• This topic has 21 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by dazh.
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  • Ibis Ripley
  • frogstomp
    Full Member

    I’m currently contemplating a change from my trusty Horsethief and one of the bikes in the frame is the Ibis Ripley. After an initial flurry of interest when they came out things have been a bit quiet recently..

    So, anyone been running one for a while? 120mm or 140mm fork? Any comparisons with the more recent crop of progressive / all-rounder 29ers (Kona Process 111 etc)?

    ojom
    Free Member

    We have demo bikes available here at 2Pure HQ. Ask your nearest dealer to organise a demo for you if you like.

    I am biased so that’s all I will add to the thread. 🙂

    frogstomp
    Full Member

    Cheers, looks like no-one has one.. so at least it would tick the ‘niche’ box! 😉

    Bregante
    Full Member

    Clover on here has one. She seems to like it.

    mc
    Free Member

    I’ve ridden a demo one.

    I had to admit, that despite initially thinking it would be a horrendously skittish light weight XC wagonwheeler, I found it to be quite capable.
    I took it down things it really wasn’t designed to without any major issues, it absolutely flew along singletrack, and it climbed extremely well even with the shock in descent mode.
    My only complaint was the noodly fox forks fitted!

    However I wouldn’t personally have one, as short travel XC is not my thing, but for somebody who’s thing it is, I’d say it would be a top contender.

    samj
    Free Member

    I’ve ridden a ripley for the last few months.
    The peddling efficiency and cornering ability really stand out. I find myself out of the saddle far more often as the bike is so rewarding when you get the power down. Similarly cornering is fantastic, but you pay a small price for the low bottom bracket as you will need to watch your peddles in technical sections.. Climbing wise it’s a dream bike.. It descends really well, but mine is limited by the fox 120 fork… The 2013 ctds are too linear in their compression damping..Get a pike if you can, and I would stick to 120mm for the fork as the bike was really designed for the geometry at 120…
    Overall I’m extremely happy with it,. It’s almost as capable as my orange 5 was on descents… Despite the dodgy fork. And it’s playful too… Very easy to move around… I test rode a transition bandit 29 over exactly the same course that I tested the ripley… Ithe Ripleys handling was in a league of its own.

    honeybadgerx
    Full Member

    I had one for five days riding in Lake Tahoe a few weeks ago and it was an ace bike, climbing was absolutely fantastic (I have a SL-R back here and that’s no slouch!), handling was great – far more ‘chuckable’ than I thought it would be and pretty light (X01 groupset and Ibis carbon rims). If I was going to have one bike it’d be at the top of the list. But…. I’ve got a 29er hardtail so prefer my full-sus to lean a bit more towards the slacker, longer travel end of things. Would be interesting to try one with a 140mm fork.

    frogstomp
    Full Member

    Thanks for the feedback.. will definitely look into one.

    I’ll be buying a frame and transferring most of the kit from my Horsethief (XX1 and 140mm Fox 34 which could be spaced down if required). Sounds like it could potentially be a replacement for that and my Spearfish, at 120mm at least..

    JoeG
    Free Member

    Its a 29er and the spotlight seems to be on all things 650b at the moment!

    rickmeister
    Full Member

    there is a facebook ibis page and a few folk on there have them…

    Clink
    Full Member

    I’ll be buying a frame and transferring most of the kit from my Horsethief (XX1 and 140mm Fox 34 which could be spaced down if required). Sounds like it could potentially be a replacement for that and my Spearfish, at 120mm at least..

    Or buy the new carbon Horsethief? – ctbm seems to have a frame in stock.

    squealer
    Free Member

    I’ve got one.

    Running it with 140mm pikes and it’s fantastic. I’ve sold other bikes because of this bike!

    There are some issues with the cable routing and creaky shock clevis but they’re easily solvable.

    Highly recommended.

    Clover
    Full Member

    It’s great. Superfast climbing, nothing defeats it on the downs. It’s light so not wearing on really long days out. My usual riding is Hebden tech and moorland, Lee Quarry, Glentress, Coed y Brenin. Been to the Pyranees on it and the Alps doing 30 – 60km days. Huge climbs, every kind of descent from rocky chutes to hairpin forest singletrack. Was ace.

