World Champion Don Myrah Posted on: 02/06/2012

One of our very favorite pictures from last month's Master's National Cyclocross Championships is the following picture of Don Myrah, looking back at his nearest competitor.

Photo © Andrew Yee,  Cyclocross Magazine, click on the image to go to the race report.

This has been a common scene in any race over the last few years when Don has been in the race. Don ended up decisively winning this race and yet another Stars and Stripes jersey. We're not sure how many jerseys he's got now, but it's a lot (including 4 elite titles).

UCI World Champion

The following weekend, Don was down in Louisville, KY, looking for a bit of revenge after his last row call-up at last year's Master's World Championships in Belgium. Don fought valiantly in that race, battling his way from last to 12th. This year, though, Don got treated a little better. In this year's Worlds, there were seeding runs to determine who deserved to be on the front row. Don won his seeding run by 3 mintues (in a 24 minute race!). Last year's worlds winner won his seeding run too, but was 2 minutes slower than Don. One of our favorite pictures from the seeding run that day comes from Kay Ohta, he shot this one of Don in very appropriate conditions for cyclocross.

The weather was a little better on race day, but didn't produce the dramatic images. Here's another one from Cyclocross Magazine of Don's decisive win on race day. Click on the image with a link to the race report from CXMAGAZINE.COM.

Photo © Steve Anderson, Cyclocross Magazine, click on the image to go to the race report.

Congratualtions to Don Myrah on another fantastic season aboard his Ibis Hakkalugi.

Wheels4Life in Kapenguria Posted on: 01/25/2012

We've been friends of Hans Rey for over 25 years now, dating back to when Hans participated in some of Scot's 'backyard trials' events in the mid 80's (we recently wrote about these events and Hans in one of our 30th anniversary stories here -- you can scroll down to see the part on Hans).

Last year we participated in the Dreambikes project with Hans' Wheels4Life charity, organized by our friends at crankbrothers.

The Dreambikes project involves getting companies in the bike industry to donate frames, forks, wheels, drivetrains, etc, enough to make a complete 'Dreambike'. The bikes are then auctioned with 100% of the proceeds going to Hans' Wheels4Life charity. Through the generosity of everyone who bought auction bikes, we were able to raise a lot of money and get a lot of very deserving people on bikes.

We're well into this year's effort. After last week's auction, we have raised a total of $22,277, or enough to purchase 222 bikes for Wheels 4 Life—that’s 45% of our goal!

We think it's best to let crankbrothers tell the story from here...

The next bike available for auction is a truly unique Ibis Mojo SL. This is one of two custom painted Mojo SL frames for the crankbrothers race club. The custom blue paint looks beautiful with the gold and blue crankbrothers cobalt products, and the Ibis Mojo SL is a stunner in itself. Its long travel and light weight blur the line between all mountain and cross country riding, and it’s simply one of the best bikes you can ride. Take a look at http://crankbrothers.com/dreambikes/ibis-mojo-sl.php.

For this week’s auction of the Ibis Mojo SL, the winner will contribute to providing bikes to a mix of school children, teachers, and farmers in Kapenguria, Kenya. The funds raised will help sponsor Phase 3 bikes for the E4N Foundation, a project lead by a man named John Valent. John has successfully lead two previous projects with Wheels 4 Life (Phases 1 and 2), and he has now applied for an additional 50 bikes to support this community.

John is very passionate about the difference a bicycle can make not just to one person, but to an entire family. His progress reports over the years have proven just how life changing a bike can be. With a bicycle, a child or teacher is able to travel the long distances to school, allowing them to arrive both on time and with plenty of energy and focus. Providing more bikes to children means better access to education and a higher chance at a life without poverty. John’s work has also confirmed that farmers were able to transport a larger load of produce to the nearest market town both faster and in better condition. This allowed their income to double, and the farmers could then support their families with a higher quality of life.

This community has seen impressive results after Phases 1 and 2 of this project, and Phase 3 can only bring even better living conditions to the people in Kapenguria. The dreambikes auction of the Ibis Mojo SL will make a difference directly in Kenya by supporting this project.

