Ibis Mojo HD3 - Review

The name might be the same, but the bike is entirely new. The six inch travel HD3 is the third iteration of Ibis' long-travel trail machine, and it features a revised version of dw-link suspension and updated geometry that brings it more in line with the contemporary long, low and slack way of thinking. Those who follow the Enduro World Series may have already spotted the new, 27.5'' wheeled Mojo under Anne-Caroline Chausson, with her and other factory Ibis riders racing aboard the bike since July. EWS racers we're not, but we were lucky enough to get our hands on the new HD3 far enough in advance to put some serious miles on it over the last month in Sedona, Arizona, all in the name of testing. The HD3 that you see here is the 28lb X01 'Werx Spec' model that sees a 2015 FOX 36 160 FIT RC2 fork in place of a 150mm travel Pike, Cane Creek's DBinline used instead of the FOX Float CTD, and Ibis' own mega-wide 741 carbon wheelset, a build that adds up to a $7,600 USD price tag. The 5.9lb frame and shock goes for $2,900 USD with a Float CTD, and there's a $60 up-charge if you go with the DBinline.

Mojo HD3 Details • Intended use: all-mountain / enduro • Rear wheel travel: 6'' / 152mm • Wheel size: 27.5'' • Revised dw-link suspension • Removable direct front derailleur mount • ISCG 05 compatible with removable adapter • Optional poly-carb down tube cable guard • Internal cable routing options • Threaded bottom bracket shell • 12 x 142mm axle • Frame weight: 5.9lb (med, w/ shock) • Weight: 28lb (large, w/o pedals) • MSRP: $7,600 USD (Werx Spec)

Frame Details

The HD3 has similar lines to Ibis' previous Mojo platforms, but the fact of the matter is that this is an entirely new carbon frame that's been designed from the ground up. Part of that re-design was to incorporate a longer top tube that's more in tune with the short stems that a lot of riders are preferring to run these days, with Ibis adding an extra 20mm in length on each size compared to the older HDR model. The new front-end also makes use of a ZS56 lower headset unit that allows for a larger gap between the top and down tubes, something that Ibis says adds strength in a critical area without requiring more material and therefore more weight. Speaking of weight, a medium-sized HD3 with a FOX Float CTD shock is said to weigh in at a relatively competitive 5.9lb, which is light enough to easily assemble a complete bike in the 26 to 27lb weigh range if you're looking for more of a lightweight flier than a rowdy trail bruiser.



As someone who does everything in his power to avoid having to wearing a backpack, I'm happy to see that Ibis has managed to create enough room for a water bottle to be mounted inside the front triangle, with a second located on the underside of the down tube. There's also an optional bolt-on guard that protects both the down tube and the rear brake line that runs along it from rock strikes, although it isn't pictured on our test bike. Also not shown is the ISCG 05 chain guide adapter that sits around the threaded 68mm bottom bracket shell. Yes, you read that right, the HD3 has a threaded bottom bracket shell rather than a press-in design. The frame also looks a lot sleeker than previous Mojos thanks to the bike's nearly hidden front derailleur mount that's tucked on the backside of the seat tube.




to do in a given situation.'' Nicol is also quick to point out the a bike's travel doesn't necessarily define how it's going to feel on the trail, with many bikes behaving very differently despite sporting similar travel: ''Variable leverage rates and shock tunes can make a 6" bike feel like 7", or the other way around. Since dw-link bikes tend to sit high in the travel and have a very linear feel to them, it makes the available travel feel very useable. We can keep the bottom bracket height lower this way, and we like what that does for the the way the bike performs.

Specifications Release Date 2015 Price $7600 Travel 6 Rear Shock Cane Creek DBinline Fork FOX 36 160 FIT RC2 Headset Cane Creek Cassette SRAM XG-1180, 10-42, 11 speed Crankarms Race Face Turbine Cinch Bottom Bracket Race Face Rear Derailleur SRAM X01 Chain SRAM Shifter Pods SRAM X1 Handlebar Ibis Carbon, 740mm Stem Ibis Grips Lizardskins Brakes Shimano XT Wheelset Ibis 741 Tires Maxxis Minion DHF 2.3'' Seat Ibis Seatpost Thomson Covert Compare to other All Mountain/Enduro/XC

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Climbing

Expectations tend to ruin things sometimes, don't they? I personally wouldn't have expected bacon on top of donuts to taste like they were baked in God's own oven, but they do. And a bike like the new Mojo shouldn't breeze up technical climbs like it's channeling a mountain goat in Five Tens, but it does. I always make a point of not going over a test bike's geometry before spending a lot of time on it so as not to colour my opinion one way or the other, and the HD3 is the perfect example of why that's the best way to do things: it sports a 66.6° head angle (or 67 with a 150mm travel Pike) but steers nothing like you'd expect it to when you're picking your way up any sort of rocky, rooty battle. I honestly would have guessed closer to 68° given how well the day-glo bike steers around boulders and roots at speeds close to a standstill, especially when compared to machines in the same travel bracket, but it turns out that Ibis may have somehow channeled the sign of the Devil to create a bike that defies its own numbers.



