Bird Makes its First Carbon Frame with the Aether 9C Trail Bike
PRESS RELEASE: Bird
Bird have released their first carbon bike, the Aether 9C today. The 29" wheeled trail bike sports 130mm of rear suspension designed to be mated to 130-150mm of front suspension. The bike has a 65-degree head tube angle, 430mm chainstays, and a 484mm reach on the ML size.
Size Specific Angles
The Aether 9C is unique for Bird as it's their only bike with size-specific seat tube angles. With taller riders needing a longer seat post, that puts them and their weight further back relative to the wheels of the bike which can create too little weight on the front end and the front wheel lifting up on steeper climbs.
The seat tube angle on the Aether 9C starts at 76.5-degrees on the size medium and steepens to 78-degrees on the size XL. Bird claims this will keep the weight distribution even across sizes. They also increased the head tube stack on each size to aid in rider fit and comfort.
Frame Details
The Aether 9C has the best water bottle clearance of all Bird's full-suspension frames with even the smaller size accepting a 750ml bottle with a piggyback shock. In addition to water bottle clearance, the frame has room for up to a 2.6" tire.
The bottom bracket on the full carbon frame is BSA threaded and there is fully internally guided cable routing with an internal Y-connector that allows the rear brake to be run on the left or right size. The suspension is tuned for efficient pedaling and a lively feel.
Builds
The Aether 9C is available in several different builds as well as a frame only option.
The frame alone sells for £1,700.00 It includes the rear axle, SRAM Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH), and rubber frame protection on chainstay and down tube. All Bird frame-sets come ready to build with clean chased BB threads, tapped ISG05 mounts and axle threads, as well as a fully faced BB and headset.
Shimano 12-speed builds start at £3,786.50, and SRAM 12-speed builds start at £3,463.50.
There is a complete bike builder on Bird's website that allows users to customize their builds from the ground up. It should be noted that there are certain items that would typically be in the store that are currently low stock which has pushed up the complete prices of bikes for the moment, however, they have plenty of kit available.
For more information, visit bird.bike
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This is such a cool feature, it drives me nuts having my left side rear brake route into the left side of the frame.
Love this bike and love the brand!
May not be to everyones taste looks wise but bird bikes have never been the sexiest looking. If, however, youve ridden one youd know Dans engineering, the ride quality and the feel of the bikes are second to none!
You’ll also know if you owned one the customer service is second to none.
Those two facts should be enough to put aside the looks after all, you dont see the bike when you are grinning down the trail
Luckily it has a "low bottom bracket for carving turns" (from their webpage). You will have to drive that handlebar pretty hard to carve turns on an XL.
Some of the bikes, like this one, look a bit like they have been in a crash before you’ve put a leg over it.
I for one am tired of xl bikes that I'm cramped up on.
Have you seen the geo?!?
I’m 6’1 and would be deciding between a ML and L. You’d have to be a giant to eide the XL
But bird? Maybe put some ”Santa Scott” stickerkit on it and it would rock
Ma-ma-mow, pa-pa, ma-ma-mow
--------------------------------------------"
Everybody knows that the bird is the word!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=9AZA6fREkoA
Ba-ba-ba-bird bird bird...bird is the word.
www.pinkbike.com/photo/18949713
All those kinks and angles are going to slow the production process down, not to mention being stress raisers and areas where the integrity of the carbon/epoxy could be compromised.
(if you are a carbon engineer working in F1 or some wannabe hambini or whatever his hame is then your direct experience probably isnt relevant to a realistically low tolerance peice of farmyard equipment like a bicycle frame, compared to that of an F1 component)
The designer is probably the company owner, a small company started by an engineer or couple of people, it isnt dyson.
I do see plenty of carbon failures in one of the events I help run, bonded joints breaking either by poor design or poor manufacture. Equally some very impressive carbon structures, including wheels.
The cycling industry is a shambles, some of the things you see are shocking and we shouldn't tolerate it or be paying the amount we do. The latest frame I riding, the tolerancing is woeful at best when it comes to the suspension hardware, along with 12weeks to get a pretty poor reply. They have no concept of a proper failure investigation, I'd be sacked if it took me 12 weeks to get where they are, couple of weeks tops and another week to get a temporary solution.
Stop patronising people, unless you happen to design carbon fibre bicycle frames and moulds of course, then fire away, thought not......
Seems that you are blindsided by things that are shiney on the outside and have little comprehension of the detail needed to make a product which is fit for purpose.
You are probably right in that I don’t ‘comprehend the detail needed to make a product fit for purpose’ after all I only have a beng mech engineering, 12 years experience inc co owning a company designing, manufacturing (cnc turning, milling 4&5 axis) and helping others design and manufacture products for varying industries but you go ahead patronising mr ‘internet engineer’ - I just don’t feel like telling the internet about rudimentary design principles and instead assume the person who runs Bird has the required skills, seeing as they started a bike company and all.
Would you and spencermon like to share the products, brands and business you have created from the ground up, or do you happen to hide behind company employment rather poke your head out into the risky world of doing it for yourself?
A well engineered bike frame will tolerate inevitable flaws in manufacturing. Despite what inexperienced people like hambini say, a bike can be perfectly fine despite its flaws. If we expect aerospace perfection, we will pay huge $$!
Personally, I really like the purposeful design of this bike. Adding a few stylie curves or kinks to the design doesn't mean that the strength is compromised.
in reply to: "Would you and spencermon like to share the products, brands and business you have created from the ground up, or do you happen to hide behind company employment rather poke your head out into the risky world of doing it for yourself?"
I would love to have a conversation in private about the place that I work. Shoot me a message. I'm haven't had the chance to build a business from the ground up, as you have, but I'd love to know more about how you balance the unique requirements of doing that.
I also hope you are not implying that only those that have done exactly as you have done have the necessary knowledge to comment on the design of someone else.
Seriously, please hire a (proper) product designer next time. It's not an f***ing expense, it's an investment!
I remember seeing an old sketch passed between DW and Devinci, it had lots of annotation about the Wilson about changing aesthetic points etc
Maybe going as far as a separate desginer isnt needed, just get hold of a focus group and ask them what they think, make sure they are impartial so you are not in an echo chamber.
Tough gig - the geometry looks great, suspensions probably great too, I dont actually think it looks that bad, its just a few of the tube 'kinks' that dont tie up but I would still 100% ride it.