Ibis Ripmo AF Mountain Bike Frame

Ibis Ripmo AF bike frame: Aluminum Fun and Value for Money

Acronyms are a curious thing. They can say so much while being so little. You might be tempted to think the AF in the name of the Ibis Ripmo AF is short for a common, usually unprintable vulgarism, but you’d be pretty much wrong. Actually, it indicates that this Ripmo is made from high quality aluminum, giving us all the mad fun of a carbon Ibis Ripmo while enhancing the value for money.

Ibis has developed the Ripmo AF with the goal of making it not only more affordable but even more rebellious. With a complete build costing about what a carbon Ripmo frame costs, this will be a bike that fits lot more budgets. But what will really have you sold about this bike is the amped up fun factor. As a long travel 29er, you’ll get 160mm suspension up front and the 147mm dw-link rear travel. Since we’re talking a Dave Weagle developed linkage system, you can expect it to be seriously efficient and progressive.

Low Maintenance and Improved Performance with the Ibis Ripmo AF mountain bike

As with the carbon Ripmo, low maintenance IGUS bushings have been used in the lower link to increase torsional rigidity, while lightening things up by a good 80 grams compared to earlier versions. Meanwhile, the bearings remain in the upper link where they’ll work best with the rotation and load requirements. Airtight seals protect the bushings from spray and muck, decreasing service needs and increasing lifetime. Weagle’s suspension systems offer the desired sensitivity that will keep your tires gripping the trail, giving you the stability needed to power through rougher patches, and then the progressiveness to make it all feel bottomless. Pure bliss. You’ll enjoy the maximum amount of grip over the roughest courses. And the fact you can wrap 26 inch tires on your hoops means that you’ll never be looking for more. Then the geometry of the design screams to be taken on the burliest runs. The slack 64.9° head angle sort of splits the difference between the Ripmo carbon’s 65.9° and the Mojo HD4’s 64.5° head angles to give it the ideal balance of stability and responsiveness combined with the 44mm fork offset. And the steep 76° seat tube will still help you keep the weight forward and in control. This is a bike that gives you confidence descending and even helps you look forward a little to the ride back up. Since it is available in four sizes from S to XL, it can comfortably fit riders ranging between 5’ and 6’6”, which is quite a spread.

Ibis also keeps it real with the threaded 73mm BSA bottom bracket and three build kits on offer. They come regularly equipped with a DVO topaz shock, though a DVO JADE X coil shock is also available. The frames are ISCG 05 Compatible with a removable adapter and are 1X specific. Since this is definitely a bike you are going to want to rip down some trails on, the M-XL sizes can fit 170mm+ dropper posts, while the S size can accommodate 125-150mm posts. The port style internal cable routing keeps all the cables protected from the gunk but also easily maintainable. And they even made sure to design the frame so that 22oz water bottles can fit inside the front triangle.

By anyone’s standards, the Ibis Ripmo AF is a seriously nice mountain bike to take on your favorite and most technical runs and trails. It’s ready to handle anything you or the mountains can throw at it. And you’ll feel more confident to push yourself on all sorts of terrain. It’ll be fun AF.

Also check Niner mountain bikes.