Ibis Overview

Scot Nichol founded Ibis in 1981 in Mendocino, CA, and continues to hand craft bicycles today in Santa Cruz, CA. See: https://www.ibiscycles.com/our-story/history

In 1979, Scot went to Crested Butte with Charlie Cunningham to ride the 4th annual Klunker Tour ¹⁾.

“Scot made friends with all the guys on the trip, and ended up spending the Winter in Marin, living with Steve Potts (who was still a sheetmetal worker at the time) and working as an apprentice framebuilder with both Joe Breeze and Charlie Cunningham.

The next Spring, Scot started building his own frames up in Mendocino.” ibiscycles

Scot Nichol ibiscycles

1981 Ibis

Drop bar, triple crankset - and… chainstay u-brakes. All early Ibis bikes has brakes under the chainstays. Scot Nicol states that this is frame number 7, from 1981 - however, the following 1982 mountain bike has the same number…

1981 Ibis #7, photo by Scot Nicol mtbr

1982 Ibis

Scot Nichol field testing the latest model.

1982 Scot on Ibis #7, Mt. Diablo. oldschoolracing

1983 Ibis

Note the Charlie Cunningham/Nichol rollercam/speedmaster brakes.

1983 Ibis vintagemtbscandinavia

1985 Ibis

Ibis hadn't branched out into “models” by this point, as all bikes were custom. The price list offered complete bikes for $1000 retail. ²⁾

1985 Ibis theproscloset

1986 Ibis

All models were simply called “customs.”

1986 Ibis vintagemtbscandinavia

1987 Avion

Ibis briefly went commercial and imported Japanese tig welded bikes for a couple of years before moving all production back to Sebastapol, CA.

All 1987 Avions came in periwinkle blue.

1987 Avion mtbr

1988 Avion

Beautiful fade paintjob. Shimano M730 (1987-88). It's a custom paintjob, so dating by logo changes isn't certain.

1988 Avion facebook

1989 Mountain Trials

24“ rear, 26” front. SunTour XCD.

1989 Mountain Trials mombat

1990 SS

SunTour XC Pro.

1990 SS mombat

1991 SS

Japanese imports continued for a few years, with the last named SS, which meant “setting sun.” Colorful Mavic Paris-Gao-Dakar derailleur (disraeligears, 1991-94).

1991 SS mtb-news.de

The Handjob of Michelangelo

Ibis is famous for detailed finishing touches, such as the guiding hand of incredibleness, supporting the rear brake cable stop. ³⁾

Helping Hand jeffkendallweed

The Source of Inspiration wikipedia