An all-new mid-travel mountain bike has joined the Madonna in the RAAW roster. The Jibb boasts the same suspension layout as its longer travel sibling, benefiting from that monster main pivot, but in a more compact 135mm travel package. Refined to deliver the more playful, interactive ride feel of a trail bike, the RAAW Jibb looks set to please.
RAAW Jibb
- Intention: Trail Riding
- Wheel Size: 29″ Front & Rear
- Fork Travel: 150mm
- Rear Wheel Travel: 135mm
- Sizing: S-XL
- Starting Price: 1,924.37 €
The RAAW Jibb is an aluminium frame trail bike running a 185mm x 55mm trunnion mount shock damping 135mm of rear wheel travel. It runs the a familiar four bar suspension platform with a massive main pivot located above, and slightly rearward, of the bottom bracket just as we see on the Madonna enduro bike.
Though built around a 150mm travel fork with a 44mm rake, the guys at RAAW say it will happily take a 160mm, though this will alter the geometry, slackening off the head and seat tube angles, as well as elevating the bottom bracket.
In its stock configuration, the RAAW Jibb rocks a 65.5° head tube angle paired with a 77.5° effective seat tube angle. Reach stretches from 420mm in small up to 495mm in XL. Just like the Madonna, the Jibb BB drops 35mm, though it’s important to note the dynamic height is a little higher due to the shorter travel. RAAW say this makes the Jibb feel more active, easier to pull up and be played with on the trail.
Really pleasing to see is the chainstay growth throughout the size range. Measuring up at 440mm in S and M, the stays lengthen in 5mm increments to 450mm in Large. Other, more mainstream brands such as Norco are also giving riders the benefit of this more proportional approach to geometry.
Chainstay length is not fixed, however. RAAW offer additional inserts to allow riders to experiment with different rear centre lengths.
RAAW say the seated position on the Jibb is very centered. Compared to the Madonna, the saddle position is a touch further back to make up for the 10mm shorter reach. The result is a similar riding position between the same sized Jibb and Madonna V2.
Jibb Suspension Tech
RAAW say the linkage on the Jibb gives a consistently and smoothly growing leverage
ratio that ends at just over 15% of progression.
The high main pivot is designed around a 1x drivetrain. Bearings, in place of bushings, mediate rotation of the shock pivots, which should deliver a very smooth and supple feel to the suspension.
The anti-rise characteristic is engineered to keep the suspension active under braking through the early to mid-stroke, while the effect of braking becomes much more pronounced later in the stroke “giving the rider more support when things get rowdy”.
With a 32T chainring and a 16T cassette sprocket, the Jibb’s anti-squat value doesn’t drop below 100% until the rear wheel has moved through around 80-90% of its full travel. That indicates the bike should resist pedal bob even when the rider is applying big torque in the big gears.
Frame Details
RAAW use complex and modern techniques such as hydro-forming, forging and CNC-machining in the production of their AL 6066 T6 mountain bike frames. Though they reckon they could have saved 500g using carbon over aluminium, RAAW say they prefer working with and riding metal for its superior durability and impact resistance.
The Boost 148mm x 12mm Jibb is able to accommodate 2.6″ wide tires across the S-XL size range, with a clearance value of 84mm. Cable routing is external save for the stealth routing of the dropper post cable.
The Jibb is a pack-free friendly bike with a set of bosses on the downtube for carrying a water bottle and another set on the underside of the top tube for mounting accessories.
Pricing & Availability
RAAW Jibb frame kits are available right now, worldwide and start at 2,290 Euro in the EU and include 19% VAT. Pricing in the rest of the world starts at 1,924.37 Euro. Only frame kits with the Formula MOD coil shock are available right now but FOX X2 options are ready to order with an expected delivery date of April 2021.
A limited run of full bikes is ready to order and will be available in May. Pricing starts at 5,490 Euro and is only available in Europe due to restrictions on worldwide shipments of large boxes.
