Lawaman's next bike

jairaj

Ibis have released a new 650B version of the Mojo:

http://www.ibiscycles.com/bikes/mojo_hdr650b/

It's got pretty much every thing Lawman wants on his wishlist:

Ibis Mojo Frame - tick Fox 34 forks - Tick 650B wheels - tick

So have you placed your order yet?

angry_bird

That cobra blue colour looks sweet as anything, really wouldn't say no to one of those, just need a lottery win first

bennett_346

130mm rear suspension isn't enough for him

lawman

As nice as it is, I'm actually really disappointed with the specs of the HD-R. Its basically a rehashed HD which can be used for 650b (which mine can set at 140mm, so you actually get 10mm less), if you go 650b you can't fit a proper meaty tyre like a hans dampf without rubbing on the seat tube, as it would on mine as well and is a smidge lighter and thats it. So basically what they've done is fit a shorter shock and reduce the travel to make the BB height acceptable with 650b, which I could also do on mine, and use some of the mold techniques used on the SLR to lose abit of fat. So take away the new molding and you have effectively the same frame as before with a few tiny tweaks so it can have ISCG tabs and so you can run 1x11 without it tearing the dropouts to shreds as some have found on the original. Hardly constitutes "new" and they seem to be standing still while the likes of santa cruz, yeti et al push the boundaries abit further and try something different. I can't help but feel they're chucking out a new bike at minimal cost and using the existing molds to get it out there asap, which is not how you design a bike.The sizing is still a little off and the geometry needs tweaking imo.

If I get any new bike at all in the next year, it will most likely be a Bronson, it's lighter, has better geometry, stealth reverb routing and life-time bearing warranty, a huge thing as my HD seems to like eating bearings at a rate of knots. It'd be harsh to say Ibis have been lazy, but tbh, I think they have been. It brings very little worthy of note to the table and imo the Mojo is really starting to look and feel dated. Shame as they are a great company, but was expecting more from them.

njee20

I don't think that's unreasonable, the Mojo must be getting on for 10 years old now, and it's had only small tweaks in that time!

Mind you, I suppose you could argue the same for the Blur, and definitely the Orange 5.

lawman

Yeah the original goes back to '05 and was in development since around '02/03, so its definitely been around a while! Thing is the Blur and the 5 have adapted as the market changed and the geometries are much more contemporary, the Blur TRc is a prime example and now they've taken that success on board and given us the Bronson and the Solo, both of which on paper look spot on. The areas the Santa Cruz's and Yeti's out do the HD and HDr imo is the sizing and geometry. Having grown since I bought the HD and since my ridings progressed I'd definitely prefer a longer bike, and the seattubes being shorter on the Bronson and Solo is a big thing for me, short legs and long body, I need the length but not the seat height, so the 18.5" large Bronson or medium SB66 are better than the large HD in that respect as there's no way I'd be able to run a 125mm reverb at the correct saddle height on a large HD and it'd still be shorter than the Bronson and SB66 in both top tube and wheelbase.

The HD is a good bike, the suspension performance is awesome and with an angleset its definitely more capable, but the short sizing and bearing issues are pushing me away and towards a Bronson, it just seems like a better bike all round on paper at least, waiting to get a test ride in the coming months

As always it's very personal as people prefer different things, but for me they're just not keeping up with the others and its a real shame as the guys that run it are super cool, really helpful with warranties and answering stuff and MTBR forums, but the bikes are just starting to fall behind a little.