Birds aren't real!

Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
Get your tinfoil hat on and read all about it here:

Birds Aren't Real | Birds Aren't Real

They used to be. Until the U.S. Government replaced them with drone replicas designed to spy on the American public. Founded in 1976.
birdsarentreal.com birdsarentreal.com


...or scroll down and have a look at my new bike that I have photographic evidence to prove it's existence

My trusty old spider decided to start forming a few cracks after its years of service, so I decided to capitalise on a birthday and retire the faithful beast before it self destructed. There was much umming and ahhing over a myriad of bikes but everything seemed like a compromise. I got offered a lovely bird here on Rotorburn, but it was a 29er so I agonised over it, researched it, started sending emails to bird about their warranty, and eventually stumbled on a little special they had tucked away on their website for a 27.5 runout frame that had super similar geometry to the spider

Some more backing and forthing with them about postage to Australia, found they had 1 left of a modified linkage that changed the travel to a perfect 130mm, dropped a bunch of stuff in the cart and 3 weeks later I had a box come in at work. Shiny!



It's taken some substantial willpower to not just drop whatever I had available on it and go ride. A lot of the spiders bits were transferrable, but not all, and I decided on seeing the shiny orange paint that I'd probably like to keep it at least somewhat protected so more waiting for framewrap. Decided to clean and service everything while I had it off, some buttery smooth forks and dropper now with a little effort



Appropriate mudguard is appropriate!



And now we're here. That monarch shock isn't the right size, but I have a dvo topaz on its way. I have multiple BBs I can drop on, but there is a shiny blue one on its way so I'd prefer to wait I think.



I'm keen to see a little more blue on it, and would eventually like to shigura those brakes, but I think it'll roll just fine as it is for now

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Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
Ackland said:
Refreshing to see a well thought out, external cabled frame... internal frames can eff off

You going to get some custom "30" decals?
Click to expand...
Yep, internal can bugger right off. It's funny how exciting it is to find a premium bike made from metal with external cable routing and a threaded BB

I had considered just putting an X over the 2. I dunno, maybe I just leave it as is and people will be super impressed when they see me riding a 120mm bike with all the radness you normally only get on a 130mm bike

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S

shiny

Go-go-gadget-wrist-thingy
Plankosaurus said:
Yep, internal can bugger right off. It's funny how exciting it is to find a premium bike made from metal with external cable routing and a threaded BB

I had considered just putting an X over the 2. I dunno, maybe I just leave it as is and people will be super impressed when they see me riding a 120mm bike with all the radness you normally only get on a 130mm bike

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Click to expand...
Just add a ‘+10’. ;) Nice Bird. Must be good with words as they flat out said no shipping to me. Looking forward to seeing what you think.
 
Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
I don't think posties get given enough credit

New shock and BB arrived and fitted!



Quick little spin up and down the road and a little bunny hop is all I could manage (Been battling a man-cold all week and even that effort burned my throat). Feels comfy, probably have a bunch of fine tuning to do with that dvo shock but the fact that the geometry felt right at home immediately is a good sign

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Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
Predictable





Birdy had its first ride today, it was like listening to a solid cover of a classic - slightly different, possibly even better, but in the end close enough that's it's all familiar.

This is Pantera doing "planet caravan"

The spider was fault free in my eyes, the perfect all day bike that was efficient enough to keep slogging and capable enough to tackle anything I have the cobbles for with relative comfort. The aeris is more of the same, but smoother, slightly more refined, and not cracked geometry is so close it's scary, most of the parts came over from the spider albeit serviced and cleaned, the difference is all in the linkage design and rear shock.

The spider ran a ccdb air and vpp system. I pretty much never touched the climb switch, it was good for almost anything short of a smooth climb.

The Airis is a 4 bar system with a dvo topaz. It's more responsive on descents and soaks up hits better, but it really needs to be in trail mode for techy or steeper climbs and I did notice pedal bob when I was on the road.

It's different and I'm on the fence about what I like better. It seems slightly more capable than the spider, more open when opened up and still just as efficient if the shock is in trail mode. But open is shite on some climbs and trail is stiffer than the spiders open mode though probably a little more efficient. The spider was set and forget, I'd go months without touching the climb switch and even then it'd only go on for longer smooth climbs. The aeris seems to have more options, but will need me to think a little from time to time. If I had a choice between these personalities I have no idea which I'd choose

Climbs like a predictable 130mm bike
Descends like a predictable 130mm bike




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Oddjob

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
Plankosaurus said:
Predictable





Birdy had its first ride today, it was like listening to a solid cover of a classic - slightly different, possibly even better, but in the end close enough that's it's all familiar.

This is Pantera doing "planet caravan"

The spider was fault free in my eyes, the perfect all day bike that was efficient enough to keep slogging and capable enough to tackle anything I have the cobbles for with relative comfort. The aeris is more of the same, but smoother, slightly more refined, and not cracked geometry is so close it's scary, most of the parts came over from the spider albeit serviced and cleaned, the difference is all in the linkage design and rear shock.

