Ibis Launch the brand new Ripmo V3 and Ripley V5

Brand new and fully redesigned, the new Ripmo V3 and Ripley V5 take two staples of the Ibis range and refine almost every aspect of their design. 

Long term classics, both the Ripmo and Ripley are much loved and versatile trail bikes. Light, agile and with an XC bias, the outgoing 120mm Ripley V4 excels at everything from long XC days to technical singletrack while the Ripmo V2 with it’s 147mm rear travel is an amazing climber for the travel but easily capable of pushing into harder ground, even racking up EWS wins and podiums under Robin Wallner and Bex Baraona. 

With both bikes having well established and loyal fan bases you could forgive Ibis for not wanting to change either too much but to their credit they have revisited and tweaked almost every part of both in the pursuit of the best possible result. 

Both bikes now share much in common with near identical silhouettes, ditching the curvy tubes of old and adopting many of the visual cues from the well received HD6 enduro bike. The Ripmo gets a small bump up in rear travel from 147mm to 150 mm, while the Ripley sees a greater change moving up to 130mm rear travel with a 140mm fork. That change might raise a few eyebrows among diehard Ripley fans, but Ibis felt the new Exie and the Ripley V4 were a little close together, with the increase in travel creating better steps between the bikes.

Despite the larger change to the Ripley, in reality the two bikes will still fill the same niches as before, but with some extra downhill ability and comfort added to both. The Ripley is still going to be the pedal friendly all rounder for big missions and fast singletrack, while the Ripmo has more of a gravity bias and could be anything from a general purpose mountain bike to an Enduro race machine. Both will be great all rounders but which one might suit any rider best will come down to where they live and what strengths they want their bike to have.

Geometries have been fine tuned throughout, with both models both slackened out noticeably compared to the previous bikes. Chainstays lengthen only slightly with size, so that even the larger bikes will still easily jump and pop a front wheel, but to look after taller riders, seat tube angles are now steepened through the sizes to help keep weight in front of the rear axle. In a move unique to Ibis, the BB height is also tuned by size, with the cranks rising by 3mm per size above Medium, helping to stop longer wheelbase bikes pedal striking or grounding on ledge drops and technical climbs.

Both Ripley and Ripmo are now able to run either a full 29’ wheels or an MX wheel setup via a flip chip which adjusts axle height independently of the kinematics and the linkage has been redesigned with more progression and a shorter clevis to allow coil compatibility throughout. Both are also now offered in five sizes instead of four, creating smaller jumps between each size and a better chance of getting a perfect fit. 

A very neatly designed storage compartment has been added into the downtube, with some eye-catching and cleverly padded Cotopaxi bags included inside to minimise rattle from any contents. Bottle space above this is good, with plenty of room for a 600ml bottle even on the smaller frames.

Elsewhere most of the internet red flags have happily been avoided. Cables all run tube in tube for painless changes, the BB is threaded, regular headset cups are found up front allowing easy replacement and anglesets and the hanger is UDH. Seat post insertion is also excellent with the bikes coming with long droppers relative to their frame sizes for maximum flexibility. There are precious few bikes that hit all those marks so well done Ibis, take a bow.

A good range of build kit options cover everything from Deore all the way to XO AXS and pricing is extremely competitive, with a Fox factory suspension equipped Shimano XT Ripley coming in at just £6099, or £6699 for SRAM GX T-Type. An equivalent spec Ripmo is just £6199 with XT and full Fox Factory Suspension. There are two colour options for each bike, with the Ripmo coming in Swamp Monster Olive or Heckleberry Purple, while the Ripley is available in either Green Flash or Blue Hour.

We’ve some stock of both coming over the next few weeks and demo bikes here this coming weekend so come by and have a look or get touch if you want to get one reserved.

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