LPG
likes thicc birds
Summary - I wanted an N+1 and built up a Bird AM9 - Skip the wall of text to get to the good stuff
My only bike was a 2016 Trek Stache, a very fun somewhat aggressive hardtail with 29+ wheels. I love this bike and it was all the bike I needed when living and riding in Sydney. I moved to Wollongong two years ago and there are a lot more steep trails that warrant a more aggressive bike. I loved the stache and enjoyed being the only guy riding a hardtail in the group even if it did mean I was often the last one down rockier descents. I loved the active riding I needed to do finding ways to dodge rough sections or pop over rock gardens but there are some trails and obstacles I'll avoid on the stache. When things were steep and rocky I felt I couldn't safely slow down without going OTB, so I would crawl down them instead of enjoying that section of the descent. Did I mention N+1? That might be part of it too.
Why the Bird?
I wanted a bike to complement the Stache. I wanted something that was better suited to steep and rocky descents and didn't beat me up like a hard tail. Slacker modern geometry interested me, partly because I was chasing something different. I wanted something that was clearly in the enduro side of things but I also do a fair bit of climbing and rarely shuttle trails.
The Bird AM9 seemed to fit this very well and was pretty budget friendly. They allowed you to customise every part on the complete bike on the website which was awesome. Unfortunately they don't ship the completes from the UK to Australia. I can be picky about things that are often skimped on with completes. I've destroyed rear hubs and I want some reliable wheels from the start. I also wanted suspension that I could service at home without much special tools. I've built quite a few bikes before (Mainly touring and BMX bikes) and decided this was the way I wanted to go.
I bought the frame earlyish and kept my eye out for second hand parts and deals. Aside from the seatpost it all ended up being new. The stuff I wanted wasn't really coming up second hand and when push came to shove I became quite picky. A fair bit came from ze Germans, the forks came direct from but I forced myself to get a certain amount of stuff from aussie retailers, though availability of some things made some parts frustrating. I was planning on getting all the suspension locally but ended up getting the forks from DVO direct. They had a sale on last years brown diamonds which looked awesome but after the order they appologised and said they didn't have any left. They looked after me with a reduced discount on this years diamonds which was awesome and I decided to try the reduced offset because it will make me up to 140% better at riding and attracting the opposite sex.
Frame - Bird Aeris AM9 in Medium-Long (I usually ride large but the reach is 475 and around what you get on most XLs) https://www.bird.bike/aeris-am9/
Rear shock - DVO Topaz T3 230 x 65
Front shock/fork - DVO Diamond Boost 150 Travel, 44mm offset
Handlebars - Nukeproof Horizon Aluminium 31.8 - 25mm rise
Stem - Funn Funnduro 45mm - Was supposed to be silver but came closer to gunmetal
Headset - Bird
Grips - DMR Deathgrip
Saddle - WTB Volt 135mm (Basic model, sport I think)
Seatpost - Tranz-X 150mm
Front brake - Magura MT5 - 203mm Magura storm rotor
Rear brake - Magura MT5 - 180mm Magura storm rotor
Cranks - Raceface Turbine 175mm
Chainguide - Absent for now
Chain - 11Spd
Pedals - Crank Bros Stamp 1
Front derailleur - Do I look like I am typing this on a typewriter?
Rear derailleur - Shimano XT 11 Spd Shadow
Front shifter - I'm sending a telegram to someone asking what this is
Rear shifter - Shimano XT 11 SPD
Cassette - Shimano XT 11-46
Front hub - Hope Pro 4 Boost
Rear hub - Hope Pro 4 Boost
Front rim - Ryde Edge 30 - 3mm offset
Rear rim - Ryde Edge 30 - 3mm offset
Spokes - Sapim 2.0-1.8-2.0 butted except for rear drive side 2.3 - 1.8 - 2.0 butted - all the same length thanks to the offset rims
Nipples - Sapim Brass - 14mm
Front Tyre - Maxxis 29x2.5 DHF EXO MaxTerra
Rear Tyre - Maxxis 29x2.5 Agressor EXO
Tubes - Horesback courier with a message from the next town over?
