511 is an odd choice for a bike like this but you do you! I recently went to 471 on my S-works Enduro because I was sick of breaking wheels and they are proving strong. Have carbon on the S3 and have been very happy with how they perform. XM series rims are lighter build than EX but are still quite strong. I put a couple of thousand km of rocky riding on a XM401 with no troubles.

It's been 3 weeks now, did your frame arrive ok?

@Ben78 how's the frame stiffness? Did you notice any flex/wiggle-wobble under hard corners, etc? Always hard to tell just how slender the frame really is/isn't, and how it will ride just by looking at pics.

I don't notice any flex, but I'd be interested in trying to get some slow motion video to see if I can see it moving around. But then, if I don't notice it, does it matter?

Just wanted to share, I've been riding my ICAN S3 for nearly 10 months, and have put a modest 1200km on it. This weekend just gone I entered a NSW Enduro series and decided to run the S3 rather than my S-Works Enduro - the particular course is very rocky off the top but transitions to flowy single track with berms and jumps, little else by way of technical features. Anyway, I took out P1 in my category and finished 17th overall from 110 participants.

I've ridden a lot of different bikes, and honestly this one has been the most fun I've ever had on a bike. If I could buy the exact same frame in 140mm travel I'd be all over it, I think then I'd sell my Enduro as it would be redundant! (for the courses I ride anyway).

I have the Venfort "Pro4" version of this hub.
Front is perfect, about 500km so far not a single issue.
Rear is about 100km and is also good, except when I stripped it down after 30km or so to make sure everything looked ok. The inner ratchet had jammed into the body. I managed to get it out by tapping the backside with a drift I made using an old screwdriver. I contacted Venfort who told me that the ratchet is inner/outer specific. Although there is no visual indication of this at all. I swapped the ratchet pieces around and have had no further jamming issues though.

As for sound, I ride with a guy that has a DT 360 with 36T ratchet, this hub sounds identical. The hub does have a slight "off centre" sound which makes the volume rise and fall slightly, noticeable when riding but not to a spectator.

The hub came with a spare set of driver bearings also which is nice.

I bought a pair of Carbon Beam 29" 30x30 rims for my ICAN build, put them on Venfort DT copies for a total built weight of 1425g. I chose the lightweight 315g for front and AM 360g for the rear. They are cheap at $130usd each including delivery.

However in less than 100km the rear is destroyed by a rock strike. Now I get that rock strikes aren't warranty, however when it comes down to it, the seller advertises these as AM with a weight rating of 120kg for mountain bike use. I didn't even hear the rock strike and have been pretty careful on this bike to ensure my riding isn't as enthusiastic so to speak as my heavier duty enduro bike. That said, I have destroyed several aluminium rims over the last couple of years, but they are a LOT cheaper too...

I had a look at Lightbicycle, they have a great writeup on different layups and light/standard/heavy duty layup options, however their rims come out to $366 ea delivered.

Is a $366 rim less prone to destruction from rock strike than a $130 rim?

How is everyone finding the sizing of this frame?

I've got a medium Ripmo AF with 458mm Reach. I'm 5' 8.5" and find the bike to fit good if a touch long.  A large Ripmo has a 475mm reach and would be too big for sure. 

This S3 medium at 475 reach seems like it will be too big.  But a small frame seems strange to me.

Anyone else dealt with this new sizing and had to size down?

Thank you.

Keep in mind that reach is independent of seat angle, so this frame with a 1° steeper seat tube has a shorter perceived reach. If your seat top is 600mm above the bottom bracket 1° steeper makes it 10mm more forward, so comparing with your Ripmo the perceived reach of the S3 would be more like 465, there are other factors at play too, because reach is not measured on the rotational centre of the bike, rather off the bottom bracket, if you put a 120mm fork on your S3 the result is an effective shortening of the reach from stock. Say this was another few mm and we are now at something like 462mm perceived reach - not all that different to the 458 Ripmo (which incidentally is a 160mm bike, so at 30% sag sits 48mm lower at the front compared to a 120mm bike which sits 40mm lower, further acting to close the reach gap).

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is it is a lot more complicated than just comparing a single figure on geometry to arrive at a conclusion, especially when the two bikes are aimed at different styles (for example, take a look at the reach numbers on dual crown downhill bikes!) A really great website to compare geometry is 99 Spokes - https://99spokes.com/en-AU/compare?bikes=vitus-rapide-fs-cr-mountain-2021;*z.MD|w.29,ibis-ripmo-af-slx-2021;*z.MD|w.29 this link compares the Ripmo with the Vitus Rapide FS which is a Vitus branded FM936 which is the same geo as the Ican S3 It makes it pretty easy to see what the differences are.

You can contact them directly by email: wing [at] carbonda.com

I did an enduro race in July, just swapping the wheels.
And the Swiss Epic, an XC race, in August.
Both with the 120mm fork.
The bike had harsher terrains than it is designed for, and survived 3 crashes.

I won a local enduro in August on my Ican X3 which is a Horst Link version of the 936, and didn't change the wheels lol. Incredibly capable bikes. I've had a lot of bikes and I just love getting on this thing. It is starting to get pretty dinged up, but one day I'll fill the scratches, sand it back and give it the proper paint job it deserves.