IP-256SL Build: Three times the fun.

[Vipassana]

Hello.  This is my first post here, however, I've been lurking this forum for a while now gathering information on all things related to Chinese carbon.

I am an avid cyclist and have started racing in the past year and a half.  Mainly fast, dry, single track and fire road based endurance courses.  I am currently training with two of my coworkers for the 104 mile Barn Burner race in Flagstaff, AZ in September.  This race is part of the Leadville qualifying series.  With a little (OK, a LOT) of luck I might complete the race and win a spot to try Leadville.

I'm currently riding a 2011 Giant Anthem X2 29er FS.  Both of my coworkers/teammates are riding 2013 Specialized Camber Comps.  All of these bikes have been great bikes, but they are on the heavier side of things at 28-31 lbs.  The wheels are a lot of the weight and the rear suspension frame doesn't help.  We've decided to sell these bikes and build some light weight race machines.  With a little luck (and some dollars), we'll have our new bikes ready to ride in August, in time for Barn Burner. 

As you can see in the title, we are all going to start with the IP-256SL.  I hope this thread will be interesting to the community because we will be building three bikes at the same time.  So far, the builds are VERY similar, but I suspect they may deviate from one another as the build progresses.

We have been working closely with Peter at IPlay and so far, he has been a pleasure to work with.  Extremely responsive with good communication skills.  He has been very understanding of our endless questions.  Last night, we pulled the trigger on the IPlay order and send a very large sum over to Peter.  Now we wait for the results.  Here is what we ordered:

3 x IP-256SL Frame - 19"
3 x N-SS IP-HR930C Wheelset
3 x IP-SP7 Seatpost
3 x IP-B04 Handlebar
3 x FSA Headset
1 x IP-ST1 Stem
2 x IP-BC5 Bottle Cage
4 x IP-BC6 Bottle Cage
1 x IP-FK052 Fork

On two of the frames, paint was ordered.  The third was left naked; I think my coworker has something neat up his sleeve for that one.

Now we wait for the parts to start arriving.  I will post a plenty of pictures of each part and of the build process as the progress.  Hopefully this will help to increase the knowledge of the community.

 

[Vipassana]

Here is the list of planned components and weights I have compiled for my build.  I'm certain some of the weights will be different, but this should be a good ball part.  I generally don't want to be a weight weenie, but that is the theme for this particular build given the bike's purpose.  I'd be very happy for anything under 21 lbs and ecstatic for anything under 20.

With suspension fork:



With rigid carbon fork:

[Carbon_Dude]

Your weights seem accurate, your build with the suspension fork should be under 20 lbs, and your rigid fork should save about 2 lbs more.  I'm sure you will be happy with the build.  If you have not ridden a bike with XT brakes and a SRAM XX1 or X01 drivetrain, you will fall in love the new bikes.

One suggestion, when you get your wheels, check your spoke tension.  The tension on my wheels seems low but I am about to send an email to Peter and ask what the spec is.

[Chadding]

That second build with the rigid fork is exactly, and I do mean exactly the bike I'm planning to build - from the tyres to the Ritchey grips, that's my planned build (hopefully by winter, which sucks but whatever).. I want it to basically look like the one below, which apparently a lot of people seem to like that color scheme - think I can do without the red hubs though:

[Sitar_Ned]

Nice.. Def looking forward to seeing a pic of a fleet of Chiners!

And yeah.. That burnt orange and black paint scheme is def one of my favs too.

[Vipassana]

I received shipping notification for all of the components and one frame from Peter on Monday!  The other two frames are being painted this week and will then be shipped out.

We contacted Peter to ask about spare drop-out/hangar sets and the chain-suck guard.  We realized we overlooked these parts and will try to get them shipped out with the remaining two frames.

Next step is to start ordering the other parts.  I'm excited.  And nervous!

[jonxmack]

I'll be following this thread closely, I'm looking at a 256 for myself.

[Vipassana]

I've been delinquent in updating this thread.  Parts have started to arrive from iplay and elsewhere.  We have received one frame IP-256 frame, and many of the smaller carbon parts like bars and posts.  The wheels were shipped last week and should arrive late this week or early next.  The two frames getting paint will ship this week. 

