Liking these for a build, determined from literature they’re closest to my riding styles (can’t make much sense of geo charts).

Will definitely take over a year to fully complete/finance.

As someone still riding 26″ and triple chainsets, etc, wanted some input on the +points and -negatives between them in my eyes:

Primal
+ Looks
+ Price
– 135×10
– IS Mount

Zero TR
+ Weight
+ 142×12

The looks & price of the Primal almost win it for me, but the sticking points are the axle & brake mount.

My experience of countless bent QR spikes suggests 142×12 as the sensible choice, and tech-wise, seems to be the way things are going so more future proof than 135×10 – yes/no?

I’ve never had IS Mount brakes before. They look wrong. I don’t like! Any reason to stick with this irrational judgement?

The tr is also a lovely looking bike, great geometry, light and strong with amazing warranty and backup. Although standards do keep changing the Hornet does seem a little old fashioned, the 142mm rear axle means I can swap wheels with my full suss.

Have you looked in to cycle2work? That’s how I got me zero.

The Zero TR is a size longer (medium is slightly longer than the Primal large – but the seat tube is 440mm vs 480). And it’s almost a degree slacker of head angle, a degree steeper of seat tube and 5mm lower of bottom bracket. Better geometry for riding fast IMO.

Thanks for the info. That will probably lean me back to the Bird.
If anyone is interested, the Dartmoor Primal 650b frame is £245 on slam69 – I’d be really tempted if I had existing kit to put on it.

I also took advantage of the cyclescheme to get myself a TR. Riding a medium and its spot on. As already mentioned the service from the guys at Bird is good too.

Have a Large Primal plus i am about to sell
is boost rear

Love my zero am. Different frame I know, but the company have been great and the bike itself is top quality. Just for those plus points, I’m thinking about getting an aeris later in the year.

I’ve never had IS Mount brakes before. They look wrong. I don’t like! Any reason to stick with this irrational judgement?

None, none what-so-ever. If it bothers you that much, just remember, you’ll be looking at the trail ahead when you’re riding.

If it were my money I would definitely be getting the Bird Zero. I like their geometry, 142 rear is a benefit IMHO (for swapping bits if not performance) and I think their frames are very good vfm.

Watching with interest as I’ve been looking at both these frames recently.
Would I be able to run some 26″ pikes and 26″ wheels with these without any major issues. I’ll upgrade to 27.5 when funds allow.

Had delivery today of a very nice bright green shiny thing. It looks so very very good 🙂 Happy… almost, if only I had some bits to attach to it.

Cool! I’m really enjoying my stealthy Zero AM.

Watching with interest as I’ve been looking at both these frames recently.
Would I be able to run some 26″ pikes and 26″ wheels with these without any major issues. I’ll upgrade to 27.5 when funds allow.

I think you may struggle with the bottom bracket ending up too low on the Bird – the fork would need to be 10-20mm longer travel to maintain the angles and the smaller wheels will drop the bottom bracket 12mm+.