posted by syd on july 05, 1997 at 08:02:15:
Hello,
My name is Syd. I was owner of an ibis ti mojo for three years. While in sweden the bike was stolen despite cables and heavy u locks (its a long and painful story). I am now looking to replace the bike. I typically reside and ride in marin county, ca. with numeruos trips to the mountains. I am 34 years old and have raced NORBA sport class on and off for six years. I also compete in several international distance and half iron man triathlons each year. My question has to do about the difference from merlin xlm and the ibis ti mojo. I loved the ibis but it had several very distinctive riding characteristics. It has about an inch shorter wheel base and top length then the xlm. I found the ibis to handle extremely quickly. It loved technical climbs and single track. In fact I always could pull ahead in single track sections of races. However, it was so sensitive to body movements that at high downhill speeds it could get very skitish and sensitive. I feel I had throttle back on fast fireroads descents.
I have been looking around at other exceptionally high quality ti bikes. I have narrowed it to either a second ibis or the xlm. By looking at the frame specs, (the xlm has slightly longer top tube and wheel base lengths, head and seat tube angles vary 0.5 defrees)it seems that the xlm rider position is a little more stretched, with not as much rider weight positioned over the front wheel as the ibis. How does merlin rider position effect the ride from both slow and high speed handling perspective? Are there any unique aspects (other than the obvious s bent chain stays and drop outs)that make the merlin frames different from the ibis?. Are merlin tube sets butted the same way as ibis?. How would you compare the stiffness of the frames?. By the way the merlin web site is much more informative than the ibis. I am looking for a bike that I can do long rides on that loves to cruise along without having to stay to much on top of bike handling all the time. My father did last years hawiian ironman on one of your extralights last year, not bad for a 63 year old guy. Thank you for your time and any comments you can make about the diffrences between the two bikes. Is there any one out there who has riden both bikes and can other their comparisons.
syd