Bird Aeris Review

If you haven’t heard of Bird, then you definitely need to go and check them out. They are a relatively new UK based company who are bringing out some absolutely smashing bikes – currently they have a hardtail – the Zero range – and a full sus – the Aeris.

These bikes have been designed to be long and slack, ideal for smashing trails and generally flying around. What’s more, thanks to direct sales structure of Bird, these bikes are extremely affordable with an astonishing spec that can be tailored to your every desire. Unlike traditional bike companies, you can choose everything from what drive chain you want to which brakes and even have your pick of tyres – and they aren’t the cheap rubber versions that you typically get with a new bike either!

Bird Aeris Review

After a huge amount of consideration, number crunching and plenty of test rides, I finally decided to bite the bullet and purchase the Bird Aeris in the Spring of 2015. Although the range of options and the price of complete builds is extremely enticing, I decided to build this bike up from scratch as I have a tendency to switch things out on a fairly regular basis so purchasing a complete build just doesn’t make sense to me.

Bird Aeris weight, this is what a lot of people want to know, after all it is a long bike that looks really big but the frame only weighs around 3kg without a shock. Add the Rockshox Monarch RT3 and the Bird Aeris frame weight increases to about 3.25kg meaning that a light build is definitely on the table. I’m not entirely sure what my bike weighs now, although if I had to hazard a guess it would be around the 15kg mark – not bad for a bike that cost under £2,000 and that you can throw at absolutely everything!

Looking at the Bird Aeris specs, you’ll notice that the head angle is very slack – between 66 and 65 degrees – but thanks to the long TT and 73-74 degree seat angle, the bike climbs absolutely brilliantly! It may not be quite as good as my 100mm XC bike, but with 160/150 travel it’s bloody good.

The Ride

This is bit you’ve all been waiting for – how does the Bird Aeris ride when it’s out in the big bad world? The answer, is brilliantly! From attacking uphill to charging down hill, I have never once felt that the Aeris was out of place. The comfort zone of this bike is definitely when things are going fast though. The harder you seem to push the Bird Aeris the more comfortable it seems to become, until you find yourself hammering down a ridiculously steep rocky descent and everything is being swallowed up by your travel.

I’ve ridden this bike in both the 140 and 150 rear travel setting and the difference to the bike is quite hard to describe. The actual feel of the ride doesn’t really change – it feels low and slack regardless of which setting you’re in – but the progression in the stroke of the travel feels completely different. You go from what is most definitely a trail bike to an animal which can handle the roughest of DH tracks and all it takes is a 30 second job of moving a bolt!

During my year of riding this bike, not only have my skill levels definitely increased but I have also found that I’m smashing my previous PRs on absolutely every trail I’ve ever ridden – that’s up and down! This bike gives you confidence by the bucket load – especially in the air and around berms.

Would I recommend?

Hell yeah! This is by far the most vercitle bike I’ve ever ridden, and I’ve ridden more than my fair share. It climbs like a goat and descends like a demon. What’s more, the new 145 looks even better! I’m actually scared to ride it as i know I’ll want it as they’ve fine tuned it even more.