- The (beep) rockets border start again
and they're trying to land.
How are you not excited?
It makes bikes not matter.
Like we're going to space.
- [Cameraman] What are you talking about?
- (beep) I said to him the spaceship, the star ship.
(upbeat music)
- Hey everybody.
I'm Mike Levy and welcome back
to another value field test review.
And this gray bicycle behind me,
well, this is Ibis' $3,000 Ripley AF.
A more affordable aluminum version
of the carbon fiber Ripley
that's been around for many years now.
Now there are few things different
about this bike than the carbon Ripley,
most notably the frame material and the geometry.
But one thing that remains the same is
the DW Link suspension system.
DW Link uses two co-rotating links
and a shock with a relatively like compression tune.
Now the key here is also a relatively high amount
of any squat.
And the end result is a bike thereof,
when you step on the pedals,
it jumps forward with a whole bunch of enthusiasm.
Just like the carbon fiber Ripley,
the bottom link is actually borrowed
from the heavier hitting Ripmo and it rotates on bushings.
And I know what you're thinking,
bushings are nothing but trouble
but this come with a seven year warranty
and they should provide more lateral rigidity
than using sealed bearings.
But everywhere else, well, that's exactly where you're gonna
find sealed bearings including up at the upper link as well.
Let's move on to the rest of the frame.
There's room for a large size water bottle inside
the front triangle and it uses internal cable routing.
Although, because it isn't carbon, it's aluminum,
it isn't tube in tube routing.
So to remedy that problem,
you'll find ports up at the head tube so you open those up
and hopefully it makes it easier to perform a cable change.
Let's go over the rest of the trail bike checklist.
That includes a boost hub spacing in the rear
and a threaded bottom bracket shell.
Now around that shell, you'll find a set of splines
and that's where you fit an ISCG Chain Guide Adapter
if you think you need one.
There's also room for a 2.6 inch wide tire in the back
as well as a 200 millimeter diameter rotor.
Being aluminum, this thing is always gonna be heavier
than the price of your carbon fiber Ripley.
Ibis says that a frame and Fox Float shock
coming at 7.4 or five pounds,
or about 1.4 five pounds heavier than that carbon bike.
Ibis also says the complete weights start as low
as around 30 and a half pounds, but not this bike.
This is the least expensive Ripley AF
at 3,000 American dollars.
And on my scale, it comes to that 32.6 pounds.
But you know what's way more important
than how much this thing weighs?
It's geometry.
And that's actually where it differs
from the carbon bike a little bit.
With 130 millimeter travel fork,
the front-end sits at 65.5 degrees
and that's a full degree slacker
than the carbon bike with 130 millimeter fork
and definitely worth noting in the geometry chart.
Now, all the other numbers remain unchanged
including the 76 degrees seat angle
and the 475 millimeter reach on our large size test bike.
And speaking of that, I have to point out
that this is a large size bike.
Ideally, we would have had a medium,
the same size as all of our other test bikes,
but well, as you probably know, it's pretty hard to find
any mountain bikes anywhere in the world right now.
So the only size that Ibis could find for us is this large
and we think this is important bike
so we wanted to include it.
Let's talk about the different Ripley AF models.
It all start with this one here, our $3000 Ripley AF.
It comes back with Deore, SLX, a rhythm fork upfront
and a Fox Float shock in the back.
Now, if you wanna spend a bit more money,
3,300 bucks American gets you the same frame
except with a SRAM NX, GX drivetrain.
So those are all the details on Ibis' aluminum Ripley AF.
It's enough of that.
Let's get into how this thing rides.
(gentle upbeat music)
- Okay Levy, you've written pretty much
every single version of the Ripley before in carbon.
- Yup.
- And so let's start with setup.
Is there anything different here with the aluminum version?
- No it's same suspension design
so that means the same setup.
I went with 25% sag which is 11 millimeters
on the Fox shock.
You could go a little bit more sag than that
but to me, this isn't that kind of bike.
Like I don't wanna run 30 or 35% sag on this bike.
This bike's meant to be like a sporty kind of thing.
So 25% sag has always worked for me.
Another thing to mention is Ibis talks
about their traction tune,
which to me basically sounds like no rebound damping.
(both laughs)
We've talked about this before.
I definitely prefer a more controlled feel
so I ran a handful of clicks of rebound damping
on that shock for just a more traditional feel.
And then upfront, I was bouncing around between, you know,
rate around 77 to 80 PSI and that Fox 34 fork, yeah.
- I mean our control tires for this test,
but you just set up the pressure
the same as all the other tires.
- Yeah, they're Schwalbe tires that I'm super familiar with.
So it was 21 in the front, 23 in the back.
Basically, just hit the trails and go.
There's not a lot to talk about.
We set up for the Ibis.
(gentle techno music)
So Sarah, I've obviously been raving
about this Ibis on the climbs.
You pedal it up a whole bunch of vertical as well.
What did you think of this thing?
- Yeah, it's definitely an amazing climber.
It feels a lot more kind of get up and go
than the Giant Trance or the Polygon Siskiu,
those bikes are a lot more active.
They kind of absorb like the over the roots.
You're kind of absorbing them all.
- Right?
- But it feels a lot less precise.
Like the Ripley feels just so precise
and if you put some power into the pedals,
you just launched forward.
It's a really enjoyable bike to climb.
- Yeah, exactly.
Comparing it to the Polygon and the Giant,
again, those bikes are way more active
and I mean they don't climb terribly.
