Product Review - Airborne Wingman

PRODUCT REVIEW - AIRBORNE WINGMAN

Airborne Bicycles Wingman DJ Bike

Airborne Bicycles as a company seems to be a hot button conversation by our estimations. Any MTB forum dweller will surely have happened upon a heated conversation or three, where a simple question about Airborne Bicycles draws fire from the hate based crowd. The flip side of that coin is current Airborne owners love and swear by their steeds, feelings shared by most every magazine to review their bikes. This type of polar intensity piqued our curiosity and had us wanting to answer some of the more common questions. Are they getting glowing reviews only from magazines that are being monetarily compensated, and their own flight crew members? The internet skeptic and wary consumer seem to believe most of the good press is a bought review or biased angle. Or is Airborne pumping out a quality product, that you need to really consider when the time comes to buy your first bike or expand your current quiver?

We placed a call to Airborne Bicycles to try and secure a bike for testing and the Wingman seemed to be the perfect fit . The Wingman is their Dirt Jump offering, one of 9 bikes currently available on their website, and has an incredible pricepoint($669) with a seemingly solid parts build. The price tag is a good representation of what Airborne can offer riders through their direct sales business model. For the uninitiated they cut out the middle man allowing better margin control which equals a higher spec'ed bike than their competitors at a similar or lower price. This does mean that you have to order through their website, wait a couple days for it to arrive, and do some very basic assembly or take the bike to a local shop if you are not comfortable with a tool in hand.

With a Wingman in our possession and some time in the saddle we are ready to share our impressions. Our approach was to explore the list of pros an cons we had perceived to exist in the Wingman, just like a potential buyer would while researching their own purchase. From there we wanted to really put the Wingman through the paces in a host of different riding environments, since versatility is a great selling point for this particular model. The Wingman was taken to local skate parks, a sampling of urban sessions, a couple different pumptracks, jump lines, and even paced as a back up trail/xc bike. So how did it fair ... read on while we sip this Kool-Aid.

The Good: We wondered how many riders out there, especially the newer contingent, are scared by the proposition of putting a bike together? The bike arrives from Airborne 90%+ assembled and we are confident in saying that anyone who has ever performed a single trail side repair or changed a flat in under 10 minutes, can put this bike together. The bonus is that when you stand back after putting the wheels in the dropouts, installing the seat, pedals, and getting the handlebars aligned and squared away, you can give yourself more credit than you deserve and say you put it together. Honestly, everything from greasing the pedal thread inserts to the seat tube has been taken care of at the factory before shipping. It would be wise to perform a quick once over on the bike for piece of mind just as you would before hitting the trails. Once assembled the Wingman felt stout and while it is not the lightest bike it was built to be resilient, something that is a blessing if this is your first serious foray into dirt jumping.

View To A Thrill

The bike comes equipped with a solid amount of Funn components that serve their purpose well and while they are not works of art, they are fairly attractive pieces for those that are aesthetically concerned. We placed a variety of riders on the bike in an effort to get diverse feedback from our staffers and the general public. This bike saw a number of BMX'ers air it out high over the boxes and transitions at a local skate park. The Wingman soaked up a few landings to flat by the clydesdale constituent(200+ pound riders) without as much as a groan, and received praise and questions from a DH rider that hopped off his Intense M9 to have a go at blasting it around the pumptrack. Equipped with the Marzocchi DJ-3 100mm fork, it took the beatings that we kept repeating and was firm and predictable as this is truly one of the areas where you are getting more for your money. The wheelset built around an Alex FR30 badged rim, seemed more than capable at handling the same abuse and was up to the task at hand. Overall weight and performance of the wheels had us pleasantly surprised and they seemed to roll as efficiently as more expensive wheels that we have ridden.

