VeloBuild VB-R-268 frame

[rga19071976@gmail.com]

Good night

After 500 km with the bike, I can say that I am very satisfied.
I leave some photos of the final assembly

[patliean1]

Wicked @rga19071976 !

Assuming your paint color is silver chameleon, my frameset was shipped out yesterday in the same color. Hoping it delivers by end of March. I'm gonna be blinding mofos when the sun hits 

[rga19071976@gmail.com]

Wicked @rga19071976 !

Assuming your paint color is silver chameleon, my frameset was shipped out yesterday in the same color. Hoping it delivers by end of March. I'm gonna be blinding mofos when the sun hits 

Right, that's the color. It's a blinding machine 

[RasmusWH]

Hi!
Fairly close to pulling the trigger on the 268. Does anyone know if the expander plug and compression ring design is identical to the recalled one on the SL7?

[joegal]

Hi!
Fairly close to pulling the trigger on the 268. Does anyone know if the expander plug and compression ring design is identical to the recalled one on the SL7?

No, its velobuilds own design. (if that's a good or a bad thing, that's up for you to judge. I used a Deda 70mm Expander and a modified compression ring from the SL8 on my VB)

[RasmusWH]

No, its velobuilds own design. (if that's a good or a bad thing, that's up for you to judge. I used a Deda 70mm Expander and a modified compression ring from the SL8 on my VB)

Thanks, so the new plastic/injection moulded compression ring for the SL8 fits in the 268?

[joegal]

Thanks, so the new plastic/injection moulded compression ring for the SL8 fits in the 268?

no, does not fit.
you either gotta buy a new top headset bearing (with the same ID as the SL8) or you gotta lathe or sand down the SL8 compression ring to make it fit.
and you might also need quite a few microspacers as well.

But you can also stick with the setup that VB supplies, people don't seem to have these issues anymore.

[Serge_K]

I dont remember on which bikes i did it, but i 3d printed some thin (c.1mm) half moon-ish spacers to go above the C ring (it was a C ring with 1 position knob sticking out) so that the 1st plastic thing sitting on top of the tube wouldn't rub on the frame. I had to do that using bars i didn't buy from whomever sold me the frame, but my point is, if that plastic / metal rubs on the frame because the C ring isn't high enough / the bearing isn't tall enough, you can get away with a basic 3d printed spacer (i did 2-3 prototypes, the whole thing probably took me 2h across design, iterating and printing), that avoids having to sand / machine / lathe the bit that sits on top of the frame.
I also used spacers on the drive side of cranksets, BB tools (tightening & extraction), saddle bottle cage mount, garmin mount for aerobars... It's a great resource to have.

[RasmusWH]

I dont remember on which bikes i did it, but i 3d printed some thin (c.1mm) half moon-ish spacers to go above the C ring (it was a C ring with 1 position knob sticking out) so that the 1st plastic thing sitting on top of the tube wouldn't rub on the frame. I had to do that using bars i didn't buy from whomever sold me the frame, but my point is, if that plastic / metal rubs on the frame because the C ring isn't high enough / the bearing isn't tall enough, you can get away with a basic 3d printed spacer (i did 2-3 prototypes, the whole thing probably took me 2h across design, iterating and printing), that avoids having to sand / machine / lathe the bit that sits on top of the frame.
I also used spacers on the drive side of cranksets, BB tools (tightening & extraction), saddle bottle cage mount, garmin mount for aerobars... It's a great resource to have.

Thanks, previous in the thread there are mentioned some FSA micro-spacers (0.25 mm) you can get in a pack of 10 for 10 EUR. Will probably use them and cut them to C-shape - and save the 3D-printer for now 

[smu55]

My vb-r-268 in matte black size M arrived today. Will start building it in the next days. Just waiting for the disc elite edge wheelset to arrive in a week or so.
I was a bit disapointed about the frameweight thou. I expected it to be less or around 1kg. It weighs 1102g with the rear thru axle mounted (41g). But I should have a road bike considerably less than 8kg at the end.
There were people in this thread complaining about the rear thru axle threads. So I emediatly tested it. This is what I discoverd:If you loosen the rear hanger bolt a bit, the thread works perfectly well and the thru axels goes in smoothly. When the rear hanger is tighten, then it is harder for the axle to be threaded in, and it may seem that the thread is crossed. But it is actually fine. I guess the hangermount is not perfectly alinged. A flaw I can totaly live with.
I am planing to use alloy link cables (like jagwire elite link) for the internal routing of the shifting cables, because I had very good experiences with this kind of cable housings at my previous semi internal routed frame. The shifting is more accruate, they are more flexible and they are lighter than standard housings. I already checked the bend in the stem/fork region and it should be just ok. I will keep you postet on the development of that nerdy experiment.
To relicate my bike fit I bought an extra set of spacers, which velobuild sent with the frame for $ 10. Now I am using around 4cm of spacers.

