Up next in 10
We thought that headline would grab your attention! The Bird Aether 9C is a carbon do it all bike with 130mm travel and plenty of reach!
https://singletrackworld.com/2020/07/541mm-reach-bird-introduces-its-first-carbon-bike-the-aether-9c/
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[Music]
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hey everyone andy from singletrack
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magazine here and today we're going to
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talk about the brand new
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bird aether 9c now bird have been
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teasing this bike on instagram for a few
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weeks or maybe even a few months now
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but today we can finally officially see
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it and talk about it
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the aether 9c is bird's latest
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playful do-it-all trail bike but
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it's their first carbon fiber bike so
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what bird have been able to do with this
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bike because it's made of carbon fiber
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is they've been able to really play
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around with the style the shapes and the
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tubing so they can do things
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that perhaps they weren't able to do
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with their alloy bikes before
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now the aether 9c is part of the 8th
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range obviously and
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those bikes are playful poppy and short
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travel but the 9 in the name
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refers to the larger 29 inch wheels
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on the rear the 90 has 130 millimeters
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of travel and that is a via a rear shock
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of
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210 by 55. now if you look at the frame
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price it's 1700 pounds it doesn't
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include
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the rear shock so do keep that in mind
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if you're thinking of buying one
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ensure that either you have a 210 by 55
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shock or you factor in the extra 160 odd
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pounds
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for a basic rockshox rear shock on there
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the fork on this can either be a 130 140
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150 or
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basically anything between 130 and 150
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ml of travel
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and the bike itself has really
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interesting geometry
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so while it is a short travel playful
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and poppy bike according to bird
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looking at the geometry numbers we're
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pretty certain that it's going to be
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really stable at speed and able to rail
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around corners as well
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now the headline number here is 541
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and that is the longest reach of the
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four bikes in the range now i don't know
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for sure i'm gonna have to start a cool
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wall of reach but
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541 millimeters of reach is a lot
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probably one of the bikes with the
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longest
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reach of all that are available at this
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time i'm sure
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someone will go in the comments in a
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moment and tell me that i'm wrong but
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off the top of my head 541 is the
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longest
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obviously that is for the extra large
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frame there are four
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sizes in the range there's a medium with
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a 455 millimeter reach
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there's a medium long which has a reach
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of five sorry 484 millimeters
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there's a large with a 512 millimeter
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reach and then the extra large
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with a 541 millimeter reach but like i
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keep saying
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you shouldn't judge a bike by its reach
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alone
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you should also look at its seat tube
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angle the effective top tube length
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and also the head tube angle of the bike
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too
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so each of these bikes in the aether
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range have actually been designed with
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their
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own seat tube angle so on the smallest
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bike on the medium-sized bike the seat
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tube angle is 76.5
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and then it increases it gets steeper to
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78 degrees on the largest bike so which
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is a
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really smart way of doing things for
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bird
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what doesn't change on those bikes
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though is the chainstay length it's 430
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millimeters across the range which is
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pretty short for a 29er
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and the headtube angle which is 65
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degrees so although it does have a long
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reach
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it does have some really clever geometry
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choices to ensure that it's not going to
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feel
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overly long in the corners now
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one thing that is still quite big though
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is the effective top tube
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length for example that medium long bike
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with a 484 millimeter reach
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actually has an effective top tube of
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630
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and if you compare that to other bikes
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that have been released recently
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that is actually a little bit longer
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than some bikes
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despite the reach being a little bit
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shorter uh yeah i know it sounds a bit
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confusing but go back and look at a few
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new bike releases and check out the
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different geometries and you'll see
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that the bird has a longer effective top
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tube length
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now this kind of lines up to what kind
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of bike it is it isn't an all-out enduro
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bike
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it's the type of bike that you can do
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everything on it you can go on long
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rides on it you can eat those miles but
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you can also take it to the bike park
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so yeah i've not ridden this bike but
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looking at the numbers
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it looks as though when you're in a
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seated position
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you're going to have a little bit more
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room than some of these new uh new
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school geometry and euro bikes
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it's going to feel a little bit racier a
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little bit more stretched out and
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comfortable
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but when you drop the saddle it's still
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going to have a decent size reaching
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decent wheelbase
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so you'll be able to rail the corners
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and be able to really keep
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stability at speed i think the wheelbase
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on the medium long bike is around
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1235 millimeters which is pretty long
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but not
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massive so it should go around corners
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really well
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now each of the carbon frames in
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the 8th and 9c range will accommodate a
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full-size
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750 milliliter bottle that's even on the
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smallest
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medium frame and that's even if you
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decide to use a shock with a piggyback
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on it too
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so those carbon tubes have been able to
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let bird angle everything out of the way
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so you can still
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run a big bottle cage in there bird
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actually say
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this is this has the best bottle
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clearance of
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all the bird bikes in the range to date
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other cool features include
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a threaded bottom bracket they have
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rubber protection on the chain state and
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on the down tube
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and there are also icg mounts so you can
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put a chain device
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right on the frame too there are two
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colours available there's a green
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oh no there actually might be three
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colors available it's not clear in the
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press information but
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there are photos of a green bike a gloss
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black bike
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and there's also a raw uh finished bike
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so a carbon fiber bike
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that has been lacquered so there might
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be actually three choices
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you can choose to build the buy the bike
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by itself for 1700 pounds
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sorry the frame for 1700 pounds
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or with a shock for 1860 full bikes
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started around
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3460 pound with a sram gx
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12 speed eagle group set and a pike
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ultimate fork which is pretty decent
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or if you prefer shimano you can go for
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a shimano dior 12 speed bike
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for around 3 700 and something pounds
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obviously we've not been able to test it
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yet it's just come out but we have put a
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request
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in for one so keep your eyes peeled we
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should or hopefully fingers crossed get
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the bird a39c
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in for a full review so keep your eyes
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peeled
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if you enjoyed this video please let me
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know in the comments section below and
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i'll try and do
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more launch videos like this and if you
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want to keep
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up to date with what we're doing here at
6:41
singletrack make sure you subscribe and
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also hit the bell button
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so every time we upload a new video you
6:47
will be notified
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and what i'll do now is i'll leave you
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with a few more pictures of the aether
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9c
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and i'll see you all soon bye
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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you
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