Ibis

Mojo 3 Carbon NX Eagle Mountain Bike - 2019

Some of our favorite and most enduring memories on a bike are spent exploring an epic, all-mountain backcountry day, high up in the mountains with a core group of riding buddies. Those leg-searing climbs, black diamond descents through endless rock gardens, pitching the bike back and forth between the aspens, and stopping mid-ride to jump into a lake is great fun and always gets us jazzed to plan the next adventure. If you're looking for a bike that you'll want to take on some choice singletrack, look no further than the Mojo 3 Carbon NX Eagle Complete Mountain Bike from Ibis. Designed as the definitive trail bike, it's slightly more surefooted on the descents than Ibis' own 29er, the Ripley, and with about a pound less weight and inch less travel to haul around than the enduro-slaying HD4. All-in-all, it's lightweight carbon chassis and refined suspension package offer up just the right amount of get-up-and-go for getting up and over craggy climbs and smooth fire roads alike, with the plush feel for sending it down drops and across roots on the way back to the trailhead.

The Mojo 3's spirited kick starts with the shock tune and DW-Link suspension. Ibis claims it tuned the shock so its initial stroke rides on the "plush" side, but our firsthand experience with the bike tells us that generous small bump compliance doesn't make it feel as if it's wallowing off the top. It's responsive and changes direction quickly while navigating switchbacks at climbing speeds, and the anti-squat pedaling platform maintains past the sag point. The shock's tune doesn't require a high damper crutch, a fact that Ibis credits to the shock rate and DW-Link's steady pedaling platform. Since it naturally reduces bob without needing excessive damping from the shock, DW-Link's ramp-up stays fairly linear throughout its suspension stroke. It also suffers less heat build-up than heavily dampened models, so its ramp feel isn't significantly affected during hard, fast descents where the shock is working overtime.

It wasn't specifically built as a park bike, but spending a few minutes on it makes it obvious that the Mojo 3 is fully capable of getting rowdy. Ibis describes the shock's tuned ramp-up characteristics as "robust." We describe it as the kind of big-hit confidence that can often be the key element in determining which side of the ragged edge you find yourself on. With this Mojo 3's 2.6-inch tires, you'll enjoy confident traction and a more bottomless feel than you might expect from other 130mm suspension platforms. Regardless of the width of the tires you choose to run, the shock tune and suspension keep the bottom bracket height at the sag point within 2mm of each other.

The frame itself is what you'd expect from Ibis: a full carbon monocoque affair that incorporates the construction pedigree of the HD4 but at a drastic weight savings, shedding a claimed 0.9lbs compared to the enduro brute. The final product is actually the seventh carbon lay-up schedule that Ibis tested —yet another indication that the Mojo 3 was carefully and meticulously developed rather than being rushed to market in order to capitalize on the 27.5+ hype.

In Ibis' own words, the stubby chainstays and low claimed frame weight make the bike feel "taut," and we think that's a wonderfully succinct way to describe the responsive aggression the Mojo 3 exhibits on the kind of climbs that would send the lumbering gravity crowd in search of a chairlift. When run with its included 140mm fork, the Mojo 3's 66.8-degree head tube is on par with standard slack enduro standards and situates it squarely at the foremost tip of the advancing sea of all-mountain machines that drop in as well as they climb out.

The tapered head tube further increases stiffness up front, which makes for even better tracking across the terrain, and the inclusion of Boost rear spacing let Ibis slam the rear wheel up for the above-mentioned stubby stays—which are approaching XC standards—while still leaving room for tubby tires and a front derailleur. That clearance also means that the frame is compatible with tires ranging from beefy 2.8-inch plus-sized down to faster rolling 2.3-inch treads. As an added touch, the stock wheelset's 34mm internal width will run the range of those tire widths so you can swap between standard and plus-sized tires without shelling out for a whole new set of wheels.