Sunshine welcomes Ibis back to the shop!

After a long break — almost 20 years — we welcome the newly revitalized line of amazing Ibis frames back to Sunshine.  We’ve been eyeing the new Mojos (like the first Mojo HD frame we have in stock now) and highly anticipating the upcoming Ripley 29′er, which is due sometime in the spring (the whole story of this very unique bike’s creation is here).

All eight of the Ibis bike models are worth a look — more than worth it!

We’re excited to have the opportunity to add these choice rides from the mind of Scot Nicol, rounding out our brand lineup with some more amazing full carbon MTB choices,expanding our selection of 29′ers, and deepening our selection of high quality road and cross bikes.

The days of “Moron Tubing” may be in the past, but the new Ibis has not lost their sense of humor; a tour of their website will confirm that!

We’ll also be hosting an Ibis Demo Day very soon, hopefully in late March or thereabouts, so keep your eye on our site or Facebook.  Better yet we’ll drop you an email if you sign up for our email list (upper right).

Wanna know a little more about Ibis and Sunshine?  Read on!

Ibis artist Chris McNally's "Rider" (www.chrismcnally.com)

Ibis (and Sunshine) History

Ibis is named after the graceful long legged wading bird, although another bird analogy — a Phoenix rising from the ashes — is perfectly apt.

Ibis Bicycles was first founded in 1981 in Mendocino County by Scot Nicol, who built his first frame for a friend in his Ft. Bragg greenhouse-turned-shop.  Prior, Nicol had been riding klunkers for years, and had accompanied Fairfax’s own Joe Breeze, Gary Fisher and others to Crested Butte, Colorado, for Pearl Pass rides, joking (perhaps not) that the only reason he got to go was he was the only one that owned a car that could make the journey.

After apprenticing in the frame building shops of for Breeze and Charlie Cunningham, Nicol wanted to try his hand at framebuilding.  He set out to make custom mountain bikes plus custom trials bikes for himself and others.  Nicol raced both mountain bikes and competed in trails riding, taking 6th at the NORBA MTB Nationals in 1983 and 3rd at national trials championships in 1985.

Nicol moved Ibis to Sebastopol in 1984, which is where many of us who know and love Ibis still make a mental connection.  Road bikes, trials bikes, tandems, and mountain tandems came out of the barn, including some brave innovations like the 24″ rear/26″ front wheeled “Mountain Trials” bike in 1987.

Also in 1987 Sunshine Bikes started carrying Ibis, taking custom orders for mountain bikes, selling the Ibis road and mountain “Cousin It” tandem, and the Japanese imported Ibis Avion, the first complete bike you could buy from the company.

In 1990, the year Scot and Ibis kicked off their first titanium frame production, Scot was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall Of Fame at the organization’s 3rd annual gathering.

Through the 90′s the company grew into much more Ti, and evolved its full suspension lineup, perhaps the pinnacle of Ibis 1.0 being the BowTi, which sported up to 5″ of rear travel using only flexible Ti tubing and no pivots.

In 2000, Nicol sold the company to an investment group in 2000 and it went bankrupt within 20 months…

The Ibis Crew Circa 2011

Ibis Rises From The Ashes

With this triumphant return came some of the best engineered and elegantly designed bikes on the planet, which we are very happy to be able to now offer you.

Ibis is now based in Santa Cruz.

Scot Nicol & Prototype Ripley 29'er (image: www.twentynineinches.com)

 Sunshine + Ibis / 2012 = Awesome

Kicking off 2012 we are proud to welcome Scot & Ibis back to Sunshine fold along with his partners and their world class sponsored racers Don Myrah, Anne-Caroline Chausson, Brian Lopes, and Evan Plews.

Stock: As with many smaller manufacturers production can be a bit sporadic, so there are a few ways to keep up on what we have in stock.  Dropping by is always best, but kep an eye here and on our Facebook page also.

Demo Bikes: We are hoping to get 1-2 Ibis Mojos to add to our demo fleet.  More details to come!

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 Ibis Wikipedia | Ibis Artist Chris McNally