The Devil had nothing to do with it, though, with the credit going towards the offset, trail, and other geo figures that Ibis has nailed dead-on. Tight switchbacks can actually be steered through rather than needing to pick up either end of the bike, and a rider simply has to do less work to get the HD3 up and over whatever's in front of them, all without that front wheel 'push' that can often see 6'' travel bikes running out of room before the corner ends. The sharp-ish steering for a bike like the Ibis means that you can stay on the gas through tight bends instead of worrying about running into a momentum killer, and it's pronounced enough that I immediately went from having to dab a handful of times on one particularly tricky trail aboard other bikes to spinning up it like I actually knew what I was doing. The slack-but-usable geometry is surely the secret here, but I also have to put at least some of my success towards the 35mm internal width 741 carbon rims from Ibis that allow the bike's 2.3'' Minion tires to be aired down to an absurd 19 PSI without any burping or noticeable casing roll that would have had me scared for my life when at speed. That's a lot of numbers to take in, but the sum of them all is that it's probably your fault if you spin out while climbing, not the bike's, because it's certainly not lacking in grip thanks to the low tire pressure and the DBinline's Climb Switch feature.

Ibis proves that a bike with 6'' of travel can be put together to climb technical pitches not just well, but well enough that I was happy to be on it for back-to-back days that each covered 70km of tricky Sedona singletrack. That fact blows my mind given that I normally would have rather reached for a pair of rollerblades before a 6'' bike when heading out for anything that long, and, for the record, I swear that I don't even own rollerblades. Times have changed, haven't they? While tricky sections can be mastered aboard the HD3, no amount of suspension sorcery can hide its travel when a fire is lit under your ass on steep gravel road climbs - it pedals decently, no doubt about it, but it's kinda what I'd expect from a machine in this travel bracket. Flipping the Cane Creek shock's Climb Switch obviously helps, but that'd be the case on any bike, so I have to judge them when left full-open. The verdict is that it matches expectations, which is to say that it doesn't pedal like it's a bacon topped donut.



Downhill / Technical Riding

Bikes of the HD3's travel seem to be going in two different directions: the majority are still rideable as all-around machines, albeit long-travel all-around machines, but a few new examples are more like second generation enduro race bikes that are built almost specifically for that task. This new breed of bike - insert the Nomad, Sanction etc... here - pedal relatively well, but they can still feel like a lot of bike when you're not pointing down something really chunky. Where does the new Mojo fit into the picture, you ask? Ibis has aimed for and struck a nice middle ground that not only makes the bike easier to ride faster than some of the more extreme competition on all but the rowdiest of downhills, but has it being more lively without sacrificing much in the way of all-out plow-ability. All of a bike's numbers come together to form its personality, and it bears mentioning that the our large-sized HD3 test bike is 27mm shorter in total length than a large Nomad, and a whopping 49mm less than the big GT, and while the bottom bracket height sits just a few millimeters higher on the Ibis, its head angle is 1.6° steeper than the Nomad and and 0.6° steeper than the Sanction. What I'm getting at is that the HD3 is simply a hell of a lot more manageable on the very large majority of trails that don't force you to rub your crotch on the rear tire. It asks for a lighter steering inputs, it's easier to place, and it has a more lively temperament. In short, it's more fun to ride in roughly 95% of the places where you'd ride a mountain bike.

It's that remaining 5%, the bits of trail that a lot of mountain bikers might not ride anyways, that upset the HD3 a touch. Steep, awkward steps that don't look do-able are where the Ibis feels a touch pointer up front compared to some other, slacker e-word bikes, but I never found myself backing down from them, just being a bit more cautious than I might have been on either of the two bikes that I mentioned above. Don't get me wrong, the HD3 is still much easier to throw into the chunk than any other bike with less travel, and, if we're all being honest with ourselves, such sections probably only make up a few seconds of most of our rides, don't they?

Cornering on the HD3 doesn't take a heavy hand, with it being on the quick side of relaxed rather than asking for a lot of input from the rider. This means that you can really snake through the tightest of chicanes at a good clip without much trouble, and its handling feels more intuitive than overly quick relative to other machines with similar angles. It isn't as chopper-esque as some bikes, but that's a good thing: another degree taken out of the head angle would turn the HD into less of a 6'' travel bike that you can literally ride anywhere and everywhere and into something that might be a bit too focused on solely crushing only the steepest of lines.



