It's been quite a while since we've seen a mountain hardtail from Ibis. Their previous hardtail the Tranny was a sweet rig, but as you probably know the mountain bike world is constantly evolving as new standards, geometry, and technology are realized, so the Tranny fell out of production. Fortunately for all of us, Ibis hasn't forgotten the elegant simplicity and pure fun factor of a good hardtail, so they created the DV9--a lightweight carbon hardtail built to do-anything and go-anywhere. With progressive geometry and massive tire clearance, you can rip a training loop Friday, race Saturday, and hit the backcountry on Sunday for a scenic recovery ride--all on the same bike. This particular bike, the DV9 XX1 Eagle Complete Mountain Bike, comes with Ibis' top of the line build kit featuring SRAM's flagship XX1 Eagle drivetrain, a lightweight Fox 32 Step Cast fork, Ibis carbon rims laced to revered Industry Nine Torch hubs, and a carbon cockpit from ENVE. While this featherweight build is certainly focused on cross country racing, the do-it-all nature of the DV9 is happy to get rowdy on a variety of technical trails, too.The inspiration for the DV9 came from Ibis' CEO Hans Heim, who wanted to create a versatile frame for his high school XC-racing daughter Lili. Lili is an active racer, so it needed the rolling benefits of 29-inch wheels, and be affordable and versatile out of necessity as well. And while we'll be the first to admit this XX1 build is not a cheap bike, if you look closely at the components you'll see it's actually packed with a lot of value considering this is a no-holds-barred, race-ready rig. A carbon hardtail from other boutique brands outfitted with this level of componentry would be considerably more expensive, and part of that is due to the affordability of the DV9 frame.Ibis gives the DV9 modern features such as internal dropper post routing, a tapered head tube, Boost rear axle spacing, and an in-house favorite, a creak-free threaded bottom ...