INCOMING !! New frame day... Bird Aether 7

[Mr Moofo]

Ebay
"I'll give you £400 for it today"
"No you won't"

You’ve got to admire their sense of belief

[weeksy]

Ebay
"I'll give you £400 for it today"
"No you won't"

You’ve got to admire their sense of belief

I'm all for a cheeky offer but you've got to sell it to me with a story.

"My 15 year old son snapped his frame racing and needs this for the next enduro race" then yeah I'd have sold him it for £400. But come at me like you're doing me a favour low balling me and I'll tell you to jog on

[Couchy]

Looking good

[weeksy]

Needs tassels

[Couchy]

My bad

[MingtheMerciless]

Weeksy’s pink princess?

[weeksy]

Well i dropped the spacer out of the shock, the 2nd spacer, still 1 large spacer in there. Even just in the close it feels harsh, so i can imagine out on the trails it'll feel more so.

I've still not ridden it in anger yet though and i'm not actually sure when i will. Or certainly when i'll ride it on anything interesting. That'll likely be Saturday morning when with Crust and my boy, we'll be at Swinley Forest, the Birds natural home. I may even send my lad down the black line on it, so i can at least say the bike has ridden the black

But anyway... I'll do my best to get out today if the weather holds for a very sloppy messy one.

[weeksy]

Today was the first test ride and as you can imagine it was as much faffing as it was riding.

Pedal, stop, adjust, pedal, stop, adjust, then again, then again, gears, seat height, seat angle, suspension front, suspension rear, levers, gears, saddle.... just constant stopping and fiddling to get things right.

I've got it mostly happy now, but suspension wise i'm still needing to take it on more techincal riding as the front feels a little harsh and the rear feels a little 'dead' at the moment. I'll throw the Shockwiz on it and see where we are.

Riding position, weirdly the bars feel wider... Which is clearly impossible as they're the same bars

When i got home i've put another spacer under the stem, so raising the front end by 5mm more.

I've got a TINY bit of rub from the chainguide in the final gear that i'll need to dial out. I'm not quite sure yet just how as it's at it's max adjustment in that direction so may need a tiny bend.

It seems to pedal strike less than the G-160 which is a bonus and seems to climb really nicely too, although i still need to dial out a little pedal bob.

First impressions are great though

2021-05-18_11-50-38 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

First job then was fitting the Shockwiz..
2021-05-18_02-03-51 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Well, techincally that was job 2.... lifting the front end was first... I stood it next to my lads bike and noticed straight away that while our stems are about the same height he's got WAY more rise on his bars than i do. Interesting indeedy... So i've upped my spacers and my bars are closer in relation to his, but i may go higher rise actually.
the bars that came on the G-160 are 15mm rise and 780mm wide... so at least gives me a start point in terms of knowledge of where i am, so i can then work out where i wanna go

The fork decals arrived, but i'm torn on them now they're here.
2021-05-18_02-03-44 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2021-05-18_02-03-35 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

MAybe it's too much magenta. The yellow does seem a decent match on the fork lowers to the logo/text on the frame... so... hmmm.

[lostboy]

They're hideous. As you correctly say, the yellow on the forks complements the yellow on the frame.

[weeksy]

They're hideous. As you correctly say, the yellow on the forks complements the yellow on the frame.

But they're also a bit old, scuffed and tired.

[weeksy]

Shockwiz said
Less pressure
Slow rebound.

So I've taken out 7psi and 2 clicks of tortoise.

[weeksy]

I know you said not to..... but.. well... i did

2021-05-19_09-29-01 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[Mr Moofo]

never mind the cosmetic pimping, do you like it yet?

Much as I don't like the decals, where did you get them from - the ones on my Cotic are white and need changing

[weeksy]

starting with the first and easiest answer, Invisframe. They do all sorts of decals, reading reviews on others they're often a bit crap quality and thin material too. These are both nice and clear/glossy and substantial material too. Happy.

To answer your next question, yeah i'm certainly getting there. The trails/rain not helping much at the moment as well as a growth spurt for the plants, so everything is slower, claggier and your bars are getting clattered by plants everywhere, it means whilst i'm getting more used to it, i'm still not really pushing anything in terms of speed due to traction/grip/slop. Which is a shame.

But yeah we're certainly enjoying it, both up and downhill.

Today was Shockwiz on the front end. Which was interesting as i'd already gone 2 clicks of tortoise and removed a bit of air, Shockwiz said "too much air out" and 1 more click of tortoise needed.
2021-05-19_11-40-35 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

So we made that change with adding some air and 1 click of tortoise, then another bit of testing
2021-05-19_11-40-26 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

So getting closer now, i've taken the Shockwiz off the front end as that's close enough to dial in the last bit of pressure by myself.

The back end already feels good, so i think we'll be closer on that.

Only other job is a bleed on the rear brake as that wasn't quite firm today... So 5 mins job there.

2021-05-19_11-44-01 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Shockwiz installed on the rear.

2021-05-19_01-10-22 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Proper test day tomorrow for me, the frame, the suspension, well, everything really. Last time at Summit i wasn't really playing as we were at Silverstone 2 days later, so didn't want to risk throwing it in the floor. But tomorrow i can unleash myself to the best of my ability anyway. But will be great to test the Aether7 properly and see how it all rides. After Summit we'll be doing some trail stuff, so looking forward to seeing how it goes there too.

[weeksy]

We're getting there, shock now tuned and dialled in. Had a play with bar position which now improved things more. It's slower turning than the G160 but with head angle it's going to be. Pedals better and goes uphill better. Jumping is a bit weird as it jumps a little back wheel heavy, or should I say it's harder to get back wheel to pop compared to g160. But it's more a slight change in technique.
Rear brake still had a bit of air due to spongey lever feel, so had to rebleed it. Overall I'm a happy boy, just probably sound a bit fussy.


2021-05-22_04-44-34 by Steve Weeks - Flickr2BBcode LITE


2021-05-22_04-44-27 by Steve Weeks - Flickr2BBcode LITE


2021-05-22_04-44-22 by Steve Weeks - Flickr2BBcode LITE

[weeksy]

Out again for a play and this thing certainly XCs better than the G160, it's got a bit of pace for sure.
Wanted to add a click of rabbit to the rear, but I'm all out of rabbit, so the rebound isn't getting any quicker than it has now. But feels great anyway, just a little less poppy than the G160.
Forest of Dean next weekend will be it's next tester.

No pics as it walloped with rain a few times and I couldn't be bothered

[formula400]

Wow that’s quite pink…… I like pink mind

Looks wicked