IBIS HD

Big Ibis News
Mojo HD Hits the Slopes
It's time to let the "HD" out of the bag.
Over the last couple years, we've been working on a new 160mm travel big brother to the Mojo Carbon and Mojo SL (each with 140mm travel), we're temporarily calling it the "Mojo HD". And now we think it's about time to tell you about it.
Introducing the Ibis Mojo HD
Before we tell you about what nitty gritty details we're willing to divulge, we want to let you know that we've already been putting this bike through the paces, some of them rigorous.
Already a Race Winner
Brian Lopes spent the last week in Vars France, getting ready for and then competing in the Enduro Trophy des Nations. This is an enduro style race, becoming quite popular in Europe these days, where riders compete in a number of stages over a two day period with "beaucoup" downhill. This particular event had 10 stages over two days and featured over 10,000 M of descending. If you're bad at math (or don't like the metric system) that's 32,808.4 feet of descent. Or 6.21 MILES straight down, measured vertically! This race also had a bonus stage at 10PM on saturday night that didn't count for the overall time, but the winner got an extra 500 Euros of party money.Brian teamed up with WTB's Mark Weir and Jason Moescheler to form Team USA 1. Brian notched the first win for his prototype Mojo HD on its first day of racing by winning one of the stages on Saturday, propelling the team to second overall on Saturday night.
Brian is very happy with the bike, and told us a couple things in text messages received over the weekend.
"bike is awesome"
OK, we understand typing is not that easy on a Blackberry.
Brian's Sunday Night ReportSeriously though, here we we have an extra long Blackberry missive from Monsieur Lopes:
"The Enduro race was a lot harder than I expected. The toll it took on everything: wheels, tires, brakes, suspension, the body, and of course the frame were beyond what I imagined. The new "HD" Ibis never missed a beat. For only getting the frame one week ago & with only one ride on it before packing it up for this race, it couldn't have gone through any more of a test than the abusive one I gave it here in France. With 10 demanding races, 3 of which ended with flat tires, the French won all but one race (which I won!). It was hard to beat them on course they knew better than all the rest, basically they were on their home track at times, where knowing the course saved them time. It's hard to believe that this bike isn't much heavier than the standard mojo, as it was eating up courses that were worthy of full-on DH rigs. The added travel, stiffness, clearance for larger tires and a 8" rotor allow you to take on the toughest terrain you can throw at it, but it's still efficient and light enough to pedal up any hill. Another weapon is added to the ibis line up...
Wow, so there you go. The only non-French winner of any stage was Brian, and they ended second overall. We think that's pretty impressive. Without further fluff, here's a bit more about the bike.
Mojo "HD" Prototype Specifications
· Price and delivery date are both to be decided.
· 160mm of rear wheel travel.
· DW Link Suspension.
· 26" Wheels.
· Target weight for the frame and shock: 6.2-6.5 lbs. (we're not there yet but are fine-tuning the layup).
· 67 degree head angle with a 160mm fork (Brian was running a 170mm fork this weekend, you can also run a 180mm).
· Chain stay length: 17.125".
· Top tube lengths are the same as regular Mojos.
· 12 x 135mm Maxle rear axle.
· Post mount magnesium left dropout, carbon right dropout.
· Compatible with the new tapered steerer standard: 1 1/8th hidden upper, 1.5 traditional lower.
· Compatible with both Chris King InSet and Cane Creek Frustum headsets.
· If you want to run your current straight 1 1/8" fork, we've got you covered too. We will have an adapter available, and you will be able to use a King headset top and bottom.
· 2.35"-2.5" rear tire depending on brand and height of cornering knobs.
· Dual row angular contact bearings in the front of the lower link that have less play than standard sealed bearings. Preload adjustment is not necessary. Large 28mm x 15mm x 7mm radial bearings in the rear for stiffness and long wear.
· The leverage ratio, like the Mojo and Mojo SL is designed for air shocks. The Mojo HD comes with a 8.5" x 2.5" Fox RP23. A DHX air will work on all but the small size. A coil shock is not offered because the linkage rates weren't designed for it. We lowered the top tube to get slightly better standover than the regular mojo while having a higher BB because of the longer travel (we managed to retain the DHX air compatibility in 3 of the 4 sizes).
· The Bottom Bracket height is 13.8"-14" depending on tires.
· Chain guide development is well on its way, we'll announce compatible brands soon. The frame will not have ISCG mounts so it will not be Hammerschmidt compatible.
· The HD runs full cable housing. Rear brake and rear deraileur run on the down tube, with hidden swingarm housing for the rear derailleur.
· Front derailleur (if you use one) and adjustible seatpost housing (if you use one) run along the top tube.
· And once again, just to make sure you got it, price and delivery date are both yet to be decided.





Care of the IBIS newsletter.

Lezyne Alloy Drive M and Pen Guage – Review

Over the years I have gone from pumps to bombs and back, probably 1000 times. Each time I see a new pump that looks cool, I buy it and turf the bomb idea, but I always come back again. On our recent trip to Mankele, I was reminded of the value of a good pump. I got a small cut in my tyre and lost a bit of pressure before it sealed up. I had no other choice but to use a bomb. 25 bucks, just to top up the pressure! It was time for a pump.
I have had my eye on the Lezyne pumps for a while, they just simply look cool! And when the colours were launched here I decided that I could wait no longer!
After getting the pump, I actually spend some minutes just looking at it! It is a beautifully constructed piece of equipment! The entire pump is CNC machined. Holding it in your hands you get the feeling that you will have this pump for the rest of your life. It is super solid! The system it uses, takes me back to my school days, when we had racing bikes with the two brackets under the top tube that would hold your long white sks pump. Inside the pump was a little hose that you had to screw onto the pump and onto the valve to inflate your tyre.
The Lezyne Alloy drive works exactly the same. I hit a rock and burped my tyre on my weekend riding and it was my first opportunity to use my new pump on the trail. It takes a few moments to attach the valve hose, but I am sure that once you have this a few times, it will become quick and easy. I bought the pen gauge as an extra to the pump. This features a nifty, integrated pressure gauge. When I screwed the valve onto my presta valve, I realised the advantages of checking your equipment before you attach it to your bike and ride off because the pressure gauge had unscrewed itself and pumping had no effect. 2 seconds later I had tightened everything up, and the pump worked, well like a bomb! It took about 8 strokes to get the tyre to my favourite (secret) pressure. And the visual confirmation from the integrated gauge is a treat!
You may think that attaching the valve hose is a hassle, but to be honest, I have bent and broken so many valves using pumps that attach directly to your valve that I am more than happy to take a second to attach everything. You can pump with all the vigour you need and not risk damaging your valve. One tip I can suggest it first attach the hose to the valve on your bike, then screw the pump on. This way you can’t inadvertently unscrew any of the pump parts when attaching to the valve.
I think this is a great product! And it seems that I will have it for MANY years to come!

Mountainbiking singletrack video at Mankele

Check out this cool mountain bike video we made on the Mankele singletrack.

See the other posts below for the review of the mtb trip or watch the video below