P8/P9 Build Using Existing Parts

[NYmtb2018]

I've been following the Chinertown forums for a few months now, and thanks to the great discussions on here, I feel confident in buying a frame from ICAN.  Thank you for building such a good resource! 

I'm interested in building a ICAN P8 or P9 27.5+.  As a fall back, the ICAN "all mountain 150 mm" 27.5 frame is an option.

My current ride is a 2016 Motobecane 27.5 "6by6" full-suspension (Rockshox Sektor RL Gold 150 mm front & 200 mm X 51 mm rear), with tubeless 2.4 Maxxis Minions front & rear.  The bike has served me well but I've grown tired of the tall and heavy frame that makes a dropper impractical and poor fit overall (my first online purchase and it took a while to realize it).  I would like to move to a carbon frame and use as much of the old bike as possible.  I can afford a total build but I would like to avoid it as much as possible.

Questions for the group are:

1.  Can the wheel set be swapped over to the 27.5+ frame if I change out the rear hub to a boost hub?  The rear hub is shot anyway and for the time being it would be nice to keep cost down until I can get a proper 27.5+ carbon wheel set.  A friend gave me a boost crank that would be compatible for chain line compat... are there any potential issues with using the 2.4'' Minions?  The bike would probably be on the low side, but would it be not ride-able?

2.  Can the 27.5 (standard) 150 mm Rockshox fork be swapped over to the P8 or P9 frame?  The max size tire supported by this fork is 27.5'' x 2.4''.  This would mean a non-27.5+ fork but it would be a temporary franken-bike setup to keep cost down and gradually build as I ride.  The idea would be to get a new fork/ wheels/ 2.8 tires for the spring.

3.  Would a large frame be a good choice for a 6' 1'' rider?

The ICAN 27.5 all mountain frame with rear shock mounted on top tube would be more of a direct fit for the parts but I'm not a fan of the setup and geometry.  This option also locks me into a new ride that is not boosted...

Any feedback or thoughts are definitely appreciated! 

[emu26]

If you can afford the new build, I would go the new build.  The problem you will have with the mix and match will be the low BB height.  Changing your hub will be fine but the non plus tyres means you loose height.  Of course you could run a plus on the back and non plus on the front but I think that would be ridiculous.  Using your existing fork only makes the problem worse because you are loosing both the extra height of the tyre and also the axle to crown length.  If you look at the new P8 geo drawing you'll see that it is based around a 150mm 27.5 + fork or a 140mm 29er fork, that's going off Fox specs at least.

Others may say differently but that's my thoughts on it. Sorry. I know how you feel, I'm itching to pull the trigger on a P8, particularly with the higher bb on V2 but I'll need new wheels, fork and  complete drivetrain which makes it a very expensive exercise down under now that many of the big on-line shops won't ship major brands here.

[NYmtb2018]

Thanks- I appreciate the quick response.   Unfortunately you're confirming my thoughts...  Going for a proper build gets expensive real quick.   Would be glad to hear other opinions too.

[Deepsense]

As emu26 pointed out, as well as riderczech's on the P9 thread, the bb is ridiculously low. With 2.8's and 30% sag I hit stuff so only expect the problem to be worse with 2.4's, some guys even use 165 cranks to get a bit more clearance, now as to rideability I'd say it's probably not worth it since you'll be more worried to not get pedal strikes than having fun.

About the fork in the P8 I'm not sure how low it's bb is and the 150mm would rise the frame yes, but the P8 is designed for a fork having 100mm if I recall correctly, that means using a 150mm is possible but conferring your safety to using a frame out of its design specs is not the greatest, it can happen that the front part of top of the frame gets ripped apart in a landing.

As for the size I'm not really sure, you should measure your bike and have a look at the dimensions for the frame you choose.

If you want my opinion I'd say buy the frame, sell the bike you have and use the money to get the parts you want, bear in mind that with this bike it would be either a 27.5+ or a 29 build. I think my p9 was a great buy, the only issue are the pedal strikes but we get stability/antisquat/progression so like everything is a compromise, here's a link to the linkage review of the norco range which you'll notice looks awfully similar (if you want to see for yourself ICAN uploaded the P8 and P9 models for the linkage simulation):