VeloBuild VB-R-268 frame

[Serge_K]

Thoughts? Will it be possible to jam mechanical hydraulic Sensah or Ltwoo in this frame.... just a pain in the rear to route but ok after that or not possible at all.

Just about to pull the trigger on this frame or the lcr0x-d (timemachine copy) and was going to go ER9 but worried about all the issues.

i've built a VB168 with Sensah (4 hoses), the 268 is the same infrastructure, so yes you can run mechanical. It's a major, major pain though, and the FD shifting will probably suck.
I've installed 5 er9 groups, they're wonderful. The app is awesome, adjustments are much easier than mechanical (especially FD, i hate mechanical FD adjustments). Together, we've only put 3-3.5k km on them though, so they might turn to shit, although i dont see why they would.
I really liked the 168, the 268 should only be better. I would do er9 on 268 with nice wheels (not less than 500-650$ range before shipping), gp5000 tyres, and you will have a wonderful bike.
On the lcr0x-d, it's a bit old now; i wouldnt buy a bike that maxes out at 28C, and T700 is on the ghetto side now.

[trytogo]

i've built a VB168 with Sensah (4 hoses), the 268 is the same infrastructure, so yes you can run mechanical. It's a major, major pain though, and the FD shifting will probably suck.
I've installed 5 er9 groups, they're wonderful. The app is awesome, adjustments are much easier than mechanical (especially FD, i hate mechanical FD adjustments). Together, we've only put 3-3.5k km on them though, so they might turn to shit, although i dont see why they would.
I really liked the 168, the 268 should only be better. I would do er9 on 268 with nice wheels (not less than 500-650$ range before shipping), gp5000 tyres, and you will have a wonderful bike.
On the lcr0x-d, it's a bit old now; i wouldnt buy a bike that maxes out at 28C, and T700 is on the ghetto side now.

Thanks Serge, you answered everything I had and probably every follow up question i had to boot also Will go with the ER9 and the 268.

Build is something like this:

Frame 268 (Racing Green) Order process is really easy and Chis's communication is great so far.
Group ER9
Magene PES cranks/power
Pass Quest rings
Ryet Saddle
Gp5000 (probably 30 but 32 if it fits)

Just wheels to figure out 50 to 60mm with internet 21+ and under 700 dollars and under 1600g would be good suggestions welcome.... must have shiny finish preferably no decals as going no logos with the design.

Order this week but wont be building till first week of June so ill try to share some photos

[RasmusWH]

Thanks Serge, you answered everything I had and probably every follow up question i had to boot also Will go with the ER9 and the 268.

Build is something like this:

Frame 268 (Racing Green) Order process is really easy and Chis's communication is great so far.
Group ER9
Magene PES cranks/power
Pass Quest rings
Ryet Saddle
Gp5000 (probably 30 but 32 if it fits)

Just wheels to figure out 50 to 60mm with internet 21+ and under 700 dollars and under 1600g would be good suggestions welcome.... must have shiny finish preferably no decals as going no logos with the design.

Order this week but wont be building till first week of June so ill try to share some photos

Sounds like a nice build! Just ordered two frames. Have bought EliteWheels Edge Ultralight 50 mm (21 mm internal, 28 mm external) from AliExpress for one of the frames and actually bought their Edge Gravel 45 mm wheel set (462 USD with discount code when I ordered) for the other frame as their dimensions regarding internal (24 mm) and external width (31 mm) rim width is more progressive and comparable to ENVE SES 4.5 (25/32 mm) and Reserve 40/44 (25/33-31 mm). Will pair both with GP 5000 28 mm. They will probably measure up around 30 mm on the gravel wheel set. Expecting to set both bikes up with 105 Di2 as the compared prices of the ERX/ER9 is not that much lower when shipped to my country (Denmark) with taxes - when you add the cost of crankset, chain, cassette and rotors.

[Serge_K]

Just wheels to figure out 50 to 60mm with internet 21+ and under 700 dollars and under 1600g would be good suggestions welcome.... must have shiny finish preferably no decals as going no logos with the design.

We're here to help!
If you want to be at the forefront of aerodynamics, technology, life, the universe and everything, i suggest the 34mm rims in 58 from Peter cycles (look up his contact on the forum, it's like petercycles@something). I bought 5 such wheelsets from him last year. It then means that conti gp5000 in 32C is just under 32mm, so aero wise, your rim is like 105pc of the tyre, and you can impress the ladies with your bro knowledge of aerodynamics. They will cost you <600usd. Alternatively, not quite as wide, look up yuanan on the forum, they're the OEM for Elite wheels and you can customise anything you want. Ask Leon for his rim collection in pdf, he has a 31mm wide 54mm deep ultralight rim that will also be within budget. My sales rep from far sports is on maternity leave. I suggest pillar wing 20 spokes, cheaper than Spain CX ray, and according to people smarter than me, and assuming I understood correctly, they're just as good if not better. If you ask for no holes in the rim bed, you can skip rim tape and save some weight and make your life easier.
Have fun

[OlieSimpson]

Just wheels to figure out 50 to 60mm with internet 21+ and under 700 dollars and under 1600g would be good suggestions welcome.... must have shiny finish preferably no decals as going no logos with the design.

