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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Finally! I've only had time to pick at the build 15-30minutes at a time so it took forever. Wrong paint color notwithstanding, here are the other hiccups I experienced(mostly trivial): - Brake cable exit hole on fork had some flaking carbon - One of the Front brake mount screw holes was not deep enough, requiring use of an extra washer as a spacer - Handlebar carbon is a bit messy inside making routing fiddly - Rear brake mounts slightly misaligned, resulting in the slightest rub once per revolution (even if I manually open the Juin Tech calipers the whole way). It'll probably be fine once the pads are bedded - some minor cosmetic scratches And here is the good: + Weight was within specified, including hardware + Other than handlebars routing was super easy + Carbon looked super clean on the inside, other than deep in the fork + BB pressed in very cleanly End build is a 1x12 based on the Sensah Empire Pro. Showroom weight (without pedals) = 7.58kg Weight with pedals and cages = 7.79kg Real-world weight (with computer mount, computer, lights, Airtag, repair kit) = 8.6kg UPDATE: Included my parts and pricing. All prices are Canadian Dollars, incl. taxes, duties, and shipping where applicable. Weights are a mixture of estimates and actual, so differ from the final measured weight (probably some parts came in lower than advertised, and losses from cutting cables, handlebar tape, steerer, etc.) September 09, 2021, 07:04:51 PM |
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Re: Carbonda Cfr 1056
So, after the first few rides and tinkering a bit with setup, brakes etc I'm Really happy with the bike. It rides really well, handles nicely and predictably and is comfy for long rides (3h +). In direct comparison with my other bike it takes slightly more effort to keep up higher pace. I wonder if I'd notice if I would not have been able to ride the bikes back-to-back. It also "feels" slightly slower generally but I think that's due to the different tyres, where I ride this bike on vittoria corsa controls at 29mm wam (5 bar ~70 psi). The other bike is rim brake and I use pirelli race 27mm wam (5.4 bar, ~80 psi) . Power wise it's not noticeably different at anything other then the above mentioned higher pace. Maybe the extra 0.5kg also matters slightly. The build is a mix of GRX and Ultegra components, due to availability and cost as well as preference for hood shape, ergo wave braking and (now it finally functions) the clutch on the rear derailleur for the "light gravel" round I intend to ride too. I routed the shifter cables outside to prevent shifting issues (it shifts better then my other mech shifting bike where everything runs internally). Main components: 1056 frame (58) and 1036 handlebar (11x42cm). Grx 810 shifters, hydro brakes and rear derailleur. Ultegra 50-34 crank175mm, 11-32 cassette, Rd8000 front derailleur and hg701 chain. Ultegra pedals. Farsports Feder 45mm, 28mm outside 21 inside on carbon ti hub, brass nipples and cx sprint drive side spokes (unbelievably light combination), vittoria corsa control 28mm, latex tube. Xtr rotors 160mm front and rear Small parts: Sq labs active 612 14cm Close the gap garmin mount + bell ZTTO handlebar tape (very much like lizardskin, recommended!) Tacx bottle holders Bontrager flare light Total weight 8.3kg Issues while building : The front cable guide  , with the new guides in the house I'll replace it with a proper one as soon as I feel like swapping the front derailleur cable. The rear axle drive side "holder" was tight. Replaced it with one of the spares and problem solved. The lower screw of the front brake caliper is quite tight, I guess some resin left over, it works and holds well however it was not super easy to get the caliper in perfect position. And I forgot to add cable foam on the rear hydro brake cable  brakes are super tight now so I don't feel undoing "just because". Left to do: Find rubber grommet for the hydro hose entry point on the front left, which I don't use. Anyone know a fitting one? Decide whether I want to go down another 5mm or keep it like this. September 10, 2021, 06:07:21 AM |
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Re: Carbonda Cfr 1056
My frame arrived and I have no complaints after an initial inspection. The only error They made was sending me plain round headset spacers instead of the proper spacers for the integrated headset. I wonder if they'll correct the error. This could just push me to buy the FSA ACR headset and spacers.
