Ibis

Mojo HD3 Carbon Mountain Bike Frame - 2015

Every new catalog year brings a new flood of so-called standards and innovations that every manufacturer in the industry will have you believe will revolutionize the mountain bike world forever. It gets old; we get jaded. The new paint jobs crack and chip. But occasionally, something actually rises to meet the expectations of its marketing copy, and Ibis' latest Mojo HD3 Carbon Mountain Bike Frame does double duty by not only astounding after just one ride, but also improving on Ibis' impressive history, which includes such venerable frames as the original Mojo and the Ripley.

The HD3 emerges from the dust still being kicked up around the world by its predecessor, the Mojo HD 650B. Recognizing the clear advantages that resulted from stuffing 27.5-inch wheels into their Mojo HD frame, engineers went back to the drawing board in order to live up to their titles by engineering a big bike platform that would house 27.5in wheels without requiring any stuffing, dialing the frame's geometry and DW-Link suspension to play well with the playfully mid-sized wheels.

The Mojo HD3's 27.5in-specific DW-Link suspension platform completely isolates rear wheel movement from pedaling and braking forces, creating a plush and linear suspension motion that feels like an even bigger bike, yet pedals on flats and climbs with genre defying mojo, feeling at times more like an XC machine. The 67-degree angle of the tapered head tube confuses the issue further, taking advantage of DW-Link's solidity and the chassis' stability to hit a steeper angle than most six-inch bikes. The Mojo HD3 leads into climbs with a sharper front end for handling that doesn't sell you out when you're dropping in for the descent. The bike's spine is built on stout, 16.9in chainstays and a low 13.4-inch bottom bracket, which team with the aforementioned geometry for an uncommonly agile enduro sled that gets up and goes or goes down fast.

The frame accommodates external or internal cable routing and stealth routing for a dropper post. The threaded bottom bracket mercifully dismisses any proprietary press-fit systems in favor of a rock-solid, dirt-simple standard that will last for ages. Dual-row angular contact bearings on the drive side of the linkage require zero preload adjustment and dramatically reduce play compared to standard sealed bearings, further bolstering the bike's lateral solidity and your sense of control.

You have your choice of two different rear shock options with the Mojo HD3. The ubiquitous FOX Float CTD Adjust shock with Kashima coating is ubiquitous for a reason — it's light, reliable, tunable, and the shock's three Climb, Trail, and Descend modes are easy to switch between, stiffening or softening the damper as you see fit. If serious gravity is more often on your menu, though, step up to the twin-tube oil circulation and higher-volume chambers of the Cane Creek DBInline shock. It's 4-way tunable and has a dedicated climb mode that can be toggled via an external switch, tightening up the suspension movement for efficient revolutions regardless of terrain.