Ibis Oso – A 170mm e-beast with integrated lights

Ibis reveals its very late entry into the e-MTB market. The Oso is firmly aimed at the big descents scene, being approved for dual crown forks and up to 190mm fork travel. But if you want to commute home – or just get caught doing one late lap too many – it comes with integrated lights from Lupine. Hurrah!

Ibis Oso Key Details

• 170mm front travel
• 155mm dw-link rear travel
• Carbon front triangle and rear swingarm
• Available in four sizes S-XL
• Size specific chainstays (S/M 439mm, L/XL 444mm)
• S/M: Mixed 29/27.5 | L/XL: 29/29
• Size specific seat tube angles (S/M/L/XL = 77/77/78/79)
• Bosch Smart System (motor, battery, display, controller)
• 750 Wh battery
• 85Nm of torque, eMTB and Tour+ modes, navigation, optional security and ABS systems
• Small: Bosch Gen4 Motor & 625 Wh battery
• Complete weight for a size large is 53 lbs / 24 kg
• 2.5” tyre clearance
• Seven year frame warranty, lifetime replacement on bushings
• Two year electronics warranty through Bosch
• Shipping worldwide, October 4, 2022
• Complete builds retail for $10,999

There’s no word on what’s in the name. Oso… Oh, so you finally made one? Oh so massive? Maybe it’s a reference to Special Agent Oso, a children’s TV show, on which Wikipedia says:

Each episode begins with Special Agent Oso in the midst of a training exercise, which he usually fails on his first try, causing him to say “It’s all part of the plan more or less,”

Wikipedia

Did Ibis plan to make an e-MTB for a while now, but it took a bit to get there? We have no idea. Frankly though, after last week’s re-branding press release, we’re a little disappointed not to have the full story behind the name. Here’s what they are telling us:

Ibis Oso Press Release:

A whole new sport demands a whole new bike. Built from the ground up to deliver a new level of smooth, fast and durable performance, the full-carbon Oso features our first-ever upper-link suspension dw-link platform. It stacks 155mm of rear travel with 170mm up front and is powered by a Bosch Performance Line CX Motor.

Surrounding that motor, we designed a frame that would allow riders of all sizes to feel equally comfortable. Sizes large and extra-large feature 444mm chainstays and matching 29-inch wheels, while the small and medium get a mixed-wheel setup and shorter, 439mm stays. The effective seat angle is also size-specific, ranging from 77 degrees on the small up to 79 degrees on the extra large, which offers a consistent ride experience across all sizes. We also adjusted the reach and stack height to match our existing models, so the Oso fits and rides like an Ibis. And all frames have a 64-degree head angle. Because enduro.

Our patented dw-link suspension offers an unfair combination of traction and efficiency. And this dw-link was tailor-made to satisfy the complicated demands made by full power eMTBs. We tuned it to be more progressive than anything we have ever made. Thanks to the upper link’s buttery initial leverage rate and riot-ready late-stroke progressivity, the Oso is the perfect platform for a coil shock. Rear travel can be bumped up to 170mm by swapping the 205 x 60mm rear shock to a 205 x 65mm. You can also lift the fork travel up to 180 or 190mm. We’ll even let you run a dual crown. In both configurations, the Oso is stable yet responsive, mimicking the experience of the do-absolutely-anything Ripmo. Except, now with a motor.

The quiet, powerful 85 NM Bosch Performance motor offers the most natural-feeling acceleration since the invention of gravity. It is also the most dependable motor on the market, with a 25,000- mile design life. The motor is paired with a UL certified 750Wh battery (625Wh on small), so you can keep riding, and riding, and riding. On top of that, you get Bosch’s 2-year warranty, a global network of dealers, and excellent customer service. Along with the industry leading durability of the Bosch motor, our suspension linkages are in a class of their own – even in the most challenging conditions. That’s why we offer a lifetime bushing replacement warranty. The oversized bearings, tube-in-tube cable routing, built-in-fenders, and easy-to-remove battery make this bike easy to service.

The frame features countless other perks, like a seven-year warranty, 2.5-inch tire clearance, a UDH hanger, trusted 148mm rear spacing, deep seatpost insertion, and room for a 26oz in-triangle bottle on the medium, large and extra-large and a 21oz on the small. Other subtle touches catering to the Oso’s unapologetic e-bike-ness are its 200mm rear caliper mount, robust frame and motor protection, and cleanly integrated lights from boutique German bulbsmiths, Lupine.

The rest of the components bolted to the Oso were chosen specifically to keep this beast firmly in the reins. A Fox 38 and X2 shock, XT 4-piston brakes, 220mm rotors, and Double-Down-casing Maxxis tires, seated on our Blackbird Send alloy rims. We are keeping it simple and sticking just to that one build kit. Because, like the Oso itself, it is made
of the stuff that we wanted to ride. A thousand decisions, each with the goal of building the most fun and capable adventure machine possible. MSRP is $10,999 USD and will be available Tuesday, October 4, 2022.

That shock position seems worthy of a closer look…

There is a little mudguard in there, but it would be interesting to see how much filth the shock has inflicted on it when used on the kind of trails we can imagine this bike being used for. Golfie laps perhaps?

Integrated lights sounds like a very sensible idea, though would you want a hole here?

There’s only one build option, but you do get a choice of two colours. No word on UK pricing as yet…

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