[Serge_K]

My vb-r-268 in matte black size M arrived today. Will start building it in the next days. Just waiting for the disc elite edge wheelset to arrive in a week or so.
I was a bit disapointed about the frameweight thou. I expected it to be less or around 1kg. It weighs 1102g with the rear thru axle mounted (41g). But I should have a road bike considerably less than 8kg at the end.
There were people in this thread complaining about the rear thru axle threads. So I emediatly tested it. This is what I discoverd:If you loosen the rear hanger bolt a bit, the thread works perfectly well and the thru axels goes in smoothly. When the rear hanger is tighten, then it is harder for the axle to be threaded in, and it may seem that the thread is crossed. But it is actually fine. I guess the hangermount is not perfectly alinged. A flaw I can totaly live with.
I am planing to use alloy link cables (like jagwire elite link) for the internal routing of the shifting cables, because I had very good experiences with this kind of cable housings at my previous semi internal routed frame. The shifting is more accruate, they are more flexible and they are lighter than standard housings. I already checked the bend in the stem/fork region and it should be just ok. I will keep you postet on the development of that nerdy experiment.
To relicate my bike fit I bought an extra set of spacers, which velobuild sent with the frame for $ 10. Now I am using around 4cm of spacers.

1. You plan to route 4 housings through the bars & stem using this https://jagwire.com/products/diy-cable-kits/2017road-elite-link-brake-kit? Having routed 4 VB bikes with keb-sl housing (full internal), i really dont think it's possible, so very curious to see how you manage that.

2. If i had extra spacers like that under my stem, i'd probably run an extra long plug expander to spread the forces over the widest possible area. Leverage is a thing, so if you hit a bad pothole, you're at a materially higher chance of cracking the steerer if you run tall chimneys like that. That's also going to add another sharp bend to the routing.

3. so the frame is 1060g and they advertise 950g. Did you ask if the 950 is a raw carbon weight? Primer & paint done by VB is going to add weight, idk if it adds 100g, sounds like a lot, but I'd say >50g. At which point a 50g variance is 5% of the advertised weight, i guess it's within spec? When you order rims, if it weights 460g, the seller typically says +/- 15g, and a rim is a lot less intricate than a frame.

[RasmusWH]

How are the axle-threads in the frame holding up for you guys that have had the frame for some time?
Heard of some initial problems from some users.

[dank_ganks]

Haven't had any subsequent issues with the axles (on the other hand, i haven't removed and replaced the wheel a lot).

I've noticed that the bars (VB's integrated bars) feel pretty soft. Is this to be expected on carbon bars? These are my first carbon bars and they're definitely way flexier than alloy bars I'm used to. Should I be concerned at all about this?

[J-S-Q]

I've noticed that the bars (VB's integrated bars) feel pretty soft. Is this to be expected on carbon bars? These are my first carbon bars and they're definitely way flexier than alloy bars I'm used to. Should I be concerned at all about this?

I also found my VB integrated bars to be softer than all my previous alloy bars. For me, it’s actually quite nice and comfortable and absorbs lots of road vibrations. I guess maybe it’s a problem if you like doing hard sprints on the drops but I personally like these bars (after riding with them for 18 months on a Velobuild VBR-099).

[patliean1]

Size 56
Silver Chameleon Paint
Frame (no FD hanger): 1079g - I'm going 1x. FD delete saves 15g
Fork (uncut): 406g
Seatpost (with saddle clamp): 228g
TOTAL: 1713g

I'm going to assume the 950g advertised weight for a size M was unpainted, and the 180g seatpost didn't include the actual saddle clamp. The 410g fork weight however is accurate. No complaints to be honest. Both paint and facing surfaces look good too.

For Reference...

Giant Propel Size ML
Frame: 1071g (both hangers)
Fork: 361g
Seatpost: 198g
Total: 1630g

Tavelo Attack size L
Frame: 1041g
Fork: 443g
Seatpost: 156g
Total: 1640g