Lessons learned.. move to ripmo from trail bike

Few lessons learned .. when I decided to go more plush.. mo suspension from my pivot 429 trail .
W 130 mm front.. 110in back.. got the more Enduro type ripmo

The trail bike was a good climber.. but not as good compared to cross country bike and good descender.. could hit all the downhills in OC.. no problem..hawk.. rattlesnake... Repo.. etc...
But not as good as downhill bike

I was suffering the faster I went over more rocky techy.. like stairsteps..t n a...I would bottom out.. when hitting multiple hits at fast speed...
Air. Jumps all doable but limiting mentally bc of trail bike .. so I thought....

Now w ripmo.. the downhills.. techy and bigger drops air are more stable.. the bike does not fly around at speed bouncing off rocks n .. Jumps n air more forgivable...

All good...

But downside to more suspension is noticiablenoticable climbing. Penalty..u just can't avoid it.. heavier mo stable bike means harder to climb.. no matter what they say... Ripmo climbs techy single track great but after 3 or 4 thousand. Feet I'm just more tired than previously w lighter trail bike... More energy expended...the trade off is the downhill

Yet if I miss feeling the trail... rocks.. drops .. more so..
.the more suspension.. the less feel of the ground..
Cadillac verse sports car..

Trails r tamer... The ripmo dumbs down the difficulty... And makes trails easier but mo dangerous bc u can't help but to go faster...
And we know crashes at speed hurts mo ..
Ripmo is a great bike but there is no such thing as a one do it all best bike..

Trail bikes for the OC is the closest thing..

Think Ill keep the ripmo...but ache for my old pivot...

 

Old love

 

You will get used to the new ride in all situations, given time.

 

Very honest assessment. And reinforces what I said when I was talking about the underbiking trend - rear suspension quantity is more a matter of taste than need.

 

I always wanted to try single speed...

 

Adding a hardtail to your fleet is a solution. A dozen IMTBers can’t all be wrong...

 

I read that and came to the conclusion I would much rather have the Ripmo than the Pivot.

 

ive had the ripmo for a few years and absolutely love the bike. it will climb way better than i can ever climb but you are correct its not a xc type bike. the dh is what i live for and enjoy the most. so i just climb as needed knowing im not going to get any KOM.

i just put a deposit down on a HT to add to the stable. that along with my road bike should complete all that i need.

you will get used to the way it climbs... it will bring you miles of smiles in the future.

 

I'd bet a new Ripley would be the perfect solution @konakc

 

All ur thoughts are my thoughts...
Hardtail.. ripley... Heck yeah but will have to wait..
I climbed San Juan to bluejay.. and ripmo was comfortable and handled the climb great... Only compared to my last bike...I'm already getting used to the bike and forgetting the penalty..
On downhill ripmo rips... I want to hit bigger faster.. haha.. I also don't want too..
Ibis makes great bikes ..
But going on main divide.. 6000 feet day may not be as fun on the ripmo...

 

San Juan is magical on the single speed- up and down.

 

That's what they say about Scientology!

 

Getting more use to the Ripmo. I saw a picture of myself landing on a jump, seeing the tires literally flatten to the rim, with the shock to the max compression and with a big ole smile on my face.. riding the old Pivot trail... then I remember why I got the Ripmo.. for the extra cushion!

Getting use to the climbing penalty. The trade off in jumping, mostly landing, and downhill is well worth it...
Instead of feeling like I am bouncing off of rocks, holding on for dear life (ie T n A), now I go thru and feel relatively stable... yet still nimble...
the Ripmo makes you want to go faster and faster downhill and instead of trying to go around rocks... you want to go over them..
enjoying a new/different feeling of mtbking... getting air and landing so softly, feeling clouds on dirt!!

I need to go ride today!

 

Are you on aluminum or carbon rims on the Ripmo?

 

Good thread. I've had the Ripmo, Ripley, Tallboy, SB100 and demoed several Trail 429 bikes. All great bikes. Overall, I find the Ripley fits my needs best, by far and I could even do with less suspension. About a year ago I went from the Ripmo to the Ripley V4. I love both and, admittedly sort of miss the extra travel and capability of the Ripmo. I felt like the Ripmo climbed extremely well for the capability of the bike. Mine was built up to be under 28lbs so that was very nice too. I love the Ripley and it's a better bike for me, but I missed the silly (for me) capability of the Ripmo so much that I just got a 2020 Specialized Enduro. I am NOT a big Specialized fan, but after a friend loaned me his new Enduro, I was shocked at how well it rode and climbed. I have no business on a bike with that much capability, but it is so fun and that SWAT box is the bomb.

Since purchasing the Enduro, I've forced myself to ride it exclusively and I've ridden JPL, Sedona, Tapia, Simi, Wolsey, Flagstaff and the bike has really done great in every one of those places. It's fun having all that travel and capability. I'll ride it exclusively for a little while and then go back to the Ripley for some comparison. At least I have two bikes with very different capabilities - one trail/XC (Ripley) and the other Enduro/DH (Enduro). Eventually one of them will have to go.

 

If you were to decide to sell that Ripley I umm know a guy that would buy it in a heartbeat.

 

and I know a guy for the Enduro altho it's likely to be too big... super cool paint job (vinyl wrap?)

 

That shock linkage is unlike specialized!?

 

for an Enduro, but not for Status/Demo...

 

Aluminum

 

Ripley might be in my future..

 

Interesting thread. I ride a Pivot Trail currently with 130 mm in the front and 120 mm in the rear. I can honestly say that I can’t recall a single time where I wished I had more travel in my suspension. The bike has been plenty of bike for me in all situations. In fact, I’ve been eyeing a lighter cross country type bike with less travel such as The Specialized Epic Evo. But I’ve never ridden a bigger suspension bike so maybe I’m missing out.

 

Or, perhaps you do not ride the types of trails that benefit from a big-travel, slack bike (yet).

(I predict the above comment will elicit responses about how "I ride the gnarliest trails on my fully rigid beach cruiser with a basket and a bell...")

 

This is true. But at this stage of my life(with a decent share of battle scars: torn ACL, broken bones, knocked out teeth, etc.) I’m pretty much over super high adrenaline activities. I’ll leave that to the younger folks.

 

And Herz.

 

I'm sure at some point there are diminishing returns, but based on my albeit limited experience, there's much to be said for more travel and slacker geo. I can only recall one single ride on my 140/130 bike where I wanted more travel, but when I switched to a 160/145 bike I preferred it virtually everywhere, almost even more on the kinds of trails where I definitely wasn't blowing through all my travel. Perhaps that was more to do with geo than actual suspension travel. Maybe this seem duplicitous coming from the guy who is currently seeking out exactly the type of bike you're talking about, though I don't figure it for a daily driver.

 

The eternal search for the unicorn that has the perfect balance of climbing vs descending capabilities has another contender:
The new Ibis Ripley AF with slacker head angle and additional 10mm of fork travel (140 vs carbon's 130) but with weight penalty of aluminum frame.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/video-ibis-2021-aluminum-ripley-is-more-metal-more-slacker.html

Correction: I misheard video - fork travel is the same, just head angle changed.