Road Cycling - Independent Fabrications riders

Hey all-

I'm shopping for a frameset and a buddy turned me on to IF. He loves his mountain bike, but I'm looking for a roadie's opinion of their roadie bikes. Anyone out there on one? Whaddya think?

Which Impreza do your drive???
Too bizarre...my BF, who drives a WRX, rode an IF Crown Jewel. No complaints; he sold it because he's building his own frames now(the car is also for sale, but that's another story).

Is there some IF/Subaru connection???

(I have a Deluxe mtb and am shopping for a Legacy wagon)

hmmmmm...........

I drive a 2000 2.5RS, before the bug eyes appeared and Subaru sold more than 50 cars a year. It's cool to have so many people turned on to Subaru because of the Rex. Is your b/f on i-club?

Thinking people buy Subarus and cool bikes like Steel IFs. I have a Ti Litespeed Classic that I love, but my next muli-purpose bike will be a IF Club Racer or Expedition with a triple (hey I'm getting older and want to ride hills and mountains);)

The few people that I've talked to that have the Crown Jewel or similar frames really have only good things to say about them. They are finally crafted, steel for the traditionalist (Ti for the expensive crowd) and have a nice feel about them. The paint appears to be really beautifully applies. I'd personally go with the extra cost of adding S&S couplings to make traveling with the bike easier.

BTW if you own a RS go to RS2.5 forum (http://www.rs25.com/Forums/) I have a '98 RS - black with the rare and original gold wheels. Great autocross car!

I'm not a huge fan of having the couplings in the frame, but thanks for the suggestion.

Seems like there aren't a lot of roadies on IF bikes.

I usually spend my days on i-club (http://www.i-club.com) .

ok.. i just did a search on IF bike sbecause I'm seriously thinking of getting a club racer. so i found this thread.

and I'm making this post because I found it odd.. since I drive a 2003 Subaru WRX *cue weird music*

Haven'tvisited this thread for awhile. Talked to a buddy that is a manager at a great bike shop and really knows the business in regards to technology and frame building. He admitted that the IF is a sweet bike and the paint and build quality is truly fiine, although he did say that the price seemed a bit high for a steel frame at something like $1250. There are lots of custom bike frame builders out there so I'd check around a bit. Have two friends with Waterfords that they love. Sweet bike too.

BTW I still have the RS2.5. Haven't had a chance to autocross this season. Too busy trying to get back into riding shape after twisting my knee 11 weeks ago. Did get some new shocks, pads and Kuhmo tires though. Like a new car and handles even better.

OFF TOPIC:

Not a current Subaru owner.

But I am a graduate of the Panoz / Subaru Performance Driving School at Road Atlanta so I have a few hard miles in a 2.5RS.

Can't help you on the IF.

I have an IF cross bike that I use for riding on the road and it's an amazing ride. A lot of people around here ride IF crown jewels (... being that they're local) and most of the people I know swear by them and wouldn't even think of riding anything else. The paint jobs are phenomenal.

I drive an Impreza WRX and I ride a TCR Carbon....tho i would LIKE an IF to add to my stable of bikes :D :crash: :D

-omesh

i don't post on here, and actually just signed up to answer a few of your questions. i only post on Ridemonkey and a friend sent me this link so i'll do my best to answer whatever questions you have about IF. i am one of their racers and know the line up pretty well.

The Crown Jewel is their road frame, it comes in both steel or Ti verisons. the steel CJ utilizes a reylonds 853 main frame and a mix of columbus for the rear end to fine tune the ride. the steel frame can be bought w/ an IF steel fork or a reylonds carbon fork. the carbon fork of course will come w/ an up charge.
the ti bike is a 3/2.5 using 6/4 for the guides and dropouts. both frames come w/ custom inclusive pricing, meaning that whatever geometry you want you can have w/ no upcharge. IF has basic stock geometries that you can use as a guide line, and if you are not quite sure what you want you can print off the custom fitting guide lines and complete it then fax it off to them and they will review all of it w/ you to help you come to the best decision possible.

the bikes are great bikes, i would know havin owned 3 of them over the last few years and knowing all those guys on a personal level. they take great pride in everything they do so you are sure to get a top quality no matter what you decide on. i'm not exactly sure what the pricing is on either bike so i don't want to give a price or an estimate and have those words turned around on me. if you have any questions go to their website and get their email address and email the guys. like i said they are great and will answer whatever questions you may have.

have a great day!

seriously, IF is the bees knees IMO as far as custom frames go. when i get the cash together and sell off a few of my other bikes i'm going to get my van tuyl track frame copied by them and painted like black with flames or stars coming off the head tube...anyway...

my friend has a custom IF bmx frame with a euro bottom bracket. i'm pretty sure it's reynolds. and i'm pretty sure it's the only one out there, unless one of the people who works for IF has another one he knows one of the guys who works there (or used to, mike, or matt...somebody, i dunno) who built it for himself, then decided he didn't want it or something...i dunno, but, having ridden the bike i can say it's one of the lightest, most responsive race frames i've ever ridden.