Comments on: Ibex Ignition 3

By: Damian

Damian — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:46:00 +0000

It’s been a while since anyone has posted here, but I definitely have some valid points to make about buying a bike like this (Ibex). First of all, I’ve been racing on and off for about 12 years now, and I can tell you… a bike is as good as its rider. I raced pro and was factory sponsored
back in the early ’90’s…my bike was the at that time top of the line for that manufacturer. The component group on that bike (Legacy Snowbird) was trash in comparison to what we have now… but you know what? That didn’t stop me from taking first in the downhill. Ppl kill me…
you really don’t have to spend 6k on a bike for it to be good. It’s all about what geometry works for you, shift style, etc…
Now, to address the issue of Chinese or Taiwan manufacture… an American bike and an
American car are very similar in that they both use parts from origins other that the USA. Just because a frame is welded and assembled in the states doesn’t make it better. Neither does the fact that an American made bike will cost like 10 times as much (sometimes literally)
As a matter of fact, I’d trust a Chinese robot welder to an American human welder anyway.
I’ve never owned an Ibex, nor have I been payed by them… but they seem to be on the right track.
FYI: I am a soldier stationed overseas… I can’t get a Specialized, Marin, Jamis, without great difficulty, but Ibex would ship right to me if I wanted one…

By: Like A Coil Spring

Like A Coil Spring — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 05:28:06 +0000

Suspension at its finest with the Mercedes Coil Springs…

It is not all about the horsepower and torque you put into the engine to make an enhanced Mercedes performance….

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 03:02:48 +0000

The thing hear is the ignition is not some special design that ibex came up with but rather a common frame that other manufacuters used to. The mongoose wing is pretty much the same frame, and has since been dropped.now while the price is great for the parts there are a few other bikes to look at, but I would include IBEX in my search

By: Charlie

Charlie — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:59:08 +0000

Diego, have you ever ridden an Ibex?

By: Diego

Diego — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:00:40 +0000

Ibex bikes are junk. They pay people to post positive reviews of their bikes.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:25:31 +0000

Chris,
I’m not sure if you are referring to the review as being biased or the comments, but I can assure you that my reviews are strictly my opinions. There are definitely sites out there that get paid to post nice things about mountain bikes but this is not one of them. We are just guys that like to ride and have fun reviewing new bikes from time to time. There is absolutely no money being exchanged when we do these reviews. I hope that helps to clarify.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 19:04:02 +0000

Looks like Ibex is flooding the internet with bias reviews. I’d really like to know just how many of these comments are actually real.

By: Conway

Conway — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:46:37 +0000

John -

I have been off bikes in a serious way for about a decade but, before that, was heavily involved in all aspects of the sport. I hate to say this, but all of the lower end bike frames come out of Taiwan and/or China - whether they’re decaled as Kona, Trek, Jamis, etc. This started with Specialized who was the first bike company to send their manufacturing overseas.

That said, I am in the market for a new bike and have been reviewing specs and components. I think that if you carefully compare the Ibex Asta and Ignition offerings to the Kona Kikapu or Brodie Rite you will see that, on paper, the Ibex bikes look pretty good. It goes without saying that the proof is in the ride, but with the Ibex return policy what have you got to lose anyway? Steve has some good points on component specs and I agree that you would have to do some upgrading on the components of a lower end Kona to match the Ibex. Will the Kona frame last longer? Probably. Would higher end Kona or Brodie or Iron Horse kill the Ibex? Almost certainly.

I may regret this after I ride one, but I can’t say that I won’t be trying this one out for the price/feature value.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 24 May 2007 12:09:37 +0000

Yes John, I bought a Kona. Nice frame but let me tell you about the parts that came with it.The seat was had as rock..I persevered with it thinking it would break in.It didn’t. Ended up buying a selle saddle as replacement.100% better than the stock SDG.
Also the Marzocchi fork had very little suspension.This is where Kona really economized.Ended up buying a rockshox TORA 318..again 100% improvement. Could never get the shimano LX ? Deore drivetrain working smoothly although the shifters were ok.Even after repeated visits to the store for adjustment.Ended up buying a SRAM X’/X9 drivetrain…and guess what? Yep! 100% improvement. Now after a lot of extra expense i finally have a bike that rides as it should have done in the first place!
The moral? Kona make some fine bikes at top end level but the basic Ibex Asta X7 comes with all these parts that i had to upgrade to right out of the box.So I’d have to say going by my experience that the Ibex would be a great buy.I haven’t ridden an Ibex ( would like to!) but I’ll bet it’s a great ride and seems like you haven’t ridden one either so why dismiss it as a bad buy?
Best bike i’ve ridden? A cheapo Schwinn Mesa hardtail. Have to admit it…nicer ride than many of the more expensive brands.That ibex bike looks like a pretty tasty cookie to me and i wouldn’t expect it to be any worse than some of the other names on your list!

By: John

John — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:01:22 +0000

What I’ve noticed about Ibex is they promote their bikes to really uninformed buyers. They are appealing because of their price compared to the the inflate prices at your local bike shop. But there are a lot of better alternatives, such as Iron Horse, Motobecane, Jamis, and Kona among others. Because most of these bikes are not cookie cutter bikes like the Ibex who get their frames from manufacturers in China and Taiwan. Also most of the better brands have better suspension designs, which is key when shopping for a full suspension bike. The better the suspension design the less pedal bob and brake jack one will experience and the better the overall ride will be.

I would recommend staying away from Ibex, and if anything test ride at your local bike shop first before buying ANTYING online.