Over the last couple years, we’ve been working on a new 160mm travel big brother to the Mojo Carbon and Mojo SL (each with 140mm travel), we’re temporarily calling it the “Mojo HD”. And now we think it’s about time to tell you about it.
Introducing the Ibis Mojo HD
Before we tell you about what nitty gritty details we’re willing to divulge, we want to let you know that we’ve already been putting this bike through the paces, some of them rigorous.
Already a Race Winner
Brian Lopes spent the last week in Vars France, getting ready for and then competing in the Enduro Trophy des Nations. This is an enduro style race, becoming quite popular in Europe these days, where riders compete in a number of stages over a two day period with “beaucoup” downhill. This particular event had 10 stages over two days and featured over 10,000 M of descending. If you’re bad at math (or don’t like the metric system) that’s 32,808.4 feet of descent. Or 6.21 MILES straight down, measured vertically! This race also had a bonus stage at 10PM on saturday night that didn’t count for the overall time, but the winner got an extra 500 Euros of party money.
Brian teamed up with WTB’s Mark Weir and Jason Moescheler to form Team USA 1. Brian notched the first win for his prototype Mojo HD on its first day of racing by winning one of the stages on Saturday, propelling the team to second overall on Saturday night.
Brian is very happy with the bike, and told us a couple things in text messages received over the weekend.
“bike is awesome”
OK, we understand typing is not that easy on a Blackberry.
Brian’s Sunday Night Report
Seriously though, here we we have an extra long Blackberry missive from Monsieur Lopes:
“The Enduro race was a lot harder than I expected. The toll it took on everything: wheels, tires, brakes, suspension, the body, and of course the frame were beyond what I imagined. The new “HD” Ibis never missed a beat. For only getting the frame one week ago & with only one ride on it before packing it up for this race, it couldn’t have gone through any more of a test than the abusive one I gave it here in France. With 10 demanding races, 3 of which ended with flat tires, the French won all but one race (which I won!). It was hard to beat them on course they knew better than all the rest, basically they were on their home track at times, where knowing the course saved them time.
It’s hard to believe that this bike isn’t much heavier than the standard mojo, as it was eating up courses that were worthy of full-on DH rigs. The added travel, stiffness, clearance for larger tires and a 8″ rotor allow you to take on the toughest terrain you can throw at it, but it’s still efficient and light enough to pedal up any hill. Another weapon is added to the ibis line up…
Wow, so there you go. The only non-French winner of any stage was Brian, and they ended second overall. We think that’s pretty impressive.
Without further fluff, here’s a bit more about the bike.
Mojo “HD” Prototype Specifications
Price and delivery date are both to be decided.
160mm of rear wheel travel.
DW Link Suspension.
26″ Wheels.
Target weight for the frame and shock: 6.2-6.5 lbs. (we’re not there yet but are fine-tuning the layup).
67 degree head angle with a 160mm fork (Brian was running a 170mm fork this weekend, you can also run a 180mm).
Post mount magnesium left dropout, carbon right dropout.
Compatible with the new tapered steerer standard: 1 1/8th hidden upper, 1.5 traditional lower.
Compatible with both Chris King InSet and Cane Creek Frustum headsets.
If you want to run your current straight 1 1/8″ fork, we’ve got you covered too. We will have an adapter available, and you will be able to use a King headset top and bottom.
2.35″-2.5″ rear tire depending on brand and height of cornering knobs.
Dual row angular contact bearings in the front of the lower link that have less play than standard sealed bearings. Preload adjustment is not necessary. Large 28mm x 15mm x 7mm radial bearings in the rear for stiffness and long wear.
The leverage ratio, like the Mojo and Mojo SL is designed for air shocks. The Mojo HD comes with a 8.5″ x 2.5″ Fox RP23. A DHX air will work on all but the small size. A coil shock is not offered because the linkage rates weren’t designed for it. We lowered the top tube to get slightly better standover than the regular mojo while having a higher BB because of the longer travel (we managed to retain the DHX air compatibility in 3 of the 4 sizes).
The Bottom Bracket height is 13.8″-14″ depending on tires.
