Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame

[stmbike]

Still waiting my frame.. I ordered 29th sept and tracking shows that now is in Belgium and custom clearence is ended. If is in europe, hope I’ll have at home (spain) in a few days..

[hazzer19]

I used the Spezialized expander, it is sufficiently long and light and serves as counter pressure for tensioning.

The recall relates to the inner rings on the SL7 which are too sharp-edged

Interesting analysis by Peak Torque on the new SL7 replacement steerer plug

[stmbike]

Is included a expander in the vb-r-168 frameset? or do I need to order one?

[hazzer19]

Is included a expander in the vb-r-168 frameset? or do I need to order one?

They include a headset and expander

[curvenut]

Hi,

   I notice the thru axle  of this frame  need an allen key to remove the axle.

Did anyone change the stock thru axle and replace it with  one that had a lever integrated to the axle  ?
Which one do yourecommend ?

like this one

[kbike]

Here's the sizes and weight of axles. If anyone wants to find different ones.

[hazzer19]

I was watching a few more video on the SL7 recall issue and decided to take the bars off my 168 to see how the steerer looked out of curiosity.

Although the SL7 issue may not apply to the 168 because it has a different integrated design (I'm not certain it doesn't apply), what did get me thinking is that the HB10 bars I received are one of the first I think and use the wedge system for tightening instead external bolts. I can see that where one of the wedge pieces tightens agains the steerer, it has created a mark/small indent. Although this part doesn't really move once fastened, I'm wondering if it's only a matter of time until a bad enough mark is made and it weakens the steerer and it fails. Is this why the HB10 moved to external bolts? ugh...

[dentillozie]

Still waiting my frame.. I ordered 29th sept and tracking shows that now is in Belgium and custom clearence is ended. If is in europe, hope I’ll have at home (spain) in a few days..

Hah, I ordered 15th of Sept and the shipping number (DPD) still shows nothing. What shipping method did you pick?

[stmbike]

Hah, I ordered 15th of Sept and the shipping number (DPD) still shows nothing. What shipping method did you pick?

DPD. You don’t view anything in DPD tracking until the parcel is in you area, after customs clearing. Before that, you can track in wxy-express, but note that is a different tracking numbre. You can ask Chris for both numbers.

BTW, I received a notification from the local postal saying that I’ll receive it on monday.. cant wait

[1Sigma]

I'm all for losing weight and am trying to do it as much as possible with my 168, however there is no way I'd trust such a small and light expander on a carbon steerer tubed fork, especially for the sake of 30g of weight saving.

There's no science behind this and its my opinion only, however I'd put the longer, stock expander back in if only for peace of mind.

Agreed. I would even go as fast as saying this is one area where I might sacrifice  a few grams but purchasing a longer expansion sleeve. I haven't... But the thought crossed my mind

[Stag91]

Hi all!  I have been lurking this thread for the past few months while deciding if I should go ahead with building my own bike, and whether to get it from Velobuild. Really helpful tips so far and definitely helped with my decision to make the purchase! I finally decided order a VB-R-168 from Chris, in Matte Chameleon Green colour. I thought it would be useful to share my experience and two-cents on the bike building process. It was one rewarding experience to finally be out riding on your self-build bike!

Size: 52
Groupset: Ultegra R8000 Hydraulic
Disc: RT800 140mm Front and Rear
Handlebar: 400mm/90mm
Wheelset: From Taobao 60mm Depth with Hubsmith hubs
Tires: GP5000 TL
Saddle: AliExpress power saddle lookalike
Pedals: AliExpress Lollipop pedals

Weight: 8.2+Kg there about

The building of the bike was not too difficult, just gotta do research and watch youtube for bike building process, tips and tricks, note the torque settings of the various components. The most tedious of all would be the internal routing. I routed the cables through the handlebars first, followed by the rest of the routing through the frame. Used an old brake wire to help with the guiding of cables through the respective cable holes.
The FD cable stop was some what tricky, I had to file off the edges to get the cable to fit in to the hole. There is a small bracket to secure the FD cable stop into, it is rather flimsy and mine broke off. I had to fit it back into the frame from the bottom bracket hole, and screw the cable stop into the bracket. (sorry i didnt have pictures to explain it better).

Another problem I had was that the headset compression ring not being able to sit squarely into the bearing, I had to squeeze the compression ring inwards a little (with a lil force) for it to sit properly into the bearing. Otherwise there would be large gap between the headset spacer and frame.

Otherwise, rest of the installation was rather smooth!

This is my first full carbon bike with deep wheels, so I cant exactly do any comparison. In general the bike rides really well, with much better handling, and maintains speed better.  Overall very happy with the whole build!

[renrew]

2021 new handlebar with stem

[curvenut]

Hi all!  I have been lurking this thread for the past few months while deciding if I should go ahead with building my own bike, and whether to get it from Velobuild. Really helpful tips so far and definitely helped with my decision to make the purchase! I finally decided order a VB-R-168 from Chris, in Matte Chameleon Green colour. I thought it would be useful to share my experience and two-cents on the bike building process. It was one rewarding experience to finally be out riding on your self-build bike!

Size: 52
Groupset: Ultegra R8000 Hydraulic
Disc: RT800 140mm Front and Rear
Handlebar: 400mm/90mm
Wheelset: From Taobao 60mm Depth with Hubsmith hubs
Tires: GP5000 TL
Saddle: AliExpress power saddle lookalike
Pedals: AliExpress Lollipop pedals

Weight: 8.2+Kg there about

The building of the bike was not too difficult, just gotta do research and watch youtube for bike building process, tips and tricks, note the torque settings of the various components. The most tedious of all would be the internal routing. I routed the cables through the handlebars first, followed by the rest of the routing through the frame. Used an old brake wire to help with the guiding of cables through the respective cable holes.
The FD cable stop was some what tricky, I had to file off the edges to get the cable to fit in to the hole. There is a small bracket to secure the FD cable stop into, it is rather flimsy and mine broke off. I had to fit it back into the frame from the bottom bracket hole, and screw the cable stop into the bracket. (sorry i didnt have pictures to explain it better).

Another problem I had was that the headset compression ring not being able to sit squarely into the bearing, I had to squeeze the compression ring inwards a little (with a lil force) for it to sit properly into the bearing. Otherwise there would be large gap between the headset spacer and frame.

Otherwise, rest of the installation was rather smooth!

This is my first full carbon bike with deep wheels, so I cant exactly do any comparison. In general the bike rides really well, with much better handling, and maintains speed better.  Overall very happy with the whole build!

Really nice build !
What are the wheels ?

[Stag91]

Really nice build !
What are the wheels ?

The wheels are from this Chinese seller on Taobao, Timibike. They are able to customise various combinations, went with them as they were the only few offering the hubsmith hubs (really loud hubs) so far they are rather smooth. Can't attest to its logetivity yet.
The wheels arent that lightweight weighing in at about 1720g including rim tapes. Cost was about USD 510 shipped.

[stmbike]

Hello all.
I received the package last monday, 1 month after order (18 days shipping), so very happy with the times. The frame looks awesome, acceptable quality and well finished. The paint is better than I expect, the pearl colour in person is beautiful, specially below the sun .. so in general very happy.
Just two issues, I ordered also a saddle and Chris sent me an incorrect model, and also he sent me a 120 stem but I ordered a 110 one. I noticed Chris, hope he accept to solve it and send me the corrrect ones.
I’ll update in the next days with the finished build and all the details (including weights).