We're on biking time. Of your 2 IBIS one was the Trials with a 24" rear and another was a Mountain bike as well?
I eded up assembling that project bike and it's a fun thing to commute in, sometimes going through forest fire trails and single track, city bikes can't do this.
After a couple weeks of use it developed a creak when pedalling under load, yesterday I regreased the whole crankset area but no avail, oh well. There's a bit of a frame crack in the headset that I'm watching, got to love that time bomb feeling of danger... In any case I was surprised of how much dirt I had to clean on the transmission.
As commuting bike, I really didn't want to spend that much. You mention availability of parts and got reminded that finding a 58/94mm 5 arm chainring without spending more than a Propack of film was hard; I think it was the standard MTB crankset sizing back in the 90s but not so much now!
Bikes do have a bunch of marketing and the emphasis towards 650B and 29" sure did its thing on part turnover.
BTW you mention the 2x drivetrains, all the rage is in 1x10-12. I should sometime try that, but got used to the useful range of 3x10. My FD crapped out so I now run out of a 3x8 just a 32 chainring with a 11-36 cassette or such.
Noticed that as I'm biking daily I don't find that much need to go to the trails for leisure... At the end of it, a replacement/replenishing set of legs would be nice to have. 😀
I ordered some film and in some terms got reminded that biking can be a not too expensive hobby compared to photography. And really bikes don't get obsolete per se, just the fashion around it and some geometry or part manufacturing advances...
Jorde,
Back in the day when CD, Microdrive and 94/58 were new I fully embraced it. I saw merit in the downsized drivetrain.
Both of my IBIS's have 24 inch rear wheels making them novel. The Ti IBIS dates from around 1994 and uses the tubeset that was developed for the Ti Mojo which has the reputation for being the pinnacle of titanium fram building because of its internally butted tubing and the affiliation with Gary Helflic who is the Godfather of Titanium bikes.
A funny story about Gary is that he had to choose between going to MIT on a full scholarship or being a roady for Aerosmith. In the end he decided Rock and Roll was an education that better suited him. On the road is where he learned welding.
At work it was another boring day when I went on EBAY two years ago. Out of boredom I did a search on "IBIS Mountain Trials" because it was obscure, a bike I already owned, and it dated from the late 1980's. I was pretty surprised when this titanium version of the Mountain Trials showed up. I placed a bid and became the high bidder. The auction was to end later that day.
So the next day at work I find out I did not win this rare bike. I'm disappointed and had wished I had placed a higher final bid. Another day passes and I get a "Second Chance Offer" because the high bidder was a deadbeat. I hit the BIN and win the Ti IBIS.
This bike due to the aggressive geometry and short wheelbase was set up as a single speed geared for bike polo. The price I paid was what the frame alone was worth to me.
I sent an e-mail to Scot Nichol who was the founder of IBIS, and I forwarded him the EBAY auction to inquire about its history. It featured a "Hand-Job" (investment cast small hand made by a local jeweler that was used as a rear cable retainer) so Scot figured it was made around 1994 before Vee-Brakes were invented.
I knew I owned a rare bike, and I wanted to know how rare. Scot mentioned that it is impossible to remember how many bikes he built decades ago, but that perhaps/maybe only a handful of Mountain Trials were ever built, but in fact I might have the only one ever built. So I have in writing that this bike could be or is likely a "one-off."
I did further forensics and I discovered that the first owner owned a ski and bike shop in Lancastor County in Pennsylvania, they are long-time IBIS dealers, and on their web-site they mention that one of the owners bought the first Ti IBIS Mountain Trials ever built. The bike was shipped to me from Lancastor County in Pennsylvania.
So I have the paperwork to prove rarity and providence.
Over the past two years I have upgrade the Ti IBIS. Initially I canabilized all the lightweight trick parts off my old Steel IBIS. In turn the steel IBIS received all the heavy duty parts and evolved into a full blown Trials bike. The Ti IBIS has been ultimized as a light weight road urban single speed.
In a way my bikes make up for no longer owning a car, although I miss my Jeep Scrambler with the Corvette engine a lot. It is really cool riding a piece of history that is so classic and timeless.
Cal
