Bird Aeris 120 V Whyte T130S review
JGTR
Posts: 1,404
Had the chance to spend a decent amount of time on both these bikes at Swinley, thought I'd stick a review on here. Currently ride a 2013 Camber 29er, wanted to see how a 650b compared.
The Whyte is very playful, straight away I was hopping around the trails, it's very nimble and good for the twisty stuff at Swinley. The front end is very light, manuals easily so great for lifting the front for obstacles. Descends very nice, I really noticed the slack head angle, it's just rolls over drops without the feeling you are going over the bars, on my Camber I have to consciously move my weight back when descending. Uphill the front does lift and I had to put more weight over the bars, unlike my Camber. Very responsive to pedaling, accelerates quickly. Nice bike, very suited to tight and twisty trails.
I was initially disappointed with the Bird, felt heavy and didn't like varying from a straight line. Feels slow to get going, maybe because it's quite a long bike (although I had to put seat right back even though I'm only 5'11"). Spoke to a fella who said that it's better suited to more open and flowing trails...well he wasn't wrong! Got it on a long sweeping blue and it flew, fastest I've ever been at Swinley. I was getting air off the jumps without even trying and it was extremely well behaved in the air (and I don't normally do air!). After this I pushed it a bit harder and had a blast, scared myself if I'm honest, I didn't have pads and only a XC helmet so thought I'd better back off a bit. The front feels alot more planted than the Whyte, think it suits the more aggressive rider. The rear shock (RS, not sure which one) has a pedal setting which stiffens the rear end to aid pedaling but still allows it to take big hits which I really like, fully open felt too soft and wallowly.
So there it is, 2 very good but different bikes, if I wanted to push myself I'd go for the Bird as I think overall it's a more capable bike, but as an all rounder, more user friendly bike I'd go for the Whyte.
As it is I'm going to stick with my 29er, maybe upgrade to a Jeffsy next year, 29 suits my riding as I do a mix of everything and rarely do proper trails so neither really make sense for me. 29er is also easier to ride longer distance.
Hope this is of interest :-)
Jay
The Whyte is very playful, straight away I was hopping around the trails, it's very nimble and good for the twisty stuff at Swinley. The front end is very light, manuals easily so great for lifting the front for obstacles. Descends very nice, I really noticed the slack head angle, it's just rolls over drops without the feeling you are going over the bars, on my Camber I have to consciously move my weight back when descending. Uphill the front does lift and I had to put more weight over the bars, unlike my Camber. Very responsive to pedaling, accelerates quickly. Nice bike, very suited to tight and twisty trails.
I was initially disappointed with the Bird, felt heavy and didn't like varying from a straight line. Feels slow to get going, maybe because it's quite a long bike (although I had to put seat right back even though I'm only 5'11"). Spoke to a fella who said that it's better suited to more open and flowing trails...well he wasn't wrong! Got it on a long sweeping blue and it flew, fastest I've ever been at Swinley. I was getting air off the jumps without even trying and it was extremely well behaved in the air (and I don't normally do air!). After this I pushed it a bit harder and had a blast, scared myself if I'm honest, I didn't have pads and only a XC helmet so thought I'd better back off a bit. The front feels alot more planted than the Whyte, think it suits the more aggressive rider. The rear shock (RS, not sure which one) has a pedal setting which stiffens the rear end to aid pedaling but still allows it to take big hits which I really like, fully open felt too soft and wallowly.
So there it is, 2 very good but different bikes, if I wanted to push myself I'd go for the Bird as I think overall it's a more capable bike, but as an all rounder, more user friendly bike I'd go for the Whyte.
As it is I'm going to stick with my 29er, maybe upgrade to a Jeffsy next year, 29 suits my riding as I do a mix of everything and rarely do proper trails so neither really make sense for me. 29er is also easier to ride longer distance.
Hope this is of interest :-)
Jay
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Comments
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Have you looked at the Jeffsy owners thread on pinkbike? Pages ad pages of tales of malfunctions and breakages. It looks like the Jeffry is thrown together out of substandard parts bins, I've been left with the impression of an extremely unreliable bike. Even though their owners still love them..
Jeffsy owners, please discuss......
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Um...I have read the whole thread and there are very few if any issues with the Jeffsy...maybe some of the equipment fitted to them. But YT can't be blamed for SRAMs rubbish, they can be blamed for fitting it. But then that gets the bike to the price point! The only YT issue I have seen really is around the drinks bottle system which they have since sorted....are you sure you are not confused with the Capra0
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Agreed not really many issues with frames but YT are responsible for the quality control of the whole bike and I don't really hear much from other brands about "sram rubbish" as you put it.
And did you clock the state of someone's bearings after a few months of manky British winter? Can't be sealed at all to be in that state.0 -
Anyway, sorry for diverting the thread. Thanks for the review, I'm thinking about one of these bikes (having been put off a yt by the volume of failures, broken delivery dates, etc on the above mentioned thread)
Would be good if Bird had a few bikes available in Scotland for us northern folk to try out!0 -
So you are agreeing that the fault is with components such as failed reverbs (not unique to YT) failed Monarchs (not unique to YT) bearings, well one person. No mention of how he maintained the bike. Also you see people all the time complaining about bearing failures in UK conditions hardly unique to YT.... But frame failures??? The lead time issue is for Canadian purchases where they are having an issue with supply chain. When I ordered my YT I called them as UPS had cocked up their tracking system (phones answered in German after about 5 rings) bloke spoke perfect English and sorted immediately. I had a minor problem with a cable guide and they also answered within 24hrs sorted the issue. Much, much better than the absolutely awful service I received from Orange...who have still yet to reply to my last email (2months ago).
I'm certainly no YT fanboi, but given the exceptional value they offer vs the service and overall package. I think it's a little disingenuous picking up and making issues out of very small things. I am also not saying they are perfect...far from it, but my experience as many thousands of others is positive. I also knew what I was getting myself in for buying direct from Germany but weighed the saving over similar bikes as totally worth it. Now if you are talking Capra from a few years back that's a totally different convo0 -
There will always be more "issues" with online retailers as you can't just drop the bike back into the shop for a quick warranty repair or tweak as required.
Plus they have no one to whinge and moan to to prople resort to forums.0
