Call me fickle, but after thinning out the bike collection I really missed the hardtail.

Having ridden Sevens for many, many years I decided to go for a bit of a change. A bit more compact and steeper geometry than I was used to, but such a fantastic ride. Feels much ‘lighter’. It is actually only slightly lighter than my old Seven, but feels more ‘zingy’ whilst managing to be stiff through the BB.

Welding is nicer than the Seven, ride is nicer than the Seven, weight is lower than the Seven. I guess the only downside is the finish. The Seven brushed finish just buffs up with a Scotchbrite pad, but the Independent Fabrication finish is a bit more difficult.

New XTR is (in my opinion at least) nicer than the XX I had on the Seven. Feels more robust, but the polished finish of the XTR looks a bit cheap. Is is more of a coating than a genuine polish. Still, works beautifully, and only time will tell on the finish.

15mm through axel at the front and Chris King Funbolts at the rear are noticeably stiffer than standard QRs that I have ridden before. As for the rest of the kit, you can’t really go far wrong with XTR, Chris King (hubs, BB and headset), Thomson, Easton and Stan’s Alpine.

After years using black Chris King, I am still not sure about the green, but it kind of matches the IF.

A very happy convert to the IF camp!

Nice, very nice! what sort of weight is it?

Yeah, that’s very pleasant on the eye – NICE.

Was it custom sizing?

The mind boggles at what the build cost must have been.

Not exactly sure as I haven’t weighed it, but hovering just under 20lbs I would say. For a big bloke’s bike (I am 6ft 2), it’s about as light as I would feel confident with.

They are all ‘custom sizing’ these days. IF no longer do stock sizes, but I doubt if I was much different from what would have been a standard 19 inch’ish bike.

Very nice, I’d be scared to ride that in case I crashed it (which I would)

Fortunately the bars and levers clear the top tube and the fork stanchion adjusters clear the down tube, so if/when I crash it shouldn’t hurt (the bike) too much. I do like nice bikes, but I also like to ride ’em, so we’ll see!

Blue & Green doesnt work. But who cares, surely its about how it rides.

I like that a lot although I agree with your reservations on the green Chris King.

It rides fantastically. Mind you, it would be nice to have something that rides and looks good. Agreed on the blue and green, but unfortunately you don’t have much choice about the fork accents.

That does look nice.

Head angle seems quite steep though?

Not sure i’d have gone for the green bits, but that’s all a personal thing, isn’t it? Reckon I’d have gone for bright red.

That I like. Did you keep the seven 29er?

Independent do build quite a steep bike, and I went with their recommendations on geometry. It has super quick steering, but on steep rocky descents, it might be a bit nervous. It has 100mm forks, but I guess I could put something slightly longer on the slacken it a bit.

The green kit is growing on me. I just fancied something different to black.

Tang – Seven 29er went as part of the clearout. Down to 2 Pegoretti road bikes, 1 Seven road bike, 1 Seven crosser and this. Still have a bit of choice of nice wheels left, but not quite as much as before.

Can I have the XTR groupset when you sell? 😉

Nice bike! Does look steep, but they’re the experts. I love my IF Ti (though mine came to me 2nd hand with a repair, so nowhere near full price!) Really springy and light feeling bike, beautiful to ride. Oh, and silver and Ti is where it’s at 8)

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/32746168@N08/5277755023/]DSCF4110[/url] by ten_sim, on Flickr

1st dibs to you, but having tried XX I am not sure it will be any time soon!

BTW – nice stem that!

but on steep rocky descents

That’s not really it’s intended purpose though, is it?

Looks nice, only you know if it’s ~4K’s worth of nice 🙂

Quite right. It isn’t a DH bike, but it will have to cope with a bit of variety.

Worth every penny to me.

Nice, but I’m not surprised the shifters/brakes clear the TT with that many spacers under the stem 😆

Also, correct me if I’m wrong but are they silver screws used to attach the slightly dodgy looking glass/brass door knobs? 😯

BTW – nice stem that!

Ha ha, Wondered if you might recognise it 🙂

Definite screw fail, you spotted right Steve. Rented house. Moving in 3 weeks to one we have just bought. Managed to get this expense passed just in time before the move! Need to keep my pennies now for really sexy things like carpets, blinds and sofas.