There are no half measures when it comes to the 'Werx Spec' HD3's suspension, with the 2015 FOX 36 160 FIT RC2 fork and Cane Creek's DBinline shock on our test bike offering performance that would have been the stuff of dreams only a few years ago. The difference in performance between the 2015 36 and the already impressive 2014 model was noticeable enough that I was sure FOX had made some internal updates, and my suspicions were verified when I reached out to FOX's Race Program Manager, Mark Fitzsimmons. ''We re-valved the damper based on the feedback from the RAD 34 received from Enduro World Series testing,'' he explained when I questioned him about the refined feel. ''It now has less compression through the entire velocity range, but we focused more on lightening it in the low- to mid-speed velocities. We also changed how the shims opened by reducing the amount of preload on the piston face shim.'' FOX's suspension witchcraft is obviously working, because the 2015 36 is going to blow some minds when more riders are able to get on the fork - it's more forgiving, more supple, but still stays up high in its stroke.

Cane Creek's shocks get a lot of riders going on about them being too complicated, too hard to tune, and too intimidating. That's utter bullshit, though. The DBinline on our test bike, as well as Cane Creek's other offerings, are as simple as you want them to be thanks to the setup finder on their website that tells you exactly where to start from. You won't find that sort of help elsewhere. That means zero second guessing when it comes to getting the base tune spot-on, so long as your bike is on the list (most are), and you'll always know where to go back to if you don't like the result of your fiddling. The standard shock is a FOX Float, but our Werx Spec bike showed up with the DBinline option that we were stoked to see - I'd argue that it's able to offer a more controlled feel through its stroke without feeling like it's over-damped to the point of being harsh or stealing any 'pop' away from a bike. The back end is more linear than you might expect, however, so some riders may want to drop some volume spacers into the shock's air can depending on their terrain and what they want from the bike's suspension.



Technical Report

• I've spent a good amount of time on Ibis' awesome 741 carbon wheelset earlier this year and came away with a good impression of them, and the mega-wide rims make a lot of sense for a bike like the new HD. The wide rim and Maxis 2.3'' wide Minion rubber is quite the combo, and it's pretty clear that it is more forgiving and has more traction on tap than a traditional tire and rim setup. This was especially appreciated when on Sedona's singletrack that seems to be either extremely chunky or covered in a layer of loose cat litter. Thanks to the 35mm inner rim width, I was able to run tire pressures as low as 19 PSI up front and 20 PSI in the rear without feeling any sort of excessive casing roll or a single burp (although Sedona's trails aren't know for their high speeds or corners), and a handful of rock strikes didn't have any effect on the rim's integrity or spoke tension. I'm typically not a huge fan of carbon wheelsets due to their cost and still questionable reliability, but at 1,650 grams for the set and a reasonable-for-carbon $1,299 USD price tag, the 741s are probably one of the few options I'd consider purchasing.

• Thomson's internally routed Covert seat post is pretty badass. There was literally zero side-to-side head wiggle on ours, and it ran through its stroke without any hiccups. Its rebound speed isn't lightening fast like a FOX or Specialized dropper post, but it's still quick enough that I never felt like I was waiting for it to come up on Sedona's constantly rolling terrain. It also doesn't hurt that the tiny thumb operated remote takes up next to no room on the handlebar while feeling spot-on when it's slotted up against your left-hand grip. The only bummer was a snapped cable mid-way through a big day on the Mojo, a problem that came about due to the microscopic set screw that anchors the cable at the remote being over-tightened down onto it by whoever assembled the bike before we received it. That said, the cable swap that we performed in the middle of the ride proved just how easy it is to work on the Covert.




• While I usually get on well enough with most of the seats on review bikes, the house-brand saddle on the HD3 gave me a small glimpse what life would be like for me in a maximum security prison. We're all different down there, so maybe it'll work for you, but it's pretty obvious to me that it is one of the few seats that simply doesn't get along with my underside.

• I hit on it earlier, but the bike's 2015 FOX 36 160 FIT RC2 fork is so good that I feel like I need to keep rambling on and on about it. There's been a lot of talk over the last two years about how great the Pike is, but the latest from FOX is every bit as controlled and supple as any Pike that I've had under me, and it's worth noting that, with external low- and high-speed compression, low-speed rebound, volume spacers, the ability to run a 15mm or 20mm axle, and travel that can be run at five different lengths in 10mm increments, it's also more adjustable that RockShox's premier offering. This thing is the ticket for those who like to tinker. There was a slight rattle coming from within the fork when it went from being unweighted to hitting smaller impacts, something that we also had with another 2015 36 160 FIT RC2 fork in our test bike stable, although it never led to any reliability issues.

• There are two water bottle mount locations on the HD: one on the underside of the down tube and one on the top side just below the shock, but there's not much real estate for a large-sized bottle when using the latter. My big Camelbak Podium bottle made contact with the DBinline's gold Climb Switch lever, which was a bit annoying. I'm pretty sure that not many riders use anything larger than the Podium bottle, though, so I wouldn't consider it a deal breaker.



Pinkbike's Take:

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