Mail order bike specialists
Expert advice
Cycle to work
We gave the Ibis Ripmo AF the full dream build experience, check out the video above.
This week’s Fast Bike Friday feature takes a detailed look at the Ibis Ripmo AF, an affordable alloy version of the their more expensive carbon Ripmo (the AF stands for aluminium frame; not what we thought it was short for when we first saw the bike!). But before we get into the Ripmo let’s just take a minute to acknowledge Wheelbase’s newest bike brand, available now in-store and online; Ibis have been around since 1981 when Scot Nicol started out with a little shop just outside Mendocino, California. The brand has grown throughout the years and has played an important role in the history of the development of the modern mountain bike; today there are now around 40 employees working in Santa Cruz, California and Scot Nicol remains one of the owners, indicating in his bio on the Ibis website that nowadays his role generally involves trying to stay out of the way.
There’s an honest, no-fuss industrial look to the Ibis Ripmo AF and we love it!
So back to our Ibis featured fast bike. Cast your eyes over the Ripmo and you’ll see an industrial looking full-suspension trail bike which features curved hydroformed tubes which in some ways mirror the distinctive Ripmo Carbon curves but also boasts a more utilitarian appearance with fat tubes and chunky welds. This is a burly trail bike that’s built to go downhill fast, absorb big hits and keep you rolling over technically demanding terrain; while its 147mm of rear travel and 160mm of front suspension travel means this bike is not quite a full-on Enduro bike it is ready for some particularly rowdy riding and definitely leans more towards excelling downhill rather than uphill.
Apparently AF stands for aluminium frame – not what we originally thought!
Ibis have designed the Ripmo AF to have a rangy but not super-long reach giving you just the right amount of room to remain agile and free to move around the bike when you’re constantly shifting your weight to compensate for gradient changes and tight turns. As you’d expect on a progressive trail bike like this, there’s a slack 64.9-degree head-tube angle; Ibis have complemented this with a 44mm reduced-off-set fork for a more sure-footed feel on steep descents and when you’re flying at top speed. With the Ripmo AF’s trail bike status in mind Ibis have not neglected ride quality when the bike points back uphill. The 76-degree seat tube angle places you centrally and upright over the bottom bracket creating an efficient pedaling position, helping to make climbing back to the top of your favourite trail all the more easy.
Chunky welds and fat tubes give a contrasting look to it’s carbon fibre Ripmo cousin.
The Ripmo AF is a burly alloy trail bike that’s ready to get rowdy.
Branding on the matt-silver Ripmo AF is subtlety hidden on the underside of the down tube and rear of the seat tube.
The DW link on the Ibis Ripmo AF is worth shouting about and features here on the bike’s livery.
At the heart of the Ripmo AF’s suspension platform is the DW link (named after its originator Dave Weagle); the DW link helps to prevent squat (the compression of the rear suspension under pedaling load) as the chain’s tension acts on the suspension. In practice this means that the Ripmo’s suspension remains active and sensitive to small and big hits even when your putting down the power through the pedals; brilliantly the DW link configuration also helps to minimise pedal kickback as the suspension moves through its travel AND also helps to negate the effects of braking forces on the rear suspension, keeping the Ripmo plush and active under heavy braking.
The Ripmo AF’s suspension configuration with DW-link reacts sensitively to changing terrain while retaining a stable pedaling platform.
There’s 147mm of plush travel on the rear of the Ibis Ripmo AF.
This particular Ripmo AF features a DVO Topaz T3 Air shock; the bike is also available with a coil shock if you prefer. The DVO Topaz T3 air shock provides excellent levels of small bump compliance and tunable damping that will stop you getting bucked when you fluff your landings; The T3 compression adjust gives you 3 compression settings at the flick of a lever and is denoted as pedaling, traversing and descending, however the DW link is so good at making the suspension work efficiently you most probably won’t need to use it.
The DVO Topaz T3 Air shock features a 3-position climb switch.
Upfront, to match that plush, active rear suspension Ibis have spec’d a pair of DVO Onyx D1 suspension forks with a whopping 160mm of travel. With 36mm wide stanchions and 110mm Boost spacing these forks are built to take big hits and keep your steering precise and in control even when things get fast and frenetic. This is a seriously tunable fork, allowing you to customise how the fork feels and performs; it features six-position compression adjustment and DVO’s OTT (Off The Top) adjuster which changes how sensitive the fork is to small and big hits.
OTT comprises a preload adjustable negative coil spring that acts against the positive air spring. It allows you to adjust the initial 30mm of travel by externally adjusting the tension on that negative coil spring in direct relation to the air pressure in the main spring. So what does this mean in practice? Well, by adjusting that initial part of the fork’s travel you can customise both the DVO fork’s bump-eating plushness and jump-friendly support. Put simply a heavier, more aggressive rider should use more air pressure AND more OTT while lighter, less aggressive riders should use lower air pressures and less OTT.
To compliment the rear DVO shock Ibis have spec’d a DVO Onyx D1 fork with 160mm of plush travel.
The DVO Onyx D1 fork includes adjustable six position high speed/low speed compression.
Unlike other brands Ibis ship their bikes to us as a build kit, allowing us to build the bike from frame and fork upwards, fitting the headset, bottom bracket, groupset, dropper post, cockpit and so on. Our workshop technicians love an opportunity like this; there’s no better way to get to know a new bike brand than building one of their bikes from the ground up. Jack was lucky enough to get the gig for the Ibis Ripmo AF build spec’d with a 12-speed SRAM NX Eagle groupset comprising a one-by drivetrain with a 30T chainring upfront matched with a 10-50T GX Eagle cassette to give you all the gear ratios you could need regardless of whether you’ve got your Ripmo AF pointed uphill of downhill.
