Ibis Ripley GX Eagle

yeah one of these, they're there these brands that assemble their bikes at their headquarters in Santa Cruz and so they can. They can give you those o...

Ibis Ripley, GX build with carbon wheels. Great climber, amazingly poppy and fun, and a capable descender outside of very rough chunk.

Consider the Ibis Ripley -- 130/120 travel that rips on XC trails but absolutely handles its own on the downhill. On top of that, it climbs like a rocket.

If you want to stay with 27.5, there is also the Mojo coming in at 140/130

I'll throw my hat in for not overbiking just because trendy bike salesman say the same thing to every body as well as a nice little vote for the Ibis Ripley if climbing and efficient traversal is a concern of yours. If you wanna stick with 27.5 wheels another decent option is the Giant Trance, can even get them used for cheap, with the Fox & SLX configuration. Also, if you ever wanted a carbon frame and wheel bike, one of the cheapest ones you can find is the Trance Advanced, both new and used.

Ibis Ripley CF, best short travel Bike I rode yet. Or maybe a Transition Spur with a 130mm Pike Ultimate.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

I ended up buying the Ibis Ripley AF Medium in Pond Scum Green!

I'm super stoked and thanks guys!

The bikes are too different to give an advice. With an Budget of 6K I would go to an Demo Day and Test some bikes.

If I had 6K I would buy an Transition Spur or Ibis Ripley.

Just saw they released the Ibis Ripley AF for 3k, add it to your list if you have a dealer in range. I love my 2020 Ripley and would have bought the AF to save $$ if it existed a year ago.

right now the best bikes at or under 3K are the polygon T8 and the Ibis Ripley AF & Ripmo AF which are currently on sale for 25% off which puts their Deore builds at \~3K. The ripmo is a hell of a lot of bike for the money.

Ibis Ripley AF is $3k, for a full suspension bike that pedals beautifully. Aluminum but that’s not a bad thing.