Each week the dreambikes auction continues to gain momentum, and it is so exciting to think of how many people are aware of Wheels 4 Life and the incredible change accomplished by Hans Rey and his wife, Carmen.

So there you go. But before we leave here's a word from the man Hans (not in his native German).

2011 was a milestone year for Wheels 4 Life. Thanks to so many fundraisers and individual donations we were able to provide over twice as many bikes to people in great need than in 2010. Donations were up and by the end of the year we had a total of 1201 bikes distributed.

If you or anyone you know might be interested in a gorgeous Ibis Mojo SL, custom painted and certainly one of a kind, once again here's the location of the auction: http://crankbrothers.com/dreambikes/ibis-mojo-sl.php.

Mojo SL-R Review in The Bible of Bike Tests Posted on: 01/19/2012

Each year, Bike Magazine tests a lot of bikes. And each year they whittle down all those bikes to six per category, then take them to a cool place and test them further, the best against the best if you will. They call this The Bible of Bike Tests.

This year they went to Brevard, North Carolina to do the test. They took best 6 bikes of the year in each of 4 categories (XC, Trail, All Mountain and Gravity).

We're happy to say that in the all mountain category, one of the bikes they chose was our Mojo SL-R. Here's the first page of that category. Click it for a bigger, real purty picture by Dan Barham.

And we're real super duper happy to report that the Mojo SL-R fared extremely well in the Trail category, we might even venture to say it was their favorite, based on what the reviewer Seb Kemp said. Here is the SL-R test as it appears in the magaine, click on it for a PDF and the words are repeated below.

IBIS MOJO SL-R

In last year's Bible, the Ibis Mojo HD-the bigger brother of the SL-R-took my vote for the bike I most wanted to take home and roll around in the dirt.

This time it was the SL-R's turn to win the hearts of the entire test team.

The Ibis is so light that it felt like I was pushing an easy gear in a tailwind. The climbing is top-notch-great traction paired with unrivaled efficiency. The Mojo scaled the rocks and roots of our challenging technical test loop like a nitrous- fueled rock crawler. Then when it came to the descents, the bike went through the pockmarked slickrock, roots and rock gardens with the greatest of ease-the suspension flowing as smooth as a Motown bass line.

The Ibis' front end is remarkably flex-free, and the rear end is as stiff as hanging laundry in an Arctic wind. Nor is there discernible bottom- bracket flex, meaning that all power was transferred directly into going forward, while the suspension was left to do its job unhindered. The suspension and shock tune on the SL-R dance the fine line between compliance and performance. The SL-R felt very sporty throughout its travel, but still generous enough with its plushness to plow through some serious chunder.

In terms of small-bump compliance, the SL-R set the benchmark for all the bikes-nothing else was as smooth and silent. What's more, the Shimano Shadow Plus rear derailleur helped keep the Ibis nice and quiet; a fine touch on such a beautiful and aesthetically pleasing bike.

This bike is just so capable and inspiring, it easily blurs the lines of bike characterization, The only minor thing keeping it from being absolutely perfect is its lack of water-bottle bosses.

But that's utterly trivial compared to the lbis' biggest drawback: The fact that it left a gaping hole in our hearts when we were forced to hand it back. - Seb Kemp

Don Myrah…ANOTHER National Title Posted on: 01/08/2012

During these last couple of years, if Don Myrah entered a National Championship event, the race was usually for second place. Don has been totally dominant latey, in both Cyclocross and on the Mountain Bike.

Yesterday he did it again, winning the 45-49 Masters Title at the 2012 National Cyclocross Championships in Madison WI, winning for the second consecutive year. Oh yeah, he was riding, as usual, an Ibis Hakkalügi CX bike.

Thanks to Cyclocross Magazine for the usual excellent reporting, you can read the full story on Don's ride on the CX Magazine website here.

Photo courtesy of CXMAGAZINE.COM

Lopes switches to X Fusion for 2012 Posted on: 01/08/2012

Long time Ibis rider/racer/tester/shredder/honch Brian Lopes will be riding X Fusion suspension for the 2012 season. X Fusion's R & D office recently relocated to a building near us in Santa Cruz.

Photo Courtesy of X Fusion

Here's a video announcing Brian's collaboration, along with a few shots of the riding around Santa Cruz.