ICAN cycling RD01 road/gravel frame review + BD35 wheel set
Resumé: Satisfied with the bike and wheels but not with the customer service.
This is my 3 Chinese carbon frame build, first time from ICAN. This build is for a lady friend.
After several exchanges on frame and wheel set, I decide to buy the RD01 frame and BD35 wheelset. The salesman ask me twice to send the money directly to their PayPal account, based on pricing in is E-mail. I had to ask them 3 times for a proper Paypal invoice, essential for Paypal assurance and warranty.
Shipping from China to Canada took about 2 week - extremely fast. Pricing was reasonable.
Frame weight Frame - size 50 : 1220g Fork : 520g Seatpost : 248g advertised Frame:1120g; Fork:480g; Seatpost: 260g - size not specified) -» about 140g heavier for the frame + fork.
BD35 wheel : Front: 730g Rear: 889g no rim tape (advertized :Front: 706+-10g Rear: 857+-10g) -» 56 g differenc
Warranty : 2 years
Frame was not the lightest but was on sale with a good discount.
Wheels looks nice and well build. Spoke holes are offset and the only issue was that the rim tape had difficulty to cover. Tubeless tape would be a better option. Tire were very difficult to mount by hand on these tubeless ready rim.
Frame look fine but moulding marks were apparent at several places, mainly on the top tube - seems purely cosmetic.
With budget limitation, the bike was assembled with Shimano 105 mechanical shifting and brake + A8000 IIIPro brake ( mechanically activated hydraulic brakes). Bough as a kit on Aliexpress. Front rotor 140 mm was immediately changed to 160 mm.
Continental Gatorskin 25c front and 28c rear mainly for the road but also smooth gravel road. As expected, mounted tires were 2-3mm larger than usual because of the wide rim width.
Assembly was not difficult except for the following:
I had ordered the frame with 1 front derailleur hanger, and 2 rear one but only 1 of the 2 rear derailleur hangers was sent, no front. The headset that I had ordered was also missing.
The rear true axle bolt that came with the frame was the wrong size, 17 mm instead of 19 mm. It could not be attached to the frame with the lock nut. The rear frame cable stop insert that goes to the rear derailleur at the back of the frame was missing.
I have tried to get ICAN to send me the missing parts and discussions was laborious. They prefer reimburse me for the missing parts. I had to order replacements on Aliexpress. I fabricate the rear cable stop frame insert myself, I could not find one anywhere.
The frame size 50 (small) was a bit big for the 5'8" women (short arm long torso). Handlebar was fit with a 7 cm stem.
Riding quality of the bike is good. Steering was responsive, maybe a touch too much.
The seatpost design is solid but it’s impossible to precisely adjust the saddle tilt. It consists of a double cone system with grooves, link by a bolt. Small set screws are used to help tight the vertically clamp on the rail on each side. I suppose that the same clamp would fit oval or round rail. The issue with that system is that the saddle tilt change by about 2 degrees from one groove to the other, not precise enough. Since the seatpost is an aero shape, a replacement from another company might be impossible to find.
Braking was good once the brake pad as bedded. The 160 mm front rotor is recommended.
Conclusion: the bike ride well (initial impressions only, my friend has ridden probable 400 km on it) but would look somewhere else because of poor customer service (poor communication + missing parts). Getting replacement parts from them might be an issue.
