I built up a G068 for around 2500 USD with elite wheels and sram rival axs 2x (dunno the weight but it's an XL frame and I didn't try to go for lightweight parts) . pricing is very uncertain right now with the tariffs (at least for the US). The biggest variation in build cost would be group set and wheels imo,

Only a handful of YouTubers, including myself, have reviewed Tavelo bikes. Anecdotally my frame (Arow) in particular was problem free. Same with the customers and athletes I've spoken to privately.

No one knows Tavelo's exact costs per frame. But if frames only cost $200-$400 to manufacture and a brand sends out 5 frames to content creators, how much then are their marketing expenses in this particular scenario? Maybe $2000 including shipping? That's the cost of a single frameset. Spending just 2 minutes on Tavelo's Instagram page highlights the fact that the overwhelming majority of their marketing is supporting professional race teams, not influencers. Just like your favorite western brand. Because it's proven to work.

I'm not sure when this moral high ground against companies using YouTubers and race teams to promote products started in this forum. Chinertown lives in a total vacuum separate from the average consumer who wants nothing to do with anything we discuss in here. The frustration against content creators I can understand. What is supposed to be an unbiased video turns into a marketing commercial. But you'd have a more difficult time convincing a consumer to invest in a Tavelo Arow that's been marked up 200% versus a Tarmac SL8 that's been marked up probably 500%

Regardless of someone like myself advocating $600 TanTan frames, $2000 Tavelos, and $4000 western brands, someone will take issue. Every consumable we purchase has marketing costs baked into it.

I bought this for friends recently. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007557399904.html
It's cheap, it works.
you can probably ask VB to ship bars with exit points left and right of the stem area, instead of in the middle of the stem area, that way you route through the bar, under the stem, and into the frame. If not, worst case, you just route the hose externally, then under the stem, and into the frame.

Unfortunately I can not comment for the VB-R-066.
But I have fitted a Deda Superbox DCR system to my VB-R-099 and I believe others here have fitted FSA ACR type headsets and stems (No. 69 or No. 55) to other Velobuild frames.

X68 Update

Few rides in now and no issues to report — it’s going really well so far. Put in a few efforts and landed some PRs on old local segments, so it’s definitely holding its own.

Issue with cranks coming loose but thats on me not tightening to 35-40Nm as 8Nm does not cut it lol!

No creaks, no weird flex, just solid and confidence-inspiring. Still early days but impressed so far. Will update if anything changes, but at this stage,  so far no regrets at the moment

Sent completion photos to Tan Tan
Be interesting to see if they post them!

your look much better than mine, where can i get the same one