Ibis Cycles has had success with their Mojo line of cross country bikes over the years. Consequently, when they decided to branch out to a longer travel model it raised a few eyebrows. The Mojo HD reflects this knowledge as they’ve created a tougher longer travel option for riders looking for a bit more than the Mojo SL has to offer. The Mojo HD is designed to still maintain good climbing traits as well but its revised geometry and additional stiffness allow it to tackle rougher, more demanding terrain easier. The HD uses a high modulus carbon fiber. Ibis was able to achieve a frame weight only half a pound heavier than the original Mojo but in a stiffer and more rugged package.

[Ibis Mojo HD Gallery]

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6/29/2011

First off Ibis set the rear travel on the Mojo HD to 160mm. It was designed to be paired up with a 160mm to 180mm travel fork. The rear suspension design on the HD utilizes Dave Weagle’s dw-link suspension. The dw-link suspension is a good fit for the HD. With its anti-squat properties the HD is able to ascend and sprint without significant bobbing. The bike accelerates confidently without wandering in the travel under hard pedal strokes. When riding over rough terrain the HD’s 160mm of travel really shines and it descends with a bit more confidence compared to the Mojo SL.

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The stock shock that came on our HD was FOX’s 2011 RP23. It’s a 8.5” shock with 2.5” of stroke. On the latest HD’s hitting stores the HD will come with the new 2012 Kashima coated RP23. The HD will accept a FOX DHX Air or RC4 coil shock in all sizes except small. There are numerous options available to explore here as well as custom offerings from PUSH Industries to tailor the HD even more to suit a rider’s desires.

The HD is also available in a 140mm travel version. Ibis introduced new front shock mounts called Limbo Chips. With the use of a 7.875″ x 2” shock the HD can be ran in 140mm travel mode with slightly different geometry. Check Ibis’ page on the HD 140 for more details.

The headtube on the HD is shorter than most. Ibis tends to design their bikes with shorter than average headtubes. The headtube is a tapered design and the top cup is a 44mm integrated style and bottom is a 1.5 cup.

top cup (click to enlarge)

bottom cup (click to enlarge)

For headset duties we went with Cane Creek’s 40 series. They offer individual upper and lower cups that allow you to pick exactly what headset option works best for you. For our build with a 1 1/8” steerer tube fork, we went with a zero stack top cup (ZS44) and an external bottom cup with a 1.5″ crown race adapter as our fork was not tapered. We could have went with a zero stack 1.5” bottom cup but in our experience have found the larger bearing of external cup headsets to be more durable and offers an additional point of geometry adjustment given its taller profile.

Moving a bit further back on the bike you’ll notice the top tube cable routing. Ibis has included 3 clips along the top tube to secure front derailleur and dropper style seatpost cables. It’s a clean system that can be easily removed if you’re not running either of those parts.

The routing for the rear brake and rear derailleur is equally as clean. They both travel along the bottom of the downtube. Ibis created a nice looking optional polycarbonate downtube guard that helps protect the downtube and cables from debris that might kick up on the downtube. It’s attached using the waterbottle mounts and even has foam padding on the inside so it won’t scratch your paint. The cable exit point near the bottom of the guard is a bit tight to reach the cable tie spot.

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Ibis gave the bike strong suspension links to make sure the bike is stiff and reliable under tougher usage. The lower link is more robust than their other Mojo bikes and uses dual row angular contact bearings in the front with 28mm x 15mm x 7mm radial bearings in the rear. With Brian Lopes being one of Ibis’ sponsored riders, Ibis wanted to be sure that the HD would be able to cope with the power he puts down. Lopes made sure the HD was stiff enough for his standards and chances are will be more than adequate for most every Mojo HD user.

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The bottom bracket on the HD is a standard 68mm threaded style with no ISCG tabs (as seen above). They couldn’t include ISCG tabs on the HD because the link placement interferes with the top mounting bolt of the ISCG standard. You have the option to run a bottom bracket mounted chainguide or Ibis’ custom MRP G2. Ibis partnered with MRP to create a custom designed single ring chainguide for the HD. On the custom chainguide from MRP there is a bolt that attaches the backplate to the lower link.

