VeloBuild VB-R-268 frame

[Miodu]

most probably it looks worse on the picture than irl, because of how zoomed it is. if you can't feel the carbon deflect, if you dont see / feel any crack, if by using a coin and tapping it along the chain stay, it sounds the same, then i think you're fine.
I bought a supersix himod rim years ago that had pretty ugly damage because of a dropped chain. It's been fine.

I sent pictures to carbon repair companies. According to their quick analyze there is a lack of few carbon layers with one spot hit. Cost repair with painting (black paint just to cover from UV) ~250$

[Gigi27]

Great service from Velobuild on this. Offered me compensation or replacement. Went with the replacement as I felt I wouldn’t have confidence braking knowing there is resin missing on the brake mount.

Replacement just arrived and looks good.

About the missing grommet for the fork brake cable exit, what did you do? Have you found one that fits or is it clean to leave it without?

[Miodu]

That makes sense, you can see clearly from the picture that it's not just paint damage, the chain has eaten into the carbon.
It's a VB frame though. As per the previous questions / post, and bearing in mind i havent seen the frame irl, i probably wouldn't spend 50% of the frame cost on that repair.

Yep i have a little dilemma, wait and buy the new frame (vb 368 looks interesting) or repair this one. Repair cost will be ~30% of price which i paid with this paint, but the VB have now discount on their site.
TBH frame have only 3 months and 700km riding so my angry when this happened (3 days before wedding) was hmm out of my scale

[JLo]

I have been struggling with clunking noise from the bar while sprintong/climbing hard or just rocking left and right. Did everyone I could think of. Played with torque on all related hardware, increased clearance with headset cover/ fork top. Issue seems to be coming from the bar itself. I inspected it many times, without any cracks findings.

 I am writing here before going to Chris for warranty request since I have the bike for more than a year, but has been struggling with that issue since day 1.

Anyone faced that issue?

Finished the build yesterday, been hearing the same noise. When I lift the front wheel a few cm and drop it down, I can hear it. Turned the the bars left to right and heard it again. Figured it is the internal cables?

[JLo]

About the missing grommet for the fork brake cable exit, what did you do? Have you found one that fits or is it clean to leave it without?

Left it without. Don’t really notice it.

[JLo]

Hey all.

Finished the build yesterday, but not without issues.

Been able to work around most, but curious about two things.

1. Rear brake calliper pulls outward when trying to tighten the bolts. As if the face of the mount on the frame is not flush. As a result, I put a makeshift soft spacer there, and it worked. Sort of.  The brake is screeching. When I hold the bike and move it slightly, it screeches. Both wheels run, but come to a stop fairly quickly. Is this normal for new disc brakes? They have not done 5km, so I assume there is some break-in period?


2. Handlebar came loose within the first 5 km, more specifically, the two bolts that clamp the bars down. Tightened it, bar was too stiff, loosened everything and then the top bolt broke. Like the hexagon where the allan key goes just broke and expanded. After a long struggle, I got it out and ordered new  black ones. But I feel anxious that the build may have been a fail and scared that new bolts won’t fix the issue. To reroute and recable everything now is a massive job and sincerelyhope it won’t come to that. New bolts arriving next weekend.

Any advice from anyone would be appreciated.

[EricL]

Hi !

I am interested in purchasing this frame and would like to know if someone succeed in fitting a different handlebar than the one provided by Velobuild. If yes, which one did you use ? Thank you in advance !

[pavlo.k]

Hi !

I am interested in purchasing this frame and would like to know if someone succeed in fitting a different handlebar than the one provided by Velobuild. If yes, which one did you use ? Thank you in advance !

I fitted the kocevlo one. It was actually provided by Velobuild because their cockpit didn't come in the size I wanted. you just skip the top headset cover that comes with a frame and you can use any handlebar you want

[EricL]

I fitted the kocevlo one. It was actually provided by Velobuild because their cockpit didn't come in the size I wanted. you just skip the top headset cover that comes with a frame and you can use any handlebar you want

Do you have any link for it ? I wanted to purchase one of these handlebars  :

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKVt1Fn

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mteAd7r

[pavlo.k]

Do you have any link for it ? I wanted to purchase one of these handlebars  :

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKVt1Fn

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mteAd7r

i have this one https://pl.aliexpress.com/item/1005006561735597.html it's sold under different brands on ali: kocavlo, toseek, and some others, including the first one you linked

[JLo]

Looks like everybody missed this, did you find a solution?
Brake. check YT, there are a few tests to see if the surface is clean / really needs facing or not. With sandpaper or maybe a sand paper block, or a file, you can usually get it close enough, w/o needing a pro facing tool. I've never had to do any of this on any of the bikes i've built, but it's not uncommon.
Generally, aligning discs is annoying AF, as tolerances are a FRACTION of a millimeter. But you shouldn't have to ride a setup so that the wheels stop quickly (on a bike stand) because of rub.

