Bicycles

derivative666

^FSR elite vs Ibis Ripley thoughts

mclaincausey

I'm no expert, listen to Danny. As I mentioned on the phone the larger firms have bigger R&D budgets and scales of economy than smaller guys, so heck it could be better. I just know one buddy who races a 29 and loves it.

DanielAFC

In those models at a quick glance my initial thoughts would be

Specialized:

Components:
The brakes and drivetrain are top notch. XTR rear derailleur is fantastic and will provide really crisp reliable shifting that is above that price level. Specialized doing things like wheels/stem bars etc in house allows them to put little extras like that on a bike that is otherwise spec'd at Slx level.

The Slx brakes are amazing, the same caliper as xt with less adjustment in the lever , which is really not a big deal at all. The shimano brakes have the best mix of power and modulation going right now.

the roval wheels specialized builds are great and run on a specialized branded dt swiss hub which has an incredibly reliable and easy to maintain freehub body. It has quick engagement which will translate into quick acceleration and power transfer.

The specialized frame is a really great hydro formed alloy which will be light and stiff. The shape and linkage is well thought out and replacement parts will be easy to come by as specialized is arguably the biggest bike company in the world, and for good reason. They make fantastic bikes. Lots of R and d goes into the frame designs to ensure that the bike is easy to ride and get used to for a large variety of riders from all skill sets.

The pike fork is the greatest thing going right now, nothing more to really say about that.

The ibis ripley is a really great bike as well, one of the biggest issues I see is Availability of replacement parts keeping people off their bikes, whereas a company like specialized is always stocked in the best shops in every biking community, ibis is definitely more of a niche brand and I wouldn't count of getting your bike going again right away if you had a frame related issue.

Without know what build kit you are looking at its hard to make a lot of comments about that, but the xt and xtwX build kits would be in a similar range to the specialized. I would definitely lean towards the wx as the fox suspension has been a bit of a letdown for the last couple of years with the exception of the new 36 And with you being a bigger guy the 32 mm stanchion is going to have a lot of flex. The pike on the wx is again flawless, whereas the cane creek dbinline is unproven at this point, but cane creek has released great suspension for bigger bikes, so it could be great. The raceface turbine crank that comes with the ibis is a great versatile crank that can be used for a number of different applications with the cinch system should you choose to go to a 1x setup. The stans arch wheel set on the xt kit are very light and again as you are a bigger guy they would be toast pretty quickly if you got into more aggressive trail riding. I'm guessing they come with stans 330 hub which is completely reasonable. The wx kit has a carbon rim that is monstrously wide and built on dt 350 hubs, I'd have to imagine it is pretty great wheel set but the cost would be pretty dear.

Overall with the ibis only coming in a carbon frame and there being some issues with the xt build kit ibis would be an extremely expensive route to go. In terms of frame geometry the ibis is certainly geared towards xc racing, with the stump jumper more towards trail riding, which is what most people are realistically getting up to. The ibis wouldn't be as much of a fun frame to ride as it would be a race bike works horse. Very fast, but more twitchy and unforgiving. The wx kit would rake it out with a 140mm fork in comparison to the normal 120mm, but I'm skeptical of a frame design that claims to be optimized for 120-140 and would imagine it performs best with 120. I've also found the chainline when running 2 or 3x with the dw linkage ripley to leave something to be desired, but that's getting too technical.

If you are willing to go to the price point that ibis is at I think there is better value out there for you on bikes that would be more fun. I'd look towards specialized in carbon as their carbon frames are unreal, or for a really great value with the low canadian dollar right now I'd look towards the Rocky Mountain instinct. Rocky's are my bike of choice and are very rider friendly with fantastic quality in their carbon and alloy frames with great build kits. This was a ton to type out so if I skipped on anything or if you have any other or follow up questions I'd be more than happy to put my two cents in

DanielAFC

Also, I figured the ibis "special blend" build kit was a custom deal, but upon closer inspection I see that it's their low end build kit . Steer right clear of that, you can get so much more at that price and those parts aren't worthy of a carbon frame

derivative666

Thank you several years ago I was looking at Rocky Mountain

derivative666

@danielAFC for $3000 what is the best bang for my buck Rocky Mountain Instinct 930 or Stumpjumper FSR Comp 29?

DanielAFC

Definitely the specialized

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Giles

derivative666

Very nice

derivative666

Going with this http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/bik/4924285068.html $2000 pick up. Hopefully I did good.

DanielAFC

Most definitely, a good price and a really fun versatile bike. Looks great as well

mclaincausey

Congrats on the score!

ddtrash

@derivative666 great pick up. Very hard to go wrong with bikes from the big three, Spec, trek and Giant.

The 'bang for buck' offered on Specialized bikes is very good.

When are you picking it up? Looking forward to hearing how you find it to ride.

derivative666

Getting it next Sunday it's mint

Jii

What an amazing week I had in Andalucia, if you're planning on going for a training week I strongly recommend Vamos Cycling. The roads were silky smooth and with almost no traffic. Did 550 km with 12 km of vertical ascent in six days in superb company. The weather was a bit cold, but thankfully we only got caught out in the rain during the last two hours of the last day so I'm extremely happy and will definitely go back next year.

I'm super-happy with the bike as well, completely fell in love with it during the week. Works flawlessly and rides amazingly.

Click for rest of pics