Hello everyone,
Herewith my contribution with my new Velobuild VB-R-177. This has been my first bike build ever and it was a fun experience.
I made my choice buying from Velobuild. Couldn't decide between the VB-R-166 and the VB-R-177 but I finally decided to go with the VB-R-177.
My objective was to build a budget road bike. Therefore, I took my time and looked for used / discounted parts from the internet. I was very happy with most purchases (especially the group set). But it didn't always work out great. One of the disks appeared to be not completely round, so that needs replacement. Also buying second hand, means sometimes that some small parts are not included. Especially in my case as an inexperienced DIY bike mechanic, that appeared to be a challenge since most of the time you notice the absence of parts only while you are in the building process. It took me a lot of extra time, but I already calculated that in before starting the project.
Furthermore; Youtube appeared to be my friend in this project, since there are tons of instructional movies around to get information from. I was also lucky with my local bike shop to help me out with missing parts and giving good advice when I got stuck.
I did have play in the headset that made me worried, since I’ve seen some excellent Video’s from Patrick Lino (also known as patlien1 on this forum I believe) on Youtube. But in the end, it appeared a replacement of the inner lock end better montage. All in all, the integrated head set makes it trickier.
I did bring the bike in with my local bike shop once it was built for a good checkup and to micro adjust the shifters and to give myself some peace of mind about safety.
In conclusion; I learned a lot, will do many things differently in a new project. But it was very educational and a lot of fun, I think everybody can do it.
I did my first longer rides and I'm super happy with the end result. But I must say my only comparison of the ride quality is with my ancient aluminum road bike only on 23mm tires.