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Dark Tranquillity is here So, here is my version of VB-R-177.

Order placed in January, delayed by Chinese new year, procurement of spokes and hubs and a lockdown.

Custom paint and decals by Velobuild
Wheels are also from Velobuild (50mm), but customized with sapim CX ray spokes and Bitex 312 hubs
Groupset is all Shimano 105 hydraulic, with left crank PM (Xcadey)
Both rotors are SM-RT70-SS 140mm (also Shimano 105 series)
Tires are Conti GP5000 TL
Saddle is Selle Italia Flite FM Flow manganese rails

I didn't build it. I asked the LBS to do it for me as it would have taken ages to be completed
They didn't report issues in the compression bolt, but did report misalignment in the front wheel brake caliper too, as well as they said it was the "wrong rotor".  I fixed both things:
- I flipped the caliper mount as per Shimano manual
- When aligning the caliper, I used the business card method, but also inserted a 6mm allen key between the rotor (closer to the hub) and the caliper mount, before tighten the lower screw.  The one on top I left it at 6Nm.
April 24, 2022, 04:50:45 PM 		1
Re: Best "Downcountry" 120ish-mm Frame for Long Climbs and Rough Downhills better quality geo table :
April 25, 2022, 05:55:44 AM 		1
Re: Velobuild VB-R-177 Hello,
last year I built my first gravel bike velobuild GF-002, had some issues, most of them were due to my lack of enough experience and very easy to solve, and some were known velobuild issues, still relatively easy to solve.

I rode my bike over 3500 km.
My friends, after seeing me riding with confidence, also wanted to have a gravel bike like that, so I built another 7 GF-002 for friends, with integrated bar and separated bar and stem combinations, during that process, I learned lots of tricks, and made my tools better and collect a good amount of experience for building bikes.

I thought now it's time to build a proper road bike for myself again, and here it is, my new VB-R-177, and I absolutely love it.

The classic headset play problem can be solved (at least in my cases) with a sand paper, you should sand the steerer tube until the headcap sits perfectly on the compression plug, and yes, it should be straight, so take your time and try to have a clean cut, it helps.
If you still have problem, micro shims are your friend, cut one and put it between compression ring and headset cover.
For another classic problem, rubbing brakes, you should use M5 bolts that comes usually with break rotors(for 6 bolt rotors) as they are a bit shorter than regular bolts, they may help a lot to adjust the breaks properly.
Other than that, I don't see any major issue on velobuild side.

If you are considering some semi-hydraulic solution like juin-techs, you should not, yes, they can stop you, but the difference is like day and night, now I feel much much safer on descends, and have much better control overall.

For internal cable routing in handlebars, after testing the new method on a friends bike and saw the results, I did it for myself too, so here is how: just escape it, as easy as that :) you save yourself a good amount of time, and it gives you the possibility to change, bar or stem in future if you want to, I will post a picture so you can see what I did.

After about 200 km on this, I can say the ride quality is very good, the bike is very responsive, climbing and descending is very fun, the bike is fast and comfortable.

I did not build a weight weenie bike, so my setup with pedals, bottle cages, garmin mount and velobuild gravel wheels (which I used on my gravel bike) is 7.9, so you can cut some good amount of weight if you go for a lighter wheelset.
May 04, 2022, 03:56:26 AM 		1
Re: Saddle recommendations SDG Bel Air V3 is my go to for road or gravel, and the more curved V2 version (difficult but not impossible to find, they sometimes pop up on eBay) for MTB.
May 08, 2022, 01:37:54 PM 		1
Re: Saddle recommendations There's some discussion and links on road carbon saddles this thread if any of it interests you. https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,3250.15.html
May 10, 2022, 04:30:00 AM 		1
VeloBuild Headset Play Issue Using Separate Stem/Handlebar: Resolved. I also posted this in the VB-177 thread. Figured a brand new topic/thread would better raise awareness.

I have finally found an easy yet permanent fix for the headset play issue when using the separate handlebar/stem combo. Please bare with me as I'll do my best to be clear and concise. You do not need an FSA ACR setup, nor disconnect any hydraulic or shift cables.

#1 - This is NOT a design flaw on VeloBuild's behalf. The issue lies in the particular C-Clip they supply, which sits in the middle between the upper headset bearing and the black metal bearing cap (dust cover).

#2 - VeloBuild's C-Clip uses two tabs in order to lock the headset cap into place. The supplied spacers also use these same little tabs/knobs in order to lock the stem in place as well. The problem with these tabs is they are just deep enough (when locked into place) to subsequently recess the metal headset cap (dust cover) too far into the headset bearing. This is why there's always headset play no matter how tight the compression top cap bolt is. Those little tabs are about 0.5-1.0mm tall which, when recessed into the dust cover, make all the difference.

#3 - The solution? Using a C-Clip that DOES NOT have those little tabs. Using a totally flat C-Clip means the headset cap/dust cover will still be level/flush, but it wont recess into each other by the 0.5-1.0mm mentioned above. This also enables you to use a C-shaped shim if need be, although you should not need to. Not having the recessed headset cap is basically a shim in of itself since the headset cap will sit 1mm higher.

