Bird Cycle Works have announced the latest addition to their flock of mountain bikes; feast your eyes upon the all-new Bird Aether 7, a trail bike with modern and aggressive enduro geometry and “just enough” suspension to keep you connected with the trail. That said, with just 140mm of fork travel and 130mm of rear wheel travel rolling on 27.5″ wheels, the Aether 7 is certainly no enduro bike. It sits firmly in the trail bike category, and was designed to shred the trail centre and man made bike-park style trails on which we spend so much of our time.
Bird Aether 7
The Bird Aether 7 is designed around Bird’s 3rd generation geometry. The seat tube sits at an angle of 76 degrees while the head angle is a slack 65 degrees. Reach is long, stretching from 432mm in size small, right out to 517mm in XL, while the chainstays are a short 425mm.
The Aether 7’s 130mm of rear wheel travel is serviced by a 210mm x 55mm metric shock, with the linkage said to provide a progressive suspension curve for support and pop. As ever, the anti-squat characteristics of the bike have been optimised for pedalling efficiency. Bird say their latest kinematic fine tuning offers supple traction when you need it most without sacrificing the ability to stamp on the pedals for maximum acceleration when you want it. This indicates that Bird have optimised the anti-squat characteristics for the smaller cogs of the cassette, rather than for the climbing gears, something we’ve seen them do successfully in the past with the longer travel Aeris.
The seat tube of the Bird Aether 7 is straight and relatively short at just 395mm in medium, allowing for a low standover height while maximising the bike’s capacity for a long travel dropper post, thus 200mm Bird V2 Down Droppers will be the length of choice for most riders. The seat tubes are externally butted in order to avoid any sacrifices in strength.
The Bird Aether 7’s 6066-T6 Aluminium frame features 12 x 148mm boost rear axle spacing, and is optimised for a 1x drivetrain with a 52mm chainline. You will find bolt on ISCG05 chain guide mounts, a tapered ZS44/ZS56 headset, a 73mm threaded bottom bracket, a 31.6mm seat post and a 34.9mm seat clamp. Cable routing is external, save for that of the stealth dropper routing, and the frame can accommodate a full size water bottle.
Pricing and Availability
The Bird Aether 7 trail bike is available in sizes XS through to XL, servicing rider heights of around 5ft 2″ to 6ft 4″. Bird offer hundreds of choices of components. To start with, take your pick of SRAM or Shimano drivetrains with SRAM, Shimano or Hope brakes, then customise your build til your heart’s content with a full range of RockShox suspension to choose from, wheels from DT Swiss, Maxxis tyres, Fabric saddles, RaceFace cockpit and Gusset grips. The frameset alone will set you back £1,050.
