Ibis

Ripley Special Blend Complete Mountain Bike

The Ibis Ripley Special Blend Complete Mountain Bike blends all the high speed aggression of a 29er with the nimble dexterity of a 26-inch bike. The Ripley owes its nimbleness to a shorter trail that lets it weave through terrain or around tight switchbacks with a deftness that contradicts the usual line on 29ers — namely, that their steering just flops around when confronted with low-speed, technical sections of terrain.

The Ripley frame forming the bike's skeleton is laid-up with Ibis' micro-balloon or microsphere core, which lets the engineers build the frame with no internal foam or aluminum frame — even for the small, fiddly bits like the swingarms and clevis. The anti-squat suspension was designed by Dave Weagle, the same suspension guru behind all of the revolutionary suspension models bearing the DW-Link imprimatur, so it stays firm and unresponsive to pedal input throughout its 4.7in of travel. The frame is built up with a shred-ready mix of Shimano, Stan's NoTubes, and X-Fusion.