NBD – Bargain Bird

It’s taken me just over a year to get here – starting when I bought these forks on a clearance deal from Bird last June and I seriously wanted the (Al) Aether 9 for £2500 deal they had on around the same. But then my landlord decided to sell our flat and I had to put every penny into getting a mortgage.

Over the next year, between the Chiggle madness and picking a few other deals, I ended up building this Ragley which I’ve been riding over the summer.

It was fun, but I’ve also got a Moxie which I like more and two hardtails as my only bikes is a bit niche even for me. So the plan was change it one day.

Then a few weeks back, Bird announced the batch of Aether 9c frames with minor paint defects for £500. I’ve always thought they were very ugly… but a big thanks to whoever it was here on the PSA thread who told me to stop worrying about how it looked when it was FS carbon frame for £500.

My frame finally arrived a couple of weeks back (without any visible defects of any kind!) and I’ve built it up over the last fortnight with the bits off the Ragley and few other parts I needed or wanted to change specific to the 9c.

Final build is a large black Aether 9c frame, RS Pike Ultimate (2.1) 130mm, RS Deluxe Ultimate, Hunt Trailwide V2 wheels, GX drivetrain (+ X01 chain), G2 RE brakes + Galfer rotors, Fox dropper, Specialized Bridge Comp saddle, Spank bars and stem, Ergon grips, Hutchinson Wyrm + Kraken tyres (until it gets wetter) and Nukeproof Sam Hill pedals. Apart from the bars and stem, which were used on eBay, everything was new (nearly all at sale prices). I totalled up the complete build on Sunday and it came in at £2376, which I’m very pleased with. It’s far from the fanciest kit, but it’s a lot of bike for the money and perfect for my needs.

Sunday was the first proper ride and I loved every minute of it. I know these frames are old news to most, but new to me and I think it’s both a very good design and more importantly, right for me. It’s a great physical fit for my height and limbs and perfectly fills the role of ‘light trail’ bike I wanted. It’s still fun descending and capable for a short travel bike, pretty playful, rides a bit lighter than it’s actual weight and I’d happily ride it all day too. Be that bike park or an XC slog.

Nice. All round quiver. Enjoy!

That garden really has got away from you, hasn’t it?

Liking the black with silver fork aesthetic.

I’m hoping a daytime TV garden makeover show will take pity on me :)

And yes, the silver looks good with the black. Purely down to what was cheapest when I bought them, but I’m not complaining!

<Sigh> That Ragley in that colour is lovely. ;-)

On paper, that bike ticked all the boxes for me, but I never really gelled with it despite throwing money at it – probably because I’m a princess, because objectively its a well designed bargain.

It’s a hell of a bike for the money. Enjoy!

Nice!

Wow there are some cheap offers on the bird site at the moment…

Looks good. I’ve had mine 6 weeks and have only got round to invisiframing it and accumulating a bunch of parts so far.

Your post inspired me to order the last few bits and swap my shock mount yesterday. Hopefully get it built in the next week!

Do it! And well done for invisiframing yours – I couldn’t face it.

@Kramer – I know, the Ragley looked great and I really liked it for what it was… but bouncing down hills on it felt like damage limitation, whereas my Moxie makes me want to pedal back up and try it again faster. I’ve still got it built up with spares from previous upgrades, might end up with my nephew if he continues to show an interest mountain bikes. I’ve actually got a spare XL frame too (which is more my size, but I intentionally downsized) so I may not be completely out of the Ragley game.

@Scienceofficer – my inner nerd would love to know if you just gel with it overall or had specific niggles?.. I like mine very much, but I still have a mental list of strengths and weaknesses. Interested to know what fork travel you ran too?

Mine’s on the 130mm now because it’s what had. It’s due a service and I’d expected to extend the travel while it’s apart, but after riding it a couple of times, I’m not so sure. It feels well balanced as is, doesn’t feel under gunned downhill and with short chain stays, I’d already say climbing is it’s weakest suit. Not terrible, but not like it needs another 10-20mm up front either. I dunno, I’ve only got the Moxie to directly compare it to and that handles seated, steep climbs like witchcraft is involved.

Really nice. I was tempted with the bird frame myself but bought a fully built Orange instead.

After seeing your photos I think I made a mistake.

When I rang up Bird to ask about what the defect meant, they said paint felt like a chalkboard – is yours like that?