Ibis have spec’d the Ripmo AF with a good mix of SRAM NX and GX Eagle components.
A SRAM GX Eagle rear derailleur with clutch gives secure and precise gear shifts every time.
A SRAM NX Eagle DUB chainset with 30T chainring combined with the wide ratio 10-50T cassette gives you all the gears you’ll need.
The SRAM NX Eagle 12-Speed shifter feels positive and precise on every gear change.
12 gears via the SRAM NX Eagle mean there’s a ratio to suit every riding scenario.
Braking duties are taken care of by a pair of SRAM’s G2 R 4-piston disc brakes. Aimed squarely at aggressive downhill-focused trail riding the Ripmo AF benefits from brakes that are able to quickly and effectively scrub off speed as you blast off the fire track and drop into tight, technical forest singletrack. Ibis have spec’d a nice big 203mm rotor upfront and a smaller 180mm rotor on the rear helping to keep braking sharp and easy to modulate with just one-finger braking required.
SRAM G2 R brake levers feel positive and powerful allowing for one-finger braking.
SRAM G2 4-piston brakes are super-powerful and scrub off all the speed that the Ripmo AF is guaranteed to generate.
The Ripmo AF comes fitted with Ibis’ own S35 wheelset which is perfectly suited to the type of rowdy riding this bike is built for.
Ibis sealed hubs are smooth and durable.
When it comes to wheels Ibis have spec’d their own S35 aluminium 29er wheelset. These wheels have been built to withstand the sort of forces that your rowdy riding will no-doubt apply to them; with rims that feature a 35mm inner width the tyres will benefit from a more square sidewall profile, meaning that the tyre is less pinched in as it would be on a narrower rim helping to position more of the tyre’s tread pattern in contact with the ground and negating the chances of pinch flats. If you plan on running the S35 wheels tubeless and/or want to run inserts this wide rim makes fitting easier and your tubeless setup perform more consistently.
The S35 rims feature a 35mm inner width to help give the Maxxis tyres a more square, less pinched in sidewall.
A pair of 2.5” Maxxis Assegai tyres with EXO+ Casing are another hint towards how Ibis intend this bike to be ridden – hard! These aggressive tyres were developed with multiple Downhill World Cup and World Champion Greg Minnar and are renowned for their predictable grip, tough downhill casing and all-round versatility when it comes to different terrain and riding conditions.
Ibis have spec’d burly Maxxis Assegai 29 x 2.5″ tyres on the front and rear – another hint at how they see this bike being ridden.
The Assegai tread pattern is balances traction, bite and mud-shedding efficiency brilliantly.
No detail has been overlooked on the Ripmo AF; a pair of lock-on Lizard Skins Charger grips are a welcome addition.
Lizard Skins Charger grips help you feel in control when things get a little loose.
The KS Rage-I dropper seatpost will very quickly prove its worth when you take the Ripmo AF down steep, technical descents.
Cable-activated, the KS Rage-I dropper post is sized comparative to the Ripmo AF frames, growing in length as sizes increase.
The bike that Jack built; all Ibis mountain bikes come as a build kit giving our workshop technicians the satisfaction of a complete bike build.
The Ibis Ripmo AF is a bombproof trail shredder built with the express aim of facilitating fun! The no-nonsense alloy frame boasts active & plush suspension and also happens to pedal very well; tough alloy 29er wheels and a simple, user-friendly SRAM groupset make the Ripmo AF the sort MTB trail bike that you don’t have to second guess or fret over; if you prefer to spend your precious free time riding rather than tinkering in the workshop this aggressive MTB is the bike for you. Once you’ve tuned the suspension to suit your dimensions and riding style it’s just a case of hitting your favourite trails with your mates and getting in as many runs as you can before the sun dips and the light fades.
The Ripmo AF is a no-nonsense, playful alloy 29er built ready for gravity-induced fun.
Full Specification:
- Frame: Aluminium, DW Link, 147mm Travel, Boost 148mm, 31.6mm Seatpost Diameter, English Threaded BB
- Rear Shock: DVO Topaz T3 Air, 210×55
- Fork: DVO Onyx D1, 36mm stanchion, Boost 110mm, 160mm travel, 29”
- Shifters: SRAM NX Eagle 12-Speed
- Rear Derailleur: SRAM GX Eagle 12-Speed
- Cassette : SRAM XG 1275 10-50T 12-Speed
- Chainset: SRAM NX Eagle DUB, 30T
- Chain: SRAM NX Eagle 12-Speed
- Bottom Bracket: SRAM DUB BSA
- Brakes: SRAM G2 R 4-Piston
- Rotors: SRAM Centreline 6 Bolt 203mm Front / 180mm Rear
- Wheels: Ibis S35 Alumnium / 29” Rim / Ibis Hubs
- Tyres: Maxxis Assegai 29” x 2.5” WT, EXO+ Casing, 120TPI
- Stem: Ibis 31.8mm (sml), 40mm (sml/med), 50mm (lrg/xl)
- Headset: Cane Creek 40 ZS44 / ZS56
- Handlebar: Ibis 780mm Alloy
- Grips: Lizard Skin Charger
- Seat Post: KS Rage-I Dropper 125mm (sml), 150mm (med), 170mm (L/XL)
- Saddle: WTB Silverado 142
Written by Johnny Dodgin
Photos by James Vincent
Want to see more fast bikes? You can now see all of our featured bikes in one place over on Pinterest where you’ll find links to each of our Fast Bike Friday Blogs too!
Click the link below and search our archive…
