywhere.

My aether is much easier on tight trails than my Aeris 145 LT was – that had longer chainstays and I always struggled on the tightest trails with it. But on flow stuff it ripped.

On the way down i was honestly really struggling with the Aether7. I’m finding it a bit well, long on the turns, i can’t get it to get round stuff and the front end wasn’t exactly filling me with inspiration.

This smacks very much of insufficient commitment on the front for LLS to work.

LOL i felt committed :)

Looking at Strava times… i know they don’t matter, but they do give a comparison to previous rides of course. Yesterday i got 26 various bests (1,2,3 for me). Which must mean something was working well. Especially as due to both the overnight rain and the monsoons during the day, the conditions were far from ideal !
Overall though, until the moment i went down, it was great :)

LEts just say, today, i’ve been hit by a bus !

I moved from an Airdrop Edit small with a 50mm stem to an Aether 7 medium with a 40mm stem and my riding has gone up another level, particularly on steep and tight trails. I did buy a complete bike so I’ve also got the short offset forks, if that makes any difference, and I run the bars nice and high.

If I’m feeling a lack of confidence then that means I have let my weight drift backwards, once I actively move it forwards again its back to feeling planted.

And as you have found it loves jumps and drops.

Specialized tyres are shit.

There’s a lot of truth in this short sentence.

There’s a lot of truth in this short sentence.

Considering on say a 2 minute trail my lad was getting down it 15s quicker than me, i find that hard to grasp. We overtook plenty of riders yesterday and were not overtaken once, so we were not exactly terrible. Sure, we’re not World Cup DH riders either, but we’re not complete novices. He’s deffo got a butcher on the back and there’s plenty of racers/riders/people who use them, so they can’t be that terrible can they ?
All of that said, the Vigilante will be going on after breakfast.. But you guys have got me slightly questioning the rear of the Butcher.

I’m not saying you can’t ride on them. I’ve had loads of them myself but mostly because I had mates who work in Spesh dealers and they were almost free. I’ve ridden everywhere on Butchers, Slaughters and Hillbillies. I just think there’s something about them. Either the compound or the casing that makes them fall short of a very good tyre.

Anyway, I don’t think tyres are your problem at all. Judging by this thread I think you need a therapist not a bike shop.

Anyway, I don’t think tyres are your problem at all. Judging by this thread I think you need a therapist not a bike shop

LOL go on… I’ll play… :) Whys that ?

Bit more cleaning and sorting today, need to sort the rear mech hanger too, luckily a mate has one, but i’ve ordered 2 from Bird anyway.

Anyway, i was mistaken about the Vigilante/Butcher combo on my lads bike, i took the Vigilate off mine a month or so ago to give it better rolling and fitted to his as he wanted more rear grip, it’s a high grip compound, so he’s got a high grip Vigilante on the rear and a high grip Convict 2.3 on the front.
I’ve got 2 * 2.3 Butcher grid gripton on the Aether. Checking the pressures today i’ve got 21psi in both, i’d say i had closer to 25-26 in the front at Afan. I’m still going to fit the Vigilante i bought a couple of weeks ago on the front of the Aether though today when i get a bit of time after finishing cleaning and sorting everything :)

Stop blaming the bike/components/tyre pressure.
Just set stuff up once and ride the **** thing.
There’s nothing wrong with the bike.

Stop blaming the bike/components/tyre pressure.
Just set stuff up once and ride the **** thing.
There’s nothing wrong with the bike.

LOL have a word with yourself. It’s a sodding discussion forum, we’re discussing bikes, you know, on Singletrack forum, chatting bikes about riding at proper biking locations, riding proper bikes and proper days out. I never said there was anything wrong with the bike but that doesn’t mean it can’t be better does it. Do you never question decisions ? Do you never change tyres ? Brakes ? Anything or do you just buy a bike and ride it as it comes out the crate ?

If you’d prefer we can just go back to gravel bikes, building sheds or talking about CV19… However, i’ll take discussions about bikes, riding and components all day over any of that thank you.

Don’t get me wrong – I’d love to love the Spesh tyres. They have decent treads patterns and they can be had cheap (I paid £12 for a 2.6 Slaughter direct from Spesh), but there’s just something about them that makes other tyres a better bet even at 3-4x the price.

It may well be your lad can get away with the GRID casing as I assume he will be a bit lighter than me or he’s using BLK DMND casing, but I can’t get away with them. Had a 2.6 Butcher fail at the bead and a 2.6 Slaughter snakebite on the tread and the bead. 2.6 Hill Billy doesn’t really like any hard ground and feels like it just wants to fall over. What may be a plus or a minus is that the rubber never seems to wear out, and the 2.6 always come up small – a bit narrower than a 2.4 Wild enduro, and a lot smaller than a 2.6 DHF.

I appreciate that this all could be user error and a Black Diamond casing or T9 compound could be totally different. However, with a Force AM2 and Magic Mary combo I don’t have the doubts like what I used to

Do you never change tyres ? Brakes ? Anything

Yes but I don’t feel the need to constantly post about it every time I change a tyre…

If you can’t get round corners at Afan it’s not the bike that’s the problem.

If you can’t get round corners at Afan it’s not the bike that’s the problem.

