Just finished up building my new GF-002 frame. Almost all parts except for the bars/stem were transferred over from my GF-001.
Aside from a few stumbling blocks that were on me, the build was smooth. Frame and separate bar/stem combo from VB have been great and I'm happy with everything so far.
Learnings:
1. No cabling exposed with separate VB bar/stem: This bar/stem combo has fully integrated cabling with no exposed cabling at all (unless you don't want internal cabling and route on the outside of the bars). Unlike the integrated bars where the cables/wires poke out under the stem before going down the fork. This is only an issue if you're running an external Di2 junction box like I am as you normally place it under the stem where you have access to the wires being exposed, can connect the junction box and then the wires go down the fork. This is how I have my VB-R-168 set up.
Considered getting an internal junction box to mount to the opening in the top of the downtube, however I wasn't able to source one easily (aka I was too cheap and didn't find a deal I liked, plus needed another junction and extra wire). Someone suggested I just drill a hole in the stem and that's what I did! Solution worked perfectly and I don't have any concerns with the integrity of the stem provided how small the hole is and how thick the carbon in that area is. Photo below.
2. Smallest chainring for the GF-002 is 46T: I tried mounting my regular compact Shimano 2x crankset 50/34 and the small chainring was pressed hard against the chainstay with no room to move. Not sure if my choice of BB made a difference but I have a Wheels Manufacturing BB386EVO. I ended up getting some 24mm spacers for the crankset shaft to push out the crank and 3mm worth of spacers did the trick. Found out after from VB about the 46T chainring minimum.
A few things I appreciate having that my GF-001 didn't are:
- Fender eyelets in the fork
- Additional bottle/bag mounts on the side of the fork and under the downtube
- Round seatpost
Really happy with how the paint job turned out. I wasn't sure about their ability to blend the two colors but they did a good job with the transition. Decals were made locally and splatter is just some left over plasti-dip splattered by moi.
The newly revised slightly taller C ring for the headset seems to be making a difference to prevent the play issue some were experiencing with the separate bar/stem option. Overall happy with how it turned out.