Bars. I dont even understand how tightening a stem makes bars too stiff. It sounds like you dont understand how to compress a steerer column. There's a video on YT about that that's well made

Building modern bikes takes a lot of precision and there are lots of mechanical aspects you need to understand, it's not rocket science, but there's a learning curve.

good luck

I meant the steering was too tight. Realised the crown race was not in.
Was a massive struggle getting it in and putting the fork back with the cables already done. Lesson learnt.

On the brakes, took it to a workshop, they said it was about 3mm off, so had to be faced. Absolutely worth it.

Did about 80km now after finishing the build. Absolute machine. Really enjoying the bike!

Thanks for all the stories, everyone! That is what convinced me.

[Smokemachine]

I meant the steering was too tight. Realised the crown race was not in.
Was a massive struggle getting it in and putting the fork back with the cables already done. Lesson learnt.

On the brakes, took it to a workshop, they said it was about 3mm off, so had to be faced. Absolutely worth it.

Did about 80km now after finishing the build. Absolute machine. Really enjoying the bike!

Thanks for all the stories, everyone! That is what convinced me.

Nice to hear everything got sorted in the end. Do I understand correctly you’ve gotten the Velobuild frame and not from Long Teng? Are you using 105 Di2 or mechanical, couldn’t work it out from the non drive side image you shared, but the shifters look like mechanical?

[JustinFox]

Hey all. Just wanted to chime in now that I've finally had some real experience with this frame.

The other night I helped a mate finish his Velobuild build. I've read through this entire thread, and whilst some of the issues some of you guys have been having was a turn off. I've always taken reviews with a grain of salt (because nothing beats personal experience). Almost a year ago now I suggested he buy this frame and for the good part of this year he's been buying parts for it (was waiting for the new Magene groupset but in the end couldn't wait anymore so he bought 105 Di2 from Ali Express).

Build came together great. No issues at all except for a weird rattling noise when dropping the bike a few cm off the ground. Turns out it was a small metal collar in the Mavic style quick release thru axles (such a weird design!). Nothing some thick grease won't fix.

Test rode the bike in the carpark when we were done and holy shit. From the first pedal stroke I knew it was not bad at all. Agile, gets the power down and accelerates really well. It's stiff. I'm well impressed and quite surprised. Felt like a Tarmac, big time. I was left with mixed emotions... wasn't sure how I felt about it all.

Yesterday he took his new build out for it's first maiden ride and let another one of our mates ride it (powerful guy who used to own a Giant bicycle shop, has designed and sold his own frames and who's also ridden and praised my S-Works SL8 Tarmac for having "free speed").

Old mate was mightily impressed, yelled out "free speed!" and said it felt a lot like my SL8. Definitely spun him out, so much so that he literally bought the TanTan SL8 copy last night. 

I've always had the thought that building up a cheap Chinese frame would be a lot of fun, but I've always failed to see the point. IE: It'll be good, probably, but it'll never be as good as the real thing... so why bother? I've now come to the conclusion that there's more nuance to it than I originally thought, mainly due to how cheap these frames are in comparison to the real thing.

Sure, layup, weight and quality of the carbon might not be the same, and that could explain the bike feeling stiffer and less compliant than my SL8 (though the SL7 was less compliant than the SL8?), but it's definitely a fast bike so it suggests that geo is WAY more important/evident than layup.

Side by side his size 52 Velobuild setup looks bang on the same as my size 52 SL8 in terms of geometry. Maybe I was secretly hoping it was going to be trash and now I'm going through the motions.

Ultimately I'm mighty impressed and looking forward to riding it again, as well as testing out old mate's TanTan SL8 when it's ready to roll.

TLDR: This frame is good.

[JerenK]

Hey Guys,

Do any of you know if this frame can run 35 OUTER width wheels with 28/30mm GP 5000s TR tires?

Im looking at some Reserve 52/63 wheels with 35mm outer width.

Pls help 😅

Otherwise i need to look for different wheels.

[MALIBA]

I fitted the kocevlo one. It was actually provided by Velobuild because their cockpit didn't come in the size I wanted. you just skip the top headset cover that comes with a frame and you can use any handlebar you want

Could you please send a photo of how this handlebar looks once installed, in a way that I can see the spacers and the cover? I’d really appreciate it.