#4 - I found all of this out while building my Yoeleo gravel bike. I had the same headset play issue. Turns out Yoeleo's headset bearings for the top and bottom are slightly two different thicknesses. The thicker (red bearing) one needs to be on top, and I had them reverse. During troubleshooting Yoeleo send me a spare flat C-Clip, but the fix was simply switching the bearings around.

The Takeaway - Confirm the headset bearings are indeed the same size (they should be) and thickness for top and bottom. Buy/Order flat C-Clip for the top headset bearing. I no longer even needed to use a spacer above the compression plug top cap. Everything is flush, and no headset play even after a 30 mile ride earlier today on terrible Chicago roads.

Photo 1 - VeloBuild's supplied C-Clip with the two tabs
Photo 2 - The replacement flat C-Clip
Photo 3 - What the flat C-Clip looks like installed
Photo 4 - My final setup with no spacer above the stem top cap

EDIT - From the Carbonda 1056 thread: "In general these washers are between the slotted ring and the dust cover.
When you compress the bearings, the dust cover sometimes rub the top of the frame.
Adding one or more washers add some space to have only the seal making a light contact with the frame."
May 10, 2022, 11:52:01 AM 		1
Re: L-TWOO RX 2x12 road groupset Wheel Top just dropped this 46 minute long video explaining their MTB groupset and are currently recruiting beta testers for their road groupset.

I'll briefly summarise some of the more interesting points:

Road groupset beta testers are asked to prepare bikes with "11 speeds or more," meaning that the road groupset will support both 11 and 12 speeds like the MTB.

The MTB groupset will support 11 and 12 speed cassettes from SRAM and Shimano via software presets controlled on the companion app.

The MTB groupsets you saw listed for sale earlier this year were actually pre-production units offloaded by beta testers.

Wheel Top's road brifters will work with the MTB rear derailleur for gravel mullet setups.

The MTB rear derailleur uses an 800mAh battery (47.5g) with a slimmer 400mAh optional battery coming in the future. For reference, the SRAM battery is 300mAh and weighs 25g.

They'll release a downhill version of the MTB rear derailleur with a shorter cage (75mm vs 93mm).

There'll be a decked out version of the MTB rear derailleur with black and gold pulleys (unclear if OSPW or not).

The MTB derailleur can shift through all twelve cogs positions (NOT changing gears) in as little as 1.8 seconds. Wheel Top aren't happy with this as they aren't good enough numbers for a road groupset.

Wheel Top's road brifters will be mechanical. Hydraulic is not mentioned.

The road groupset is on target to be released by year end.

In other news, Hillhouse Capital (leading private equity firm) invested in L-TWOO back in February 2021.

Nothing new from Sensah.
May 10, 2022, 01:30:54 PM 		1
Re: Saddle recommendations I also require a wider saddle, this one comes in 155 and has full carbon construction. I run it on my road and mountain bike.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32979105657.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.26361802pnU6Ud
May 11, 2022, 01:10:37 PM 		1
Re: Carbonda Gravel Carbon frame CFR707 Just a 200 mile update.  So far I've done some mixed adventure rides, 30 mile gravel race, and a fast road ride with others on true road bikes.  I'm still very pleased with the 707! 

During the gravel race, I hit plenty of serious potholes, stuck with the lead pack for the first 8 miles so it was about 8 people wide and no way to avoid them.  I hit some hard enough to break my bottle cage on the seat tube and the down tube bottle fell out.  Frame, fork, seatpost, and bars are still solid.  Averaged 21mph, this bike is probably 2mph faster than my old Monstercross bike.  This isn't my video, just showing the course, it even went through an actual gravel pit! https://www.facebook.com/joe.miles.9484/videos/1424082484697432

Luckily fit is perfect.  I tend to ride smaller drop bikes (but larger MTB's).  I'm 5'10" with ~31" inseam and long arms, yet opted for a medium with 400/80mm bars.  It fits like a 54cm bike, exactly like I wanted.  I think my only two nitpicks have been the levers being mounted just above the sticky paste on the handlebars, so I had them slide down during the race.  Seems to be fixed with some carbon paste and higher torque.  Also, shifter cable friction may be an issue with the tight bends through the headset.  I first built with Shimano SP41 housing and cheap Amazon cable with no lubrication, sometimes the front derailleur would get hung up going down to the small ring, and the rear would sometimes need 2 shifts one direction, and one the other to make a single gear change.  I replaced both cables with Jagwire cables and used Tri-flow in the housings, the front seems perfect now, and I think the rear just needs dialing in cable tension, only have 1 ride since the change.  If I did it again, I would've just saved up for electronic if I wanted to stick with full internal.
May 12, 2022, 12:05:19 PM 		1
Re: Velobuild VB-R-177 Here's the final form (for now) of my VB-177. This goes without saying, but wheels make a tremendous difference on overall performance. And the bike feels really snappy now that the headset play has been fixed.
May 13, 2022, 12:02:39 PM 		1