Bike Check: Zack Harrop and his Ibis Ripmo

Our BASE College graduate, dedicated rider and racer and now part time Dirt School coach, Zack Harrop is also one of the members of the Ibis / Tweed Valley Bikes gravity race team formed at the start of this year. Having had a bit of a bumpy season with a big injury just before the first World Series of the year, it’s taken him longer than he might have liked to get a good amount of mileage on his custom build Ibis Ripmo race bike but now that he has, we caught up with him to get all the details on his build and how he’s been finding it. 

Give us a quick introduction of yourself, your riding and where you’re at.

Hi, I’m Zack Harrop, an Enduro rider based in the Tweed Valley. I originally got into bikes via BMX, which I raced as a kid before switching over to mountain biking. I moved to the Tweed Valley in 2021 for the BASE course, having been living in the Peak District up until then. The BASE course finished for me in 2023 but I’ve stayed up in the valley ever since as it’s the perfect place for all things mountain biking and it definitely feels like home now. 

For the past few years I’ve been racing Enduro World Cups all over Europe. My plan for this year was to keep that going, but unfortunately I’ve had a few injuries that have prevented that. Fortunately I managed to get back to race the last World Cup of the year and World Champs the weekend after!

As a world cup racer, a lot of people might expect you to have picked the longer travel HD6, why did you go with the Ripmo instead?

I spent a lot of time thinking about this over the winter. The shop organised demos for both bikes which was really good for getting a feel for both of them. The HD6 was great in the rough stuff and super easy to get on with but the reason I went for the Ripmo is because it was more efficient and manoeuvrable, I felt it carried speed better and would ultimately be a faster race bike. It’s the combination of a little less travel (at 150mm) and the dual 29’ setup that helps there. 

Is that how it’s playing out? How are you finding the bike so far and what is it best at? 

The bike is fantastic. It feels like a really great all rounder and it’s very confidence inspiring. One of my favourite things about it is how good it is under braking, it doesn’t seem to get affected when scrubbing speed over rough stuff which makes it really easy to ride and very confidence inspiring.

You've gone with quite an interesting build. Talk us through some of the choices, why you made them, how they affect the bike and whether you're happy with them.

Yeah I’ve gone for quite an aggressive build on the bike just to make it a bit more capable on the long and rough race tracks that we see on the World Cup calendar. I’ve got a Rimpact chain damper on which counters unwanted feedback from the chain. Essentially it gives you a chainless feel and makes the bike smoother, limiting feedback from the suspension into your feet.. It’s new for me this year but I really like the way it feels on the descents and it’s definitely worth checking out.

I set the bike up with Maxxis DH casing tyres (Assegai front, Minion DHR2 rear) paired with Rimpact’s race edition inserts front and rear, this is my go to setup pretty much all year round and it’s about as puncture proof a combination as you can put on a bike (TVB - not the easiest setup to pedal but Zack both hard on bikes and fit). My go to tyre pressure is 23psi front and 25psi rear, but I play around with this quite a bit depending on condition and surface.

Brakes are Maven Ultimate, loads of power which saves effort for long and steep descents, plus they're exceptionally heat tolerant which helps keeps maintenance to a minimum. 

In terms of finishing kit, I’ve got the whole bike kitted out with Burgtec components which look mega! I went for a RockShox Vivid Coil, as I’ve always liked the consistency and sensitivity you get from a coil so I stuck with it for this year's bike.

Still on the stock 160mm fork? 

No actually I choose to over fork the bike and put a 170mm Zeb on there. The 160mm fork felt fine but I wanted to beef the bike up a bit for racing long rough tracks abroad so the slightly bigger fork helps with that when it comes to keeping arm fatigue down. 

Any idea of what it weighs?

I don’t know an exact weight now but I think I weighed it at around 16.5kg (TVB - that’s actually super light for a coil shock equipped bike with double DH tires and inserts) when we weighed it back in April.

Cockpit and setup preferences?

I’ve got a 15mm spacer under the stem paired with a 38mm rise bar. Bars are cut to 750mm. 165mm Hope cranks keep me spinning and help with ground clearance. 

For suspension I’ve got 69 psi and two tokens in the 170mm RockShox Zeb (Zack is 80kg). Compression is fully open and -9 clicks of rebound. At the rear shock I’m using a 400lb spring, compression fully open and -8 clicks of rebound, I’m not running any extra hydraulic bottom out. 

Anything in the bike you might change or are you fully happy with it all?

I’ve recently been playing around with some different handlebars from Burgtec. For the past few years I’ve always opted for a 30mm rise bar but I was interested to try something slightly higher. Burgtec supplied some 38mm rise bars to try and I’ve been really surprised how much I’ve liked them. I think these will be my go to moving forward, the slightly higher front end feels better everywhere. 

Do you use the storage compartment?

I do! The big bag has a small pump and tire levers , then the small bag covers extra bars and gels. It's a handy system to minimise how much need to go in pockets for longer race days.

You had a big mid season injury with a broken wrist. How has your recovery from that been / any advice from the other side?

Yeah unfortunately I had crash riding in Finale a week before the season was due to get underway resulting in three fractures in my wrist and arm. I was absolutely devastated but I did my best to just accept it and put everything into getting recovered as quickly as possible. It’s taken some time to heal but I’m back riding now and feeling more comfortable with every ride.

If I had to give any advice from what I’ve learned from this season is just to be patient and do what you can to keep busy. I bought a camera just before I got injured so I really got into that which kept me busy while I couldn’t ride. Coming back to the races again has been great, but it felt a bit like starting again from square one, I'd been away so long. I wasn't anywhere near my full pace, but it was good just to be back and it's got me fully fired up to work for next season. It's a winter of training ahead now, plus some coaching on the BASE course with Dirt School which should all get me back to speed.

Ibis or Ripmo curious yourself? Give us a call and we'll try and get you on a demo.