For our build we needed a dual ring chainguide. We went with a bottom bracket mounted e.thirteen Heim 2 chainguide with a Turbocharger bashguard. This package has worked well for us. It offers full bash protection and the lower guide tucks up nicely out of the way from most obstacles. If the guide were to come into contact with any obstacles and rotate, the guide has a built in stop that keeps it from rotating any farther. This stop also keeps the chain from being stopped or gouging the underside of the chainstay. Check out our article on e.thirteen’s Heim 2 chainguide for more info.

A detail to note when installing your bottom bracket on the HD is that some BB tools may have issues. Since the lower link is so large it comes out away from the frame farther than the bottom bracket cup making flat tools that wrap completely around the BB cup hard to use. With our e.thirteen bottom bracket we did not have this issue because it comes included with a socket tool that fits neatly around the cup and does not interfere with the link.

The rear brake mount on the HD is a 160mm post mount design made from Magnesium that can fit up to a 200mm rear rotor. Ibis says using Magnesium allows them to make the mount just as strong as aluminum but 2/3’s lighter weight. They also say Magnesium gave them much higher strength and more consistent material properties. Make sure you have the correct adapter on hand when building up your ride if you are going to use a rotor larger than 160mm.

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At the rear you’ll also find a 12mm x 135mm Maxle thru axle. The axle threads into the replaceable derailleur hanger. Simply push the axle from the non-drive side, tighten to spec, and close the lever. Simple and effective. A 2.5mm allen can be used to get the Maxle to clamp tighter if need-be.The Maxle that came with our HD is now a constant radius vs the tapered axle they were using last year. This works better with all hubs and is still very lightweight. On the latest HD’s Ibis will now have a 12mm x 142mm rear axle.

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Build:

For the build on our HD we wanted create an adaptable “do-it-all” type bike. We spec’d components that we knew were strong as well as generally lightweight in order to be able to take the HD to the trails one day and then head over to the bike park on another. The HD can be built up as lightweight or as beefy as you’d like to suit your riding. It is easily capable of being a swiss army knife in your bike quiver, tackling anything you’d like to throw at it. Our builds came in around 28lbs complete depending on tires and tubes used.

Up front we went with our tried and true RockShox Lyrik DH coil 170mm fork. The damping on the Lyrik DH is impressive and much improved over the past years. The Lyrik DH has high and low speed compression as well as beginning stroke rebound. It comes with a Maxle Light 20mm through axle and is easily tunable with the included springs. The steerer is 1 1/8” mated to the Cane Creek 40 series headset discussed earlier in the article.

For the cockpit we went with a 35mm Straitline SSC stem. When testing sizes, the 5′ 6” rider for this bike found that running a shorter 35mm stem on a medium bike allows them to keep the reach they’re comfortable with for gravity riding and not feel as cramped as they did on the small. A bit longer stem can be swapped out for longer trail rides.

The handlebars are Spank Oozy’s with 30mm of rise. On the surface, these may look like normal 700 mm wide bars, but the Spank bars have tapered sections inside to add more material in high stress areas. By using FEA analysis Spank was able to apply their Dual Extreme Gradual Taper technology and 3 plane CNC bending for stronger construction and less weight. Material is added and removed where Spank determined it was required.

They feature Impact Ends which means that they have a greater wall thickness at the tips to prevent impact damage and crushing during crashes.

The clamping area itself has special attention paid to it during the construction process so that is uniformly cylindrical for an improved bar-stem interface.

For shifting duties we went with SRAM’s X9 trigger shifters. We have a 3 speed front shifter and 10 speed rear shifter to match our drivetrain. They offer crisp, clean shifting. We like the new all black look as well.