I've got the FarSports Gravel wheels that seem to fit your requirements, 24mm internal width, 30mm external width, 50mm deep, built with Sapim CX-Ray spokes on Bitex hubs, final weight around 1450g and cost around 700 USD. I got them without any internal holes so no need to rim tape to run them tubeless with UD matte, stickerless finish, however you can also get them in gloss and other fininshes. 7,000 km's put on them so far and they've been great!

[raisinberry777]

I've got the FarSports Gravel wheels that seem to fit your requirements, 24mm internal width, 30mm external width, 50mm deep, built with Sapim CX-Ray spokes on Bitex hubs, final weight around 1450g and cost around 700 USD. I got them without any internal holes so no need to rim tape to run them tubeless with UD matte, stickerless finish, however you can also get them in gloss and other fininshes. 7,000 km's put on them so far and they've been great!

To add to that, I got the same wheelset but with DT Swiss 350 hubs instead (849 USD in total) and they've been excellent. 1396g for 50mm deep, no internal holes made tubeless setup extremely easy.

[trytogo]

We're here to help!
If you want to be at the forefront of aerodynamics, technology, life, the universe and everything, i suggest the 34mm rims in 58 from Peter cycles (look up his contact on the forum, it's like petercycles@something). I bought 5 such wheelsets from him last year. It then means that conti gp5000 in 32C is just under 32mm, so aero wise, your rim is like 105pc of the tyre, and you can impress the ladies with your bro knowledge of aerodynamics. They will cost you <600usd. Alternatively, not quite as wide, look up yuanan on the forum, they're the OEM for Elite wheels and you can customise anything you want. Ask Leon for his rim collection in pdf, he has a 31mm wide 54mm deep ultralight rim that will also be within budget. My sales rep from far sports is on maternity leave. I suggest pillar wing 20 spokes, cheaper than Spain CX ray, and according to people smarter than me, and assuming I understood correctly, they're just as good if not better. If you ask for no holes in the rim bed, you can skip rim tape and save some weight and make your life easier.
Have fun

Excellent, thanks. I'm going to contact both today and see what they have, but I definitely like the idea of the 58s. Does anyone know if the 268 frame can take 32's? I assume that there will be less bulbing, so it is closer to a true 32. Im 85kg. If I was going with Yuanan, would the 20 spokes be sufficient for my heavy ass?

To be fair, I couldn't care less about the weight these days (aiming for only sub 9kg). I'm motivated to go out.

Just got through the first round of orders on Ali last night between the choice sale and codes build should come in just a tad under $2000.

I swore years ago I'd never build another bike, but coming back to cycling and seeing the ridiculous prices (the last time I was in was pre-covid), it finally feels like we are getting to a good point, especially due to now having a dedicated forum making it easier to weed out the good from the bad. 268 seems to tick many many boxes when combined with a wireless group, especially built on the base of the 168.

[trytogo]

Sounds like a nice build! Just ordered two frames. Have bought EliteWheels Edge Ultralight 50 mm (21 mm internal, 28 mm external) from AliExpress for one of the frames and actually bought their Edge Gravel 45 mm wheel set (462 USD with discount code when I ordered) for the other frame as their dimensions regarding internal (24 mm) and external width (31 mm) rim width is more progressive and comparable to ENVE SES 4.5 (25/32 mm) and Reserve 40/44 (25/33-31 mm). Will pair both with GP 5000 28 mm. They will probably measure up around 30 mm on the gravel wheel set. Expecting to set both bikes up with 105 Di2 as the compared prices of the ERX/ER9 is not that much lower when shipped to my country (Denmark) with taxes - when you add the cost of crankset, chain, cassette and rotors.

Good lord, i got the Ltwoo ER9 for $385 last night UK 105 di2 would have done me for almost a grand. if it was closer here I would also have gone the 105 . Will take a look at those wheels too didn't know about the edge that price is excellent on the Gravel.

I've got the FarSports Gravel wheels that seem to fit your requirements, 24mm internal width, 30mm external width, 50mm deep, built with Sapim CX-Ray spokes on Bitex hubs, final weight around 1450g and cost around 700 USD. I got them without any internal holes so no need to rim tape to run them tubeless with UD matte, stickerless finish, however you can also get them in gloss and other fininshes. 7,000 km's put on them so far and they've been great!

I had farsports in the past and nothing but good things to say about them, didn't realise the gravel rims would work on the road frames but this is interesting I think id go the same setup just with gloss finish. Thanks for the rec.

