ICAN: Stand alone or Yishin/Lightcarbon

[Macedingle]

Hey all,
Am narrowing down the frames I want for my china build. Ranging from the expensive Winspace and Yoeleo, to cheaper Velobuild and ICAN. Currently the Ican A9 is leading, as the lower price will allow me to get a nicer groupset. I cant help but notice that the ICAN A22 and A9 have some similar looking counterparts at Yishun/ lightcarbon. A9 I have seen similar to others
A22 looks similar to LCR015-D
Anyone know if they are connected?

P.S. My budget is $3k. Please brainstorm and comment parts list for inspiration!

[jfcb]

I currently ride an Ican A9 and use it for racing.
The build quality of the frame is flawless. It feels very fast and responsive while riding and it has plenty of stiffness. In addition, they now offer pretty paintjobs. So nothing negative to say about it.

For overall build suggestions how I did it:
- For wheels you could have a look at light-bicycle, farsports or elitewwheels. Ideally you wait until the 11Nov and/or black Friday period since they offer nice discounts (15%-20% off).
- Saddle, handlebar, bottle cages, other small parts-> plenty of light and good stuff you can find on aliexpress
- Groupset: depending on your budget you can go for a chinese option (ltwoo), but currently I would still opt to go for Shimano/Sram since then you know it will work.
- Bonus tip: TPU inner tubes from Aliexpress to make your wheels lighter and go faster on the road.

[Macedingle]

Good to hear the A9 is good quality.
105 Di2 is currently under $800 on Merlin cycles. Probably will go that route.
Do you have experience with ICAN Aero wheels?

[jfcb]

No experience with Ican wheels, but Hambini made a review of them on youtube.

[coffeebreak]

I have ICAN wheels on two bikes...

[WhityWhite]

i am currently assembling my ican a40.
Everything seems to be of good quality. the custoum paint is also in order.
They even touched it up because the colour in the picture before shipping was darker than I had specified. Without discussion...


The next build will be a Yishun or a Lightcarbon, I think.

[patliean1]

i am currently assembling my ican a40.
Everything seems to be of good quality. the custoum paint is also in order.
They even touched it up because the colour in the picture before shipping was darker than I had specified. Without discussion...


The next build will be a Yishun or a Lightcarbon, I think.

I inquired on A40 last year. ICAN doesn't really market that frame much because it's also being sold as Cinelli Pressure. To me this is ICAN's best looking frame and the geometry works well for me.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the A40 uses the FSA ACR system in the steer tube right? The front caliper hydro cable runs up, through, and out of the top of steer tube correct? This was kind of a deal breaker for me.

[BeR]

Hey all,
Am narrowing down the frames I want for my china build. Ranging from the expensive Winspace and Yoeleo, to cheaper Velobuild and ICAN. Currently the Ican A9 is leading, as the lower price will allow me to get a nicer groupset. I cant help but notice that the ICAN A22 and A9 have some similar looking counterparts at Yishun/ lightcarbon. A9 I have seen similar to others
A22 looks similar to LCR015-D
Anyone know if they are connected?

P.S. My budget is $3k. Please brainstorm and comment parts list for inspiration!

I bought the A22 three months ago and I will sell it for a TT frame. I have not ride the A9 but the A22 (with Alpha pro 40 mm wheels) is fast and accurate on descents. PM if you are interested in my frame.

[WhityWhite]

I inquired on A40 last year. ICAN doesn't really market that frame much because it's also being sold as Cinelli Pressure. To me this is ICAN's best looking frame and the geometry works well for me.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the A40 uses the FSA ACR system in the steer tube right? The front caliper hydro cable runs up, through, and out of the top of steer tube correct? This was kind of a deal breaker for me.

Absolut correct.

[Macedingle]

I bought the A22 three months ago and I will sell it for a TT frame. I have not ride the A9 but the A22 (with Alpha pro 40 mm wheels) is fast and accurate on descents. PM if you are interested in my frame.

Patrick I am super surprised you have not done an ICAN A9 review. But I can already here you explaining in my head "The geometry is just not aggressive for me to warrant me to try this product." It seems based on your comments on the forum that the UCI approved frames are a notch above the rest. This would put Winspace, Yoeleo and ICAN into a beginner bucket for low risk carbon frames. While the prices are higher, I think the better customer service and transparency is worth it.
I will check out the A40 as well, but I hope for a Lino A9 review

[patliean1]

Patrick I am super surprised you have not done an ICAN A9 review. But I can already here you explaining in my head "The geometry is just not aggressive for me to warrant me to try this product." It seems based on your comments on the forum that the UCI approved frames are a notch above the rest. This would put Winspace, Yoeleo and ICAN into a beginner bucket for low risk carbon frames. While the prices are higher, I think the better customer service and transparency is worth it.
I will check out the A40 as well, but I hope for a Lino A9 review

I am not a full-time YouTuber. In fact my monthly revenue from YouTube via advertisements is about $60. And maybe another $50 from affiliate discount codes. Considering I still have to purchase my own groupsets, tools, and small components (power meters, saddles, tires, etc) every single bike build is a financial loss.

Until I can generate enough YouTube revenue to justify testing a wider variety of frames and geometries, I can only focus on bike builds and components that have a high likelihood of actually getting used long term. This is part of my reasoning from moving away from cheap (and under-performing) Chinese frames.

A good example is the latest LTWOO ERX groupset. It's still unproven tech and I can find SRAM Force eTap groupsets locally for almost the same price. Sure if LTWOO or a distributor wants to send me the groupset to demo. A year ago when I contacted ICAN asking if they wanted to cooperate on sending me a frame. They declined. Even if they changed their minds today and sent me an A9, I just know I wouldn't ride it long-term.

[Macedingle]

I am not a full-time YouTuber. In fact my monthly revenue from YouTube via advertisements is about $60. And maybe another $50 from affiliate discount codes. Considering I still have to purchase my own groupsets, tools, and small components (power meters, saddles, tires, etc) every single bike build is a financial loss.

Until I can generate enough YouTube revenue to justify testing a wider variety of frames and geometries, I can only focus on bike builds and components that have a high likelihood of actually getting used long term. This is part of my reasoning from moving away from cheap (and under-performing) Chinese frames.

A good example is the latest LTWOO ERX groupset. It's still unproven tech and I can find SRAM Force eTap groupsets locally for almost the same price. Sure if LTWOO or a distributor wants to send me the groupset to demo. A year ago when I contacted ICAN asking if they wanted to cooperate on sending me a frame. They declined. Even if they changed their minds today and sent me an A9, I just know I wouldn't ride it long-term.

Completely understood. From what I have learned from you and others, it seems any Chinese frame under $900 has risks that you might not find with brands like ICAN/Yoeleo. Also I was an IL native for my whole life until I moved recently, I'm very surprised you have so many bikes. The houses and apartments in CHI do not promote a large bike arsenal. While companies like Airwolf have exciting frames, the email communications I have had do not inspire confidence.

[xicsx]

I've been using the A9 frame for several thousand km and I'm very satisfied.
If you're interested, I can mount tubeless up to 32mm if you want to be more comfortable or safe.
Another piece of advice is to take the Sensah Empire cable or hydraulic groupset that came out these days ...you will not regret
Happy riding