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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Question for everyone who is running a mechanical front derailleur, how the f**k did you manage to get the outer cable in the cable stop behind the bottom bracket? I'm using jagwire pro cable outer and have a ferrule on the end that I'm trying to get to sit in the cable stop in the frame, however it seems like the angle in which the hole is drilled in the cable stop makes it impossible for the cable to feed in to. My plan is to run the f/d cable under the bottom bracket, which means the outer comes up at a 90 degree angle, whereas the cable stop is more of a 45 degree angle and I just can't seem to get them to fit. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! March 09, 2022, 06:18:57 AM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Did you figure out how to route this yet? There were some posts about this earlier in the thread, and at least one person routed theirs above the BB. http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,3147.msg28515.html#msg28515 Hey Bamboo! It took a bit of filing to take some material off the inside of the frame stop where the cable enters, this opened up the angle a little bit and allowed me to fit the cable and ferrule into the stop, routing it underneath the bottom bracket. It means that there is no tight bend inside the frame as the cable is not going to run almost vertically from under the bottom bracket directly up to the front derailleur. Honestly it took a good few hours and MANY attempts to get it to sit properly but I'm happy with how it's turned out. My next challenge is the bars, I'm now finding it pretty hard to sort the internal cable routing out which I'm guessing is going to take many more hours and attempts to get the cables through. I may just file a little bit of material away from where the cables exit close to the shifters to create a slightly bigger hole, as the problem I'm having is the hole is SUPER tight to get both a shifter cable and a brake cable through. Any other suggestions? March 10, 2022, 02:14:41 AM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Hey Ollie, it is punish to go get those cables in through the headset, I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, but I lightly put some grease on the cable housing to get it to slide through nicely. Success! After failing miserably yesterday using one of the internal cable tools to try and route the bars, I ditched the tool and just used a spare brake cable which took around 30 mins to route all 4 cables! Inspiration came from this video: https://youtu.be/gt9cW70vFwM]https://youtu.be/gt9cW70vFwM March 10, 2022, 02:38:10 PM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Juin Tech F1's arrived Very nice! I've also just received my Juin Tech's so am finalising my build. Also went from a Triban RC520 to a VB-R-168 so am very much looking forward to (hopefully) going a bit faster! March 11, 2022, 05:28:25 AM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Hi all, Had my first ride on my VB-R-168 today and absolutely LOVE it. The build went together really well, with the only issue being that I needed to file around 2mm of material off the inside of the front derailleur stop so the cable and ferrule could sit in correctly when routing under the bottom bracket. I did experience difficulty in routing the cables through the bars but it's my first time building a bike so it was to be expected. In general I would say the overall quality of the bike is great, especially when considering how much the frame is! For context, I'm coming off a Triban RC520, a full aluminium, relaxed geo, 9kg beginners road bike, and up until today was the only road bike I had ridden. Compared to the RC520, the 168 is much stiffer, accelerates faster, transfers power better and holds speed very well once you get going, however it also seems very comfortable and compliant with no issues on the cobbles I rode today. My 35km ride today was a local loop I know very well and I managed to get a number of Strava PR's (smashing some of my previous times). I haven't ridden/trained for the last 6 weeks so fitness wasn't great and there were some hellish headwinds, which shows just how fast the bike is. Without a power meter I can only go off avg. speed, and based on todays ride I think I've gained between 4 to 5km/h with the 168 which is more than I expected if I'm honest - I was averaging 32km/h on my ride and it felt pretty straightforward to maintain 37km/h, when pushing I was hitting between 44 to 52km/h which I could get nowhere near on my RC520 - all of this was on flat roads so no benefit from going downhill  it's a VERY fast bike.I got the frame with the HB011 bar, when static and you test the bar for flex there is a small amount which I was a bit disappointed with, however when you're actually on the bike and sprinting in the drops I couldn't feel any flex at all, which was a very pleasant surprise. Aside from the frame, the other Chiner components I have are the Juin Tech GT's which are great, much better than my previous TRP HY/RDs, and the SROAD SLR2 cassette which shifts very well and is super light! Overall, super happy and would highly recommend the frame! A full parts list and weight per part for my build is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JRhus6SxSn-_OqfEiuNH-_bxQrsS67ouus0gICANTKk/edit#gid=704196738 I'll put some better pictures of the bike up when I have time. If you have any questions on the build, fire away! Olie March 14, 2022, 03:15:39 PM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Great looking build, for a first time you did really well, very smart component choices! How is the ZTTO BB? Thanks! The ZTTO BB seems very well machined and a quality bit of kit when in your hands. It was super simple to install, took around 1 minute as you just thread it together. Much easier to install than a true press-fit BB I imagine however it is around 40g heavier than a Dura-ace BB for example. With the cranks on but no chain, and the preload set-up on the crank arms you get four or five rotations of the crank before they stop spinning. The bearings seem nice and smooth however I've got no idea how they're going to hold up in the long-run, only time will tell. On the plus side if it does't last long it's easy to uninstall and cheap to replace! If I had the tools or wanted a shop to complete the build I would probably go for the Dura-ace press-fit as I guess the bearings and seals will be better than the ZTTO, plus it's lighter. Personally I wanted the simplicity of a threaded press-fit as it was a self-build bike and am really happy with it so far. March 14, 2022, 04:29:06 PM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Nice build! Is that a faded paint job or chameleon? It's purple chameleon fading down to gloss black. It makes the bike look almost all black until the sun catches it, and then the purple chameleon starts to sparkle 
March 15, 2022, 12:49:20 AM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
How do those rotors work for you? I keep thinking about getting ultralight rotors, but always chicken out Hard to say to be honest 1Sigma as I've only put 125km in to them so far this week. I also live in Amsterdam so all of my riding is on the flat, I only really use the brakes when coming up to traffic lights etc. so will never be able to test them on a long descent. So far so good though, they were perfectly straight out of the box, went on fine and make no noise when braking which is all I can ask for. March 17, 2022, 11:31:29 AM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Sorry if this question is answered somewhere in the thead but do anyone have the real weights of frame, fork, seatpost and handlebar? Here you go: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JRhus6SxSn-_OqfEiuNH-_bxQrsS67ouus0gICANTKk/edit#gid=704196738 Whilst I'm at it, I've clocked 2,000km's on mine in 4 months and it's been great. Not a single issue with the build process or on any of the rides I've had on it. Maybe I'm lucky and got a good frame, or maybe some people are unlucky and get a 'bad one', however in my case I'd highly recommend it! June 25, 2022, 01:59:16 PM |
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Re: Velobuild Paint Finish Quality
I have a VB-R-168 that's painted in Gloss Chameleon Purple that fades down to gloss black, and also have custom decals on the head tube, down tube, top tube and seat tube. All of which was done by VeloBuild at the cost of around $80 USD - this was broken down by 2x colours used in paint (Gloss Purple Chameleon and Gloss Black), and 1x colour decals (white), even though the decals were in multiple places. Everything was perfect with order with the exception of the head tube decal where they used the wrong font - I imagine the font I requested corrupted when they printed the decal but they did not realise - all of the other decals are exactly as requested in terms of colour, font, size and placement. Honestly, it took me 2 months before I even noticed the head tube mistake myself so it has not caused me any bother. I also must add that after 2,500km the paint is holding up very well, especially the underside of the down tube that has been hit with numerous loose stones from the road, and the chain stays. I've still got no chips or scratches etc, and after a wash it comes up looking like new. I agree with everything that 1Sigma said regarding the Do's, and wouldn't hesitate to ask them to paint another frame for me if I got round to ordering another. July 05, 2022, 09:42:34 AM |
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