[Eddy_Twerckx]

Thanks Serge, you answered everything I had and probably every follow up question i had to boot also Will go with the ER9 and the 268.

Build is something like this:

Frame 268 (Racing Green) Order process is really easy and Chis's communication is great so far.
Group ER9
Magene PES cranks/power
Pass Quest rings
Ryet Saddle
Gp5000 (probably 30 but 32 if it fits)

Just wheels to figure out 50 to 60mm with internet 21+ and under 700 dollars and under 1600g would be good suggestions welcome.... must have shiny finish preferably no decals as going no logos with the design.

Order this week but wont be building till first week of June so ill try to share some photos

I got them during the 11.11 sales, but I have a set of Farsports Hypers with 24int/30ext, 58 depth, with carbon spokes for $700. Weight is 1300g. Just mounted up some GP5000 S 28/30 that measure 29.5/31.3 inflated. I'm super happy with them.

[RasmusWH]

Good lord, i got the Ltwoo ER9 for $385 last night UK 105 di2 would have done me for almost a grand. if it was closer here I would also have gone the 105 . Will take a look at those wheels too didn't know about the edge that price is excellent on the Gravel.

That's a nice deal, best ER9-deal I can find right now on AliExpress is 644 USD. 105 DI2 is 1030 USD including crankset, cassette, chain and rotors.

[Serge_K]

That's a nice deal, best ER9-deal I can find right now on AliExpress is 644 USD. 105 DI2 is 1030 USD including crankset, cassette, chain and rotors.

Yeah, some people here have voodoo skills when it comes to finding deals on groupsets. Don't spend 650$ on the eR9, i can't really tell you how, but people are spending less than that. I paid 455 for mine last year.

I got them during the 11.11 sales, but I have a set of Farsports Hypers with 24int/30ext, 58 depth, with carbon spokes for $700. Weight is 1300g. Just mounted up some GP5000 S 28/30 that measure 29.5/31.3 inflated. I'm super happy with them.

Shipping included? Where do you live?

[trytogo]

That's a nice deal, best ER9-deal I can find right now on AliExpress is 644 USD. 105 DI2 is 1030 USD, including crankset, cassette, chain, and rotors.

Yeh i found it on a shop called 80 Designer Store. they had an on page coupon plus the ali homepage had another code that worked and brought it down. It was a nightmare navigating ali and prices jumped around as I'm out my country.

Def having the crank inc with the Di2 would bring it closer, but as I needed a power meter anyway, I offset that with the Magene power crank, 2 Passquest chainrings for 58 USD, found the 105 cassette on Merlin for 40 (GBP) + ZTTO bb86 + battery bung + rotors... So i think I'm in for about 800 total on the drivetrain side so it does add up. Would have enjoyed cost benefits mechanical but its just funny having shoved it through handlebars in the past that I'm willing to not do it again is worth a few hundred extra haha

[Serge_K]

Does anyone know if the 268 frame can take 32's?
Im 85kg. If I was going with Yuanan, would the 20 spokes be sufficient for my heavy ass?

The VB 268 clearly says it takes 32C. The only new frame i can think of that doesn't take 32C is the SP cycle 25 SL something, only takes 30C, and i'm unhappy about that.

If road, then 20 spokes should be fine. If gravel, maybe ask Yuanan, but if steel spokes, then maybe go more conservative and take 24? Yuanan does 20/20 on carbon spokes.

[trytogo]

The VB 268 clearly says it takes 32C. The only new frame i can think of that doesn't take 32C is the SP cycle 25 SL something, only takes 30C, and i'm unhappy about that.

If road, then 20 spokes should be fine. If gravel, maybe ask Yuanan, but if steel spokes, then maybe go more conservative and take 24? Yuanan does 20/20 on carbon spokes.

Cheers Serge, have contacted Yaunan and Peter just waiting on the final proposals. Liking the look of the Yuanan.... everything else has been ordered was going to build it all myself but will just spend the little extra for a builder to get it all dialed in asap when everything gets here

[eldrakos]

Hello,

just finished my build.
At first I wanted to build my bike around Hygge Model S frame. So I started to look for information about this frame and found this forum. After reading this forum and watching Pattys videos I decided to go for Velobuild VB-268.

I choose painted variant. Frame showed 1040 g on scales in size 58. I didn't waight rest of the stuff (fork, seat post and integrated handlebar).
I build my bike with 12sp Ultegra Di2 and Elite Edge wheels. Whole bike came out 8,2 kgs redy to ride  with pedals, bottle cages and computer mount. I saw bikes weighing 7,8 kg on this thread. I don't know how you manage to achieve a weight of less than 8 kg. Any advices on how to get the weight down?

Building a bike was pretty straight forward except brakes - I can't properly align calipersto get rid of rubbing.