It was my turn to have fun with the Ibex Ignition 3. Joe and Jeremy both had turns riding this bike and each of them had one thing in common they didn’t like about the Ignition (Iggy). The long stem and riser bar. One of the things Joe mentioned in his previous articles about the Iggy was having to lower the stem the lowest position possible. After doing so, he still felt like the rise was a bit too high.
Enter RL’s garage. I took the reigns of the Iggy a while ago. Since then I’ve made some changes to accommodate my size (I usually ride a medium) and riding style. First up was the bars and stem. I opted for a 1.5 rise and shortened the stem by using the Sette Stumpy stem from Pricepoint.com. This allowed the large cockpit area to become more compact so that my short arms could easily reach the bars. I also did away with the swooping seat post and went with a standard post and scooted my saddle in. Now this baby was getting closer to what I like as far as sizing goes.
I then did away with the front WTB Velociraptor Tires since I didn’t care for them. In its place I installed a Maxxis ADvantage, 2.4 tire. This was perfect for tackling some of the most technical trails SoCal can offer, besides, the ADvantage grip like nothing I’ve ridden before.
Here’s how the Iggy looks nice. The front tire was replaced (yes I kept the back on for now) with the Maxxis ADvantage, shorter stem, lock on Intense grips, Oh I also replaced the rear cassette with an 11-27 Dura Ace cassette. It’s the same one Priscilla has on her bike, but that’s for another article…So there you have it. This is an ALL Mountain bike that I plan on using as my DH Bike. I’m thinking about getting rid of the big ring and placing a bash guard on it since I really won’t be using it for DH purposes. Eh who knows…
Follow up on the Dura-Ace cassette tidbit! I guarantee you at least one reader. Are there any special tricks to running this lil’ cassette other than adjusting your derailleurs B-spring? What lead to the decision to run this cassette, smaller jumps between gears, lighter weight, extra toughness by not having the ‘easy’ gears? Anyone else running this setup?
DAvid,
Priscilla runs this type of cassette on her bike and I believe its one of the main reasons why she’s so much faster than some of us.
When I swapped over to this set up, I didn’t have to adjust anything. Everything just worked. The advantage of this is its tighter gear ratio, so there’s quicker transition from one gear to another, thus causing smoother shifting, and overall a faster rider.
Some DH riders will run a road cassette to help them save some weight, but they also have no use for a 34t cog since they’re not really doing any climbing on their bikes.