No gimmicks. Just a really well sorted bike.
When Ibis Cycles launched the new Ripmo V3, I thought it looked pretty well sorted, but there wasn’t anything that really made it stand out. No big headline feature. No wild geometry. Just a Ripmo with cleaner lines and frame storage, right?
When this “plum XL showed up at the shop last fall I knew I had to sneak in a few rides in the valley before winter set in. I threw on my personal wheels and tires like I always do. Wheels and tires make a huge difference testing bikes.
First impression? It worked.
There wasn’t anything about it that immediately blew me away, but there also wasn’t anything that felt off. It was balanced right away.
When it came time to go see family for Christmas, I decided to throw the Ripmo in the van and see how it handled some slippery winter southeast riding. I was a little over-biked for the trails we were on, but it didn’t hold me back. I was impressed with how much grip I had on wet, off-camber roots. The rear end felt calm and predictable. The bike was starting to grow on me.
After sparklers with the nephews and making a few resolutions I probably won’t keep, Aspen still wasn’t getting snow. So I pointed the van toward Arizona to get some sun on my face. I was working Lincoln Lawyer style out of the van, squeezing in rides whenever I could.
It didn’t take long before I was picking up PRs. A lot of them. On rough trails I’ve ridden every winter for the last four years.
The funny thing is, I never really felt like I was pushing that hard.
A couple rides in Sedona proved the bike is no slouch on technical climbs or steep chutes, and it didn’t argue with a manual or two(despite the 540mm reach). I found the same thing in Moab. The rear had plenty of support for big moves up Amasa Back and it never punished my questionable line choices down Captain Ahab.
The build I was riding helped too. The new Shimano XT Di2 drivetrain was consistent, and the Fox Racing suspension felt composed. I’ll get into both of those more in future posts, but together they made the whole bike feel very dialed.
On the drive back to Aspen, I was day dreaming about bikes and my time on the V3. It never seemed to matter what situation I put it in, it handled it in a predictable, composed way. It’s hard to name one place this bike truly shines, but it’s even harder to come up with a place it falls short.
It’s just so perfectly forgettable.
I mean that in the best possible way. It lets you forget about the bike and just ride. It helps that it’s very quiet on trail.
Ibis didn’t try to set this bike apart with gimmicks. They refined what was already working. This isn’t the kind of bike you buy because of some flashy feature. It’s the bike you buy because it’s perfectly dialed.
You can push it hard and trust it. You can ride it anywhere and it’s going to behave exactly how you’d expect.
Calm.
Confident.
Refined.
