Mojo?convince me!

I gave you the hint on the HD because of what you said, you want light but strong, you want to climb well but flow down with no problems. Taking the two choices you gave (Nomad and 575 - I own a 575) the Nomad seems more like the bike you want. But if you really want the blend of light weight and strengh, the new HD looks like the new winner. I also have a Mojo SL, and damn, it's good. The DW link is somewhat surprising. If you try bounce it down by pressing over the shock, you won't see much of a movement, it moves slightly down, and while pedaling you don't feel like you are on a jumping bed. But jump, or take a big hit and you will fell the suspension swallowing that, like if it had an inch more of travel. Plus, I don't know what are the stiffness issues people usually report here, I never felt that, so reganding this then, my 575 is a wet noodle compared to the Mojo. So, when the HD showed up, it really made me think about this new type of bike, an evolved AM bike, a bike with less than 27 lbs and 160mm front and rear.

Yodi is right about the difference on geo numbers and travel for trail and AM bikes, because you have to learn to ride with 160mm of travel and a slacker HT angle, it is very different - but only if you are a XC rider; if you ride bikes with 5+ inches already, you are more likely to enjoy having more travel than hate it. I love long travel bikes and I love the way they feel. I hate stiff suspension bikes as hell, I'd rather be on HTs, so I have HTs and long travel bikes, nothing in between. I once had the chance to ride a Ransom LTD, barely over 30lbs. That was amazing. The trails I ride were something else, I never felt so free over a bike like I felt that day. I felt like Superman. But take on climbs was different. Not worse, only different. You simply can't get on the pedals and smash it, it will do no good and you will fade in no time. So, I guess I can take one little compromise when climbing for a perfect ride everywhere else.

But now the Mojo HD, with its DW link system, I guess it will simply make that long climbs way less compromising than on any other lightweiht long travel bike. Taking on climbs with the 575 is just fun and fairly easy, considering it's 2pounds heavier than the SL, has a bit more travel and a longer wheelbase, all combined with the ASR single-pivot. But the Mojo simply climbs better and has a more effective suspension work when going downhill, period. Considering all that, the Mojo HD seems like the perfect bike. At least for me. More yet if you think that a regular Mojo will have near the same HT and ST angles as the HD with the same forks (68ºHT for 150mm forks and 67ºHT for 160mm forks - the 69ºHT mark is for 140mm forks), what makes the HD even more interesting.

Stiff

I ride a 09 XL with
Lope's Links
Hope 10mm bolts on Stan's flow
Hope 15qr hub with Stan's flow
09 Fox Vanillia 140m RLC 15qr

Thomson post and stem
Race face Next carbon lowrise

I weigh 250 including gear. Ride it hard in Utah. I crash more than I should and drops up to 4 feet.

Love to ride the mojo

To me, the front and the rear of the Mojo are flexy, after riding some vicious rock gardens in San Luis Obisbo yesterday it was quite apparent. I had never felt the flex as much riding more smooth dirt singletrack (well smooth compared to this shyt) but the rock gardens were really really rocky and fast and you could totally feel the bike flexing all around front and rear. Basically you just had to float the bike over all the rocks, doing 20-25mph just letting it rip.

The thing is though,is that I was still railing it fairly quickly, more stifness would of possibly given me a little more confidence for sure but honestly I don't ride rocky stuff (I mean really really rocky) that often so its a fair compromise. The frame 90% of the time feels totally awesome.

Also I would put money on it, that Brian Lopes and Ibis worked hard to make the new HD stiffer, because the regular Mojo is flexy and that is something that could be improved upon. But don't let it scare you away, its still stiffer than a lot of other aluminum frames (cough cough.....Nomad...) and for the majority of riding it is not a detriment, In fact its likely that the frame giving a bit is why it also rides so smoothly, absorbing hits and blows making it a more comfortable and in control ride.