30mm of spacers at the moment. Might get shortened as I adjust to it, but you can always trim the steerer. A bit expensive to add to it though!

Hi, nice but what are the angles on that, and as TLH’s comment on blue and green not working I beg to differ 🙂

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=25802&g2_serialNumber=3

Actually the angle of the photo does make the headtube look steeper than it is. It is steep, but not excessively so. I built it more for marathon/XC than anything else.

Nice Fat Chance. Now that really takes blue and green to a whole different level!

Very nice. Its like my Ti456 but with a fur coat and silk knickers.

Looks nice, only you know if it’s ~4K’s worth of nice

Frame or full build??
It is rather lovely, but those green King hubs have to go. I’ll hide them on my bike for you as a favour? 😉

Frame or full build??

It’s around £2700 for the frame only, depending on options etc… did you order through Mosquito Sola?

Thanks for the offer brassneck, I’ll bear it in mind! The green is definitely a grower.

As with all of my bikes, I go for the frame and build them myself. That’s half the fun, and I can take my time with some of the smaller details that a bike shop might not in the build such as rubber donuts on all of the outers to keep them quiet and stop frame rub. Takes ages, but the devil is in the detail.

Also, if you really shop around, going for the bespoke approach isn’t so expensive. Over the years I have built up a full collection of tools which helps with the build rather than needing to nip to the shop for help.

I got the frame in the US. Nothing against Mosquito (I have bought 2 Pegorettis from them). All of the Chris King came from Aspire and the rest came from Merlin. Had the wheels built by Harry Rowland. I think he is unbeatable. Never had a problem with any of the wheels he has built for me either directly, or purchased through Poshbikes (he does all of their building). I can true wheels, but building from scratch is beyond me!

It’s around £2700 for the frame only, depending on options etc

<Wonders if that is within 40th Present Spending range>

Looks just about perfect to me, custom too, doesn’t seem too bad at all – off the peg carbon sussers aren’t too far off that these days, for higher end brands. Luckily I’m slap in the middle of average (medium) so custom isn’t really a need for me.

Go on, treat yourself, or even better get somebody to treat you for your birthday!

Brassneck can I come and live at your house for 24 hours? … I’m 40 in the morning so you never know 😉

looks like youve already crashed it, head-on into something solid.
head angle is all kinds of wrong IMO :p

Looks very nice!

Why all the spacers and a negative rise stem? Seems a bit odd, especially on a custom.

Dave

I am bit old school. Started MTBing in the late 80’s and haven’t really moved with the times! Have always preferred the look of a 90 degree stem (it isn’t negative rise). Regarding the spacers, I will probably drop a few, but didn’t want to cut the steerer too short at first. Anyway, in proportion to the bike, the spacers aren’t so long. Everything is bigger on a big bike.

I really like Thomson stems, and the only other choice is a 10 degree stem, which would be too upright for my liking, but maybe another option.

Regarding the head angle, as I said, the photo doesn’t do it justice. It really isn’t especially steep.

Splendid. 🙂

lovely, lovely, lovely 🙂
if I was getting a custom frame it would be an Independent Fabrication, but maybe steel
is that your name on the top tube?

I bought an IF a few years ago and really didn’t get on with it. Haha! Preferred my On-One…ended up selling it about 3 months later.

My rigid IF ti singlespeed comes in at 20lb so yours must be a couple of pounde heavier me think.Nice bike though and im liking the green.Can i ask which shop you used in the usa and of your experiences of doing this as i may try it for my next IF.Thanks.

Nice. *Two* Pegos? Got any links to pics of them? I got a marcelo frame from Mosquito a couple of years back.

Lovely.The hubs have been laced wrong according to King,though.

The wheels look correctly laced in terms of supporting braking / pedalling forces, and also to stop the chain jamming in between the spokes and the cassette if it ever drops back there. I don’t know why King would recommend any other way?

Very pretty, and a classic build. My guess, based on my very similarly specced Soda is that it will weigh a touch over 22lbs, but as you say, it’s a strong, big bloke’s build, and any lighter would have repercussions. Love it.

Nice bikes fellas!

If anyone reading this has a pair of suspension corrected IF rigid forks to dispose of email please. 🙂