Originally Posted by
Rataan
I got a "bargain" mail order bike a few years ago. Remember Ibex? The parts alone were almost worth the asking price, so who cares if the frame is mediocre? Well, it was a MTB and that frame broke eight miles from the trail head in a national forest an hour before dark. Not my happiest time in the great outdoors.
Weird. I have two IBEX bikes - one Ignition that I built myself, just got a good deal on the frame when they went out of business for a while. I ride it hard on some pretty technical singletrack here in the east, and I'm a clyde. No problems. My daughter is on a IBEX Alpine 500, ridden much easier, but no problems there as well.
IBEX had a pretty decent following on mtbr - despite issues with the Ignition frame design that resulted in the front derailler hitting the chainstay when the shock bottomed out. There are ways around that, and I rarely have the problem wiht mine.
IBEX is back in business with different owners, some new bikes, some of the same lineup as before.
BTW, I ride with a guy who broke his very expensive Titus frame at the dropouts. Same trails my IBEX is on, so all makers have problems. I believe IBEX frames are fine, same with Titus frames, same with BD frames.