I’ve been needing a new bike for a while and after seeing the stunning Bird Aeris featured in a few magazines and from following them on social media I decided that I absolutely had to test one out. Luckily for me, you can take one out for the day at Forest of Dean – a trail that I know well, so I could get the best understanding of the bike.
Bird Aeris Demo Day at FoD
My initial impressions were incredible. The bike was so balanced, was provided with a great spec and it handled like an absolute dream. I did think that being so long and slack that I would struggle on the climbs, however it went up nearly as well (but not quite as fun) as it went down.
After a morning of flying around Freeminers and Verderers, I decided to really open her up on the Downhills. Wow. This was the point when I realised that I absolutely had to have one! This bike rails berms, floats over bumps and flies with just precision that it can take even the most basic riders feel like they’re Greg Minnaar!
Buying the Aeris Frame
I’m a tinkerer. I always change up parts on any bike I buy as stock until there’s very little left of the original bike. That’s why I decided to buy the Aeris frame rather than any of their brilliantly priced builds.It’s always been an ambition of mine to build up a complete bike, so I took the Aeris Frame and threw together a (slightly) budget conscious list of performance parts for my build.
My end result was this:
- Bird Aeris frame with RS Monarch RT3
- Manitou Mattoc fork
- SRAM Guide R brakes
- Decathalon Dropper Seatpost
- WTB Volt Saddle
- XT derailleur, shiftier, cassette and chain
- SLX cranks
- Absolute Black Oval Chainring
- Superstar Tech4 DS25 Wheelset
- Funn Funduro 40mm Stem
- Funn Full On Bar
- Maxxis Ardent (rear) and HR2 (front) EXO TR tyres
- Superstar Nano X pedals
Initial Review of the Bird Aeris
This is going to be my new test bike, so expect plenty of Bird Aeris reviews to pop up here but for initial impressions, this bike is amazing. Value for money – even more so building it myself – excellent handling, amazing geometry – long, low and slack – designed to be abused!
Currently I’ve done an entire day on the bike 10am-7pm, a trail centre, plenty of local trails and I have an uplift day planned at Bike Park Wales so you know that this bike will truly be put to the test! This may be my bike that I’ve forked out my hard earned cash out for, but I’m going to try and remain as objective as possible to give you an honest review.