Overall design, components are upgraded as compared to other competitors, easy assembly, value.

None detected.

Spent about a month deciding which hardtail to purchase with budget around $600 or less. Looking for a good hardtail for local competitive trail racing / tris / adventure races. As I obtained more info, test rode other brands ranging in price from $300 to $1000, kept coming back to the Alpine 550. The value is incredible. I ordered it on line on Tuesday am and it showed up as promised on Thursday by UPS. Took 35 mins to put together. Was riding the Xterra course on Belle Isle in Richmond, VA along the James River within 45 mins of assembly and it performed beautifully. Very minor adjustments needed. Weight is around 29 lbs, the rock shox and gear setups are a huge value as are the disk brakes. Nobody can touch this quality and design for the price of <$500.

Similar Products Used:

Other bike is a Trek 7500 Hybrid. Tested Specialized and Trek hardtails.

Rock Shox Pilot C Suspension Fork == awesome!
Drivetrain is very smooth!
Disc Brakes are awesome. Especially on a bike for $500
IBEX CUSTOMER SERVICE A+++++++

The saddle is alittle stiff, maybe it will break in as I use it more.

The bike itself is fantastic. The Rock Shox Pilot C
Suspension Fork is a great addition to the light, yet sturdy frame. The Shimano Drivetrain is incredibly smooth and puts my previous bike to shame. This is the first bike I have had with disc brakes, and I have to say that they are really cool. I tested the Trek 4900 that has the same components (minus the disc brakes) and went hands down with IBEX, and saved $100. This is an extremely solid bike that I am not afraid to push to the limits.
On another note, the IBEX company is amazing. I had been reviewing bikes for about 2 months and then I found IBEX. I had exchanged many emails with Jack (The Managing Director) from IBEX and his knowledge of the products and quick responses were great!! I received a reply from my emails in about 10 minutes time, every time I sent one. You are not going to find that quality of service anywhere else, I promise you that!! They shipped my bike out the same day I ordered. Assembly was a breeze and now I am thinking about buying the IBEX Ignition 2.
The Alpine 550 is is a great bike at a great price from a great company.

Similar Products Used:

Trek 4900

quality components and a great frame for a great price.

none really

a great bike period. What makes it even better is the bang for the buck. You would pay at least a hundred dollars more for the same setup in any other brand. If yoy are looking for quality at a great price u can't go wrong with Ibex.

Great bike for the $$$! I looked around quite a bit and found IBEX to be the best value.

Could be a little lighter but that is just me being picky.

Jack at IBEX was very helpful and kept me up to date during the whole process. When I get ready for another bike I'll be looking at the IBEX line first!

Easy to ride! Excellent value. FUN.

Stock saddle isn't very comfortable.
Included bike tool keeps falling apart.

This bike rocks. I haven't ridden a bike since I was a little kid (about 10 years ago). With this bike I've been able to ride like I wouldn't have thought possible for a novice. One might think that living in downtown LA without a car would make it tough to enjoy a mountain bike. Not true. With the Alpine 550, I've been able to conquer stairs, loading docks, and parking garages with the greatest of ease. Every time I ride I am surprised what I can accomplish with this bike.

In terms of value, this is the best bike I could find. Before I bought it, I looked into all the components on the bike and found that this is definitely one of the best 'good for the price' bikes out there.

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Excellent value. The frame construction is excellent. The welds are that of a much pricer bike. With Rock Shox,disc breaks, rapid fire shifters, Kalloy stem, Aheadset, Kenda tires... You are getting alot of bike for the price

Basically it rides well, handles well, and climbs o.k. (I find it on the heavy side.) Also I do not like the gear indicators. They are not necessary and something you would see on a kmart special.

The bike is ready to go right out of the box. The gray color and decal work looks great. You save $$ because the bike is sold factory direct only. Definitely recommend it.

