<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>Wife is interested in a new bike and the izzo looks pretty suited to her style (easily rides most trail centre reds, enjoys the less mental end of the Golfie and dunkeld and wants to progress but doesn’t get much air under her wheels). </span>

Has anybody ridden one and be able to share thoughts on ride and sizing for a 5ft7 woman with 33″ inside leg. In particular for sizing how long a dropper you can fit in for a size S or M and what the stand over is like?

Cheers

anyone?

The issue is that the Izzo is really new; so there are not many real world reviews out there (or online ones for that matter). Up until a month or two ago it was just marketing reviews – ‘fast, sharp, agile’ with no real substance at all.

The best you will find is probably this (Aug 2020):

enduro-MTB Review

No experience myself though I can say I’m really pleased with my Jeffsy which has similar geometry but more travel. Depending on where you live, you might be able to get a demo. YT have recently opened a physical showroom in the Surrey hills.

Bike mag also have a pretty in depth review.

If you search on here there’s a thread from a few months ago.

I bought one, and my brother has one on order.

I’m 178cm and ride the large. Bought the Pro Race model. It’s a fast and fun bike that is very capable. I ride all the rough, rock, fast trails near to where I live and it handles amazingly, not as fast as the Meta (obvs) but surprisingly capable. Lockout is a great feature, but I changed my lever to a Bontrager Droplock as the SRAM version is made of cheese. I’ve swapped the front tyre to a Magic Mary and will need to swap the rear soon as it doesn’t offer much braking traction in the mud, still it’s a great tyre to keep for the summer.

First, ride out on my the Izzo was 67Km around the Peaks. Cut Gate, some off-piste around Ladybower and Doctors Gate and it was amazing. Been riding it almost every day on my local (see Tommy C Hype on YT to get an idea of our local tracks) and I’ve also been to Cannock on it. Superfast on the hardpacked trail centre stuff, but I soon got bored of the official tracks and went off-piste hunting where it was, again, amazing.

If you have pretty good riding skills the Izzo will handle a lot more than you would expect, if you’re after something fast and fun it ticks those boxes too. However, if you need a bit of squish to help out on the more challenging terrain a carbon Jeffsy is worth a look (if you can find one).

If you have any questions let me know.

I do plan to write a full review for STW soon once I’ve done the Decoy, this secret bike, the Last Tarvo etc….

Any idea of weight on your build?

just got mine, rode for the first time proper yesterday in the Peack District. It’s the first new bike I’ve had in over 10 years and my first full suspespion bike so I don’t have much to compare it too.

I went for the Comp as I’d prefer to upgrade parts myself over a persiod time though the Pro and Pro Race gives you a much better deal if you can justify the cost and are happy with the components.

The bike seems really good, quicker than anything I’ve ridden before both up and down (Cotic Soul, Cove Stiffee FR, On One Inbred). On hard flat surfaces it can very quicky get up to speed and climbing seemed quite easy with it, at points I was almost accelrating up some of the climbs. On the descents drop the seat and it’s great fun. Again I don’t have a huge amount to compare it to but it was really trying to resist me slowing ot down on some of the bigger descents but that may not be specific the bike alone that could just be as it was frst ride with full suspension and 29 inch wheels. I did change the bar and stem to 35mm stem and 30mm rise on the bars but that may just be personal preference than anything.

The only negative thing I can say about it is that the twist-loc seems to be incomptible with the Push to Unlock shock that mine has though I’m led to believe that they are now shipping with a Push to Lock instead so you might to check this out before buying. I’ve replaced it with one of the cheap levers you can get until I can work something out.

Overall I am very happy with it so far and it is just the bike that I was looking for. It seems playful enough for me for now but serious enough to be able to do long days without being unconfortable. I’ve got mine in black and the one thing I did notice yesterday that alot of the carbon full suspension frames all look the same regardless of the manufactor so that may be something you want to consider.

The only other thing I would say it to check the sizing quite thoroughly as at 5ft 8″ I’ve got a Medium and although this is the right size for me, I can see how some a may even want to consider sizing up. The height on mine seems perfect but the reach is quite short despite the bike feeling quite long but is not enough to make me believe that’s an issue, hence the justifacition to shortern the stem which made the thing feel much more to my liking as I could hop it much easier.

I hope to eventualy be pushing it quite hard and will be doing all sorts of stuff on it so I’ll see how it holds up but I’ve got a good feleling about it so far.

I’m 5’7 and I’ve just ridden my first Munro on an IZZO Pro Race, size medium.

Pros:
– It’s so light, I haven’t had change to weigh it but it flew up climbs and is easy to carry (I have no upper body strength!)
– It can handle more than the spec might suggest. I wasn’t holding back, we went to Torridon and rode Gleouraich which are both fast rocky descents, and I was really comfortable. Didn’t feel underbiked at any point
– For a short travel bike it holds well on steep trails. I guess it’s slack enough to compensate for 130mm forks, but I haven’t looked into the numbers, I was in a rush to do a feature for the next issue of the mag…

Things I’d change:
– The dropper post specced on the bike isn’t long enough for me, it’s a Fox Transfer 125mm
– The RockShox lockout lever is a pain in the ass, I kept catching the button and accidentally locking out. I think it works in reverse to how the Fox one would, because when the shock was open I had a little padlock icon?
– Tyre choice is subjective… I’d have wanted more grip at the front but the way the bike handles I had a lot of fun with a Forecaster on the back. It cuts corners pretty well

Cheers all, very helpful indeed.

@amandawishart – could you get a longer dropper in there even with the kinked seat tube? Is the saddle in the way even when dropped? I’d expected it to be put off the way given the slab angle of the mast.

The saddle was in the way on the steep technical stuff. For regular mountain bike rides I could probably live with it, but I wouldn’t want to – I like my saddle right out of the way on a descent and this was very much in the way.
I’ll do my best to see what size I can fit in there this week, I have a 150mm I can try (or Andi might know, I’ll check with him too)

Brilliant, cheers!

good point, I forgot to mention that I changed the tyres out. The ones supplied might be OK in the summer at a trail centre but for anything techincal and wet no chance with those. I’m currently on Minion DHR II on both front and rear. Seems like a nice setup so far.

@amandawishart are you able to update on seatpost insertion shenanigans? From what you say it sounds like a deal killer….