Here are some pictures:

The contents of the first iplay shipment:


A shot of the various cockpit parts:



Weights:

IP-256SL Frame (19", BB30, No axle, but w/ dropouts) - 1070g:


IP-ST1 Stem - 143g:


"FSA" Headset - 117g


Rear Thru-axle - 74g:


Front Thru-axle - 83g:


IP-BC6 Gottle Cage - 22g:


IP-BC5 Gottle Cage - 27g:


IP-SP7 Seat Post - 180g:


IP-B04 Straight Handlebar - 130g:


IPlay Seatpost Collar - 19g:

[Vipassana]

A note about the two different water bottle cage styles we ordered, the IP-BC5 and IP-BC6.  I installed the two IP-BC6 cages I bought on my road bike for a century ride this past weekend.  Everything bolted up fine and the bottles fit perfectly in the cages.  They are snug, but not difficult to get the bottles in or out of.  HOWEVER, when I pick up my road bike and bounce it, the bottles, when full, seem relatively "loose".  I couldn't get one to fall out of the cage, but I could see it perhaps occurring on a rugged downhill section on the mountain bike.  Longer bottles seem "top heavy" in the IP-BC6 due to the lack of restraint near the middle/neck of the bottle.

I repeated the test with the IP-BC5 cages my buddy chose and the bottles were MUCH tighter.  Additionally, I like that this cage has a bit of a lead-in the seems to guide the bottle in with less looking at the cage (IE riding off-road).  I think the IP-BC5 is better suited for rough riding than the IP-BC6. But this is speculation as I've taken neither on the trail yet to know definitively.  I can say that the IP-BC6 is lighter by ~5g (nothing, really) and they held up fantastically on my century ride.  They will stay on my road bike.  I've already talked to Peter, and four more IP-BC5 cages are on their way!

I should note that the cages are around half the weight of my trusty aluminum cages I've been using for years on the road bike.  Not a huge amount of weight, but impressive none-the-less.

Here is a closer crop of the two styles.  IP-BC5 on the bottom and IP-BC6 on the top.


Trusty aluminum holders:

[Vipassana]

Here are some more pictures of the first frame:











UD Matte in a camera flash:


For whatever reason, the finish looks very blotchy and uneven when the camera flash goes off.  But the frame is, in actuality, very smooth and even to the touch.  In normal lighting it looks very subdued.

[Vipassana]

And here is a couple of teasers of the other, non-iplay components arriving...

X01 Groupset x 3!



Want to see a picture of my big, girthy, crank...  ?




































Not bad, huh?   

[Izzy]

   It's Christmas! And I'm the jealous younger brother, lol. Exciting to have all of that affordable chiner goodness arrive, I bet.

Awesome thread, doing three builds at once. Will def be following along.

[Sitar_Ned]

For whatever reason, the finish looks very blotchy and uneven when the camera flash goes off.  But the frame is, in actuality, very smooth and even to the touch.  In normal lighting it looks very subdued.

Yep.. Very difficult to take good shots of the UD Matte finish. I tried all different kinds of lighting.. My pics still sucked.

Very in-depth update.. Thanks.

And no offense, but all of a sudden I don't feel bad for you at all for coming so close to winning the rim giveaway    

[Vipassana]

  It's Christmas! And I'm the jealous younger brother, lol. Exciting to have all of that affordable chiner goodness arrive, I bet.

Awesome thread, doing three builds at once. Will def be following along.

If you're in Arizona, you're welcome to come over and play with my new toys.

Yep.. Very difficult to take good shots of the UD Matte finish. I tried all different kinds of lighting.. My pics still sucked.

Very in-depth update.. Thanks.

And no offense, but all of a sudden I don't feel bad for you at all for coming so close to winning the rim giveaway    

Yeah, Patrick C will put those rims to good use.  I probably wouldn't even have time to research what the heck to build them up with if I had won them.




Also, my wife sent me this picture today:


This should be the wheel sets and spare drop outs.  This is going to be a long day at work!

On a side note, these two packages left China early last week.  FAST.

[Izzy]

If you're in Arizona, you're welcome to come over and play with my new toys.

Hahaha... And if was in Arizona I absolutely would! Pumped to see the wheels. Def living vicariously through you right about now!