They're relatively efficient mountain bikes
that get you to the top of the hill.
But I mean, you ride the Ripley back to back against
the other full suspension bikes that we have here
in this value field tests
and there's a day and night difference.
And it means that the Ripley suits somebody who still cares
about that climbing, who isn't just all about the downs.
And I think that's a great thing to have in a trail bike.
Still there's plenty of trail bikes out there that are slack
and forgiving and have all the traction
and you could send it, but there's still room
for that trail bike that people just wanna pedal.
And that's it.
- And that's the majority of your time
on a mountain bike ride is gonna be spent
in pedal climbing even though you might be, you know,
getting to tough to climb.
- [Mike] Even though we don't want it that way.
- [Sarah] Yeah.
(both laughs)
(techno music)
- By the sounds of it in a perfect world,
all you'd wanna do is climb the Ripley
but that's not the case.
They'll also have to descend it.
- There's something about a shorter travel,
sharper handling bike that just feels more precise
like more knife than spoon, you know,
in that kind of dicey singletrack where you need
to be precise and think about your line choice
and that's the Ripley.
And that's the kind of rider that the Ripley suits.
Someone who rides like that.
Someone who's precise, thinks about their line choice.
If you're the person who sees a leap
and doesn't know what's on the other side of it
and just my, my, my, my, just sends it off.
Land front and high.
Ripley's probably not your bike.
- [Sarah] Yeah, it's not really applauding bike.
- [Mike] Definitely not.
This is a bike for someone who thinks
about their line choice, thinks about being smooth.
But at the same time, I mean, it's a ton of fun.
- For people who spent time on the carbon Ripley,
it sounds a lot like pretty similar.
- Yeah, very much.
So it may be a degree slacker, but it still comes across
as that classic Ripley trail bike
that is gonna reward a rider who doesn't want
that like super forgiving, ground hugging suspension.
It's more fun than fast on the rough stuff.
That's for sure.
You've got to think about your line choices more.
If your trails are smoother and tighter through the trees.
Jesus, this thing is like,
it's like a speeder bike through the tight trees.
So much fun to ride.
So responsive.
More so than the Giant and the Polygon
and the other full suspension bikes we have here.
I mean, the Marin has similar amount of travel, it's 125.
And still the Ripley, I mean, definitely feels like
a more capable bike than that, for sure.
Yeah, the Ripley is gonna be a great bike
for someone who wants 120 millimeter travel trail bike
that puts efficiency and energy
over just going through all the things.
So it's gonna be best suited to maybe smoother terrain,
faster terrain that isn't full of chunky stuff.
And if you're the kind of rider who likes to cover a ton
of ground and a lot of that is rolling terrain.
I mean, this thing is gonna be ideal.
(jazz upbeat music)
- Let's get into some of the details about the components.
What were some of the highlights of this field?
- Let's start with the good stuff first.
The standouts for me include
those Schwalbe tires that come stuck.
Tires are not inexpensive.
I mean, this isn't exactly an inexpensive bike either.
A three grand, it's our most expensive bike here
but at least you won't have to upgrade the tires.
They definitely suit the bikes intentions quite well.
The other thing that I like and we're gonna say this a lot
in these reviews, the bike's drivetrain,
that Shimano drivetrain.
So damn good.
And then the other standout, the Fox suspension.
We've talked about it a bunch,
we're gonna talk about it again.
That rhythm fork, the float shock,
the stuff just works really well.
And it might not have all the dials
of the more expensive stuff, but you don't need it.
(jazz upbeat music)
- Let's get into the pros and cons
and let's start with the good stuff.
- Yeah, the good thing is the classic trail bike
is still around and the only thing that's changed
is that it's more capable than ever.
And if that describes the kind of bike
that you're looking for, if you don't wanna push around
more travel than you need, then the Ibis is a great option.
The other plus to this bike, I mean, Sarah,
I don't think this is much of a surprise.
It's the climbing.
It's that DW suspension.
It's a super efficient bike.
You don't have to worry about flipping pedal assist switches
or anything like that.
Just go do your ride.
And the damn thing works quiet well.
(jazz upbeat music)
- What about some of the low lights or some of the stuff
that you might wanna upgrade or change of this rear bike?
- Yeah, so for three grand, the bike shouldn't really
have any components that you'd wanna change.
And that's for the most part, the case,
the standout for me, it's the Shimano two piston brakes.
But the two piston brakes have plenty of power
so what I'm talking about is the bite point changes.
If the bike sits for 30 seconds so you don't pull
the brake levers, it's at one place,
you pulled them a few times, the bite point moves out.
Beeding doesn't solve this and it's actually an issue
we have on pretty much all of our Shimano brakes.
And I mean, I don't think that should be an issue
on anybody's bike, especially when it costs $3,000.
(gentle upbeat music)
- All right, Levy, tell me who this thing is for
and who should be riding it and where?
- [Mike] Yeah, this isn't much of a surprise.
The Ripley rides a lot like the Ripley, you know.
It's got 120 millimeters,
which is the least amount of travel of our group,
but it's definitely well-sorted travel.
And who does it suit?
Well, I mean, the answer is simple.
Somebody who wants to cover a lot of ground.
They don't mind climbing
and maybe their terrain isn't super rowdy.
If that sounds like you,
this is gonna make a good trail bike.
- There you have it.
That's Ibis Ripley AF.
Stay tuned for more videos from the value bikes field trip
as well as round table videos where we compare them all.
(jazz upbeat music)