We can honestly say that if you simply compared the price and components on the Wingman to other dirt jump bikes on the market you would be blind not to see value, which brings us to the frame. The Wingman has a hydroformed 6061 aluminum frame that is very unique with a top tube that mimics a cobra's hood or the cartoon sword you would expect Zelda to slay the baddies with. The Wingman is offered as ONE SIZE FITS ALL which only works in theory, although for the average rider this poses no concerns. Surely the added efficiency of manufacturing and building up one single frame size is part of the equation in offering such a competent bike at an incredible price. Upon glancing at the geometry of the Wingman you will notice the short top tube, steeper head angle of 71 degrees, and possibly be concerned. Any fears we had were negated by the short rear chain stays and overall wheelbase that made for a very stable bike in the air and through the berms, even at warp speed. In the air we found the bike composed and willing to respond to rider input without being twitchy. Running down the component list, it may appear that the Tektro Auriga Comp brakes were an area that they had skimped on for cost savings. Let us just say that they work better than we had anticipated and at this pricepoint, equipped with both a front and rear hydraulic brake, slowing your roll won't be hard to do aboard the Wingman. Let's move on...

Keeping the Wingman on the ground even on a pumptrack was hard. The Shadow says it all "HEART OF A LION"

The Bad: Our biggest complaints all lie within the frame of the wingman and they are all very straightforward. First, we while understand the one size fits all approach, we would warn our tall brethren. As the primary tester I run 6'2 and would be lying if I did not say that the bike felt small underneath me on a handful of occasions over the last two months. It would not be enough to stop me from purchasing a Wingman for myself but if you are larger you will want to consider this when making a purchase, If you happen to like a small bike underneath you when jumping you could probably switch out the bars and stem and find a happy medium while still considering it a bargain. Next the horizontal dropouts were a bit of a nuisance and should be noted especially for first time builders. We had a few occasions early on where we must have been sissy armed, as we found the rear wheel to move on us after some of the bigger hits. This led to a pretty gnarly looking chain stay right off the bat which is always disappointing when your bike is new.

Some of these small gripes are mentioned in other reviews but we approached this bike like we had no prior knowledge of them as if we were Joe First timer. After playing around with it, we got the rear wheel nice and secure in the dropouts and have not had a single issue since. Even though we eliminated the movement, we added chain tensioners as they are inexpensive and we felt they made it easier to keep the wheel in place while still maintaining proper slack in our chain. Our last complaint is personal preference but for us we like a sexy bike. The Wingman has a unique frameset that we loved but they wrapped it in a drab color of blue-gray and while the white bits do their best to spice it up, we cant help but want to throw some color at it. If we were to give the visual aesthetics a grade it would be a solid C which isn't failing by any means, but like a parent looking at a report card, it may not be good enough for some. (We will note that at the skate park it received more compliments for its looks than anywhere else we took it. ED.)

The Dirty: A Budget Flight Plan that would make Expedia.com jealous?

Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The metaphors and definitions for an aerial wingman have all been heard and are expected so we wont go there. We will tell you that this Wingman is like a Friday night club buddy, it takes the undesirable element (spending too much) out of the equation and leaves you feeling like you scored the hottie in the room. Airborne Bicycles has bikes ranging from $299 to $1399 and if the same formula holds true through their entire line-up, then this is more than just a viable option. It is the bargain it was intended to be and a great option for everyone from the downhill rider looking to add a jump bike to the first time rider looking for real value and quality. All things consider the Wingman performed well in every environment we put it in, except a xc ride we will not soon forget. Getting solid praise from everyone that we let ride it, coupled with the fact that we have never seen a single bad review in our searches ...(your welcome to email us)... why would you not add a Wingman to your arsenal? Ultimately, you have to make the decision and vote with your wallet but you will not find more bike for less coin in this category without buying used or last years models, and we are pretty confident of that.

We have some more things planned for our Wingman so stay tuned. Airborne Bicycles has also planned some new models for the year and we hope to bring you more hands on reviews and insight into them as they become available.

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT AIRBORNE BICYCLES: www.airbornebicycles.com