Two Alloy Bruisers - Comparing My Bird Aeris 9 to Raaw Madonna
Raaw recently released the new version of their enduro bike, the Raaw Madonna V3. I've decided to compare my bike, the Bird Aeris 9, to the Raaw Madonna, given that they share quite a few similarities in terms of geometry, travel, intended use, and geometry adjustments. Both bikes are alloy bruisers packed with interesting features and geometry adjustments.
Comparing the geometry of medium-sized bikes, all have a reach of around 455, which works nicely for my 177cm height in both enduro and trail riding. The chainstays are approximately 440-445mm, with head angles around 64 degrees. The steep seat angles of 77 degrees make pedaling uphill comfortable. Bottom bracket height is quite low on both bikes. Personally, I prefer a bottom bracket height around 343-347mm for 160mm travel enduro bikes.
The stack is where these bikes differ significantly; the Madonna V2 has 643mm, and the V3 has 650mm, which are very high numbers for a medium size. On the other hand, Bird offers a conservative 618mm of stack for the medium size.
However, adjusting the stack is quite easy within a reasonable range. On the Bird, I'm running 20mm spacers and 38mm bars. On the Madonna, I would simply use fewer spacers or switch to different bars.
The seat tubes measure 420mm on the Madonna and 395mm on the Aeris 9, both of which are fine for me. At 177cm, 445mm is my breakpoint where I start to experience a limited range of body movement because of the saddle being in the way.
The Madonna offers two rocker links: 60 and 65 (numbers correspond to shock stroke length). Both rockers produce 160mm of rear travel, but rocker 60 gives you a higher leverage ratio, resulting in a more sensitive top of the stroke. This is supposed to suit lighter riders struggling to achieve optimal small bump compliance. The rocker 65, on the other hand, is intended for heavier riders over 90kg. It's an interesting feature, and I'm not sure how different it would be to change the compression tune on the shock versus switching to another rocker link. However, I guess Raaw provides this option because they are not able to achieve perfect performance purely from compression tunes.
The Aeris also has a feature that can provide a similar increase in leverage ratio with an aftermarket 180mm linkage. As the name implies, it not only increases the leverage ratio but also gives you 180mm of rear travel while maintaining 30% progressivity.
Both features are quite cool, but I do prefer Bird's 180mm linkage approach. It's a more flexible option—I can run the bike in a 170 front, 160 rear configuration, or 180 front, 180 rear. I can also run the 180mm linkage and understroke the shock to get to 160mm rear travel but with a higher leverage ratio. Luckily, the leverage curves don't have anything funky going on that would prevent me from doing that.
Adjustable Chainstay Length
Bird does have an adjustable chainstay at the Horst link pivot with a range of adjustment of only 5mm. In the short setting, it's 440mm, and in the long setting, it's 445mm. This adjustment also impacts the head angle and bottom bracket height. Lengthening the wheelbase and making the bike slacker makes sense for rougher and faster tracks, but it doesn't always makes sense to lower the bottom bracket height. For high-speed smooth bike park tracks, though, a lower bottom bracket might be a good fit.
On the other hand, the Madonna makes the chainstay length adjustable at the rear axle without affecting the rest of the bike's geometry as significantly as Bird does. By default, the Madonna v2.2 in size M comes with chainstays in the mid-position of 440mm and allows you to tweak it by +/-5mm. Custom rear axle dropouts are needed for this adjustment. The Madonna v3 version grows slightly, and in the default position, it offers 445mm chainstays on size Medium.
I prefer Madonna's solution for chainstay length adjustments. Being able to adjust the chainstay length without affecting the rest of the geometry is a plus in my book. In general, I prefer adjustments that don't affect too many geometry variables and allow you to fine-tune your bike instead of radically changing it to something completely different. With Bird, though, you can use the UDH hanger regardless of the chainstay position.
With Madonna, you can only use UDH on the V3 version, and only if you stick to the mid chainstay length setting. Also, on the V3, I don't think I'd ever want to go as long as the 450mm setting. Here, I would rather prefer Madonna V2's range of 435mm to 445mm, which gives you anything from a relatively short and playful 435mm to a stable 445mm option.
Both bikes are capable alloy bruisers packed with interesting features and geometry adjustments. I prefer the 180mm linkage on the Bird, which not only increases travel but also raises the leverage ratio. On the Madonna, on the other hand, I appreciate the chainstay adjustments that don't affect the rest of the bike's geometry. From a price perspective, normally, the Bird Aeris would be cheaper, but currently, Raaw is running a pretty good sale with 30% off. In any case, these bikes are so similar and get the fundamentals right, so in the end, you'd be happy with either one.
Type of riding: trail/enduro riding
Bike setup: more focus on traction, grip and maneuverability; less focus on stability, jumps and high speed terrain
Skill bracket: weekend warrior, middle of the pack on local hobby enduro races
