OK so I am awake, now what do I need for this dirt bike, ride? Peering through a haze of half-sleepedness and not having my contacts in yet... Lemme see, first, I need some MTB shorts, Cannondales with the supplied padded underwear, check. Shirt? Well, let's go with my Team in Training Jersey, check. Glasses? Hummmm, Rudy Project Freeons and that would be with the Racing Red lenses for the overcast and dreary day, check.

A quick shot of coffee, let's see, Water? Nah we didn't install the supplied bottle cages anyway. Dan's going be tweaked about that. That dude goes through water like Takeru Kobayashi at a 4 alarm chili contest.


Back about a week or so Dan and I took the opportunity one evening to unpack and assemble the two Bikes Ibex had supplied for this review. Our schedules are fairly busy and I thought we'd be lucky to be able to complete the assembly of one bike, let alone two. But as we split the carton and extracted the first bike, I was impressed!

The bikes were shipped mostly assembled! We merely had to install the Handle bars, seat, pedals, wheels, and if we wanted to the supplied accessories. They were shipped with the various parts cable tied together so they lifted out pretty much in one piece with the accessories in a neat box inside the carton. The accessories included a shock pump, bottles and cages, a multi tool, flat wrench, seat bag, flat repair kit, touch up paint and reflectors.



It took maybe twenty minutes each to complete the basic assembly and pump up the tires and off we rode. Dan was fitted with the full suspension Apogee Sport and I was sized for the hard tail Alpine 550. By the time we finished the assembly it was dark but it did not prevent us from tooling around the block a few times giving the bikes their initial test ride. I was happy with the Alpine but Dan had expressed some concerns about the softness and handling of the Apogee. Today would be the real test. Where the heck is he anyway? Dan is never late!