Total weight - 14.8kg with pedals
The wheels were built by me and are pretty awesome with the offset rims and Hope hubs. The offset spoke holes means that there is barely any dish on either the front or rear wheels which should make them stronger and stiffer. It also makes spare spokes much easier to keep track of. I don't know why offset spoke rims aren't more common.
The drivetrain is 11spd. I don't really feel the need for 12 spd and this is a good place to save money without any performance sacrefices. The XT drivetrain is pretty cheap while having great performance. Also the standard driver on the casette means I have plenty of replacement options. I have the same hope pro4 with a XD driver on my stache so I can always swap drivers between bikes if I feel like going eagle in the future. With both bikes 11spd means I don't need two different spare chains.
The suspension is DVO Diamond/Topaz. I was throwing up a couple other options but ended up settled on the diamond fork as it reviewed well, had good tunability and was user serviceable with good instructions from the manufacturer. I was going to go for the SR Suntour Triair rear shock but after good experience dealing with the guys at DVO I ended up going for the DVO Topaz instead. So far it feels awesome.
Before you comment these messy cables have mostly been sorted since the photo.
The Ride
Annoyingly I only managed to get it built just before having to travel for work leaving me with the bike equivalent of blueballs. I've been back for a week now and have a few rides. I'm still getting used to it but I'm pretty smitten with it. It felt very comfortable from the start. The ride is stable and the suspension is really plush and soaks up anything. A few times I've come up to rocky sections of repeated drops and put on the brakes out of habit but after the first drop I remember how in control the bike is and let them off and it soaks it up and accelerates down the rough spots. The bike is still plenty playful, much more than I expected. The steering took a moment to get used to. The first quick corner I realised that the front wheel was further out front and I needed to start turning earlier but a couple corners later it felt natural. The difference in handling is pretty noticeable with 20mm extra in the rear end, 40mm extra reach, probably close to 100mm in wheelbase and 2.5° slacker at the head tube when compared to the stache. This is definitely still the honeymoon period but it feels like I was hoping it would, maybe better. I will do some tuning on the suspension once I get proper used to the ride.
I'll do a more in depth review later, but the intial report is very positive.
My only bike was a 2016 Trek Stache, a very fun somewhat aggressive hardtail with 29+ wheels. I love this bike and it was all the bike I needed when living and riding in Sydney. I moved to Wollongong two years ago and there are a lot more steep trails that warrant a more aggressive bike. I loved the stache and enjoyed being the only guy riding a hardtail in the group even if it did mean I was often the last one down rockier descents. I loved the active riding I needed to do finding ways to dodge rough sections or pop over rock gardens but there are some trails and obstacles I'll avoid on the stache. When things were steep and rocky I felt I couldn't safely slow down without going OTB, so I would crawl down them instead of enjoying that section of the descent. Did I mention N+1? That might be part of it too.
Why the Bird?
I wanted a bike to complement the Stache. I wanted something that was better suited to steep and rocky descents and didn't beat me up like a hard tail. Slacker modern geometry interested me, partly because I was chasing something different. I wanted something that was clearly in the enduro side of things but I also do a fair bit of climbing and rarely shuttle trails.
The Bird AM9 seemed to fit this very well and was pretty budget friendly. They allowed you to customise every part on the complete bike on the website which was awesome. Unfortunately they don't ship the completes from the UK to Australia. I can be picky about things that are often skimped on with completes. I've destroyed rear hubs and I want some reliable wheels from the start. I also wanted suspension that I could service at home without much special tools. I've built quite a few bikes before (Mainly touring and BMX bikes) and decided this was the way I wanted to go.
I bought the frame earlyish and kept my eye out for second hand parts and deals. Aside from the seatpost it all ended up being new. The stuff I wanted wasn't really coming up second hand and when push came to shove I became quite picky. A fair bit came from ze Germans, the forks came direct from but I forced myself to get a certain amount of stuff from aussie retailers, though availability of some things made some parts frustrating. I was planning on getting all the suspension locally but ended up getting the forks from DVO direct. They had a sale on last years brown diamonds which looked awesome but after the order they appologised and said they didn't have any left. They looked after me with a reduced discount on this years diamonds which was awesome and I decided to try the reduced offset because it will make me up to 140% better at riding and attracting the opposite sex.
