Is 120mm the new 100mm?

Well the Ibis Ripley that I mentioned in the last post sure has been controversial.  There are lots of folks boo-hooing about the steepish geo of the bike once the numbers were released.  The 71* HT angle seems to mark it as a long legged XC bike more than a Heavy Trail/AM thing like a Mojo might be.

It seems that Ibis has focused on keeping this a bit tighter than that long awaited 'Mojo 29er' was imagined to be.  That, and the non-Ibis looking design will keep this out of the hands of many Ibis loyalists I bet. 

So what we seem to have gotten is a swipe at the Tall Boy more than anything, but this year there are more and more bikes coming out with 120mm F/R travel.  The Tomac Diplomat, the Trek Rumblefish, the Specialized Camber (at 110mm), the Salsa Horsethief and I am sure many others.  I opined a year or so ago that 100m was the sweet spot on 29er FS bikes, the point where you could do almost anything in moderation and have a balanced bike through it all.

But with the light and likely good pedaling Ripley, well, maybe we are seeing the needle swing towards 120mm as the new sweet spot.  Maybe.  We shall see. 

Either way, the choices for 29ers is getting pretty wide now and there should be something for everyone here pretty soon.