VeloBuild VB-R-268 frame

[Pwhee]

This is very helpful information. What is the min / max saddle height on your 56 size frame?

[leon712]

"Decals" is a bit of an ambiguous term. They can mean "just" stickers that you actually just stick on your frame (and can remove them without much hassle/anybody noticing). They could also be stenciled decals that you apply on the frame during painting process and be removed at the end to have the name/logo/symbol painted on the frame. Like you would have with the names of all major manufacturers.

I eventually went down the lane of a full custom painting with decals and all. Was good fun messing around with colors and styles. Attached is a mockup I built myself to present my idea to velobuild. I also included the font and the logo as PNG for them to print. Let's see if the final result will look anything like I imagined it

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

[SillyMochi]

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.

[Apone]

I am 180/181 cm tall and the saddle height is 82/83, I have more legs than bust. only 58. with a 350mm seat post, there would be 6-7cm left inside the frame. too few. as well as having a disproportionate saddle/handlebar height difference.
How do you ride on a 54 frame?

I'm at 192cm with a BB to the seat of 84cm, a 400mm seat post in a XL frame would work for me, but not a 350mm seat post...

[Serge_K]

Current center of BB to top-of-saddle distance (following the seat tube angle) = 74 cm
Lowest distance when seatpost is slammed = 71,5 cm
On a size 54 cm

thank you. glad i asked, i need 81cm... i guess i cant get a 268 even if i wanted to.

[toxin]

M should be enough for 81 cm

[RasmusWH]

This is very helpful information. What is the min / max saddle height on your 56 size frame?

Minimum distance from BB to top of saddle = 70 cm (67 cm from BB to center of saddle rails) - but you could cut the seat post to get even lower.
Maximum distance depends on the minimum amount of seatpost inside the frame you want, of course. But the distance from BB to top of the seat tube is 49 cm and the length of seat post + saddle is 39 cm = 88 cm. I would say that you probably want at least 7 cm within the seat tube = 81 cm as maximum saddle height from BB to top of saddle (or 78 cm to center part of where the seat clamp grabs the rails).

The reason why the minimum saddle height is not lower on the 54 cm is probably due to an identical placement of the rear wheel cut out in the seat tube (which is the limiting factor of how deep the seatpost can go)

[BAcy]

Hey guys new build coming soon. This will be my first build after lurking here for some time. I finally decided to build a chinese carbon bike because I wanted a new bike that will make me want to ride more(my current one is Orbea Avant alloy rim from 2015). It will be my first build and it will be with mechanical groupset mix ultegra and some from aliex. I know that it will be painful but I hope I can do it. Wheels from Leon at Yuanan 45mm deep.

[SillyMochi]

Nice, another colorful build coming up! Good luck with that mechanical though, as you might have read it can be a big PITA 

[BAcy]

Nice, another colorful build coming up! Good luck with that mechanical though, as you might have read it can be a big PITA 

Thanks will do my best and if I struggle with something I might ask for help here. One of the main reasons I want to do this is to learn to fix my bike by myself when something is off. Bike mechanics in my area do more harm than good when you leave your bike with them.

[Cnasta]

Thanks for your comment. The chameleon pops quite a bit in the sun, just so you are aware. The other one in blue chameleon does as well, probably a bit more disco vibe than expected, but you only live once

My friend is 180 cm, long torso. Stack of the frame is pretty aggressive as you can see by the number of spacers he needed to get a comfortable position. I have bought af 56 cm for myself (187 cm).
The wheel set weighs 1420g without rim tape, tolerances seems very nice, end caps are a really good snug fit. The standard ones are fairly wide compared to others, 21 internal and 28 internal, so would not be a bad choice as well, and you can get them a bit deeper than the 45 mm's also. The build proces was not that hard, but probably way worse if you are to route mechanical gear. Cut the steerer 6 mm below the stem. Did all wiring without a routing tool and didn't really need it. The handlebar is the standard one, yes. 400/100 mm, but the reach seems a bit longer as the hood-position extends a bit further from where the stem "ends".

cheers

Thanks for your reply. I'm 178cm with shortisch legs (nothing extreem). Normally a bit between 53/54 framesizes. Wondering what would be the best option for me. I do like my stem slammed (doing TT on the TT bike as well, so used to 'being low') an dislike a short seatpost (purely for estetics)

[SillyMochi]

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.

[Serge_K]

Very nice, well done. I would have ordered it without the text, and added the text with car vinyl cut locally. That way you can get exactly the text & spacing you want and, importantly, you can easily change your mind, rinse and repeat.
Looking forward to the pictures of the fully built bike!

[SillyMochi]

Very nice, well done. I would have ordered it without the text, and added the text with car vinyl cut locally. That way you can get exactly the text & spacing you want and, importantly, you can easily change your mind, rinse and repeat.
Looking forward to the pictures of the fully built bike!

Yeah, I honestly thought they gonna paint the decals on instead of just using stickers. Otherwise, I would have done it myself as you suggested. Well, still learning but I think for my first design this could have turned out much worse

Some hold the cable with adhesive tape on the fork (at mid-height) to keep it on the right side. Also make sure that your cable has not passed behind the fork to come back in front

Currently struggling with this as well (having just 2 hydraulic brake hoses to route since I'm using Di2): where do you cross the lines if you cannot route behind the steerer tube? In that little cut out section between steerer and stem/handlebar? Done that but didn't really like the feeling of it; it's super tight there. Have to cross them somewhere as my front brake comes out on the right side and my rear brake on the left ... Thoughts?

[holmosapien]

Currently struggling with this as well (having just 2 hydraulic brake hoses to route since I'm using Di2): where do you cross the lines if you cannot route behind the steerer tube? In that little cut out section between steerer and stem/handlebar? Done that but didn't really like the feeling of it; it's super tight there. Have to cross them somewhere as my front brake comes out on the right side and my rear brake on the left ... Thoughts?

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?