The spider ran a ccdb air and vpp system. I pretty much never touched the climb switch, it was good for almost anything short of a smooth climb.

The Airis is a 4 bar system with a dvo topaz. It's more responsive on descents and soaks up hits better, but it really needs to be in trail mode for techy or steeper climbs and I did notice pedal bob when I was on the road.

It's different and I'm on the fence about what I like better. It seems slightly more capable than the spider, more open when opened up and still just as efficient if the shock is in trail mode. But open is shite on some climbs and trail is stiffer than the spiders open mode though probably a little more efficient. The spider was set and forget, I'd go months without touching the climb switch and even then it'd only go on for longer smooth climbs. The aeris seems to have more options, but will need me to think a little from time to time. If I had a choice between these personalities I have no idea which I'd choose

Climbs like a predictable 130mm bike
Descends like a predictable 130mm bike




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Click to expand...
Try messing with the spacers in the air can. You can put spacers in the negative side so there is more force needed to break away under pedaling. You can also tune the damping in trail mode by adjusting the pressure in the bladder. I tend to ride in trail mode all the time to get the lsc support. I sometimes use lockout for climbing when I remember.

I really like the Topaz in the Liteville 301 which is also a 4 bar but I had to play around with it to get the efficiency/magic carpet divide just right.

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Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
Oddjob said:
Try messing with the spacers in the air can. You can put spacers in the negative side so there is more force needed to break away under pedaling. You can also tune the damping in trail mode by adjusting the pressure in the bladder. I tend to ride in trail mode all the time to get the lsc support. I sometimes use lockout for climbing when I remember.

I really like the Topaz in the Liteville 301 which is also a 4 bar but I had to play around with it to get the efficiency/magic carpet divide just right.

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Click to expand...
Thanks, I sort of knew there was some potential for adjustment with these but hadn't looked into it yet.

I should say that all of the above is with a used shock from a different frame. I dropped it in and set the sag and went for a ride so there is very possibly a chance it's not tuned for my frame or riding

I'll definitely have a play, although I'm not sure I hate it the way it is either. However it all pans out I'm pretty stoked with how it is so far

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K

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I had a Spider a while ago and currently have a Bird so I know where you are coming from. Despite having similar numbers, talk about chalk and cheese.
Spider has a high anti squat suspension design and a CCDB (depending on setup) is generally pretty linear in the spring curve.
The Bird with a Topaz will be super progressive with the shock open. My son has one on his Meta (4 bar) and it's ok for light weight riders but feels a bit under damped to me when open.
I have never tuned a topaz but I'd be trying to get more compression into the open setting. There is a way of making the switch an almost full lock out, you'll have to go down the rabbit hole on MTBR to find the details.
 
Plankosaurus

Plankosaurus

Spongeplank Dalepantski
Can some of the clever cookies weigh in here a little?

I've been playing around trying to find that Goldilocks zone on the shock and coming up with nothing but frustration. I love the ability to tune to topaz trailside, its a godsend. I can mess around with tokens and damper progression with nothing but a shock pump, wicked setup.

But I think there was possibly more to this RRR linkage from bird than the website let's on. Tune for good response downhill and I blow through mid travel. Tune to not blow through travel and it feels stiff as a board. Seems to sit on 25-30% sag and not use all the travel regardless of tune and pressure. I'd usually call this a win because the shock seems to be all about the mid range, except that I've had more pedal strikes in a few weeks than I ever did with the spider.

So I'm messing with something else now - what if I actually need a longer shock with this linkage?
I've just removed the correctly sized 210x55 topaz and popped on my old monarch 216x63 and it seems a much better fit. BB height is much more realistic, actual seat travel seems to have gone from roughly 100mm to a whopping 120mm, and I seem to have miles of clearance in every direction on the frame itself.

Is this safe?
Am I going to ruin my shiny new bird?
Have I just stumbled on a way to get more out of my frame?








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K

komdotkom

Likes Bikes and Dirt
You are in Melbourne right? You can borrow my Kitsuma if you want while my Bird is out of action
Gives you a few more tuning options
 
beeb

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
Is that final shot with the bike hard bottomed out? Doesn't look like the linkage is going to 'overcentre' and bind or anything. Tyres clearance also looks okay. Hows the clearance of the linkage to the seat-tube at full extension?

Realistically, bottom out should only see a couple mm short eye-to-eye length with the shock compressed so if nothing is touching at full extension it should work fine (though undoubtably not recommended by Bird, lol).

210-55 = 155mm eye-to-eye compressed length
216-63 = 153mm eye-to-eye compressed length

There is the possibility the leverage ratio will be more regressive at the beginning of the stroke (think 5010 V2) which can be a bit fiddly for setup, but from memory many of the Intense bikes were similar so it might be a feel more familiar to you anyway.
 
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