Billed as the Swiss Army knife of the gravel bike world, the carbon Ibis Hakka MX in black certainly looks the part. Understated and purposeful, the do-it-all gravel bike looks versatile, clever and useful in many situations, here’s our first look:
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Launched about this time last year the Ibis Hakka MX is a descendant of their past cyclocross bike, the Hakkalugi, but with this new incarnation sporting clearance for wider tyres, an ability to run different wheel and tyre sizes and all the added bells and whistles for some serious bike packing.
Ibis says this bike is super versatile, it’s another bike that can turn a wheel to gravel biking, road cycling, adventures and cyclocross too. The carbon frame, weighing a claimed 1kg, can accommodate a choice of wheel and tyre combinations, from 700 x 40c tires for burlier terrain, to 700 x 25c tyres for the road. Ibis also says you can fit 27.5 x 2.1″ tyres dubbing the bike a ‘Monstercross BEAST’ for more comfort and traction on those big adventure rides. There is a dropped drive side chain stay to maximise clearance for those wider tyres.
The bike can take 1x or 2x drivetrains or Di2 if electronic gears are your bag, the company have fitted a battery mount inside the down tube for the latter too. There’s internal cable routing all round, plus a spare hole for an internally routed dropper post, should you choose to fit one.
Following on with more frame details the carbon framed bike features an ENVE CX Disc Fork with thru axle, flat mount rear disc mounts with removable rear fender mounts on the seat stays. There is 142mm through axle rear dropout spacing and the brand use an oversized T47 (threaded) bottom bracket to allow the use of 30mm cranks spindles and increase stiffness they say.
Our test bike is the SRAM Rival 1 spec (£3349), equipped with, yep you guessed it, a SRAM Rival groupset, meaning its got hydro brakes and a 1x drivetrain (11-42T cassette, a 40T chainring and Praxis Works cranks). The bike rolls on alloy Stans Grail wheels with Schwalbe G-One Allround 700x40c tyres, whilst finishing kit consists of Ibis stem, saddle and bars with a WTB saddle.
As for sizes and geometry, the Hakka MX is available in five sizes from a 49cm frame up to a 61cm. The geometry looks to adopt numbers similar to other ‘all-road’ bikes available at the moment, check out the geometry below.
The bike will be available as a frame only (supplied with Enve CX Disc fork and thru axle) in Coal (black) or Fireball (red) for £2099. As well as the spec detailed above there are also more spendy options as follows; Shimano Ultegra Di2 build kit with 700c Ibis D30 carbon wheels – £6099, Shimano Ultegra Di2 Build kit with 27.5” Ibis 735 carbon wheels – £6099 or a similar priced Sram Rival1 Build kit with 27.5” Ibis 733 alloy wheels – £3349.
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