Airframe Ultra Riders, Not Just Bikes

The bike is half the loadout. The rider is the other half: body type, Rider Suit, difficulty stars, preset or custom. Stats: body types. Paint, barks, .txt files: character creator. Bikes: airframe tier list.

The full game is coming soon. A demo can be downloaded. Online PvP, online co-op, and local split-screen all use the same rider rules — your custom file is legal in a couch match and in a public lobby.

Rider versus airframe

An airframe is the hoverbike: Bluntnose, Vector, Cruiser, or Hopper. It sets damage taken, boost count, top speed, and handling. A rider is the person sitting on it. Hair and most clothes are cosmetic. These rider choices are not:

• Body type — stamina, speed, hurtbox, melee, unique moves (Light chain flip; Heavy trips and no jumping forward kick).
• Rider Suit — minus 15% damage taken. Skipping it adds a difficulty star.
• Airframe choice — specialist bikes (everything except Bluntnose) add a difficulty star.
• Barks — up to eight lines. Some presets keep exclusive lines you cannot paste onto a custom.

Difficulty stars cap at three: specialist bike, Light or Heavy body, no suit. Other players see those stars next to your name. They are a warning, not a flex.

Airframe Ultra Nuclear Them trailer

Presets versus custom

There are 23 preset riders in current betas. Each has a short bio, a locked body, a locked airframe, and voice lines. They are flavor and teaching tools, not a second roster of hidden stats beyond body plus bike. Named faces, difficulty stars, and the closed-beta mascots (Jackrabbit, Bandit 99, Marcus 0743, The Nuclear Them, Desperada) have their own page: Preset Riders. Custom riders save as .txt files under AppData\LocalLow\Videocult\Airframe\Characters. Drop someone else’s file in that folder and it loads. Sharing files is the real roster unlock. Details: customization.

Notable presets (not all 23)

Dumping every bio is filler. Steal a playstyle, then rebuild it in the creator.

• Anonymous Rider and Aiden (zero-star Bluntnose) — start here. Aiden’s line is the whole boosting lesson: an airframe runs out of coolant, not boosts. Read controls and the boosting guide.
• Anya (one-star Bluntnose) — MMA, dropkick, drone clip. Off-bike threat; pair with the combat guide.
• Doris (Cruiser) — first specialist most players should try. Julia (Hopper frog) if you want jump before speed.
• Jessica and Morty (Vector) — vigilante; stolen airframe up 240 flights on 8 November 2219. Boost or feed.
• Yanni (Hopper, jawbone legend) and Carl (huge Bluntnose) — arena and Heavy-body homework.
• Esther (Vector, three stars, chatty, poor fighter) and Zane (Hopper, six brothers, kiddie airframe) — do not copy these into a first lobby.

Jamie, Kim, Ray, Rita, Lee, Darius, Hao, and the rest are flavor on bikes you already understand. Open SELECT RIDER, steal a look, rebuild. The loadout planner cares about bike and kit, not about Hao “The Viper.”

Unreleased mascots

Not in the public 23: Bandit 99 (Cruiser, three stars), The Nuclear Them (Hopper, two stars), Jackrabbit (Slabtown mechanic, two stars), Marcus 0743 (one star). Trailer faces are not selectable stats. Follow updates and official links.

Bike first — Bluntnose if you do not know; confirm on the airframe comparison tool. Body second — Standard until you have a reason; Hopper wants Light. Suit on. Then the downloadable demo: demo notes and getting started. Stars mark self-nerfs, not who wins. A suited Standard on Bluntnose still beats a three-star Hopper who cannot land a jump.