Hiya,

I’ve done a few rides on my new Aeris 145. I like the geometry, but have a few niggles:

Quite harsh through the bars – SR Suntour Durolux R2C2 – going to slack off the low speed compression.

Finding it quite sluggish – thinking its the tyres:

Front 2.5 DHF WT Maxxterra Rear 2.5 WT Aggressor, double down, dual compound.

Context, my other bike is a steel hardtail, Michelin Gripr front 2.3 – heavy duty casing, Nobby Nic 2.4 rear, middle thickness – I forget the terms.

I don’t think it is the rear suspension – I’ve got a mid compression tune, its high anti-squat and isn’t overly bouncy.

Replace rear tyre, if so, what with… Ground control, Bontrager XR4s, Kenda Regolith, Wolfpack trail, Dissector?

Aggressor 2.5 is biggish and chunky isn’t it – plus DD casing isn’t going to help?

I’ve been underwhelmed by my 2.4” dissector – would be ok in the summer but I find it doesn’t drive well up hill especially if technical or slippery.

2.3” DHR2 would be a decent shout for the winter – do you need double down or could you get away with Exo casing?

I don’t need double down – its just what the shop could get in stock at the time. I’d have go Exo+ – the front tyre is Exo+.

I’m not a brand loyalist and am happy to run different brands front and rear.

The DHF I like, I will keep that.

 thinking its the tyres:

Yep think you’re right, I imagine those are going to be pretty draggy this time of year!

If you want faster rolling but still sort of grippy then a Maxxis Forekaster could work – if they sell it in exo+. As it’s aggressive xc they might only do exo though.

Had an exo dissector warp itself recently which was a bit disappointing.

I tend to run Maxxis back tyres most of the time – but a wide selection of brands on the front. Not bothered about brand matching either!

don’t find my aeris especially sluggish, in fact im happier with the way it climbs on DHF/DHR (exo) than my TI hardtail on Kenda Nevegal 2s
I have no idea how those tyres you mentioned compare
and ive never ridden a double down (and so far not needed it)

Before dropping a load on tyres: why not take the ones you already know off your hardtail and try them on the Aeris? That would give you a bit of a standardised test.
Extra points if you can just swap wheels, btw – that way you keep the same tyre pressure, rim width, wheel stiffness etc, plus you don’t have to faff around with swapping tyres out. I used to have the same axle width / fitting and disc size on my hardtail and FS bikes, so it was easy to swap between tyres with a tweak to the brake calipers and a cassette swap. Might be worth a go.
There are soooo many variables you should try changing one thing at a time. Harsh feel through the bars could be the tyres, the forks – or it might be your position on the bike causing you to put more weight on your shoulders, arms and hands, which then means any bumps are more pronounced. Or it could be a bunch of other stuff, too; for example, are the forks softer than the rear shock? That would mean more weight on the bars.

I didn’t like my bike due to tyres – Forekasters! Only thing they forecast was me regularly flying head first into the scenery.
To be fair, it was winter.

Also new bikes take a while before forks and shock are broken in.
I’m having same issue on my new bike and shops seem to have already sold out the best tyres.

My Evil Following V3 came with some E13 Enduro tyres ~2.5 wide, super sticky compound, multiple protection layers etc… They are very grippy and I loved the low rebound compound but my god they were heavy and sluggish not only to peddle but also turning the handle bars. I think they were ~2.2 kg each.

I’m sure on an actual enduro trail they make perfect sense but the bike is a 120mm travel trail bike ridden on the type of the trails its designed for I found the tyres overkill and sluggish.

I changed to a setup of Maxxis High Roller 2.4 and Ardent 2.4 which are around the 1.9kg and difference is huge the bike is a LOT nippier and WAY more agile, its like a different bike. I have a set of DHR2 for when the slop arrives and I think the bike will still feel very different to the E13 enduro thingys.

So I’d say if you think the current tyres are bit too much and making the bike sluggish absolutely try some different tyres it can make a very big difference!

Lots of interesting points.

I’m running about 25% sag front and rear.

I have quite high rise bars. To be honest it might be I’m prone to hand-pain. Get it on my hybrid too. The hardtail is the one only I don’t get it on!

Good point about swapping the tyres to check it out.

Also Forekasters an interesting addition to the choices…

Tubeless? And what kinda terrain are you riding in, ie does it need big/heavy/strong tyres?

Does it matter that much? I have an Aeris 145 and a steel hardtail, the hardtail feels quicker but the full sus can handle more extreme terrain, different bikes for different jobs. I run a butcher 2.3 on the back of my Aeris.

Harsh through bars… is it a 35mm stem/bar combo?
My AM160 came with carbon bars, 35mm clamp and by god they’re harsh. I’ve got used to it (and got some fancy rev grips for my birthday!)
Tyre pressure will have an effect, your not up at 60psi or something daft are you?!

Dunno much about the suntour forks worth having a fiddle I guess..
Maxxis tyres, again my 160 came with them, hated them. Awful tyres. Went back to my preference and all is well now.

The bikes not light, but I don’t find it sluggish.

In fact it climbs really really well!

Mt son owns a 145 with the 160 link and it climbs fine,I’m very happy with it.

Bars are 31.1.

Kinematics wise I don’t think it’s losing lots of energy.

Well, not an unreasonable reasonable amount.

Tyre pressure is higher than fashionable, but definitely not 60 psi!

In the main Surrey Hills, so not lots of rocks.

My Ripmo came with DHF front and Aggressor rear in 2.5WT form. Exo 3C front and Exo rear, so not the extra burden of DD casings.