September 10, 2021, 08:06:38 PM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Took delivery of my frame today, very impressed with the initial inspection! To begin with, the packaging was fantastic. The outer cardboard box was largely intact with only 1 small rip, it was nowhere near the frame internally so I had no concerns. The frame etc. was then completely wrapped in bubble wrap and foam so arrived with zero damage. The carbon then looks great on the frame, forks, bars and seat post, and the custom paint (Purple Chameleon fading down to Gloss Black) along with the custom decals is exactly as I requested. I'll do a more thorough inspection once I have a bit more time but so far so good! September 14, 2021, 03:29:44 AM |
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Seraph aka Tantan TT-X2
Was browsing Aliexpress for Chinese carbon frames after watching a couple of tracevelo YouTube videos and ended up buying this frame from Seraph. Ordered on 14th September, for £201. Arrived 8th of October. Seller was good, communicated well (occasionally took 2 days to reply) and on first looks v happy with the quality. Built it up with 105 groupset and took it on a short test ride yesterday. Rode really nicely, a huge upgrade from my old raleigh 100. V satisfied.
October 11, 2021, 11:34:57 AM |
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Re: Carbonda Cfr 1056
Nice wheather yesterday here in greater Stuttgart area, so i took the chance to... no, not ride:-( but to take some pics of the (95%) final state of my 1056. I changed the stem several times; now with a Rose Race Attack I'm pretty satisfied as it matches well the frame tube shapes (flat at the top) and the matte color. Setup is "full mechanical" incl. brakes (TRP Spyre SLC). With 160mm front and 140mm rear the performance is fine for a road bike; a bit more would alway be nice (heard of magical "ceramic" pads from the far east ;-)). I tried to run the cables as smooth as possible. With the nice polished parts at the brake calipers and the crank brothers pedals I tried some aluminium bottle cages; from my point of view it matches quite well. Anyway with bottles in them you won't really recognize them anymore... Some plotted decals to be done including giving the baby a name. I think of "1a n3ra" (read: la nera") and make some fun out of the "13" raplcing "lE". Main thing is: color or black reflective? And if color: which? A well known member of this forum is supporting me strongly, but I'm still undecided... November 01, 2021, 04:34:25 AM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
My frame finally arrived today, ordered on the 14th of September and shipped out the 16th. The frame looks good! Just need to order some wheels and a groupset so I can start building! some weights for reference, my frame is a 54 with no paint. frame: 1150g fork (uncut): 448g seatpost: 237g handlebar (400 x 90): 344g bottlecage: 20g November 04, 2021, 03:06:35 PM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Hi everyone! I've been meaning to give a proper review of my build but I had to fix some issues first. Mainly, my headset was too loose and I ordered an extra spacer (didn't feel like cutting the fork again). It finally arrived and I was able to complete my first proper ride this morning (40km). I'm hoping I'll be able to enjoy it a few more times before it gets too freezing. Anyways, here is the list of parts I used for this build along with a few comments. Ordering - Chris from velobuild is not very quick to answer but he's helpful. I used Skype, I heard other people have better experiences by email. - Elite Wheels take a while to ship since they build the wheels for every order. Ordering is easy and they respond quickly. - Ordering groupsets on Aliexpress is surprisingly reliable. All parts look legit. Building the bike - Installing the press fit bottom bracket was a nightmare. I definitely recommend going to a bike shop for this part. - The rest of build is fine. The hidden cable routing is honestly not that hard to complete. Just be patient. The cabling in the handlebar is probably the step that'll have you swearing the most. - Getting the optimal tightness on the headset is not easy. I still have +-1mm of play, not sure if that's normal. - I managed to fix the slipping post issue with a TON of carbon paste and some hockey tape. It's an annoying problem but it's definitely fixable. Riding the bike -My first impression is that this bike is sooo light. My reference is an aluminum Scott Speedster 10. I'm definitely faster with this bike - The semi-hydraulic disc brakes are honestly garbage. Worse than rim brakes. I read that I needed to use compressionless housing. I might switch to that later down the road and see if it makes a difference. For now my recommendation is too spend an extra 300-600 for proper shimano hydraulic brakes. It is however manageable and you can safely brake. - The bike feels solid and I hear no creaking or weird sounds. - The Elite Wheels are LOUD. People are legit startled when I lay off the pedals and let the hub roll. Quite obnoxious but at least people get out of my way. I'm definitely satisfied overall considering the price I paid. I can see myself building another Chinese carbon bike later down the road. For now I'm gonna take a break from building bikes  This community is extremely helpful, I can not overstate this. I'm gonna try and give another update once I accomplish some longer rides. November 07, 2021, 02:36:04 PM |
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Re: L-TWOO RX 2x12 road groupset
Here's a new video showing the Wheel Top 1x12 wireless electronic MTB groupset in action. Rumors are pointing to Wheel Top revealing their road groupset this year. can't believe I missed this teaser of the Wheel Top road groupset  
April 15, 2022, 11:01:55 AM |
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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 |
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