To bring the HD to a stop we’re using our veteran Formula K24 brakes. These brakes have been through the ringer and back again. They aren’t the most powerful brakes on the market but they do offer enough power for most conditions. These brakes are still great and work just fine. Mated with Straitline’s aftermarket levers, the brakes feel smooth and modulate very nicely. We’re running a 200mm front rotor and 180mm rear rotor because our HD will see a good amount of gravity riding. For trail riders 180mm front / 160mm rear should be fine for most riders and if not, you probably already know it.

To put the power down we went with e.thirteen’s XC single speed crankset. We wanted to get a crankset that would work with e.thirteen’s new Shiftrings for our double front chainring drivetrain. We have been highly impressed with e.thirteen’s DH crankset, so we figured the XC single speed crankset would perform just as well. They have many of the same features and design aspects of the DH cranks, just in a lighter weight package. You can read more about the cranks in our past article.

Straitline got the nod for pedals on gravity days and Shimano clipless for XC and trail days. Straitline’s pedals are proven performers with loads of traction and style. Ours have been running strong for a few years now.

For the drivetrain we went with SRAM’s 10-speed setup. We wanted to have a wide range of gears in the back to tackle all the varying terrain the HD will see. We went with SRAM’s PG-1070 12-36T cassette teamed with their PC-1051 chain. The PC-1051 chain has the same features as their higher end 1091, mainly the non-corrosive nickel plating on the inner and outer link plates, just with solid pins. It’s only a minor weight penalty but much less expensive.

With a dual chainring front we’ll be able to earn our descents thanks to e.thirteen’s 36/22 Shiftrings. Both the front and rear derailleurs are SRAM’s X9 models. The rear derailleur is a long cage and the front derailleur is a standard top pull band clamp design. Ibis has updated their latest HD frames to now feature direct mount front derailleurs. There aren’t ISCG mounting tabs here so if you do decide to get a chainguide system it will be through the BB interface only if you’re not running the specific MRP guide.

Saddle duties go to Selle’s SLR XC Flow mated with Thomson’s Elite seatpost. Thomson’s seatpost’s are legendary with light weight and perfect functionality. Easy to set and forget.

For the wheelset we went with a set we had built a long time ago that are still kicking. We have Hope Pro 2 hubs mated to DT Swiss 5.1D rims with Sapim CX Ray spokes. The wheelset has performed very well over the years. The rims have taken a few dings but what has been most impressive is the trueness of the wheels. They have only needed minor tweaking thanks to the 25% higher tension used on the CX Ray spokes. They also come in at a nice sub 1900g weight.

For tires we’ve run a variety depending on the terrain. For gravity riding in loose and muddy conditions we’ll be running the highly versatile Schwalbe Muddy Mary’s. We run a 2.5 front with a 2.35 rear. For aggressive trail rides we’ve been rocking Continental’s Trail King 2.4’s. Both feature loads of traction thanks to their tread design and grippy rubber compound. Both fit with plenty of room to spare between the seat and chain stays of the rear end.

Custom

The HD has limited branding on it and there is blank spot on the main triangle of the frame. We made a custom carbon fiber sticker made to match the rear Ibis logo to fill in the gap. We think it rounds out the look nicely and seems more finished.

Colors:

The Mojo HD is available in Black matte carbon, white, and Vitamin P (yellowish green).

Geometry:

For our medium the wheelbase came out to be 44.25”. With the Continental Trail King 2.4’s our bottom bracket height was 14.25”.

Price:

The current price for the HD frame is $2399.99. The HD will increase in price in a couple of months to $2499 US retail and then will include the Kashima coated shock at no additional cost.

Weights:

Our complete build weight is around 28lbs fluctuating a bit depending on tires and tubes mounted for the terrain.

• Medium frame with no shock / no axle / no guard – 2617g
• Medium frame with RP23 shock / guard / no axle – 3022g
• FOX RP23 8.5″ x 2.5″ with hardware – 328g
• Maxle 12mm x 135mm – 72g
• Polycarbonate downtube guard – 41g
• Check our weights section for more product weights