So, after pining for an open mould frame for almost a year, I finally bit the bullet and pulled the trigger- I ordered an R-068 from VeloBuild about two weeks ago. As far as I can tell, it's pretty much a 2017 Venge Vias clone- at least in terms of geometry, it obviously doesn't have those janky direct-mount brakes (thank God) and aside from not having a lip at the top/tip of the head-tube, the frame looks quite similar to the Venge Vias and IMO it looks pretty fucking dope when painted up. However, because I'm super impatient, I'm just getting it in matte since I want it as soon as possible so that I can hopefully get a few races in on it before the season is over.
While this is going to be a race/training bike, I'm also going to try to build it up with as many budget-friendly weight weenie parts as possible- I know, it's an oxymoron, lol. My current main bike is somewhat of a freak-show; it's a Cervelo P3 that I built up as an aero road bike a few months ago. At its lightest, it was 6.6kgs w/out pedals and 6.85kgs w/pedals, but that was with tubs that I have since sold. Right now it's running either a set of Chinese 50mm clinchers or ICAN 38mm clinchers in terms of wheels and in terms of groupo, I'm running Sram Red/Rival shifters, Apex brakes, Rival22 med. cage RD, Ultegra 6500 FD (b/c Sram doesn't know how to make a FD that doesn't suck asshole), Ultegra 6800 50/34 crank and Sroad 11-32 cassette. With Garmin dual sided power meter pedals and water bottle cage w/Wahoo, it weighs in the low 7s- which isn't too bad for a 14 year old TT frame. The frame itself weighs 1250 grams or thereabouts IIRC.
With my lighter ICAN wheels and maybe either a full Red or Dura-Ace/Ultegra groupo I'm hoping to have the VB-068 AT LEAST as light as my P3, if not a hair lighter. I've had a lighter bike that was 6.3kgs and I hated it (Emonda SL w/Di2 that I built up)- it was set up as aggressively as the P3 but it just felt slow, so I'm rather comfortable building up a light-ish aero frame as long as the position is aggressive and it's kinda aero- I doubt it can be much heavier than a 14 year old TT bike.
I'll definitely be updating this thread with full build pics and weights. I'm *thinking* about maybe spraying the 068 with neon pink or green depending when I get it. if I get a few days before a race and think I'll be able to have it dialed in by race time, I'll probably say fuck spraying it, let's just build it up, but there's also part of me that wants to take my time and make it look goofy as fuck. Someone on here gave me the brilliant idea of asking Chris to put a Made in China or C-Works decal on there but he said it would take 5 more days and i'm just WAY too impatient for that, lol.
So here are some pics of the Cervelo to hold everyone over until the 068 is in my possession.
