The folks over at Ibis have been busy. Today they dropped the latest version of the 27.5” trail machine — Mojo 4. Let’s talk about that.

I’ve got a soft spot for the Mojo. My first Ibis bike was a Mojo 3, followed by a Mojo HD4. Since then, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time on the Ripmo and Ripley. There’s something about the way Ibis bikes pedal. They accelerate and climb with purpose. Like they’re not just around to get you from the bottom to the top, but to have the most fun on the way there. If you’ve ridden one, you’ll likely share in my sentiment. Well, the Mojo 4 seems to be no exception.

Updates from the mojo 3

The Mojo 3 was a great bike that put a big emphasis on fun and maneuverability. It took full advantage of what small wheels do best. That thing cornered on rails. It wasn’t the bike for pushing the pace on tough trails though. I found myself getting in over my head quite a bit. The 130mm of rear travel paired to a 140mm fork did a good job of smoothing out the trail, but when things got really rough, I found myself blowing up catastrophically — the geometry wasn’t there to save me when I screwed up. The Mojo 3’s geo was what we could call conservative. The reach and wheelbase were both rather short. The reach on an extra large was 457mm — shorter than the reach in today’s size medium Ripmo. And, get this, the wheelbase was shorter than the current small Ripmo. The head tube angle was a little steep, but not too bad at 67.1 degrees. All of this added up to a bike that felt amazing in smooth, tight and twisty terrain. It felt less than confident on rocky, rugged trails.

Ibis addressed all of those issues in the Mojo 4. Travel remains the same at 130/140mm, but the geometry has changed radically. The reach in a size extra large is now 515mm — a whopping 58mm (2.25”) longer. Coincidentally, it is Ibis’ longest bike in terms of reach measurement. The wheelbase now is on par with an XL Ripmo at 1262mm. Considering this bike has less travel and smaller wheels, that’s rather impressive. The head tube angle is now 65.4 degrees and the seat tube is Ibis’ steepest at 76.6 degrees. The chainstays remain really short at 425mm. That’s a lot of numbers. Let’s dive into what they all mean.

The new Mojo 4 is now going to be far more capable in rough terrain. It’s likely going to be less nimble, however. The short travel 27.5” category seems to be disappearing. I can think of two bikes off the top of my head — the Ibis Mojo 4 and the Santa Cruz 5010. Why would someone continue to ride one? I foresee this bike being for the type of rider who likes to find every side hit and bonus feature on the trail. It’s not going to be the fastest on the DH, or the most “monster truck” of all Ibis’ bikes, but It’s likely to still be the most nimble and fun. If you like jumping, jibbing and slapping berms, you’re going to dig the Mojo 4. If you aspire to be Josh “Ratboy” Bryceland or Josh “Loosedog” Lewis, then you should take a serious look at the new Mojo.

Other highlights of note

There’s a lot of these so we are going to continue in list form.

Biker’s Edge // Ibis Mojo 4 First Look