Chain guide development is well on its way, we’ll announce compatible brands soon. The frame will not have ISCG mounts so it will not be Hammerschmidt compatible.
The HD runs full cable housing. Rear brake and rear deraileur run on the down tube, with hidden swingarm housing for the rear derailleur.
Front derailleur (if you use one) and adjustible seatpost housing (if you use one) run along the top tube.
And once again, just to make sure you got it, price and delivery date are both yet to be decided.
Before the 2009 Downieville Classic, we announced that we’d be giving away a set of Crank Brothers Cobalt wheels, generously donated by our good friends at Crank Brothers. The Criteria for the giveaway was rather vague, we didn’t want to set hard fast rules. You can see the contest rules here:
Additionally, everyone who raced on an Ibis got a free T-Shirt from us.
WE HAVE A WINNER
It’s fitting that we are pondering a new Supreme Court Justice this week, because it was all about deliberation for us too. Many worthy Ibis racers picked up their T-shirts, many stories were told. Thank all of you for the various bribes, especially the all the booze and the numbered Swiss bank account!
In the end, we chose a winner who was not a whiner.
Drum Roll….
Ashley Fouts is the winner. We chose Ashley for a few reasons. Remember, our criteria for winning the wheels didn’t relate to speed or results. There’s more to mountain biking than that. When Ashley came by after the race, she didn’t tell us much about how she did, mainly she said she had a great time. She was smiling and happy. We like that. I asked a friend of hers about her race later, here’s what he said:
“She broke her rear derailleur cable on Sunrise so rode the rest of the course with a 3 speed (11 tooth cog & front chainrings). She had to hike part of the mid-course climb unfortunately. Then she flatted on 3rd divide. Snakebite on a 2.4 if you can believe it. Seems like she rolled the tire since she said she didn’t hit a rock when she flatted. So she was 4th for the XC Expert women, but was 7th when they combined the AM & XC groups to pick the winners for the XC (new process this year apparently). She thinks she’s lost around 15 min between the two mechanicals, but was absolutely grinning from ear to ear post race. She LOVED the descent on her Mojo. She can’t wait to go back, and can’t wait to have a clean race next year and see if she can find the podium.”
To recap:
Did 2/3 of the race in her 11t cog with a broken derailleur cable, so only had three speeds.
Had a front flat on a 2.4!
Was still grinning ear to ear at the end, which is pretty much the reason we chose her.
Here’s a picture of her shredding (and smiling):
About Our Winner
Turns out we really know how to pick em! You might remember that the winner of our raffle bike this spring was Adam Beguelin, a smarty pants with a PhD in math. Well, now we come to find out that Ashley also has a PhD (Microbiology). When we asked her to tell us a bit about what she does, she said:
“I came to the bay area to start my doctorate in Microbiology. My thesis was on a parasite, Toxoplasma. Yes, the “kitty litter” parasite. I worked on mechanisms of persistent infection. I finished 2 years ago and have been doing research at Genentech in South San Francisco on various viruses since.”
As you can see based on those two data points, IBIS RIDERS ARE SMART.
Not only did she get her PhD from Stanford, she raced bikes pretty much the whole time she was there. She said she raced 3 mountain bike seasons, 4 road seasons and a couple triathlon seasons, and won the West Coast Mountain Bike Omnium in ‘03 and switched to the road, winning the Bay Area Omium (Cat 3) in 2007. That’s cool but here’s the cooler part:
It was when I first rode the Ibis Mojo at Trailhead Cyclery’s demo day that my love for mountain biking was renewed. It was a whole different sport…fast, unbelievably smooth…like buttah! I couldn’t sleep that night, I was dreaming of how I could get a mojo on my student salary. It was my first big purchase after getting a job. This year with my full time job and new Mojo I decided to forgo the road racing this year and focus on having fun!”
We applaud Ashley for her decision (the fun part). Huh, she’s smiling again.
Here’s a picture of her the day she got her Mojo
That’s the spirit, Ashley!
Other notes:
Likes beer (dark &/or Deschutes) and Burritos.
