PRICE: R150 999
GET IT NOW: revolutioncycles.co.za

If Ibis’s Ripley and Mojo HD4 were to spawn a love child, what would you get? Not so much the result of a drunken tryst as of careful family planning, enter the Ripmo: long travel like the Mojo, but with 29er wheels and pedalling efficiency like the Ripley – essentially, a long-travel 29er.

Featuring long and slack geometry – with a DW link to carry out 140mm travel duty out back – up front you have 160mm travel, with a 44mm offset fork. Intended to be a versatile all-mountain, trail and enduro machine, the Ripmo has already stamped its mark on off-road cycling, with a third and fourth place at round one of the Enduro World Series in Chile recently.

A versatile all-mountain, trail and enduro machine…

Framesets are available in a stealth Black Olive or a more eye-catching Tangerine Sky combo, with a number of build-kit options. Among the build kits – which range from SRAM NX up to XX, with an option for Shimano XT – there are also some upgrade options.

Ibis have shown impressive ingenuity in offering the Ripmo across all size curves, from small to extra-large. This could well be because Ibis designer Roxy Lo is 1.50m tall, while company president Tom Morgan is the opposite end of the spectrum at 1.95m.

Spec highlights: DW link, Industry Nine Carbon upgrade, Fox custom offset.

Bottom Line: A big-travel 29er may seem overkill locally, but if you’re into travelling around the country’s trails, the Ripmo is capable of riding almost anything.

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