Erm… it’s a matte finish black paint, so a chalkboard isn’t that distant a relative I suppose?

I was told that the top clear coat on most of the batch was coarser than it should’ve been, I presumed like a very fine sandpaper, but that’s just my guess. I have nothing else to compare mine to, but it’s perfectly flat and smooth to the touch (a silky smooth rather than glossy smooth, of course), has no imperfections I can either feel or see under a bright light and is exactly what I’d expect any matte black carbon frame to look and feel like at any price. Mine even came with the UDH they said wasn’t included.

I dunno, whatever the truth, it’s a great ride and the special offer allowed to finally get a bike that felt like it was a million miles away last year.

@flyingpotatoes Thanks! I don’t reckon you’ve gone wrong with the Orange either though. They also make a great bike.

I got an ally Aether ‘summer special’ last year for about £2400, inc, DTSwiss rims on Pro 5 hubs. It’s a great trail bike and was a load of fun at Ard Rock. I need to take it hiking in the Lakes though.

I was watching that deal all summer, you pulled the trigger at the perfect moment scuttler – lowest price before they downgraded the wheels to M1900s. The DT rims/Pro 5 wheel combo is a great wheel, I have a XM481/Pro 5 combo on my hardtail.

Update to the OP: the stock SRAM sintered pads and 2.0mm Galfer Wave rotors really weren’t impressing with the REs at all. Even by SRAM standards, they were oddly ineffective.

Now replaced with the same size SRAM HS2 rotors and Galfer green pads and the difference is outrageous. At least twice the power, probably more. Instant contact, albeit with a faff to set up at first without rubbing. I’m very familiar with other SRAM brakes, with these rotors and all the Galfer pad variants, but I’ve never had such a dramatic improvement before. Just seems to be winning combo with the REs.

@mattrockwell – with a few more rides under your belt, can you discuss a little bit how you feel the ride is now? What size frame are you on?

I’m very tempted, my son is riding my Evolink now so my only full sus is my ebike. That’s fine, but I do find the hardtail really tiring when I don’t want to go out all hair on fire eeb riding, so looking at a cheap option to get back into a meat bike full sus.

I’m a big fella (195cm, 120kg kitted), Ben @ Bird has assured me that the XL frame is good for me (the reach is great, as are the angles) and the bomber air would be a great shock. I’m a little concerned about the short Chainstays however. Can you tell me more about the uphill ride characteristics? Esp really steep ups.

Sure, I’ll try my best!

I’m about 189cm, fairly standard proportions for my height and about 90kg in riding kit. Mine’s a Large and the sizing is perfect for me, plenty of room and stability but never so long it feels unwieldy either. I’m judging it as an all round trail bike and by that measure the geo and design makes sense. I guess the design leans a bit more into descending and hooning about than some trail bikes, particularly 130mm travel ones. The reach feels a tiny bit shorter than the numbers suggest too.

The chain stays are worth mentioning though. On the plus side, out the saddle at speed with your weight forward (almost in modern hardtail style) it feels great. Stable, turns well. Happy to leave the ground too, although bigger jumps are beyond my skill grade. Likewise, getting the front wheel up, for manuals or into bunny hops is pretty easy. Essentially they do their intended job of counteracting some of the long frame downsides.

Seated climbing does suffer a bit in return though. I started off with my rear shock a little softer than ideal and the saddle in the neutral position and was initially disappointed. I’ve now got the shock set up better and slid my saddle about 10mm forwards of the neutral position and it’s much better, both for climbing and just all round.

It still has its limitations, but for me it’s now fine for an all rounder. As above, my other bike is a Pipedream Moxie with the chain stays at full stretch, which climbs like nothing else I’ve ridden and the Aether can’t match that. I’ve also only been riding hardtails for the last couple of years so don’t have loads of useful comparisons…  the previous Scandal and Ragley frames I had featured 435mm stays, slightly less steep seat angles and more all-round geo. The Aether as currently set-up with the seat forward and a 130mm fork, climbs very much like them, but with the added bonus of FS traction. Out of the saddle climbing, even more so, but still not quite Moxie levels either.

For you, I’m not sure how the extra reach on the XL frame would affect the balance. Also, I’m only running 130mm forks FWIW. Although not a disaster, the steepest tech climbs will never be it’s forte either. On flip though, it’s a hell of a lot of frame for very little money.