Price Paid:  $650.00 at Peet's WheelHouse

Favorite Ride:
Any Park or long ride

Bike Setup:
New Ultegra 9 speed gruppo.
Italmanubri 120mm stem, 46 cm handle bars.
Cane Creek 1-1/8" Threadless sealed bearing headset, black.
Black Mavic Open Pro hoops with Ultegra hubs.
Selle Italia Flite Saddle.
Continental 2000 tires.
Black Thompson seatpost, 400 mm.
Black Salsa 30mm seat clamp.
The complete bike and wheel set was built by me. Weight is a smidge over 21 lbs.

Summary:
IRD Impala Road Bike. Great handling 853 Reynolds steel frame. Rear brake cable routing on top tube at the 8:00 position. Head tube mounted cable stops. I ordered it with the Stab Carbon straight fork. Has Breezer dropouts for quick wheel changes. Tight geometry with slight sloping top tube. Size is 54cm high by 56cm length. Beautiful Del Sol Blue(burple). 1-1/8" head tube with 27.2 seatpost. Straight and light frame without being twitchy.

Strengths:
This bike rides beautifully. It leaps when you get on it. The bike is stable at any speed. I've let my hands off the handle bars to adjust a zipper or my glasses without any swaying. Wheel changes are quick; wheels drop right in. The color will blow you away! Steel is still the ultimate riding frame material. Size this bike by the top tube. I ride between a 56 and 57cm frame. The sizing chart for IRD had me skepticle about the 56cm sizes. Once I built the bike up (9 speed Ultegra) it was easy to get my fit. The 54cm height will require a mountain bike length seatpost. I chose a beautiful black Thomson that matches my black Open Pro hoops, ITM stem & handlebar and Cane Creek sealed bearing threadless headset, black of course. The bike is a real looker that likes to go fast. Handling is good down a hill. I give it a 4 out of 5 for downhill handling but a definite 5 out of 5 for smooth handling on the flats or small rolling hills.

Weaknesses:
I haven't found any real weaknesses but the frame did not come with a seat clamp as advertised. After a couple calls to the Customer Sales department I was able to learn that the correct size seat collar was a 30mm. I chose a black Salsa seat collar. Very small inconvenience but an easy one to solve. I also own a custom built road bike but my new IRD Impala handles and accelerates much crisper and smoother.

Similar Products Used:
I have had a few nice road bikes and even a custom built frame made out of Columbus SLX tubing with Henry james lugs and drop outs. I own a VooDoo Wazoo Cyclocross 57cm made out of 753 Reynolds (Reynolds non air-hardened)with traditional cylocross geometry; fairly fast, stable and comfortable.