Bird Aeris owners thread

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flag bikefuturist
Posted: Aug 29, 2019 at 3:20 Quote
R-M-R wrote:
bikefuturist wrote:
lots of brake-squat and anti-squat. Was Bird trying to play it safe when doing their first longish travel 29er to keep it manageable in terms of pedalling efficiency?

They had plenty of experience from past models. The pedaling anti-squat was an evolution from prior designs, the leverage rate progressivity was an attempt to improve on the Aeris 145, and the brake squat appears to be mostly a byproduct of the linkage configuration and the other parameters.

In my opinion, the high pedaling anti-squat is great, the progressivity is great (with a coil shock), and the brake squat is acceptable, though I'd prefer less.

for me the high anti-squat was something that kept bothering me. Demoed a megatower and clocked 10-20% faster times on some of my favorite local strava segments, mostly due to it being pedal-able through rooty sections.

and this was on a entry level R kit demo bike with no other tuning on the suspension than setting the sag in the ballpark.

depends a lot on your local terrain, riding style and preferred feel I'd guess
flag R-M-R
Posted: Aug 29, 2019 at 10:21 Quote
bikefuturist wrote:
R-M-R wrote:
bikefuturist wrote:
lots of brake-squat and anti-squat. Was Bird trying to play it safe when doing their first longish travel 29er to keep it manageable in terms of pedalling efficiency?

They had plenty of experience from past models. The pedaling anti-squat was an evolution from prior designs, the leverage rate progressivity was an attempt to improve on the Aeris 145, and the brake squat appears to be mostly a byproduct of the linkage configuration and the other parameters.

In my opinion, the high pedaling anti-squat is great, the progressivity is great (with a coil shock), and the brake squat is acceptable, though I'd prefer less.

for me the high anti-squat was something that kept bothering me. Demoed a megatower and clocked 10-20% faster times on some of my favorite local strava segments, mostly due to it being pedal-able through rooty sections.

and this was on a entry level R kit demo bike with no other tuning on the suspension than setting the sag in the ballpark.

depends a lot on your local terrain, riding style and preferred feel I'd guess

My simulations show the Megatower and AM9 have almost identical anti-squat. There is no way a couple percent anti-squat accounts for a 10% - 20% difference in times. Other factors must be in play.

Anti-squat values have been rising greatly in the past few years, especially on 29ers. The AM9 was notably high when it launched and is still above average, but not much.
flag jase111171
Posted: Aug 30, 2019 at 0:41 Quote
What's the official weight of the am9 frames?Website seems to be down.
flag R-M-R
Posted: Aug 30, 2019 at 0:56 Quote
jase111171 wrote:
What's the official weight of the am9 frames?Website seems to be down.

Mine is a Large, raw. Exactly 3000 g completely naked, with only the derailleur hanger and bottle cage screws.
flag jase111171
Posted: Aug 30, 2019 at 6:58 Quote
Cheers again mate,that’s with no shock I presume
flag R-M-R
Posted: Aug 30, 2019 at 8:32 Quote
jase111171 wrote:
Cheers again mate,that’s with no shock I presume

Correct.
flag colourofsound
Posted: Aug 30, 2019 at 12:22 Quote
R-M-R wrote:
Hope it goes well. Looking forward to the update. Salute

Right! So there was two tokens in that fork; explains a lot. I’ve whipped those out, pumped it up to 70psi which is bottom recommended pressure for my weight, set 5 clicks of compression and 3 clicks away from fastest rebound.

Gonna hit a rocky trail tomorrow I think to give it a run through!

Also got a new set of bars Big Grin
flag R-M-R
Posted: Aug 30, 2019 at 14:39 Quote
colourofsound wrote:
Right! So there was two tokens in that fork; explains a lot. I’ve whipped those out, pumped it up to 70psi which is bottom recommended pressure for my weight, set 5 clicks of compression and 3 clicks away from fastest rebound.

Gonna hit a rocky trail tomorrow I think to give it a run through!

