I want it all, long travel 29er that rips down steep tech but pedals up equally well.

A bike that can do XC days and bike park days.

I haven’t read a bad review of the Ripmo AF 147/160mm bike to fit this bill. Yeah they say its heavy at 15.5kg or thereabouts, but it has 35mm rims and assegai tyres, a spare wheelset might drop a kilo for the xc days.

Is there anything to touch it expected for 2021 for £3k? Ideally…cheaper.

I was also considering the Propain Tyee, this is a 160/170 bike that pedals flawlessly, but reviews say it compromises on small bump sensitivity. Plus it might be too much bike.

Deviate Highlander, demo one and you’ll want one.

Privateer 141 or Commencal Meta TR might suit.

Deviate: £3k budget includes getting £1k for my old bike…. £2600 for frame leaves £600 for everything else….. suppose I could reuse my 51mm offset pikes and kit….. I might get £400 for my old frame and shock.

Don’t really want to be sticking a fork with the wrong offset on a bike like that.

Ah privateer 141 and new commencal meta does look good…… hmmm can a 4 bar bike be good at both long travel and pedalling? I was maybe wrongly thinking I need (want) a dw or vpp short link type bike.

SC hightower alloy seems really heavy and poor fork at the bottom rung.

New trance X too though not so much travel.

Bird AM9
Climbs as good as the Ripmo but is a level above going down. Also, more size options, lifetime warranty and custom builds

Edit: I just saw your doubt about the four bar climbing abilities. Any designated suspension system can be designed to behave in nearly every way. What determines that behaviour are values like anti squat, progression, axle path, etc. It’s a myth that four bars have X behaviour and DW links Y behaviour. If you want a versatile bike, my recommendation is to look for a bike with high anti squat values, which makes the bike feel lively and efficient on climbs. Both the AM9 and the Ripmo share that feature

Climbs as good as the Ripmo but is a level above going down. Also, more size options, lifetime warranty and custom builds

Is this based on experience of both, or just regurgitated press clippings?

There’s lots of bikes that’ll be as good, just not at PR like Ibis and Evil are, you can want it all, but you will make sacrifices, unless you’re a pro level rider those sacrifices are the least of your worries.

The press are gushing about the ripmo in a way I haven’t seen them gush about a similar travel 4 bar bike….

e.g. this video https://www.pinkbike.com/news/field-test-affordable-trail-bikes-canyon-spectral-al-ibis-ripmo-af.html

As you say though I’m aware all 4 bar are not alike. But the way the dw/vpp/short link bikes seem to be able to be linear in the most part then really ramp up the progression makes them feel bottomless in a way my current faux bar bike doesn’t. And they seem to all pedal well. I have experience, I used to have a DW turner flux 26″ a revelation after bob bob bobbing along on 4 bar bikes, but shocks have come a long way since, proven by my current faux bar.

In other news I just realised I could get a 42mm offset CSU for my pike for £145, so a build could be on the cards I suppose.

argee- I know. Taken to conclusion I may as well stick with my bike then, its not worn out, its very capable, I’m still having fun. I have a rigid stooge I arguable have just as much fun on too.

@Scienceofficer is based on having trying those bikes and up down the same trail. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve found the Ripmo to be amazing, but downhill the AM9 (and this was my air shock V1, my current coil shock V3 feels yet another level above) felt more stable, comfortable and with more reserves. I think this comes down to the AM9 being longer and with more suspension progression

You want something new, that’s good, keep you interested, i change up every couple of so years, just for new shininess, but i try not to get stuck in the PR of some companies, the DW suspension design is good, but has limitations like everything else, there are so many nice bikes out there just now, Orbea Occam, Ibis Ribley, YT Jeffsy, etc, might be worth just playing on a few and seeing what works.

Thanks that’s really useful because both these bikes are on my radar for next year.

It’s been particularly difficult to find out much about the am9 beyond the older mbr reviews in 2017.

Unless it’s got a motor, theres no way a 15.5kg bike is going to be enjoyable pedalling round for long xc rides! (Not if you’ve ridden an xc bike to compare it to anyway).

Ripmo owner here very very happy. Looked at the AM9 but got suckered by the PR

In no way am I disappointed in my decision yet

My current bike is 15kg and is fine the ride all day.

It does appeal to me to buy a UK bike. Just spoke to someone at bird about the AM9.

I guess I need to demo the bikes……but no demo days anymore and no stock of anything means its rather difficult.

@spicer , 15,5kg, that sounds like an oddly specific number to determine if the bike will be enjoyable to pedal around or not, don’t you think?

First, there’s so much more than weight when it comes to bikes, like geometry, kinematics, tyre thread, etc etc. As an example, my previous Stumpy Evo was 2kg lighter than my current V3 AM9, but pedaled like a slug compared to it.

Second, one really needs to be specific of what a “longer xc ride”. You can do xc rides with being on a xc race. Long travel trail/enduro bikes can be quite enjoyable on long, not extreme terrain rides, I use mine like that frequently, even if they’d be a hog on a XC race

Now bird of done their first carbon bike, it would be nice to see an AM9 in carbon next year..

There’s a new Sonder Evol due in the next few weeks if you’re looking for value. £1k frame/shock, top end full bike is £2600 with GX, Lyrik Ultimate RC2, Code Rs, etc.

Unless it’s got a motor, theres no way a 15.5kg bike is going to be enjoyable pedalling round for long xc rides

I did a 100km Off road route on my Ripmo AF a couple of months back. Absolutely no issues at all. In fact I’d go as far as saying it was really enjoyable as the bike is so comfortable. The bike has been way better than I expected both up and down but especially on the climbs.

Oh and don’t think you’ll save much weight from the wheels as they’ll pretty light already. Think they’re around 1800g for the pair which is decent for 29er wheels. You can definitely lose a good 500-750g by switching to a lighter set of tyres though as they’re about 1200g each but that Assegai on the front is bloody good. Feels like the bike is on rails 😀

That new evol is no looker. Yes that matters too.

Once you add a decent shock will push the price up further. Plus its a 140/150 bike. Looks fantastic value though.

the bike press in the US have been writing a lot of good things about the Ripmo and Enduro mag gave it a good write up. https://enduro-mtb.com/en/ibis-ripmo-af-coil-2020-review/ but they rated the Nukeproof best in their 9 bike testing.

Not knowing how the bike industry works, I’m always a bit sceptical of these multi-bike tests. How do the press outlets select the ‘x’ number of bikes that they test? Do they contact all manufactures and it’s only the ones that provide test bikes? Is it only new models for that year? What about the brands that dont send their models or tested? Are they then viewed as inferior because their not in the headlines?

Ibis have done a good job of getting their bike out there to the press and increasing it’s presence by ‘issuing’ them to youtubers and no doubt it’s a great bike but there’s a lot of bikes out there eg Giant, Bird, Nukeproof, Vitus, Norco, Orbea, Specialized, Santa Cruz, GT, Canyon etc that would fit your needs. In lieu of not being able to ride them, get the one that you like the look of the most 🙂

I think we’re at a time where we’re spoiled for choice with a fantastic range of bikes from 120mm going up in increments of 5mm to 170mm that would fit your bill. Do we have too much choice in that whatever you pick are you going to read the next review or wish you had 5mm more or less?

Nukeproof reactor or Bird Eather 9c are bit less travel but usefully lighter for an all day bike.

Until I’d owned one I would have said an orbea Rallon bit the geometry is weird. It’s short and tall compared to some other makes.

Hightower in alloy doesn’t feel heavy. Certainly no heavier than a ripmo

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