LOL OK fella…. why don’t you take yourself off to somewhere else then :)

Will that help you get round corners?
Scienceofficer and sharky hit the nail on the head up there^^.

I can get round corners fine thanks. I’m a fairly competent rider. But why that means i can’t look to improve either myself or my bike is absolutely beyond me. I’ve raced XC, enduro, i’ve raced motorbikes, i hold KOMs…. Trust me, i’m not exactly a novice at this. But for some reason that means i can’t analyse or change anything on my bike to improve things and give me a better feel, maybe i should just run whatever shock pressure is in there too, or is it OK to change that to improve things ?

I’m not going to sit here and say i’m perfect and it isn’t something i need to get used to, or something i need to improve on. But to imply i can’t get round corners at all is quite frankly ridiculous.

Anyway… Moving on
Mech hanger swapped and the bike shifts lovely, so no damage to the rear mech. Awesome :)

Swapped the front tyre for the WTB Vigilante as well, so ready to roll again.

Yep.
Defo the tyre will sort all your problems…

Yep.
Defo the tyre will sort all your problems…

Jeez fella, give it up… Go ride a bike or something. You’re arguing with a bloke you’ve never met, never seen ride and have no idea how good, bad or average that bloke is. You’re arguing on the internet with a random about something you can’t fix, change or resolve… Move on. You’re quite frankly being ridiculous.

Sure, i get you don’t agree, it’s not the tyre, fair enough, you’ve told me, and again and again…. How about i ride the bike and decide :)

Or you can simply tell me i’m rubbish again and can’t get round corners.

Despite doing 1000 of them this weekend :)

Due to go out over the Golfie later thanks.

i can’t get it to get round stuff

Your words

Or you can simply tell me i’m rubbish again.

Didn’t happen.

You’re arguing on the internet with a random about something you can’t fix, change or resolve

Silly. Thats what t’internet is for!

I’ve raced XC, enduro, i’ve raced motorbikes, i hold KOMs….

Surfmatt is that you?

Surfmatt is that you?

Hey i never said i was brilliant at any of them, but i have ridden bikes and can ride bikes. If i say something is a bit off in the bike, it may well be me, but may well be something in the bike, like a tyre, pressures, shock, fork etc… So i’m still struggling with why trying things like pressures, or tyres, is somehow wrong.

Whilst i may have said “can’t get it round” that doesn’t mean i couldn’t make a single corner, i made the corners, i just didn’t like how it felt and it never inspired confidence for me. But i still made it :D

Sure, i’m happy to accept that there’s potential fault in my technique… However, this is open to debate too, but i’m impressed how people can tell me that without ever seeing me ride :) If that’s a by-product of the LLS and i need to change my riding style, sure i can get my head around that. But by dropping the pressures by 3-4psi and the bike feeling 100% better the day after, well, maybe that says it’s not necessarily all my fault.

However, this is open to debate too,

I believe thats what’s occurring. 😉

If that’s a by-product of the LLS and i need to change my riding style,

My original comment was made on the basis of own, much more gradual journey into LLS over the last 4 years. I had 16 years of hiding at the back of the bike to unlearn and I still lapse every so often now. I can only imagine the sudden precipice you’ve inflicted on yourself in terms of riding style, from such a sudden shift.

well, maybe that says it’s not necessarily all my fault.

Almost certainly, but your immediate response seems to be to change kit and shift the bike on which looks like solely blaming your equipment. If you don’t reflect upon this adequately, you’re going to cost yourself alot of cash and dissatisfaction.

i’m impressed how people can tell me that without ever seeing me ride

It’s pretty easy to spot.
Normal giveaway signs are constantly talking about “testing” stuff.
Your a middle aged bloke pissing about on a pushbike not Rossi/ Toni Cairoli/ Greg Minnaar.
Stop taking stuff so seriously.
Get used of the new bike first before making constant changes.
I bet a pound to a pinch of shit you’re still trying to ride it off the back and that’s whats causing your problems.

With respect- that’s what Weeksy does. He buys, cleans, mods, rides, mods, cleans and sells bikes and motorbikes 😀

You’d be better off telling him not to do back to back Zwift races all week or have a recovery day than to tell him to take the time to get used to a bike 🤣🤣

And 15 years on- that’s what makes Weeksy the forum legend that he is. You know what you’re getting with one of his threads.

So if you can’t say anything nice then maybe post elsewhere 😉

Ah, so he’s another Hora.

Fair enough.

Am amazed at how offended @Scienceofficer @singlespeedstu @sharkattack are about Weeksy’s approach to riding (and really, just plain mean as far as I can tell).

I’ve not met any of you, or @weeksy so I’m just another random internet guy. I’ve ridden the same steel 26″ hardtail for years, I’ve never serviced my fork let alone checked my pressures but I find the approach in this thread to understanding how to set up and ride a modern LLS really interesting.

Just go and read another thread maybe?

Am amazed at how offended @Scienceofficer @singlespeedstu @sharkattack are about Weeksy’s approach to riding

Hmmm. AFAICT, none of us have been anything more than factual. I’m certainly not offended. I find it odd that you even think that.

It just seems to me that he’s trying to buy his way out of a problem he doesn’t yet fully understand and I’ve said as such. Best of luck to him.

Is that what happens now when someone has a different/opposing viewpoint? One has to be offended? It all seems a bit teenage angsty to me.