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I'm looking to replace my On One Scandal frame in the near future and have narrowed my choice to a few (both HT and FS). The riding I do is fine for a hardtail and I like my HT but FS would be nice at times to save my lower back on longer rides. So the 3 I'm looking at are:
Bird Aether 9
Sonder Signal Ti
Cotic SolarisMax (to save a bit of cash)
I'd like to hear experiences of them all, particularly if anyone has ridden more than one of them, before I push the big bad "buy" button please.
Additional option... Yeti ARC which I forgot about in my original post.
There are multiple big threads on all these. I've had the signal 2 years and would certainly recommend it.
Zero29? I've not had any back issues since getting mine, 2.6/2.5 tyres make a big difference with comfort.
I wanted to move away from an alloy frame unless I go for the FS option. Looks a nice bike though
I’ve got an Aether 7 - basically the 650b version if the Aether 9. It’s totally a do it all bike. Short travel enough / decent pedaller - bit with the long reach and slack headangle it’s quite dt home on uplift days. I had a longer travel bike before and the aether is more engaging on mellower bits of trail.
I don’t have the other 2 but I do have a steel Marino hardtail. I’d agree with the poster above - a 2.6” tyre on the rear of a hardtail does smooth things out quite a lot. Found it’s less harsh than my previous hardtail over trail chatter. That said I tend to use it for longer local rides and really flat trail centres mostly (plus a bit of steep ish local tech stuff that’s a good road pedal away).
On anything with lots of repeated roots / ruts etc I take the Aether everytime.
If I were building an Aether for all round duties I’d probably get the lighter trails wheels I could afford, Pike Ultimates, GX Eagle or XT 12 speed (with Sram chain and carbon cranks), carbon bars, light stem etc. But big brakes - Codes probably.
I'll be transferring all parts from my Scandal GX and my total budget will be used up by the frame and a replacement dropper (unless I get the Cotic) so no option of a nice light wheelset.
I too was looking at hardtails which would have suited fine, but got curious on the Bird site and bought an Aether 9. Glad I did and no regrets, still in honeymoon period so nothing bad to say.
I’m looking to replace my On One Scandal frame in the near future
Why?
Bird have a nice steel frame on the way too
Mainly just because I fancy something with a little give (or even suspension) at the rear
Which Scandal is it? They've been pretty wildly different over the years...
I have a Solarismax, I'll happily recommend it, it's superb- massively capable without really giving up much on the allrounder/milemuncher stakes, the sort of bike you can take enduro racing or xc racing. For whatever reason, I don't love it- we've never sparked like my old Soul or my Ragley Ti, and I miss that. But it's not a fault of the bike, it does exactly what it should.
The new bird steel HT is available. If you fill in the form on their website, I exect you'll get an email with a link to where you can buy one. They do look rather good. I guess we won't know yet how complient they are though as no one has had one to ride/review yet AFAIK.
The new bird steel HT is available.
The Bird Forge is a hardcore hardtail though which doesn’t really fit with the above list. Think it’s for a 150/160mm fork. The Zero 29 would be the better allrounder but that’s alloy.