1996 Independent Fabrication Roadster SS Custom

I've always had a soft spot for cruisers such as the Kona A'ha and Humu, so when I spotted this for sale as a full bike earlier this year I was interested, but not a massive fan of the build and money was tight, so I stayed my hand. It helped that the seller didn't seem in a huge rush to sell it, he kept posting it on facebook groups but without a price so didn't get a huge amount of interest. Then about a month ago, I spotted it listed as a frame and forks on ebay, so I sprang into action. I didn't want to lose it, so I contacted the seller about a BIN, as much to stop anyone else doing the same as to actually try to encourage him to pull the auction. The seller was honest and wanted to let the auction run, and I won it with a bid in the last few seconds. I also bought the wheels from the same seller, which was a bit nerve racking as that auction finished an hour before the frameset!

The seller told me it's a 96 model, and he is a huge IF fan so I think he knows his stuff. It's definitely an early one with it taking a 1" headset and 26.8 seat post. It's a 17" but a custom with a fairly long 23" effective top tube. It was also supposedly built for an employee, but I've yet to contact IF to verify that or the year.

I wasn't a huge fan of the colour at first, and was considering having it re-finished, but when it landed it was nicer than I expected, and the seller believes it's the original paint.

I bought the tyres, headset and DKG seat collar new. I was shocked at how cheap DKG stuff is, even considering the shipping from the US and it landed in less than a week.

The brakes came from Canada, and ideally I'd want some Avid Ultimate levers to match. I'm also unsure about the ESI grips, they're a paler grey than I'd like. I might swap them for some black Attacks when I find some Avid levers.

I got lucky with the Salsa stem on ebay too. It was a dirt cheap BIN attached to some Quintana Roo bars.

I already had all the other parts used, so it wasn't a hugely expensive build in the end.

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Frame: Independent Fabrication Roadster SS 17" if261 17c
Fork: Independent Fabrication rigid 415mm ac 1"
Headset: Chris King 1" no-threadset silver sotto voce

Stem: Salsa 90mm 0°
Handlebar: Merlin titanium
Grips: ESI chunky grey

Brakes: Avid Arch Supreme
Brake Pads: Fibrax ceramic / XTR holders
Brake Levers: Shimano XTR m950

Cassette: Shimano Screw On 3/32 Inch Single Freewheel 16
Chain: Sram pc870
Cranks: Raceface Turbine silver compact
Crank Bolts: Brand X self extracting
Chainrings: Suntour MD 32 pale gold
Chainring bolts: Titanium single ring
Bottom Bracket: Raceface
Pedals: Odyssey Svelte cromo

Hub Skewers: Salsa Flip off / Phil Wood bolt w/ Surly tug nut
Rims: Mavic 517 Ceramic
Hubs: Phil Wood
Tyres: Panaracer Pasela Tour Guard Folding 26 x 1.75 Inch, 42-559

Saddle: Flite titanium 95
Seatpost: Specialized Nitto 26.8 silver
Seatpost Binder: DKG silver mountain 28.6

Awesome frame great design I remember seeing this on Facebook I think the red IF bike is still for sale maybe on here??

DICKO10":u98dokol said:

Awesome frame great design I remember seeing this on Facebook I think the red IF bike is still for sale maybe on here??

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Cheers. Yeah, the red one has been posted for sale again recently somewhere. That one is a bit bigger, and I have an 04 Deluxe SS already. I try to keep my collection pretty varied (or as much as you can when they're all fully rigid!), and apart from the 2 IFs, all my other bikes are by different manufacturers.

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Sublime looking machine..

Very jealous!

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That's very cool.

I like the colour a lot.

I love this

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raidan73":1k8p9q1t said:

I love this

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Me too - just looks right. Dig the colour as well. Must get a IF some day!

Thanks for the kind words, guys!

I really like the colour now, I think using silver components against the grey worked well.

It's a really nice ride too. I thought it might be fairly harsh with the added stiffness of an extra tube, but it still has the stiff yet compliant ride of a nicely built steel frame.

I've updated the pic links to flickr from photobucket too, since they've changed their rules about 3rd party hosting. I'm not sure if they had disappeared, as I could still see them, but I hope the new links work for everyone.

nice to see where those brakes ended up! great looking build!

love the colour and the frame design!

hmmm, was considering swapping a set of m950 levers in place of the avid on my Silk Ti, perhaps we should discuss working out some sort of swap.

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Really nice