[Closed] Bird Aeris Test ride thoughts?

Yes, yes! and yes.
Arrives next week.

Here's my report from aaaages ago 🙂
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/bird-aeris-demo

Ha, I was going to search for your review but thought no, give it five minutes and AlexSimon will be along like an excited puppy 🙂

Thanks I'll have a read!

Rubber_Buccaneer - Member

Ha, I was going to search for your review but thought no, give it five minutes and AlexSimon will be along like an excited puppy

I took one for a blast round Swinley, which is not ideal for testing a bike, but gave me a good first impression.

It has the best geometry of any bike I have ridden and I am now a convert to the longer reach, shorter stem idea. It also fitted me amazingly well, but this may partly be due to me riding bikes that are a bit too small for me for a long time.

I found it really easy to ride fast, and although it is a long bike with a large wheelbase, it seemed to quite playful, which was counter intuitive.

I'm normally a fan of really short chainstays, but I have to admit that the slighter longer stays works well with the longer front centre, especially in the corners. The chainstays are a good balance between ultra short or too long.

It is a bit harder to manual than bikes with traditional geometry, but I got my head round it after a while. It takes a bit more effort than I am used to, but was easier than an orange crush I rode recently that had quite long stays.

It jumps and corners amazingly well and seemed to climb reasonably efficiently even though I didn't have the shock setup quite right for my weight.

I found myself thinking I was going into a corner too hot, expecting the front to lose traction and then getting away with it. The level of grip available when weighting the bars in turns was impressive.

Normally it takes me a bit of time to adjust to a new bike, but I found I was comfortable very quickly.

The leverage curve and shock tune seemed really good. I was jumping off every little bit on the trail, and was having a great time over the jumps on baby maker. It's less of a ground hugger and more of a boost of everything in sight kind of bike.

Overall I found it a confidence inspiring bike that was great fun to ride and fitted me superbly

Downsides? No bottle bosses and it is not an ultra stiff bike, but then how much stiffness is too much?

Yes I have ordered one 🙂

Alex what size did u order? Your in sheff right?

Other side of the Pennines - Macclesfield-ish

I'm 5'10" 32" inside leg and went for a medium.
I was worried about the length until I rode it. Just felt completely normal.

I had a short but fun blast around Swinley on one too.

Not much to add over what has been said above really - it was a nice fun ride and as kudos says above it was surprising how hard you could push it in corners, and (as much as you can tell at Swinley) it was very composed if you pointed it into downhill sections and just let it go.

I am about the same dimensions as Alex and rode a large with a really short stem (35mm I think). I was surprised just how long it is in a L when I looked at the numbers the other day - it was a little lively in the front end with the short stem but I certainly didn't feel over stretched. I think I would probably go with a M if I was to buy though.

Currently still mulling over options to upgrade my current 26" bike, or to go with a long travel 29er to sit better alongside other bikes but the Aeris is still in the mix as a 650B shaped wild card ...

had a 2nd test ride round Swinley on Thursday (Ran out of time on the 1st one a few weeks ago).
Loved it!
Ordered it!

Geometry is spot on.
I don't ride hard enough to notice any flex. I'd say it's the best bike I've ever ridden.

Top chaps running it as well so customer service is good too!

zeesaffa - good to hear!
Still waiting for my carbon rims to finish the build, so hopefully getting it just in time for the bank holiday weekend.

Really struggling to hold back from ordering one of these bikes.. Love the look of it in Orange. I reckon I'm on the border line of sizes XS and S as I'm only 5ft 5.. TT on my Soul is inbetween the TT on the Aeries..

Anybody actually taken delivery yet?

Any opinion on sizing for a man of my stature? Test tide is going to prove difficult as I'm in Scotland.

Give them a ring and see what they think, they're pretty decent blokes.

No i don't want to do that or I'll end up buying one.. Seriously though I will phone them tomorrow. Looks bloody ace, I have a few parts to swap over from the Soul aswell. I'd buy the frame only if I could but I'd have to buy new wheels and forks aswell.

Really struggling to hold back from ordering one of these bikes.. Love the look of it in Orange. I reckon I'm on the border line of sizes XS and S as I'm only 5ft 5.. TT on my Soul is inbetween the TT on the Aeries..

Anybody actually taken delivery yet?

Good choice, orange is the best colour 😉

I would say that though, as that is what I chose. Picked up my frame on Friday and built it up today with a mate. Still needs a few bits doing to it, but it's looking good so far.

TT on my Soul is inbetween the TT on the Aeries..

The idea is that you go longer, with a shorter stem - but yeah, give 'em a bell.

the long tt, tiny stem thing works, go with the larger size

Any pics of the build Kudos? Yeah seems to be the general consensus, I do like smaller bike to fling around mind u, although my days of flinging bikes around are getting far fewer..

Perhaps I'll just order the frame and build it up slowly... This won't happen of course! I'll end up buying all the bits straigh away if I go down that route.

Be interested to hear what you decide, 1981miked.
I'm 5ft 6 and was thinking xs but maybe s is the way to go. Got a soul too which i find just right.
Not calling bird for the same reasons you're not!

Any pics of the build Kudos?

Only a crappy phone pic. I'll take some decent one's when it's finished.

[img] [/img]

Looks good.
What size is that kudos100?

XL

Oh my that's a pretty bike. Any idea of the weight out of curiosity?

Oh my that's a pretty bike. Any idea of the weight out of curiosity?

The build I demoed was 32 pounds, with heavier wheels. I'd expect mine to be a tad less as the wheels are a bit lighter, plus it has a few lighter bits on it.

I toyed with trying to get it to around 30 pounds, but gave up in the end, as it would have cost a fair bit for little gain.

Unless it's carbon an XL frame this big is never going to be light. The smaller frames will build up to under 30 quite easily, I'd imagine.

I'm not too bothered though, as I didn't notice it while riding it and it is a monster downhill 😀

Cheers mate, look forward to seeing the final pics and a right up when u have ridden it.