Also got a new set of bars Big Grin

Two volume reducers removed - this sounds promising!
flag colourofsound
Posted: Sep 1, 2019 at 2:28 Quote
R-M-R wrote:
Two volume reducers removed - this sounds promising!

I was pretty surprised to see two volume spacers; I expected one to be the default. It’s good to know though as you say - also it means if I start bottoming out a lot (seems unlikely) I can chuck one in and that would probably be perfect.

So hit an off piste route yesterday, chosen specifically for its rockyness (Keegans Lane neat Moel Famau in North Wales, for those familiar).

Fork response much improved. After your description of rebound I could certainly feel that fast rebound was a bit more violent and bouncy, so backing that off a bit seemed to do the job.

After that ride I’d used 85% of the travel, which, given there are no drops or large impacts on that ride, I’d say was about right. I could probably drop another few PSI, but i’ll run with no compression dampening on the next ride and see.

Small bump sensitivity was still a tad on the harsh side, but still much better - but I think i’d need to upgrade the damper to see any more improvement in that regard.

It certainly feels easier to dial a fork in from overly soft to firmer rather than the other way around, if that makes sense? I suppose it’s easier to make it firmer on the fly than it is to make it softer.

Thanks again for your help; it was very rewarding to feel like these changes made a difference. And I only managed to shear the air shaft screw a tiny bit Wink
flag R-M-R
Posted: Sep 1, 2019 at 10:29 Quote
Glad we could make things better!

You'll find it's easiest to get full travel when there's more weight on the front and/or shaft speed is lower, which reduces the high-speed compression damping force. Steep slopes with rolling compressions are most likely to hit full travel.
flag LRG410
Posted: Sep 2, 2019 at 6:48 Quote
Hi guys, I'm thinking about becoming a bird owner, but i live in Canada. Have any of you ordered bikes from the uk to Canada before? I'm wondering what duty/import tax might be seeing as the frame is taiwanese, the guy at bird who i was emailing seems to think there might not be any duty when shipped to Canada. I'm under the impression that it is 13% for bikes made outside the trade agreement. (and i know ill have to pay sales tax)

Anyone know?

Thanks
flag R-M-R
Posted: Sep 2, 2019 at 21:30 Quote
LRG410 wrote:
Hi guys, I'm thinking about becoming a bird owner, but i live in Canada. Have any of you ordered bikes from the uk to Canada before? I'm wondering what duty/import tax might be seeing as the frame is taiwanese, the guy at bird who i was emailing seems to think there might not be any duty when shipped to Canada. I'm under the impression that it is 13% for bikes made outside the trade agreement. (and i know ill have to pay sales tax)

Anyone know?

Thanks

I bought my Birds as frames and was not charged duty, only GST. If you're concerned about being charged duty on a complete, you can omit some components from the build and it should qualify as "parts", not "complete".
flag Lfcrik
Posted: Sep 3, 2019 at 7:43 Quote
LRG410 wrote:
Hi guys, I'm thinking about becoming a bird owner, but i live in Canada. Have any of you ordered bikes from the uk to Canada before? I'm wondering what duty/import tax might be seeing as the frame is taiwanese, the guy at bird who i was emailing seems to think there might not be any duty when shipped to Canada. I'm under the impression that it is 13% for bikes made outside the trade agreement. (and i know ill have to pay sales tax)

Anyone know?

Thanks

There’s a lad in the states I believe selling a new one on the Facebook group - might be worth a look as taxes will have been covered...
flag rikkibarrattmtb
O+
Posted: Sep 3, 2019 at 17:03 Quote
Bird Aeris AM9

AM9 owners, Anyone gone up to a 160mm fork?

did it make much difference to the handling?

Im still trying to get the bike spot on, ive played around with volume spacers and pressure. Figured the relatively cheap change of the internals to go up to 160mm could be worth a try.
flag R-M-R
Posted: Sep 3, 2019 at 18:23 Quote
KnoblyKnees wrote:
AM9 owners, Anyone gone up to a 160mm fork?

Yes.

KnoblyKnees wrote:
did it make much difference to the handling?

No.

 


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