Frame - Bird Aeris AM9 in Medium-Long (I usually ride large but the reach is 475 and around what you get on most XLs) https://www.bird.bike/aeris-am9/
Rear shock - DVO Topaz T3 230 x 65
Front shock/fork - DVO Diamond Boost 150 Travel, 44mm offset
Handlebars - Nukeproof Horizon Aluminium 31.8 - 25mm rise
Stem - Funn Funnduro 45mm - Was supposed to be silver but came closer to gunmetal
Headset - Bird
Grips - DMR Deathgrip
Saddle - WTB Volt 135mm (Basic model, sport I think)
Seatpost - Tranz-X 150mm
Front brake - Magura MT5 - 203mm Magura storm rotor
Rear brake - Magura MT5 - 180mm Magura storm rotor
Cranks - Raceface Turbine 175mm
Chainguide - Absent for now
Chain - 11Spd
Pedals - Crank Bros Stamp 1
Front derailleur - Do I look like I am typing this on a typewriter?
Rear derailleur - Shimano XT 11 Spd Shadow
Front shifter - I'm sending a telegram to someone asking what this is
Rear shifter - Shimano XT 11 SPD
Cassette - Shimano XT 11-46
Front hub - Hope Pro 4 Boost
Rear hub - Hope Pro 4 Boost
Front rim - Ryde Edge 30 - 3mm offset
Rear rim - Ryde Edge 30 - 3mm offset
Spokes - Sapim 2.0-1.8-2.0 butted except for rear drive side 2.3 - 1.8 - 2.0 butted - all the same length thanks to the offset rims
Nipples - Sapim Brass - 14mm
Front Tyre - Maxxis 29x2.5 DHF EXO MaxTerra
Rear Tyre - Maxxis 29x2.5 Agressor EXO
Tubes - Horesback courier with a message from the next town over?
Total weight - 14.8kg with pedals
The wheels were built by me and are pretty awesome with the offset rims and Hope hubs. The offset spoke holes means that there is barely any dish on either the front or rear wheels which should make them stronger and stiffer. It also makes spare spokes much easier to keep track of. I don't know why offset spoke rims aren't more common.
The drivetrain is 11spd. I don't really feel the need for 12 spd and this is a good place to save money without any performance sacrefices. The XT drivetrain is pretty cheap while having great performance. Also the standard driver on the casette means I have plenty of replacement options. I have the same hope pro4 with a XD driver on my stache so I can always swap drivers between bikes if I feel like going eagle in the future. With both bikes 11spd means I don't need two different spare chains.
The suspension is DVO Diamond/Topaz. I was throwing up a couple other options but ended up settled on the diamond fork as it reviewed well, had good tunability and was user serviceable with good instructions from the manufacturer. I was going to go for the SR Suntour Triair rear shock but after good experience dealing with the guys at DVO I ended up going for the DVO Topaz instead. So far it feels awesome.
Before you comment these messy cables have mostly been sorted since the photo.
The Ride
Annoyingly I only managed to get it built just before having to travel for work leaving me with the bike equivalent of blueballs. I've been back for a week now and have a few rides. I'm still getting used to it but I'm pretty smitten with it. It felt very comfortable from the start. The ride is stable and the suspension is really plush and soaks up anything. A few times I've come up to rocky sections of repeated drops and put on the brakes out of habit but after the first drop I remember how in control the bike is and let them off and it soaks it up and accelerates down the rough spots. The bike is still plenty playful, much more than I expected. The steering took a moment to get used to. The first quick corner I realised that the front wheel was further out front and I needed to start turning earlier but a couple corners later it felt natural. The difference in handling is pretty noticeable with 20mm extra in the rear end, 40mm extra reach, probably close to 100mm in wheelbase and 2.5° slacker at the head tube when compared to the stache. This is definitely still the honeymoon period but it feels like I was hoping it would, maybe better. I will do some tuning on the suspension once I get proper used to the ride.
I'll do a more in depth review later, but the intial report is very positive.
, that raw ally = drools! 