UPDATED: Ibis Ripley 29er Full Suspension Finally (!!!) Coming to Market in March?
Long in the development process -by which we mean half a decade- the Ibis Ripley 29er may finally be shaking off it’s rapid prototype mocked up skins for some real, actual carbon fiber.
First announced in July 2011, the Ripley 29er uses unique dual eccentric pivots to create a very stiff, short rear end that has race worthy snap with 120mm of fun. At least, that was the goal, in practice, it’s apparently been quite the engineering challenge. The project started in 2005 and, if the all but invisible countdown timer on the top of their website is what we think it is, the bike should come out on March 18. Aaron from Ibis would neither confirm nor deny, but hinted we could presume that’s what it’s for.
The frame will use the bladder molded monocoque designs of their Mojo frames, and the suspension has been designed from the start by Dave Weagle. It’s built to be quite versatile, allowing single or double chainrings up front, a dropper post with cable guides and even a bolt-on cable/hose protector. We covered the full technical breakdown on the design in this post (yes, back in 2011, but doesn’t look like the key tech has changed), and posted some pretty pictures below.
Thanks to Damien for the tip! Updated with a spy shot of Brian Lopes’ Ripley after the break!
It’ll likely get the new Fox CTD suspension when it actually ships.
Update: Thanks to Mike at Fullerton Bikes and his sharp eyes, we have a photo of what may be Brian Lopes’ own Ripley in the wild. Due to the part spec which matches his current sponsors, we’re thinking that’s safe to say. It’s hard to tell from the small photo, but it looks like Lopes’ bike could have a slightly different shock than pictured in Ibis’ photos – it looks a little thinner in the air can, and also has a label that makes us think it’s a prototype for testing. Also, to Marc’s point, yes there is room for a bottle cage (1) as shown above with at least a 24oz bottle.
Comments
Holy crap that is a sexy bike. Can’t wait to see this one make it to production.
Hooray for bottle cages- especially giardia-shielded bottle cages!
All that and we still can’t know the geometry? I want to know if they’re going to build an adult XL or if they’ll continue to deny us.
So what’s up with Decathlon’s lawsuit vs. Yeti?
Exact same picture from 2011?
@Marc, from looking at it I’m pretty sure the seat tube doesn’t have a bottle cage mount because there’s no way you’re fitting a cage and bottle down there. Looks more like some access holes to the pivots – possibly for greasing?
If this suspension is as good at their Mojo series, this ought to be a great bike! Can’t wait to ride one!
Perhaps. The. Most. Anticipated. MTB. Ever. (?)
…but too late for me; my Tallboy C (w/ rear 12×142 thru axle) is completely, utterly The Perfect Bike (if there can be such a thing). It’d be a kick to ride ‘em back-to-back for comparison.
Can’t wait to read the reviews and to actually ‘see one in the wild’, as it were. Good luck, Scot!
Ya it’s a been a year and a half of empty promises. No thanks. The excitement is gone! With that long of a delay I can’t help to think they had major problems in the R&D. Yeti sb 95 carbon!… That’s excitement!
@ bog, While the seat tube mount won’t clear a water bottle well, it’s perfect for a Di2 battery. Fox is already doing electronic Di2 based lockouts front and rear and it’s only a matter of time before Shimano comes out with a Di2 based mountain group. Nice to have that forward compatibly.
agree with EricNM, the SC LTc is the PERFECT bike.
Mike at Fullerton Bikes captured this pic of the Ripley out in the wild, Brian Lopes edition:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8369/8490426263_41a967e515_o.jpg
@Jason. Not if there’s a waterbottle mounted there. I agree that XTR Di2 is coming but that’s not a battery mount. It is for servicing the pivots, that’s all.
I have heard the Ripley won’t be the only bike announced…any truth to that? Maybe a refreshed Mojo HD?
Believe it (or not)!
The style of the Mojo is 10X better. This is pretty plain and boring.
Agree with the comments of the Tallboy LTc – amazing bike.
Looks like picture two on the Ibis website home page (Elpaso Puzzler, Evan Plews) is the Ripley in action. Also news page: http://www.ibiscycles.com/about/news/evan_plews_wins_the_el_paso_puzzler
interesting pivot design. Yeti SB-96 to the next level
@DM… errrr no.
Looks like a Pivot to me (which also has a DW Link), and seeing as Pivot Machs ride better and have been more reliable, you can see why they’ve done it…
I’lll take function over style every time. Any frame meant to be used without lift-assistance should have a h2o mount in the front triangle,just my opinion. Looking forward to trying the Ripley out.
@bog & @jason: check the downtube for the bottle bosses- just as God intended
Could someone please explain? I don´t get it: How can the rear rotate around two pivots while it´s virtualy one piece? I looked at other DW system pictures and there it is pretty obvious. But here?
@BobL – what’s your point? The downtube clearly has bottle mounts so there is no argument there. Are you just pointing out the obvious?
I’d love to see two proper bottle mounts on a FS frame but it is really tough to design one like that. No, one on the underside of the downtube does not count. All I’d have is two big holes where the cage was torn out if I did that.
mojo hd over this anyday. lopes is sponsored by xfusion so most likely that the rear can is from them.
Looks alot like a SC Tallboy . And that’s a good thing
The rear shock on Brain Lopes bike is an x fusion microlight.
Rear shock is a XFusion Microlite?
Here you go, Phil.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FkKcizm4KVo
Its a low single-pivot point swingarm in effect, but they split the rotation loads over two smaller eccentric pivots (the swingarm is one piece though and linked to both the eccentrics at the same time) that are spaced closed together to undoubtly get more stiffness for less weight/space (than using one big oversized pivot) and to tune in the desired anti-squat characteristics that DW tends to push for in all his designs.
Too late!
29ers like this are over. The novelty is worn out.
Looking forward to an updated HD.
the rear shock is likely an x-fusion, matching the fork. i think theyre making a reduced size shock for xc in the same guise as the one on specialized epics but without the brain.
make it 120/140 switch flip and 650b
cool bike. i look forward to getting on one someday
Alex & DeeEight: thanks for the clarification! It all makes sense now
Fitting that the prototype has Specialized tires…as it has a very similar yoke/swingarm design.
Ya I too was excited when I first heard. But that was a year and a half ago. Too long to wait.
So just got a tallboy c with 120mm upfront. Now that’s a nice bike!