Agreed. As long as it doesn’t “buzz” the rear wheel, doesn’t “dangle” or prevent the dropper from functioning! It’s hard to see how putting less than 1 lbs of weight under the saddle, will alter the center of gravity of 20-25lbs bike with a 135+ lbs rider in a meaningful way.
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It’s also probably worth mentioning that a lot of pros in Cape Epic are also running packs like the USWE, so their distribution of items in the pack vs. saddle bag may be different than someone trying to avoid a pack completely (no idea but possible). That said, while I prefer a pack personally for hydration reasons on long events, I do prefer a small saddle bag over strapping stuff to the frame when going that route (or jersey pockets, but that’s only because I really only go packless on short rides anyhow). A small saddle bag that doesn’t buzz the tire or interfere with the dropper can keep things nice and contained, and I used to have one on my old bike before I started riding with a USWE more regularly.
I typically run a USWE pack and have a full bladder to switch out at the midpoint. I purchased an Outlander 2 to go with my Ranger and find the Outlander is pretty awkward to put a full 2L bladder into at an aid station, let alone if my pump and first aid kit are in there (the Ranger swallows it all a lot more easily).
In that respect, I now have the option to have a second pack ready to swap out with no fiddling, or the option to run the Outlander with the bladder full to its capacity.
I’m still trying to find the perfect balance there, but also think the less weight on my back is better as well and at my saddle it’s still lower down than it was.
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I just got some EIE carbon wheels for my Supercaliber. 28/28, CX Ray, DT350 (new version), 30IW that came in at 1311g’s without tape or valves.
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which model EIE rim? (or is it 301W and I’m just not seeing it on the EIE site?).
Thanks
Yes, me too. I have a Titanium hard tail 26er Ibis.I raced it back in 2000-2006 and still got it. I will never part with it. The craftsmanship in that frame is beautiful, and the welds are so satisfying to the eye.
So I’m interested to see the Exie, and have a test ride on one. It would have to be light weight ,as I’m a (tiny) XC endurance rider 
These in the SL lay up: A29C30D23 2022 new ultralight 30mm wider XC carbon mtb rims and customized wheels asymmetrical profile - EIE Carbon
I just got my first rides in on the Exie this past weekend! I’ve previously had experience riding and racing a pre-2022 Santa Cruz Blur, a current generation Specialized Epic Pro, and I own (and have raced XC on) an Ibis Ripmo. I just built up an Ibis Exie and while the set up isn’t fully finalized/tuned yet, I think I got enough of a feel for it to offer some comparisons.
It’s currently built up with…
- XO1 drivetrain, 10-52, with an XX1 Quarq crankset, 32t 170mm
- Magura MT8 brakes, 180mm/160mm F/R
- Fox 34 Step Cast & Fox Float, 3 position remote
- Maxxis Rekon 2.4" Exo TR tires (have a set of Aspens I’m planning to try out)
- Light Bicycle Recon Prom AM930S’s laced to dt240 front / i9 hydra rear with Berd Spokes
- BikeYoke Divine 160mm dropper (planning to switch to a Divine SL 125mm)
- i9 A318 stem, 50mm
- Specialized Power Comp saddle
- One Up lock on grips (not a big fan, going to try the ESI foam grips)
In its current form it weighs just under 23lbs without pedals (size large).
From the start, I was super impressed with how efficient the power transfer feels. Obviously, locking out the suspension makes it quite firm but it maintains much of that efficiency on the trails with the suspension fully open. It honestly feels very, very close to the Epic’s “speed” but without the communicating as much movement to the rider when rolling over bumpy terrain.
My other ride is a 1st gen Ibis Ripmo, and on the descents the Exie reacts in a similar manner. You can obviously tell that it’s a shorter travel machine, but none of its actions surprised me in comparison to the Ripmo - the best way I can think to describe it is that it moves in the same manner as the Ripmo, just with higher magnitudes. The descending difference is most apparent in the fork, with the FIT4 damper in the 34SC it’s simply not as plush as the GRIP2 damper in the 36. I’ve likely got some more tuning to do on the fork.
Maybe it’s familiarity with how the Ripmo rides, maybe it’s the extra 20mm up front and the dw link out back, probably it’s a combination of both, but I feel way, waaaay more confident on technical trails than on the Exie than I did on the Epic or the Blur. The Epic and the Exie both gave me the “wow, I feel like I’m cheating on this climb” feeling, but I felt much more comfortable plowing through some chunk and hitting drops on the Exie.
