The Ibis Szazbo was my dream bike. It has a rear suspension that works well when climbing, geometry that's a great balance between speed and agility, and the pride that only a low-volume handmade frame elicits. Many others have made bikes since Ibis closed its doors, but few are as good at at trail riding as the Szazbo.

The Ibis Szazbo was a gift from the Make a Wish Foundation. I was asked what I wanted, so I aimed big, and asked for the best bike I knew of. The bike was kindly provided by Excel Sports, and was set up superbly with a long travel Judy SL and a Deore XT built kit.

The handling of my Szazbo was dramatically different from anything I had ridden before. The combination of geometry and suspension created a ride that was much more stable and confidence inspiring than anything I had ridden before. When I started riding mountain bikes, the trend was towards longer and lower bikes. This bike evolved after that trend, giving the rider a more relaxed position, although still well suited to aggressive riding. It really is the best of both worlds.

The Szazbo has what is known as a Unified Rear Triangle (URT) full suspension. This was the "next big thing" in bikes in the mid nineties, as it eliminates the effect of chain tension on suspension activity. This is, in fact, true of any bike that puts the rear hub and bottom bracket on the same swingarm. Most modern day bikes aiming to achieve the same result use a four bar linkage, which works nearly as well.

The Ibis also uses a pivot point forward of the bottom bracket, resulting in a difference in suspension compliance when seated versus standing. The Ibis is very plush when seated, making it climb better than its 27 pound weight would indicate. When standing, the suspension is just compliant enough to keep control on the big hits. And when standing and sprinting, the stiffer suspension keeps rider bobbing down. Overall, it works great, although I would prefer to have something a bit more compliant when standing. I don't believe the stiffer suspension is necessary with a smooth pedal stroke.

I changed only two things on this bike since I got it. The bike was originally fitted with Shimano XT rapidfire shifters, which I swapped out in favor of simpler, more reliable Grip Shift. I also changed the spring in the Judy to some Total Air replacements, which opened my eyes to the world of compliant suspension.

In the early nineties, most people were running their forks very stiff, some almost locked out, fearing that they would bottom out. People wanted to feel their forks working, and when you felt them pushing back, you knew they were working. As time progressed, the downhill crowd, and eventually others, found that a stiff spring in a suspension fork simply returned most of its energy back into the rider at the end of an impact. Many found that a combination of a low spring rate with careful tuning of damping kept the fork sensitive to impacts of all sizes, not just large ones. The Rock Shox Judy SL came set up with early nineties thinking, fairly stiff so you could feel the bumps, with relatively low damping. The Englund Total Air kit is the opposite, you can push the fork to the end of its travel while holding the front brake and putting weight on it. Due to a carefully tuned damping system, however, I have yet to bottom out the fork while riding since installing the springs, even on some surprisingly large impacts.

Many performance oriented riders still run stiff suspensions, a carry-over from the stiffness fanaticism of the roadie crowd. The argument is that bobbing due to a soft suspension robs power that would otherwise be going to the wheels. My take on the issue is that, stiff or soft, if you're putting force on a bike in a direction that doesn't help it go forward, you're wasting energy. You may not be moving as far on a stiff suspension, but you're probably also putting more force on it. Since energy is related to both force and distance, the energy savings due to not moving as far is nearly cancelled out by the increased force applied. The benefits of a soft suspension are much more pronounced. You expend less energy maneuvering over obstacles and absorbing rough terrain, you can stay seated more often because the suspension is absorbing impacts, and you can develop a better pedal stroke because you get feedback when you're bobbing.

That ends my rant about suspension. I really like the bike, and believe it to be one of the best all-around mountain bikes available. 'Nuff Said.