New life for a vintage steel Mojo mtn bike?

[weaponsgrade]

I need some ideas for an old steel Ibis Mojo that I bought new in the mid-90s. It's seen plenty of trails all over the country. But for many years now it's just been hanging up in my garage as I've gotten more into road biking, the whole 29er and gravel scene, and full suspension.

To be quite honest, I'm firmly in the 29er camp. Still, I've got a soft spot for 90s mtn bikes and this bike in particular and I do enjoy getting out on vintage mtb rides with others. I was thinking of getting a segmented rigid fork built for it (it currently has an old Rock Shox) and then just holding onto to it for vintage outings and purposes of nostalgia.

Recently though I had a chance to test out a 27.5 plus (which I really liked) and also read about this 26" Firefly (http://theradavist.com/2016/01/firefly-for-jan-heine/). Apparently, 26" plus is also now a thing.

My questions are, given the existing geometry of the frame, is it possible to get a fork built for it that might repurpose the bike into something like that Firefly Enduro Allroad? or maybe a fork with enough clearance to handle a 26 plus tire in the front? Or is that just too much to ask considering the original geometry of the frame?

[Peter P.]

You could get a fork built to do almost ANYTHING, so that's not a problem.

The fork's length would have to be matched to the frame and since you already have a suspension fork on it, the rigid fork would have to be "suspension compatible".

My Rock Lobster ATB has a suspension compatible fork on it. I chose that length for versatility just in case I wanted to sell the frame or swap a suspension fork on it.

Your problem will be adapting the bike to drop bars. You will likely have to have a custom stem built to get drop bars high enough and the reach correct, yet fit your steerer and current handlebar diameters. It would work, but it wouldn't look elegant.

[seric]

Originally Posted by Peter P.

Your problem will be adapting the bike to drop bars. You will likely have to have a custom stem built to get drop bars high enough and the reach correct, yet fit your steerer and current handlebar diameters. It would work, but it wouldn't look elegant.

There are now plenty of Ibis LD replica stems on the market that would probably fulfill this roll.

[DRZRM]

Yup, see my Zanconato 29er drop bar build. The Velo Orange LD stem works very nicely. Should work on a 26er equally well.

[Ken Robb]

what does "plus" mean here?

[weaponsgrade]

Yes, I was thinking of something like the Crust LD stem to get the bars up. "Plus" is referring to extra wide tires - generally 2.6 - 3 inch wide tires. I demo'd a 27.5+ Yo Eddy hardtail with 2.6 inch tires at 18psi. It was gobs of traction, a pillowy ride, but was surprisingly still quite nimble. I'm guessing max size rear tire I can squeeze in on my Mojo would be a 2.4.