Love them when feeling 100% and pressing on down but after riding a few other bikes with lesser tyres I thought the Ripmo combo was just too much like hard work for the riding I like.

Now have Dissector front and Rekon rear, both 2.4. Feels much better and only lost a bit in overall traction but seems to flow a fair bit better.

May be placebo of course as I haven’t noticeably improved on good ol Strava !

Finding it quite sluggish – thinking its the tyres

I would personally go from one extreme to the next, so I recommend what I ride on my XC bike, which is a Schwalbe Racing Ray (2.35) front / Racing Ralph (2.25) rear. 😀

You will go very, very fast. Sometimes sideways, but always fast and never sluggish.

“ Tyre pressure is higher than fashionable, but definitely not 60 psi!”

It’s worth getting a proper gauge and tuning in the best pressures for you on your trails on your bike on your tyres. I don’t think there’s anything else that makes as much difference for as little money and not much effort. It’s not fashion, it’s what works best – and at modern MTB tubeless tyre pressures pump gauges can be way off reality.

If you’re used to a lightish HT with lesser treaded tyres, then it will feel sluggish. It’s got rear suspension that soaks up some of your input power and proper tyres for the roughest terrain. You have got a bike kitted out to storm through rock gardens and the roughest terrain, go and use it on the terrain it is built for!

Too much air, too much LSC and HSC will make a fork feel harsh. Not too mention packing down if the rebound is too slow. With compression start at fully open and work your way in if it bottoms out too easily or feels soggy and out of control. You will find a sweet spot that you can adjust a few clicks for say jump based riding (where it needs to be a lot stiffer) and normal trail riding. Your rear shocks performance can make a big difference to how harsh a full sus bike feels and IME can’t always be solved with just the adjusters. A well matched coil is a much smoother experience, although that usually comes at the expense of how poppy it feels and on some bikes can bottom out too easily! Using a rear shocks compression switch to firm up on climbs can make things more tolerable while pedalling! Thicker softer grips can help mute chatter as well.

There are setups online for the psi and clicks for the fork controls which I found pretty spot on (I now have the 160mm EQ version after my 130mm RS Revelation with motion control was beating me up)

The fork seals need cleaning and lubricating every single ride to prevention stiction. You can see dirt getting under them post-ride. Reminds me of old coil Bomber Z1/Z3 seals. The grease ports work well for both releasing trapped air (more an altitude change thing) but mainly injecting a touch of fork oil in (I use a spare brakes bleed syringe and connectors)

Stiction from lack of seal/stantion lubing, tyre (and tyre pressure), 35mm bars, (and incorrect cockpit fitting) could all be combining to beat you up?

Found the Aggressor on my bike very slow. That was only 2.3! I’d imagine a 2.5 Aggressor would be like riding with brakes half on.

Front 2.5 DHF WT Maxxterra Rear 2.5 WT Aggressor, double down, dual compound.

Unless you’re doing actual DH racing, or shuttling and TBH even then, I think these tyres are pretty much overkill for any UK riding. For the Surrey Hills, they’re massively over-specced, you could loose 400-800g in rotating weight at the drop of a hat by changing them, and even just something that has a lower profile would probably make a huge difference.

Unless you’re doing actual DH racing, or shuttling and TBH even then, I think these tyres are pretty much overkill for any UK riding.

I find this a remarkable thing to say.

Where do you ride nick?

Could be that fork isn’t bedded in yet. Which can lead to a few issues: general harshness due to stiction but also may be set up too soft resulting in riding on the firmer end of the travel too much. Worth a try to set it up as Suntour recommend for a few rides (ie. until bedded in and moving freely) and then revisit settings. Possibly too much rebound dialed in also.

Also, what grips are on there?

Sluggishness almost certainly due to DD tyre.

Good luck!

I’m going to replace the Aggressor with an XR4, or a Ground control T7.

Will feed-back on impact.

Regarding the fork, I’ve lower the LS compression a click and am going to experiment with WPL Fork boost too.

I expect Ben is right about bedding in – its not even had 20 hours of riding yet.

Where do you ride nick?

Mostly, Calderdale, but everywhere really from the Peak to the Lakes to the Chilterns to Wales.

I replaced a DD Aggressor with a Specialized Purgatory GRID T7 and so far it has been fine on the rocky lakes stuff where I ride. I realise I’ve probably jinxed myself and next ride out I’ll get a puncture now.

Purgatory rolls better and you can feel the difference in weight too.

Good to hear bungalistic. I’ll put top of the list.

Rims?

Readers. I put on a Bontrager Xr4.

Has transformed the ride.

It’s incredible how much the Aggressor was holding the bike back.

Low speed compression adjustment plus putting oil in the foam rings has greatly improved fork performance too.

I have xr4 front, xr2 rear on my hardtail and really rate them.

How similar are the dimensions/geometry of the HT and Bird? have you done any measuring of various position bits – bar height, saddle height, saddle fore/aft, saddle to bars etc? get a tape measure out and see if there are any major differences.
It could be things like tyres as well, depends a bit on where you are riding and where you plan to ride the different bikes, stickier/bigger tyres might not feel great on a local loop but could on techier/steeper trails etc.

The ‘am I overbiked’ thread is only two down 😉

It’s incredible how much the Aggressor was holding the bike back.

Interesting, I have one of these on the back of the mine, apart from a slight lack of straight line grip on slow speed mud-slick steep climbs, I really can’t fault it.

Want to buy my essentially unused tyre?