Ibis make very tasty carbon bikes. I think they’ve been around for quite a few years, but they only came to my attention recently when I heard about the original 140mm Mojo. This tough trail-suited five incher manufactured from beautifully sculpted carbon weighed a paltry 6lb and immediately jumped to the top of my most wanted list.
Since then, Ibis have also added the superlight Mojo SL, a superlight hardtail called the Tranny, a lovely looking cyclocross bike (the Hakkalügi) and, most recently, the longer travel Ibis Mojo HD.
This frame, suited to forks with 160 – 180mm of travel promises to build up into an awesome all mountain machine. Frame weight is a scant 6.3lb. 160mm of rear travel comes courtesy of a DW-link setup – arguably the most efficient pedalling platform for longer travel bike designs. The wheelbase is a touch longer than my Whyte, but not as long as a Nicolai Helius AM or an Intense Slopestyle. The head angle is 67deg, although this would slacken to 66 with a 180mm fork. Play bikes are being specced with slacker and slacker angles, but I think anything below 66 is pushing it for a really versatile all mountain ride.
The Mojo HD could be built into something devilishly light – Fox 36 Floats, light wheels, 1×10 gearing, etc. Or a tough Alpine-ready machine – coil forks, coil rear shock (previously not recommended, but now Ibis are suggesting the Fox DHX RC4 would be fine, thanks to its ability to have dialled in bottom-out resistance), dual ply tyres, etc.
It’s the carbon that makes it, and for a lot of people it might be the carbon that breaks it. The Mojo HD is supposed to be super tough, but I can imagine that there are a lot of potential customers who might be finding the concept of a carbon all mountain bike quite hard to swallow. However, with more and more carbon coming onto the market, especially from Santa Cruz with the Nomad and V10, I think there are a lot of other people who are convinced that this is the future.
As far as I’m concerned, it is. Having spent some time musing over these various choices (as well as admiring the images below) the Mojo HD is definitely the natural successor to my Whyte. It has the potential to be so much lighter than the competition, whilst still retaining a tough, all mountain readiness. I think my mind is made up…
