Jack:

I have read your responses to various older posts and am most impressed. I am in the market for an upgrade; have been considering used; noticed your ads on this site; checked out your forum. Based in part on the specs of your gear, and perhaps even more so in your participation here, Ibex is now a serious alternative for me to consider.

More specifically:
Suppose i stumble over a great deal on something used. How would you rank (ignore price) the Aprisa Elite 6600 vs, say, the Trek or Bianchi lines ?

Thanks again !

Jack:

I have read your responses to various older posts and am most impressed. I am in the market for an upgrade; have been considering used; noticed your ads on this site; checked out your forum. Based in part on the specs of your gear, and perhaps even more so in your participation here, Ibex is now a serious alternative for me to consider.

More specifically:
Suppose i stumble over a great deal on something used. How would you rank (ignore price) the Aprisa Elite 6600 vs, say, the Trek or Bianchi lines ?

Thanks again !
Thanks for your vote of confidence. It means a lot to me!

I'm not real familiar with the Bianchi line, but I think the IBEX Aprisa Elite 6600 compares quite favorably to the Trek 2300. It looks like they've dropped that model for 2007, but still have the same frame in production on the 2100 (similar, but with 105 drivetrain). I think you'll find our frame build quality to be top-notch.

The geometry on the Aprisa is terrific, quick handling but still stable and the ride is pretty compliant with the carbon seatstays. The front triangle is extremely stiff, but again, the carbon S/S counters the harshness that aluminum frames are often criticized about. And... well... the components speak for themselves.

We really do try our best to dot every "i" and cross every "t". Our lower pricing (than typical LBS brands) is based on streamlining the distribution, not on cutting corners on the bikes. The more so because to ask you to take the leap of faith to order site-unseen means that we have to tell you what every part on the bike is and use name brand components... not in-house or generic parts if we can help it. On a few bikes you'll find "IBEX" branded saddles made for us by Velo (not on the 6600, though) and the carbon forks we use are made by BEV and EVO. Those forks aren't exactly household names, but both companies manufacture for some really well know brands. We just prefer to go directly to the source and avoid paying more for the same thing because of a logo! They are nice forks and we roadtest new designs before we consider spec'ing them on a production bike.

All in all, I think you'd be very pleased with the IBEX Aprisa Elite 6600. It is quite a nice bike!

Best regards,
Jack A.
IBEX Bicycles

http://www.ibexbikes.com/images/Bikes/2007/APR-6600-720.jpg