What does the entrance to the cockpit look like? Could you keep the front brake on the right side and rear brake on the left side all the way through the headset and then cross them in the body of the cockpit?

That's exactly what I did after fidling around with it for an hour or two
Eventually I just forced them down and made them cross in that spacer (see picture attached). Is that the recommended way to do it? Or how do the "pros" deal with it?

I'm pretty happy with the result. Can freely move the handlebars to both ends, touching the frame even, without any tension or "snapping" back to center.

Build is almost finished now. Brakes are bled, BB installed, and wheels attached. Only missing saddle, chain, and final tuning. Will probably finish it tomorrow.

I plan to order a higher quality set of batteries just in-case.

Absolutely. Can't stress enough the importance of good rechargeable batteries.

So my frame arrived today. Well packed and undamaged. Took about 5 weeks from order placement and 14 days from shipment notification to delivery. Not super fast but not super slow either.

Weights of my setup as measured by myself:

• XL frame (painted but without metal parts or axle): 1164g
• Fork (painted, w/o axle): 410g
• Handlebar: 396g
• Seatpost: 236g
• Front/rear axle: 29.4g/40.4g
• Various metal parts, headset, spacers, seat clamp, ...: 392g

So my full riding setup comes down to 2588g. A bit more than I expected but I guess the paint job did add a bit.

I'm pretty happy with the paint job in general. Close up inspection does bring out a few issues. There are a few minor scratches, chips, and imperfections. Luckily, the latter kinda look like reflections so wouldn't really be noticeable under riding conditions. The chips are mostly at hidden spots. The lines don't always match perfectly but they hid those quite well, too. The brake mounts seemed to have been masked but got some overspray. The BB wasn't covered at all and is fully painted. Weirdly enough, some parts (like axle mounts) have only been painted with the base layer but not the effects. It won't be visible at some points but definitely at the axle mounts. The "drain hole" at the bottom isn't centered which is no technical issue but slightly bothers the perfectionist in me anyways.

I wasn't expecting a flawless paint job especially given the added complexity of mine. If you "require" a better pain job, get the frame unpainted and look locally (for a much higher price) as others have said before. However, under normal riding conditions I don't think any of these issues (apart from the "non effect" axle holes) will show at all. I think for 100 USD it is absolutely fine and will catch a few looks once I'm riding it.

The only thing that might actually bother me, is the text decals are quite a bit narrower than in my mock-up. In the mock-up I did space out the letters and stretch the whole text a little bit to get it fill the frame more. To be fair, I did not mention that in my email, so I am not blaming them for it. Just something for me to remember for future designs.

Looking forward to building it up in the next days. Unfortunately, still waiting for the chainrings to arrive, so full build will have to wait until ~end of next week.

That is amazing! What program did you use? Planning to do this as well.

I did it in Photoshop as I wasn't sure about style and color in the beginning. Therefore, took a "naked" frame picture from their website, masked it in PS, and then played around with several styles, colors, fonts, and decals. I eventually sent them this picture and ask whether this is possible for them to create.

I have two different Ryet carbon saddles on my two 268 frames. On one of the saddle the rails measure 9 mm high, on the other 11 mm.
I was asked by Velobuild if I needed a special clamp for carbon rails and was send two sets. They fit fine on the one with 7x9 mm (picture 1) but terrible on the one with 11 mm (picture 2). I just don't think that the side clamping mechanism in general is great on these kind of carbon rails. Should have done my research better before I ordered the Ryet knock off of the Pro Stealth II.
I'm on the look out for a clamp that goes closer to 11 mm than the one I've got.

7x11 rails not fitting into a 7x9 clamp?! Big surprise!

No but honestly, why would you expect them to fit? You sometimes get away with it on a system that clamps from above. But those from the side never really work with anything but the specs they came with.

-7x9 saddle clamp for carbon rails. On my particular clamp when using my AliExpress carbon saddle (7x9 rails), visually it does not appear as if the clamps are fully engaging with the rails. Other 268 owners with carbon saddles have not experienced this, and so far the saddle has stayed put. However, the saddle clamp bolt is now slightly bent from trying secure to the rails. Also a non-issue if you're using 7x7 rails as VB also supplies clamps for that too. Just something to be aware of.

I also encountered the issue with the 7x9 saddle clamp. I reached out to Velobuild and they sent me a new one. I have not received it yet but I'll comment once I have it.

You guys have pictures of that? I'm running a 7x9 rail saddle myself and would like to do that on the 268 as well.
Is the 7x9 rail clamp included automatically or did you have to ask them to put in the box as well?

Well, you got me ... I just placed an order for a 268 frame myself