Ripley AF

PB Forum :: Ibis
Ripley AF
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flag maxlombardy
Posted: Oct 20, 2021 at 9:04 Quote
Get whichever one is cheaper or in stock. If all else equal I’d get the Topaz, I really liked mine. Then also I had a Monarch+ which completely transformed the vpp bike I had it on. You can’t go wrong TBH.
flag shewhorn
O+
Posted: Oct 20, 2021 at 16:09 Quote
jddeerman wrote:
Does anyone find their Ripley's rear suspension to be absolute garbage over rocks and roots/ chatter? Feels like a hardtail to me.

(ETA Never mind... hadn't seen your follow-up, glad you got it sorted)

As someone who recently moved from a hardtail to a Ripley AF I can say that it doesn’t feel anything like a hardtail. Hardtail experience for me was having to stay off the saddle all night going over lots of rocks and roots in a heavily eroded trail. With the Ripley I was able to remain seated most of the time, and didn’t get bucked out of the saddle.

I’m an experienced cyclist (35 years of riding) but an inexperienced mountain biker. I feel like the hardtail really demands skill to ride. The Ripley by contrast seems to be great at making excuses for my lack of experience/skill and just happily does much of what I ask of it relative to the hardtail which just goes “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA you idiot, get off of me now” (at which point I find myself on the ground). I think the Ripley AF will be a patient teacher. I bought it specifically because on the road I like to climb and off road… there seems to be a lot of consensus that it likes to go uphill.

Of course, get out your grain of salt given my limited experience off-road.
flag Idawho
O+
Posted: Oct 21, 2021 at 20:02 Quote
Very few pictures of this bike show it with a water bottle installed. Those cables look like they'd interfere with a left-handed side entry bottle cage. Is this an issue or do they push out of the way? Perhaps a fidlock would work better?
flag meSSican
O+
Posted: Oct 21, 2021 at 20:04 Quote
Idawho wrote:
Very few pictures of this bike show it with a water bottle installed. Those cables look like they'd interfere with a left-handed side entry bottle cage. Is this an issue or do they push out of the way? Perhaps a fidlock would work better?
They do push out of the way. Kinda of a pain to install the cage but once on no issues
flag melanthius
O+
Posted: Oct 21, 2021 at 22:59 Quote
I’d go with a side-entry cage, so it will hold the cables out of the way. I haven’t used one with it, but I could imagine a fidlock being much more annoying. I have a right-handed Specialized cage that’s working fine.
flag and78ers
Posted: Oct 21, 2021 at 23:18 Quote
I also tried the fidlock but the cables annoyed me every time. Now I use the stock bottlecage from a Trek Fuel Ex. I´ve also fitted a adaptor from 76project to get it closer to the shock and away from the cables.

https://76projects.com/collections/all/products/water-bottle-space-saver
flag scoobydidnt
Posted: Oct 22, 2021 at 14:45 Quote
If your looking for a super cheap and quick option I picked up a $6 basic alloy cage from Dick’s sporting with a smallish Camlback podium bottle and it works pretty well for about $20 total spent with no waiting on shipping.
flag Idawho
O+
Posted: Oct 22, 2021 at 15:14 Quote
Thanks, everyone. I wonder why they put those ports up so high. Just seems odd for a company that's known for very good fit and finish. Good to hear that it's workable.
flag jdevilbiss
Posted: Oct 25, 2021 at 4:43 Quote
Jumping into bottle cage chat. Got my bike a couple weeks ago. On a large frame the side-load cages I tried, an Arundel cage and a cheap Amazon no-name thing, didn't really work. Both fit but were wider at the base, which pushed the rear derailleur cable into the bottom bracket shell, causing pretty bad cable rub as the suspension compressed.

Here's the bike now, with a non-side-load Bontrager cage holding a 23oz bottle. The cage arms are higher up the mount, so they don't touch the cables. Slightly less convenient but not as annoying as a cable slowly sawing into the BB.
photo
flag shewhorn
O+
Posted: Oct 25, 2021 at 12:46 Quote
Interesting... never even thought of putting a bottle cage on an MTB. I'm perhaps a bit strange in that I absolutely HATE hydration packs when I'm on the road bike (last year pre-vaccine I started using one on the road bike so I could avoid going inside to get water/lunch/snacks on long rides where I get about 15 miles per 24 oz bottle on a hot day... so glad I didn't have to use the damn thing on the road this year), but I prefer them on the MTB as they allow me to drink while riding (I can literally contort my head a bit and grab a sip without taking my hands off the bars where as with the bottles I feel like I never have enough time to take my hands off the bars due to all the bloody rocks and roots in my area). Also, I'm worried about the bottle falling out but I gather... not a problem? I'd love to do this little hack so I can store a spare tube, tire irons, patch kit and maybe some alcohol wipes to quickly disinfect the various scrapes I often seem to collect from trees and rocks in a water bottle (ETA... and since it's not something I'd open that often, I could actually put a velcro strap around it to make sure it doesn't go anywhere):

https://youtu.be/hJsGuWemPjE
flag deez-nucks
Posted: Oct 29, 2021 at 10:17 Quote
If anyone has considered a fork upgrade, I swapped out the Grip damper for a FIT4 and extended the travel to 140 before heading to Pisgah last week (easy job, just watch a YouTube video and get the right oil and sockets). Worked great. I was pretty surprised at how fast this bike will go for 120mm travel on some steep trails. I constantly go through the rear travel, but really was not a problem. I like the 140 on the front for very steep stuff, but will probably swap back to 130 whenever I get the motivation.

Any one else riding it with 140 fork? Anyone try 120???

also.. +1 on the Bontrager side load cage. Works well, and they have a highlighter yellow color that matches the yellow logo on the green version. I used some zip ties to keep the cables out of the way.
flag flattoflat
Posted: Nov 1, 2021 at 12:59 Quote
I'm on the list with DVO for a Topaz T3 and am thinking about getting a 140 Diamond up front. Nothing here is steep but I thought it might suit my riding from experiences I've read (and the JKW video). Would love to hear more feedback on it.
flag deez-nucks
Posted: Nov 6, 2021 at 7:34 Quote
I feel like the stock shock climbs well and rides well when being pushed hard (despite the fact it bottoms out a lot) my issues with the rear is on slow speed techy stuff. Feel like the traction sucks when you’re in the top of the travel. Real interested in how a nicer shock might improve that.

I honestly had no problem with the 130mm fork, and like how the bike rides better overall with the 130, but was very nice having a little extra slack and travel when rolling down steep chunky trails that I don’t know, front wheel heavy hitting holes and flat edges.
flag shewhorn
O+
Posted: Nov 7, 2021 at 7:56 Quote
A follow-up regarding my previous post wrt this video converting an old water bottle into storage:

https://youtu.be/hJsGuWemPjE

I converted an old Specialized 24 oz. wide mouth bottle. It’s a tight fit but I was able to get a spare tube, a patch kit, and two tire irons in there. Not sure how well this would work with a hair dryer. I have a proper heat gun which gets orders of magnitude hotter than a hair dryer, and I needed to use the high setting to get the plastic to conform to a new shape. Happy to have these items out of my hydration pack.
flag VonBaron
O+
Posted: Nov 10, 2021 at 12:33 Quote
Does anyone have experience with the standard DPS tune and being lighter? I’m about 150-160lbs on a XL.

I’ve asked the shop if anyone else with a RAF that has the light tune wants to swap shocks I’d be interested in it.

 


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