After riding a lot, a lot of bikes and racing XC on some rough terrain...In my opinion the Ripley OG was one of the best bikes made. I believe in more than 100mm of travel but am also a tough critic on climbing performance/pedal platform.
The original Ripley had some geo that should be tweaked and some bearings that needed a revision but otherwise I can't believe they stopped making it and nobody has picked up where they left off. There is no other bike with an XC head angle, decent travel and WOW did that DW link on that bike work. The worst part was they stopped making and moved to the LS rather than make small fixes for The one bike that could do it all...perhaps that was by design.
The question is what bike challenges the OG now? Can handle the rough, xc race and climb with traction like an absolute beast.
The original Ripley had some geo that should be tweaked and some bearings that needed a revision but otherwise I can't believe they stopped making it and nobody has picked up where they left off. There is no other bike with an XC head angle, decent travel and WOW did that DW link on that bike work. The worst part was they stopped making and moved to the LS rather than make small fixes for The one bike that could do it all...perhaps that was by design.
The question is what bike challenges the OG now? Can handle the rough, xc race and climb with traction like an absolute beast.