Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - smu55

Pages: [1]
1
Road Bike Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: VeloBuild VB-R-268 frame
« on: December 07, 2024, 05:26:10 PM »
Quick review after one year and over 5000km and near 60000m:
The frame seams stiff but the seatpost is very harsh. The straight construction of the seatpost leaves no room for flex for a little ride comfort. I had to buy another saddle which is more comfortable and lower the psi to 75 of my 28mm tyres (I used to run them conservatively hard at 100psi).
Altough there seams to be little to no flex in the frame the fork is a different story. I have constant brake disc rubbing while riding out of the saddle. There is just to much flex in the fork to avoid the disc rubbing against the brake pads. I have to admit though that I use cable accentuated hydraulic disc brakes that I have to run very tight to be able to apply enought force at my leavers. Maybe this would be different with full hydraulic brakes that maybe, would retreat farther.
I assembled the bike myself, but it wasn't straight forward. Especially as I am running a totaly mechanical setup with 4 cables running through the integrated cockpit. The canal underneath the "stem" where the cables are supposed to run has the effect, that the bend into the frame is much to tight. It would have been better if vb had made simply a hole and a lead out and they would run in the inside. Then we had more room for the cables.
After half a winter the headset bearings are done already. The quality could be better. I will have to replace them soon.
Other than that I am very pleased. I like the geometry and the look that resembles a sl7. I love this bike and my avg. speed has gon up 1km/h this year with exactly the same training intensity and total km and elevation compared with my previous road bike that wasn't aero.
I got the complete bike under 8kg with everything mounted (pedals, bottlecages, computer mounts) and there is some potential to lower the wheight eaven more. Here some facts about my components:
Elite Edge Wheels 50mm, Sensah carbon empire leavers, empire rear and front deraileur, a cheap crankset, scenix double chainring, zrace hybrid disc brakes, carbon saddle, old and heavy ultegra pedals, GP 5000 tires with tpu tubes: 7,9kg

2
Road Bike Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: VeloBuild VB-R-268 frame
« on: March 30, 2024, 03:04:56 PM »
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.

My built is finally finished. At the end I opted for only twoo of largest spcers, one from my extra spacer kit (I know, its the same hight, but less hassle).
When I tried to assemble the handlebar with the 4 cables I quickly gave up the idea of using my used link cables. The thight space in the handlebar lead to gaps between the links, so I ripped it out and used the jagwire road kits instead.
I don't like how velobuild routed the cables underneath the stem. They dont run internally, inside the stem, but underneath of it in a canal. So there is a even tighter bend between the fork and the handlebar. I even had dificulties running the inner cables through the housing when reaching the bend. They got stuck, and I had to loosen the handlebar again.
It would have been better if the cables run inside the stem. They would have more space for the a bend with a biger radius.
It was a big hassle, but at the end everything is working well.
7,8 kg with Sensah Empire pro, onirii/iiipro cable/hydro disc brakes and elite edge wheels.

3
Road Bike Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: VeloBuild VB-R-268 frame
« on: March 23, 2024, 04:20:21 PM »
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.

4
JH 15: The shape of the front of the headtube looks completly round in the render images. The other shapes of the down and seat tubes dont look very aero to me eiter. I doubt they ever but this frame in an wind tunnel. What do you guys think?

Pages: [1]