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All but guarantees that we’ll see MVdP at the World Cup at some point this year to build interest and leak some spy shots.
Thanks for the nice write up on the Exie. Consider a standard Grip damper for the 34SC fork. There’s no tuning a Fit4 to ever even get close to the feeling of a Grip 2. Grip is a sleeper damper in the Fox line up… you’ll take a bit of a weight penalty but still has a lock out.
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Don’t think there’s any “cheat code” to make a 100-120mm fork feel as plush as a 160-180mm fork regardless of damper cartridge & setup. If riding the same trail “hard” you physically have that much less travel to absorb basically the same amount of force. Yes the XC bike is lighter, but the kinetic energy depends on the velocity squared.
Got a similar pairing Epic Evo & Ripmo AF, and there’s just no way to get a similar feeling on the epic as on the Ripmo. (Not that I want to either, horses for courses and all that)
I do agree with regards to the FIT4 damper though! Had a Factory 36 fork with the FIT4 on my previous bike, and was not a fan. Totally outshined by the DVO on the current bike.
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If I could make my 32 SC fork feel like my 170mm Ohlins coil, I would
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My new 2022 Pivot Mach4SL should be arriving with me early next week after ordering it back in February 2021!
Ordered the black sunset, but of course having had someone crash into me at the velodrome I’m now in a leg brace for the foreseeable until my knee heals. 
At least it gives me a chance to ship it to Invisiframe for them to design and fit a kit for me before I build it all back up…
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Thanks for posting your thought on the Exie. The sizing chart seems odd for this bike. What size did you get?
I am 187cm tall, 89cm inseam and the Ibis chart puts me on an XL with a 520mm reach! I was thinking that the Large would be plenty large for me.
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I’m 183cm tall with ~84cm inseam, and I got a size Large. It came with a 50mm stem, and I’m considering swapping to a slightly longer stem to get more into a “race position”. 520mm reach in XL is long by older XC standards, but so is 478 for a Large and I haven’t found it feel too long. It’s going to be basically impossible to find a shop with Exie in stock to demo, but the rest of Ibis’ current gen 29ers should be pretty close in reach (though with steeper seat tubes) if you can find one of those to test out.
From my motorcycle road racing days, lower isn’t necessarily better. For motorcycles it’s mass centralization between the steering head and swingarm pivot. The farther you go away from that line, the more one induces handling quirks when the bike is leaned over.
If you want to test that out. put something heavy in the seat bag and flick side to side with the dropper up and dropper down. You’ll feel it for sure.
Even so we have limited options, so all we can do is make the best choices based on what we need to bring with us and what mounting points are available.
You are right about the geometry. I had an exie for around a month. I loved the way the bike rode (my thoughts on the bike are very similar to @something979, it climbed great and descended way better than the travel would lead you to believe). I could not make it fit my body due to longer legs (longer femurs) and a short torso. The short stack and long reach were a killer on rides much over an hour for me.
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Anybody have any inside information is Specialized will be increasing delivery of EPic Evos this year? I’m looking for a Pro or Expert in XL and they seem impossible to find and every shop I have talked to has no line of sight to them. 2 told me my best bet is to keep checking Specialized website since they seem to be holding some inventory back for online sales.
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New Bike Day FINALLY arrived!
Cannondale Scalpel Carbon 2 in the stable now. First MTB in the garage since my 2000 K2/Pro-Flex OZ was stolen.
Looking at the MTBR threads on it there will be changes out of the box as the OEM front sprocket doesn’t seem to be right for the Shimano 12sp chain. Switching to a Shimano specific (Wolf Tooth) front ring on a Power2Max Spider is a good start.
Switch to tubeless, tire liners, computer mount.
Man new bike day is expensive well after new bike day, and a lot of work too.
That said I may be ready for the Tahoe Trail 100 this year.
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New bike day for me too! (…on Friday - wanted to get some dust on it before I showed off pictures!)
2022 Pivot Mach4SL, Fox Factory 34SC (120mm) and Live Valve shock, XTR shifter and mech, Sigeyi AXO PM, OneUp chainring, EDC, 210(!)mm dropper, bars and grips.
I absolutely love it!
Done 5 hours on it so far and think I’ve just about got position sorted now. The biggest issue was covering all the wires, cables and hoses with foam tubing to stop any rattles and then routing it all tidily. So stoked!
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