    Took it out last night in the full moon with no lights… kept me out of trouble even on crazy rock garden. I started riding on a Mojo and I am sure there’s some kind of gyroscope in Ibis bikes that makes them stay upright. 😀

    gbichan
    Full Member

    I’ve been riding a Ripley since February and love it! I bought it without testing purely on the strength of my old Mojo SL. Mine is built with 140mm Fox 34s, 35mm wide rims and fat rubber. Prior to the Ripley I had a Sultan. The Ripley made the Sultan feel very unwieldy and “dead”. The Ripley just goes! I feel its real strength is how well it turns your effort into motion and how well it keeps the speed. However, this doesn’t mean it can’t descend. I regularly ride Laggan and Golspie and I’m consistently faster on both these trails than any other bike I’ve ridden. More importantly I find it more fun through the steeper/rougher parts of both these trails. I was concerned about how steep the head angle was on paper and bought a Works headset to slacken the head angle before I got the frame and its still in the box!

    Downsides are short top tube for size and low bottom bracket resulting in pedal strikes.

    roverpig
    Full Member

    Excuse the hijack, but how would it compare with a Pivot Mach 429 carbon or a Turner Czar? They all use versions of the DW link right? So climbing should be similar and the Pivot and Turner look a bit slacker on paper.

    frogstomp
    Full Member

    Roverpig – the distinctions seem to be a bit blurry around this category of bike (especially depending on build kit), but to me the Pivot and Turner seem to be aimed as “XC bikes with trail aspirations” with a bit less travel, whereas the Ripley etc. are more “trail bikes with AM aspirations”..?

    andyl46
    Free Member

    I have one, its been ridden in Moab on some really techy stuff, and here in Ireland on trail centre stuff and on natural rocky/rooty/techy trails. Very low BB, short top tube, bottle cage locations are tight or under the downtube, cable routing is a bit dodgy. 90mm or so stem works well. It does twisty stuff incredibly well, feeling very lively and willing to change drection. It does flat out fast stuff incredibly well. It climbs like a homesick angel. Easy to get over the back on steep techy bits. I set strava PB’s on it in the dark on sections of trail I’d ridden on my xc bike in daylight. It rides brilliantly, the small flaws are easily overlooked once you actually ride it!

    curvature
    Free Member

    Ive got one and it’s just perfect.

    Make sure you try them for size. My previous bikes were/all medium size frames but the Ripley is a large. They do have a very short top tube so I’m black to running a 80mm stem.

    Forks – I put on 140mm Revelations and they are really impressive. Once you have all the air pressures set I found that i rarely made any changes whilst out. Only on very long climbs woul I use the lock out.

    Do check out the fork offset. Ibis state a slightly bigger offset but I use a standard offset. My take on that is that with the 140mm fork it helps to keep the wheelbase shorter.

    I built mine up in June but broke my leg at the end of July so hoping to get back on this weekend.

    roverpig
    Full Member

    Short TT, steep HA, 90mm stem, yet people who own them seem to love them. What’s going on? Is everything I’ve read about mountain bike geometry wrong 🙂

    ojom
    Free Member

    Sorry – said I wouldn’t….

    The HA might look steep, sure. You need to look into the why and the therefore with the rake and fork offset.

    Once again, feel free to get your dealer to organise you a demo if you want to try one out.

    curvature
    Free Member

    As someone else mentioned they just work and do everything well.

    I did a couple of rides on mine with others and then one evening took it over to Cannock as it is local to me. I don’t tend to ride the Dog and Monkey much these days as there is so much else to see and ride.

    However on that ride I set over 100 personal best times and on one section I was in the top 10.

    The only criticism I have and this is 29ers in general is that the slightly longer wheelbase does make them slightly slower in very twisty sections. There are a series of 3 small jumps on a section of the Dog that I was way quicker on my Five and I don’t think that the Ripley or my Clockwork will ever be quick on that small section. Just my opinion though.

    dazh
    Full Member

    I am sure there’s some kind of gyroscope in Ibis bikes that makes them stay upright.

    I think my mojo is missing that part.

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