Used to be a ski bum in Jackson Hole
Seems to be a pretty good rider…
She’s even smiling while shredding. Hopefully the Crank Brothers wheels will make her smile even more.
PS, thanks to another Ibis rider, David Belden for all the pictures.
The results for the Downieville Classic Races are in.
Billed as the All Mountain World Championships, the overall combines the results of yesterday’s XC race and today’s DH.
Adam Craig set course records for both events (I think), besting Jason Moeschler for second overall. Jason got 3rd in the XC behind Sid Taberlay, but Sid had a slow DH today, coming in at over 50 minutes, compared to Adam’s 43:48.
Brian Lopes had a good run for 5th today, matching his placing last year.
Top 5 in each event are as follows
XC
Adam Craig (1:52:04)
Sid Taberlay (1:52:45)
Jason Moeschler (1:55:20)
Chris Sheppard (1:57:58)
Sam Koerber (1:59.15)
DH
Adam Craig (43:48.30)
Jason Moeschler (44:09:07)
Ross Schnell (44:20:06)
Nathan Riddle (45:51.10)
Brian Lopes (45:59.60)
Overall
Adam Craig (2:35:52)
Jason Moeschler (2:39:30)
Sid Taberlay (2:42:49)
Chris Sheppard (2:44:03)
Sam Koerber (2:48:39)
Oh, and I just heard Rachel Lloyd’s name over the loudspeaker, she just won the DH.
I’ve been thinking about posting an update from Downieville all weekend. Thinking but not doing. For those of you not familiar, Downieville is a tiny town at the confluence of a couple rivers in California’s Sierra. It’s very remote, and hasn’t really changed a lot in the last 5 decades. I’ve been coming up here since ‘59, when my grandfather got a cabin on the Yuba river downstream from Downieville. I guess that makes this my 50th summer in Downieville! Yes, I’m old.
Recently Downieville has become quite the mountain bike mecca, and the big event of the year here is the Downieville Classic, home of the legendary Downieville downhill. Earlier this year we raised about $20,000 for the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship, the group that is responsible for much of the trail building and maintenance up here.
There are just too many fun things to do here, makes posting an update lower on the priority list. As usual, there is lots of good people watching. Here’s Joe Parkin ‘rocking’ the Softride.
RACE REPORT
800 people did the XC race yesterday, and Adam Craig shattered the course record by a couple minutes. Last year’s winner Ross Schnell is coming off a broken pelvis (or hip or some other significant body part-can’t remember), and finished down the field a bit. Mark Weir isn’t racing, he just became the father of little Gus, who is about 18 days old so Mark is sitting this one out.
RIVER JUMP
I have to say that the biggest fun I have here every year is watching the river jump. For the last 4 years (I think) it’s been won by Downieville local Tyler Marshall, and his trademark massive air. I got to be a judge again this year, along with Thomas Frischknecht, Myles Rockwell, HB, Willow Koerber and Ross Schnell. It was big fun. I wish I had some photos, but I didn’t want to risk having my camera land in the drink. It was a tough competition that started with 9 competitors and came down to a tie between Andrew Taylor (apparently from Santa Rosa) and Olivier Guincetre (Ogee) who is actually the newest employee at Ibis (I recused myself from voting of course). Ogee and Andrew both nailed their last couple of jumps and in the end we let the crowd decide. They handed it to Andrew.
The Ibis crew is lucky enough to have rented the big house right above the store on the main drag in town. We have a huge veranda where we’ve been having dinner every night, watching the world go by. Later on we had a nice double rainbow, check out the view from our deck:
Sorry about the video quality, I just got one of those new iPhone 3GS thingies, and this is more or less the first video I tried to post.
Here are a couple more. First, our event organizer Wayno..
The event closes down the main street, here’s a short video of the action, ending up with a nice shot of our free lunch, provided by Chris King. No, thumbnail, so all we have is a link. downieville-midway1
Here’s the scene on the ‘midway’ starting at the Chris King booth where they are serving up pancakes in the morning and fajitas in the afternoon.
Ok, that’s the end of my lame experimentation with video.
