[Closed] Alternatives to the Bird Aeris frame

Commencal meta AM?

The Airdrop?

http://www.airdropbikes.com/

What size are you looking for?

I know of a little-used Giant Reign in Medium which may be up for grabs v soon.

5'10 ish..

Commencal on the radar..

Ive just moved from a broken carbon 160mm superbike, to a banshee spitfire. Absolutely no regrets, best bike i've had.

Climbs as well as lighter bikes ive had, decends better as well even with 20-30mm less travel, its a very nice thing!

Sorry to hijack, but those Airdrop frames look interesting. Has there been any tests or reviews yet?

I'll be in the same boat as the OP in a few months, so interested to see the options.

A friend of mine currently rides the V4 and really likes it. His final choice was between the V4 and Bird Aeris and he went for the V4 due to being a light lighter and having internal cable routing. Good bike to ride but I think they come up a little short, certainly shorter than the geometry would suggest. The front end also feels like it's quite low but still manages to wonder a little on steeper climbs so need to keep that in check.

I have an Aeris and having ridden that and the V4 back to back I feel better on the Aeris, less cramped and more in the bike than on top of it, but this is subjective and depends on how you like your bikes to feel.

I'm using the Minarch Plus on mine with 6 bands and rebound 5 clicks out from slowest. The Aeris seems to like a slower rebound setting for me at least.

YGM OP

Bird owner - I went with the Monarch RT (after discussing with Ben). Threshold on for 75% of the time, feels fine and no noticeable pedal bob. Open is very nice for the rough downwards bits. I previously had a Monarch Plus on a Trance SX and haven't missed it one bit. The effort the Bird guys put into the frame design certainly shows through here. The RT is a bit different from the RT3, not just no lockout feature.

why not get the bird?

sorry for the hijack but chakaping why don't you like your reign?
I'm testing a bird in a few weeks time. Not much similar price wise. Put off the mega as previous threads have suggested it feels quite cramped and at 6.3 I'm worried it won't feel big enough.

Bird owner here. I'm a fan of the Monarch plus on single pivot frames. I'd choose it over a fox or CCDB air (I've tried all 3 on the same frame).

I've ordered an Airdrop - should be here next week...

chakaping why don't you like your reign?

I really like it, but I've tried something else which fits me a little bit better and I think I've got to scratch the itch.

Can you expand on how the RT differs from the RT3? I am also unsure about the monarch+, do they do both a standard volume and high volume option (high isn't good for a progressive ramp up?)

Nothing wrong with the Bird, if I could get a Sh one I would- New is definetly under serious consideration

http://www.starlingcycles.com/

We have a Pyga Pascoe (OneForty) frameset in medium up for sale, ex-demo, asking for £1000. Would suit your requirements down to the ground, OP.

The Pyga looks interesting, in-between sizes so will have a chat with you..

The Commencal I'd rather a large for reach but the seatube appears to be long/its not great standover compared to the current (medium) Bandit which is a shame

What tune are the Monarch shocks (RT3 and +) that come fitted on the Bird? Any indication of frame weight?

How capable is the 2015 Nukeproof AM275 with the Monarch? I'm guessing a large (18.5) would be the one..

Cotic Rocket?

If you are near West Yorks I can show you a Starling

£1k exc shock. It's 216x63 so easy to sort something in the right size and cheaply

If I'm spending £1500 I'd probably go back to Transition. I don't want to though. The Cotic is an option though

Glasgow based so demoing things is trickier!

Some internal differences with the RT in terms of the way the threshold works, not major but the service guide does differ too. Cant quite remember what Ben said about it but the RT isnt just missing the lockout from the 3, the frame doesnt need a lockout and benefits from the additional grip when climbing over rough stuff (sorta like the climb switch on a DB Inline ie not fully locked out). They are roughly M/M tune but apparently Bird have a specific tune especially for the Aeris.

sv, did you get the RT from Bird or elsewhere?

They only offer the RockShox Monarch RT3 or the Monarch Plus RC3 currently..

They do have a specific Aeris tune but isn't far off M/M. I ran a M/L Plus from another bike and that felt pretty good on board to be honest. If you like to ride hard and jump then adding 6 or more bands looks to be the sweet spot.

Yes from Bird, they had them but weren't listed on the site - slightly cheaper than the 3 too 🙂

I've ordered an Airdrop - should be here next week...

Keep us posted on how it rides!

I have a v4 meta, in XL. I also have 38" legs, it is anything but short.

Banshee Spitfire, had mine for 9 months now, took it out at the weekend having only ridden my hardtail since January. Took me a while to get the shock where I wanted it, but it's an awesome bike, far more capable than I am!

[url= https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1641/25837844120_f0a4ff7197_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1641/25837844120_f0a4ff7197_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/FncGT3 ]Banshee Spitfire[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/le_grande_momo/ ]Matt Cotterill[/url], on Flickr

can any banshee owners recommend a dealer?

I considered the Aeris and Spitfire before changing bikes towards the end of last year. Went with the Spitfire in the end (excuse the rubbish photography):

[URL= http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i426/wilko1999/spitfire_zpsgatt0epw.jp g" target="_blank">http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i426/wilko1999/spitfire_zpsgatt0epw.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

I bought mine from [url= http://www.bikeactive.com/ ]Bike Active[/url], excellent service, there was a bit of a delay in the frame coming in to the country and being sent from the distributor and they kept me informed at every stage.

Looks like they've got some good deals on at the moment too.