Ibis

Ripmo XX Eagle AXS Transmission Air Mountain Bike

Sweet ride

Familiarity:

I've used it several times

Size Bought:

L

Height:

5' 9"

Weight:

165

This bike makes descending a LOT easier. In my first 3 rides I broke at least 6 of my previous best times on my usual PNW flow segments. I am coming from a Ripley LS and was still having tons of fun, but was using all the travel and finding the bike harder to handle at higher speeds with its traction and stability limits. I didn't want to lose too much climbing capability, and I think with a lighter, faster tire set on, the Ripmo would climb very well for a bike in this class. It feels efficient, but the tires are heavy. For sure I gave up some ascending capability. Even though it is longer than my previous bike, I find it easy to move around and it not a problem to manual and wheelie. In fact it feels easier to balance for most stuff, except climbing really narrow singletrack. For that, the slack head tube and highish BB made it a little harder to keep the line I wanted. The BB height is just high enough to have way fewer pedal strikes than I used to have with the Ripley. Switchbacks were fine because there is not much tendency to loop out. The fun happens on the downhill. As shipped, and with a bunch of suspension tuning, it really rips. The support of the suspension is good enough to hammer out of the saddle for short bursts, when the dropper is down and the trail is undulating, and that really impressed me. The support and stability under braking, G outs, berms and pump bumps is great. You can feel it gathering momentum as you pump the terrain. The small bump sensitivity is fairly plush and the traction under braking and cornering is awesome. I'm kind of old and don't like to be rattled as much anymore. For me the biggest change was how much easier it is to maintain speed and momentum, and this brought me up to the correct speed for most of the trails where I wasn't previously clearing doubles or making it all the way over the tabletops. The bike is really stable, so it matters way less when I come up short or over jump. The part I like is that it feels playful and nimble as well, and it feels good to pressure into the terrain. It has a great flow and energy, but is smooth and stable. As for the build, it is premium. I'm not sure you need to go as crazy as the XX AXS, but it doesn't suck. The shock and fork have HSC, LSC, HSR and LSR adjustments, which make it possible to get both support and smoothness. The XTR brakes are powerful, but modulate great. The E-dropper is sweet, because the action is so fast and light. The Transmission is incrementally better than the mechanical Eagle X01 I used previously, which was pretty evolved. The app and setup are just so so and I found it fussy, but ultimately succeeded. The batteries seem to hold up amazingly well considering how many actuations they have to deal with. The wide asymmetrical carbon rims, and I9 hydra hubs feel stiff and fast. The whole bike feels really solid top to bottom. One of the nicest things is how quiet the bike is over rough stuff.