Author Topic: Velobuild VB-R-177  (Read 81499 times)

mwh0169

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #150 on: April 22, 2022, 03:37:24 PM »
Thanks for the advice, was the Deda Superbox supplied with lockring and spacers?

Looking good! My only advice, be careful with that stem. That project is flawed, the carbon topcap is too frail and loose to apply proper compression, without it the stem/fork will also have some play after a long ride.

People are switching to FSA or the Deda Superbox in my case.

Just wish Velobuild would stop selling that stem and offer a proper solution.

Liter

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #151 on: April 22, 2022, 11:12:33 PM »
Thanks for the advice, was the Deda Superbox supplied with lockring and spacers?

Deda comes with the spacers and the compression ring. (the thing that sits on the bearing) what do you mean by lockring? The expander? The one that came with the frame will work

Just a point about the Deda, cables will run outside the stem in a box, no directly through stem and fork, but it looks clean and integrated. The stem is beautiful

mwh0169

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #152 on: April 23, 2022, 03:18:48 AM »
Many thanks, Yes I mean the compression ring I guess. Very interesting. I must say; although I had Play in the headset initially which gave me a big headache, it sits rock solid at the moment, no play at all after just taking it all loose and replace it again. Your remarks make me thinking though, safety first. I saw pictures of it from you I believe on a red frame? You used a Deda bar?

Deda comes with the spacers and the compression ring. (the thing that sits on the bearing) what do you mean by lockring? The expander? The one that came with the frame will work

Just a point about the Deda, cables will run outside the stem in a box, no directly through stem and fork, but it looks clean and integrated. The stem is beautiful
« Last Edit: April 23, 2022, 01:16:36 PM by mwh0169 »

Velovelo

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #153 on: April 23, 2022, 04:57:28 AM »
I noticed the 177 seatpost slips down about 1cm after long rides. I switched from carbon to alloy seatpost so I can tighten the clamp a little more but it still slips (even after using carbon paste etc).
It doesn't slip on the indoor trainer though.
Wondering if anyone has similar issues.

I really miss the old school circular seatpost clamp design. I never had slipping problems with that.

Looking forward to the VB zero offset 099 seatpost so I can revive my 099 as a backup bike.
 

gmh

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #154 on: April 24, 2022, 10:49:42 AM »
I had slop in my headset as well.  I ended up grinding down to flush one of the alignment posts on the compression ring and added some shims.  That seems to have gotten rid of the slop, but have done enough riding to be sure.  I'm suspecting aligning with 3 features (2 alignment posts and the steerer tube) is a contributing issue.

slosada

Dark Tranquillity is here
« Reply #155 on: April 24, 2022, 04:50:45 PM »
So, here is my version of VB-R-177.

Order placed in January, delayed by Chinese new year, procurement of spokes and hubs and a lockdown.

Custom paint and decals by Velobuild
Wheels are also from Velobuild (50mm), but customized with sapim CX ray spokes and Bitex 312 hubs
Groupset is all Shimano 105 hydraulic, with left crank PM (Xcadey)
Both rotors are SM-RT70-SS 140mm (also Shimano 105 series)
Tires are Conti GP5000 TL
Saddle is Selle Italia Flite FM Flow manganese rails

I didn't build it. I asked the LBS to do it for me as it would have taken ages to be completed
They didn't report issues in the compression bolt, but did report misalignment in the front wheel brake caliper too, as well as they said it was the "wrong rotor".  I fixed both things:
- I flipped the caliper mount as per Shimano manual
- When aligning the caliper, I used the business card method, but also inserted a 6mm allen key between the rotor (closer to the hub) and the caliper mount, before tighten the lower screw.  The one on top I left it at 6Nm.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2022, 07:40:23 PM by slosada »

Velovelo

Re: Dark Tranquillity is here
« Reply #156 on: April 24, 2022, 07:23:35 PM »
So, here is my version of VB-R-177.

Order placed in January, delayed by Chinese new year, procurement of spokes and hubs and a lockdown.

Custom paint and decals by Velobuild
Wheels are also from Velobuild (50mm), but customized with sapim CX ray spokes and Bitex 312 hubs
Groupset is all Shimano 105 hydraulic, with left crank PM (Xcadey)
Both rotors are SM-RT70-SS 140mm (also Shimano 105 series)
Tires are Conti GP5000 TL
Saddle is Selle Italia Flite FM Flow manganese rails

I didn't build it. I asked the LBS to do it for me as it.
They didn't report issues in the compression bolt, but did report misalignment in the front wheel brake caliper too, as well as they said it was the "wrong rotor".  I fixed both things:
- I flipped the caliper mount as per Shimano manual
- When aligning the caliper, I used the business card method, but also inserted a 6mm allen key between the rotor (closer to the hub) and the caliper mount, before tighten the lower screw.  The one on top I left it at 6Nm.




It looks really lovely, congratulations :)



Liter

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #157 on: April 27, 2022, 01:46:30 PM »
Many thanks, Yes I mean the compression ring I guess. Very interesting. I must say; although I had Play in the headset initially which gave me a big headache, it sits rock solid at the moment, no play at all after just taking it all loose and replace it again. Your remarks make me thinking though, safety first. I saw pictures of it from you I believe on a red frame? You used a Deda bar?

Still using the Velobuild handle bar but plan to switch to the Deda Superzero RS handlebar that is not out yet.

How rough are the roads you ride? In smooth roads the play used to take some rides to show, but if I went to any routes with bad tarmac it would start to show play on the same ride.

mwh0169

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #158 on: April 28, 2022, 05:07:32 AM »
Pretty smooth surfaces I have too say, I will take a lookout for the problem.
I have been snooping around and have seen some offers for around 100 Euro. Really appreciate your advice and I'm strongly considering it.

