Ibis Ripley Review
The Ibis Ripley is a lightweight, dual-suspension carbon mountain bike designed for fun, off-road riding. With 29″ wheels and 130mm front travel, it’s ideal for fast charging along dirt tracks and mountain trails. The Ripley 29er frame design incorporates a longer front end with a slack head angle and steeper seat tube, making it quick and nippy around corners and over obstacles.
Ibis is an American MTB and trail bike manufacturer based in Santa Cruz, California. It’s known for its custom-made and locally produced mountain bikes that it’s been building since 1981. The employee-owned company has developed several of its own award-winning and proprietary technologies, such as DW-Link suspension and Traction Tune.
Ibis Ripley V4 Review
Trail Mountain Bike
29 x 2.35″ // 130mm front, 120mm rear travel
Head Tube Angle 66.5° // Seat Tube Angle 76° // Chainstays 432mm
- DW Link
- Long dropper post
- Longer, slacker, steeper
- 44mm fork offset (Instead of 51)
The Ibis Ripley series is aimed at intermediate to competitive level riders looking for a high-class, performance trail bike at an affordable price. It’s a versatile 29″ bike designed for all-mountain riding with a well-balanced mix of features that make it an efficient climber and stable descender.
The Ripley comes standard with Fox Float Performance DPS suspension, 29″ Ibis S35 aluminum rims, and 2.35″ Schwalbe Hans Dampf/Nobby Nic Apex tires. You can choose from a selection of groupsets, starting with Shimano’s entry-level Deore or SLX options and moving up to SRAM GX Eagle, Shimano XT, or SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS.
- Responsive, lively, fast
- Super climbing capabilities
- One of the most versatile, everyday all-rounder trail bikes
- Lightweight & zippy
Ibis Cycles Ripley SLX Review
MSRP $5,099
Selecting a Shimano SLX groupset on the Ibis Ripley v4 offers a good balance of cost and quality. SLX has a proven track record of excellent performance and includes the Shadow Plus rear derailleur with a clutch to help reduce chain slap and unwanted shifting. Although SLX uses slightly heavier materials than Shimano’s industry-leading XT groupset, it features much of the same technology and performs almost equally.
The Ripley Gen 4 SLX comes standard with Fox Float Performance front and rear suspension with 130mm and 120mm of travel, respectively. The standard 29″ Ibis S35 aluminum rims are fitted with 2.35″ Schwalbe Hans Dampf front and Nobby Nic Apex rear tires. You can upgrade the suspension to Fox Float Factory parts, plus you can get Ibis Carbon rims Maxxis Assegai tires.
Top-quality Shimano hydraulic disc brakes are included with the SLX groupset, plus Ibis have fitted a Bike Yoke Revive dropper post for easy height adjustment when climbing or descending. While there are some upgrades that may add a slight advantage, overall, the Ripley v4 SLX is a pro-level bike that could easily compete against top contenders in enduro or similar MTB races.
Ibis Ripley Cons
- Some users have swapped out the 130mm front travel to a 140mm fork for better rideability on rocky terrains. The good part is that the head tube angle gets close to 66° which makes the bike a little slacker, and also raises the bottom bracket a little.
- Not as great for super rough trails
- Internal channeled cable routing is not good for running moto-style braking (Front brake on right).
- Tight rotor clearance for floating-style rotors will be a problem
- Industry Hydra hubs make a loud noise.
- Internal cable routing on the top end tends to leave some of the cables rattling against the head tube which might also scratch the paint in the long run.
- The height and the angle of the upper cable routing tend to keep the cables higher as some riders are used to (Up above the bars).
- Rear suspension should have more protection to protect the paint.
- Poor chainstay protection.
Ibis Bikes Size Chart
S – 5.0″ – 5’5″ / 152 – 165cm
M – 5’4 – 5’9″ / 163 – 175cm
L – 5’8 – 6’1″ / 173-185cm
XL – 6′ – 6’6″ / 183 – 198
Customer Feedback
Randy T – September 2020
- It almost does climbs by itself.
- A well-designed short travel bike is always a blast to ride.
- First Ripley, won’t be the last
Bodhi B – February 2020
- The latest evolution of the Ripley checks all of the boxes of a modern trail bike.
- It pedals efficiently, is a confident descender, relatively long reach, slack headtube angle, steep seat tube angle, etc.
- When you really put some effort into the pedals, the bike just goes!
- A perfect combination of efficient pedaling platform, and a composed descender at speed.
Robert J – February 2020
- Ripley is a beast stuffed into a small travel frame.
- Super sharp front-end handling (On a 140mm fork)
Ibis Mountain Bikes Range
Ibis specializes in dual-suspension downhill, trail, all-mountain, and enduro MTBs. The majority of their bikes have full carbon frames and feature high-quality parts and components. In addition to their popular 29″ Ripmo and Ripley models, they also stock a 27.5″ Mojo play bike and the 700c rigid frame Hakka gravel bike and a 29″ hardtail known as the DV9.
All Ibis dual-suspension frames feature the DW-Link suspension system, developed in conjunction with bicycle tech guru Dave Weagle and winner of six elite level UCI Downhill World Championships. Ibis also produces its own extra-wide carbon fiber rims using Stans NoTubes Bead Socket Technology (BST), to create impact-resistance, lightweight wheels.
| IBIS | DV9 | Mojo 4 | Mojo HD5 | Ripley | Ripmo |
| Frame $ | 999 | 2,999 | 2,999 | 2,833 | 2,999 |
| Bikes from $ | 2,200 | 4,499 | 4,399 | 4,199 | 3,199 |
| Travel – front | 120/130mm | 140mm | 153mm | 130mm | 160mm |
| Travel – rear | x | 130mm | 170mm | 120mm | 147mm |
| Head tube angle | 68.5º | 65.4º | 64º | 65.5/66.5º | 64.9º |
| Seat tube angle | 73º | 76.6º | 75.8º | 76º | 76º – 77º |
| Chainstay | 439 | 425mm | 430mm | 432mm | 435mm |
| Frame | Carbon | Carbon | Carbon | Alu/Carbon | Alu/Carbon |
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