Similar Products Used:

Kona (similar specs)

Bulletproof!
Strong Frame
Great brakes

Absolutley none

One of the best bikes from one of the best companies. I first recieved it (actually bought 2, one for my wife as well) and my wifes front disk was warped, probably damaged during shipping. Called up the company (actually talked to the owner), and they sent me 2 to replace it! Not to mention, it was at my front door in 2 days! They also ship a bottle of touch up paint for each color on you bike. Well, one of those must have been broken during shipping, and they sent me out more bottle for both my wifes as well as my bike. Outstanding. My friends paid way more for their bikes, and with some being the same size, we swapped out to test each others bikes. Everyone loved my bike, and some were talking about getting rid of theirs to buy one like mine. Great company, great customer service, great price.

Here is a tip...go to a local shop to find out what size you need, then check the stats on the Ibex website. This makes sure you order the right size.

Similar Products Used:

Specialized hardrock, Various other higher end bikes

Disc brakes, nice frame and wheels

front derailleur (alivio) rattled apart in 6 mo of aggressive use (lots of technical bumpy stuff and a few downhill courses).

This was my first real mountain bike and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a great deal. I have probably used it a little harder than the average beginner which would explain the destruction of the front derailleur. On Ebay I paid less than $500 though and figure that replacing/upgrading parts for a good frame is reasonable. The bike is a little bit heavier than some I've lifted but those cost at least three times as much as I paid brand new.

Disc brakes - 6061 aloy frame - solid drivtrain - great fork - looks great!

None that I can find.

The bottom line is: this bike rocks! I've been riding it for about 3 months and I love it! It takes everything I can dish out and keeps coming back for more. I looked at 'em all at the LBS and couldn't find anything close for the price - even 2002 "closeouts" were a lot higher for Alivio drivetrain with V-brakes and crappy forks.

I found IBEX here on MTBR and I'm glad I did. I can't believe what I got for under $500 from them. I looked at the parts list for two Ibex models (450 & 550). Both of them were really well equipped for the prices. Pretty much all I could get at a bike shop for this amount of money would be Acera or Altus. Plus, the Ibex is loaded with name brand components where most of the other bikes I considered didn't always tell you what was on them. The catalogs just said stuff like "alloy hubs" or "alloy V-brakes". That doesn't really tell you much.

I wasn't sure about the Tektro disc brakes and almost bought the Ibex 450 V-brake model (same drivetrain), but I figured I could upgrade them later if I didn't like them. Well, no need to upgrade. They work great in all conditions. I'm also real impressed with the Rock Shox Pilot fork. It being new for 2004 I couldn't find much info on it when I bought the bike, but it's killer - smooth as can be!

The frame on my 550 is really well made and it looks fantastic. I really like the color - it even came with touch-up paint (haven't had to use it yet). Plus they're real decals under clearcoat - not the cheap sticker type that were on a lot of the bikes I looked at. Some of those on the other bikes were already pealing off or all wrinkled just sitting on the dealer's floor.

When I finally decided and put in my order on the www.ibexbikes.com website they shipped it out the same day. I arrived the next day! I couldnt believe it! Anyway, setting it up was a breeze - it only took about 10 minutes. All I had to do was attach the handlebars to the stem (with the multi tool that came with the bike), put on the front wheel, pedals and drop the seat on with a quick relaese (the seat was alraedy mounted on the post). The bike shifted perfectly right out of the box. These were the first disc brakes I'd owned and they made a little bit of noise. I called in to Ibex and got a real person on the phone right away. They told me that discs needed some break-in time and that was probably all I was hearing. They went ahead and explained how to align the calipers, just in case. It took all of about 30 seconds to do! The "shushing" noise was still there, but sure enough, it went away after about a day, just like the tech guy said.

I guess that it should come down to the riding, though. This bike shifts very intuitively and handles great. So far, I've never found any situation that my 550 wasn't up to. It instills a lot of confidence to try new and harder stuff and then makes it seem easy. If you're looking for a great bike without feeling like someone just picked your pocket, then I'd say, "but this bike".

Similar Products Used:

Trek 4900, Gary Fisher (some fish name - can't remember which), Specialized Hardrock...