Still using the Velobuild handle bar but plan to switch to the Deda Superzero RS handlebar that is not out yet.

How rough are the roads you ride? In smooth roads the play used to take some rides to show, but if I went to any routes with bad tarmac it would start to show play on the same ride.

planet_sammy

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #159 on: April 29, 2022, 04:26:49 AM »
Looking good! My only advice, be careful with that stem. That project is flawed, the carbon topcap is too frail and loose to apply proper compression, without it the stem/fork will also have some play after a long ride.

People are switching to FSA or the Deda Superbox in my case.

Just wish Velobuild would stop selling that stem and offer a proper solution.

Hi@Liter, isn't the top cap just for coverage and the headset nut is responsible for the compression/firmness?

slosada

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #160 on: May 02, 2022, 05:27:55 PM »
Quick early review after 4 rides: 20, 30,45 and 100Kms, mostly to address current complaints here.

In the first ride, the seat was slipping and the front brake rubbing
I fixed both things (tighten the seat post and correcting the caliper position).  Both things seem still fine after those rides.

Bike feels very nice, Snappy under accelerations.
I seem to adapt very well to the position in this bike.  I don't find it overly aggressive, but this is probably given that I picked the bigger size.  I do notice the shorter reach.  Seamless transition to the narrower handlebar (400mm)

I don't perceive the headset play (roads here are horrendous).

I should also try to put the 11-28 cassette and keep the 11-32 for the gravel season or the odd Ardennes-like ride, because the bigger gap makes me either spinning or grinding

Wheelset from Velobuild (custom 50mm with Sapim and Bitex) feels OK. I was riding 42mm Prolite before and they catch more in crosswinds. In fact, I only perceive a bit of instability when a truck pass me, but nothing too dangerous

hazzer19

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #161 on: May 03, 2022, 11:07:20 AM »
Quick early review after 4 rides: 20, 30,45 and 100Kms, mostly to address current complaints here.

In the first ride, the seat was slipping and the front brake rubbing
I fixed both things (tighten the seat post and correcting the caliper position).  Both things seem still fine after those rides.

Bike feels very nice, Snappy under accelerations.
I seem to adapt very well to the position in this bike.  I don't find it overly aggressive, but this is probably given that I picked the bigger size.  I do notice the shorter reach.  Seamless transition to the narrower handlebar (400mm)

I don't perceive the headset play (roads here are horrendous).

I should also try to put the 11-28 cassette and keep the 11-32 for the gravel season or the odd Ardennes-like ride, because the bigger gap makes me either spinning or grinding

Wheelset from Velobuild (custom 50mm with Sapim and Bitex) feels OK. I was riding 42mm Prolite before and they catch more in crosswinds. In fact, I only perceive a bit of instability when a truck pass me, but nothing too dangerous

What weight did you get the wheels down to?

disabnormal

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #162 on: May 04, 2022, 03:56:26 AM »
Hello,
last year I built my first gravel bike velobuild GF-002, had some issues, most of them were due to my lack of enough experience and very easy to solve, and some were known velobuild issues, still relatively easy to solve.

I rode my bike over 3500 km.
My friends, after seeing me riding with confidence, also wanted to have a gravel bike like that, so I built another 7 GF-002 for friends, with integrated bar and separated bar and stem combinations, during that process, I learned lots of tricks, and made my tools better and collect a good amount of experience for building bikes.

I thought now it's time to build a proper road bike for myself again, and here it is, my new VB-R-177, and I absolutely love it.

The classic headset play problem can be solved (at least in my cases) with a sand paper, you should sand the steerer tube until the headcap sits perfectly on the compression plug, and yes, it should be straight, so take your time and try to have a clean cut, it helps.
If you still have problem, micro shims are your friend, cut one and put it between compression ring and headset cover.
For another classic problem, rubbing brakes, you should use M5 bolts that comes usually with break rotors(for 6 bolt rotors) as they are a bit shorter than regular bolts, they may help a lot to adjust the breaks properly.
Other than that, I don't see any major issue on velobuild side.

If you are considering some semi-hydraulic solution like juin-techs, you should not, yes, they can stop you, but the difference is like day and night, now I feel much much safer on descends, and have much better control overall.

For internal cable routing in handlebars, after testing the new method on a friends bike and saw the results, I did it for myself too, so here is how: just escape it, as easy as that :) you save yourself a good amount of time, and it gives you the possibility to change, bar or stem in future if you want to, I will post a picture so you can see what I did.

After about 200 km on this, I can say the ride quality is very good, the bike is very responsive, climbing and descending is very fun, the bike is fast and comfortable.

I did not build a weight weenie bike, so my setup with pedals, bottle cages, garmin mount and velobuild gravel wheels (which I used on my gravel bike) is 7.9, so you can cut some good amount of weight if you go for a lighter wheelset.


patliean1

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #163 on: May 04, 2022, 11:47:22 AM »
The classic headset play issue is with the separate handlebar/stem combo, because the stem's top cap design is flawed.

Is there also a known issue with the integrated handlebar too?

disabnormal

Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
« Reply #164 on: May 05, 2022, 01:51:18 AM »
The classic headset play issue is with the separate handlebar/stem combo, because the stem's top cap design is flawed.

Is there also a known issue with the integrated handlebar too?

yes, i had some very tiny amount of play with my integrated handlebar too! i think the problem is that the cover can not push enough on the compression ring, and cover and ring are identical in both seperate and integrated bars.