Velobuild VB-R-368 Aeroframe

[Pistonbroke]

5'10 on a 58? is that 180cm in metric? i've just had a sizing an it turned out to be the 55, interesting as we are technically the same height

Purely subjective fitting on my part. Only about a year on road bikes, but kept feeling like I wanted more room. I guess a few years riding an XL G1 will do that to you
My Ican is a 56 but have had 52/4/6 frames from Specialized and Felt

[EmilW]

Hi, I’m building my first road bike and I’m unsure what frame to pick 368 or 268.​​⁠ I weigh  74kg and am 186cm. I live in the south coust in Sweden with relatively flat roads but foten a bit windy. Im training for a 315km race. What frame size would you pick aswell? My inseam length is about 88,5cm which makes me a size 58, but I apparently got quite short arms being only 59cm. Inseam to sternum 64cm.

[Pistonbroke]

Hi, I’m building my first road bike and I’m unsure what frame to pick 368 or 268.​​⁠ I weigh  74kg and am 186cm. I live in the south coust in Sweden with relatively flat roads but foten a bit windy. Im training for a 315km race. What frame size would you pick aswell? My inseam length is about 88,5cm which makes me a size 58, but I apparently got quite short arms being only 59cm. Inseam to sternum 64cm.

If possible borrow a bike from a friend to try and go to your local bike shop to get a feel for the bikes they have and see if they have a demonstration model you can take a spin on.
Assume you have been riding MTB TT or gravel previously? If not 315km is quite the place to start  

[EmilW]

Yes, been riding MTB, xc, enduro and downhill for about 8 years so pretty confident on the bike but i am so unsure about the frame, go for the more aero 368 which looks amazing or the 268. Love the blue chameleon. What frame size have you guys pick and whats your measurements?

[pertual]

Hi, I’m building my first road bike and I’m unsure what frame to pick 368 or 268.​​⁠ I weigh  74kg and am 186cm. I live in the south coust in Sweden with relatively flat roads but foten a bit windy. Im training for a 315km race. What frame size would you pick aswell? My inseam length is about 88,5cm which makes me a size 58, but I apparently got quite short arms being only 59cm. Inseam to sternum 64cm.

for such distances i would go for the 368 (bear in mind we have no real aero testing so it could be bogus) as comfort and aurodynamics are king. On the sizing, beware that the 58 is almost 2cm longer in reach than the 55, so if you have shorter than usual arms you might need to run a very short stem.

[Pistonbroke]

Yes, been riding MTB, xc, enduro and downhill for about 8 years so pretty confident on the bike but i am so unsure about the frame, go for the more aero 368 which looks amazing or the 268. Love the blue chameleon. What frame size have you guys pick and whats your measurements?

Came from a similar background.

The 368 frame is fun for sure, and gives a lot of scope for getting your saddle/cockpit position sorted.
Don't know what your budget is, but would urge you to put a good amount aside for wheels and tyres. Probably more than the cost of the frame.
I've found the XMCS carbon spoked wheels with gp5k (or similarly good) tyres to be a transformative experience, although I'm sure other wheelsets could provide a similar experience. #noshillin'

Eta look at possibly using a separate stem and bars set up so you can use something like the 300mm wide bikedoc bars to reap some great aero gains.

[pertual]

The tyres on my XMCS rims measure up near 35 and they fit, but wouldn't want to go any larger. Can't remember if the tyre is a 30 or 32 but will check tomorrow.
The down tube isn't flat on the bottle side, get a measurement and profile for you but the wide aero bottle cage I got from Ali was too wide.

is the aero bottle you mention the copied trek one? would you mind sharing a picture of the frame with the bottle installed so that we can see how much it sticks out?

[Pistonbroke]

is the aero bottle you mention the copied trek one? would you mind sharing a picture of the frame with the bottle installed so that we can see how much it sticks out?

Not the trek aero bottle shape, I'm to much of a luddite for anything but round.
It was this bottle cage, and admit I didn't bother looking at the dimensions
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwnTG9a

Pertual, sorry, added photo


Sticks out about 11mm either side. Couldn't get a good photo as black on black, sorry.
If anyone finds one that fits pop it up ln

[pertual]

Not the trek aero bottle shape, I'm to much of a luddite for anything but round.
It was this bottle cage, and admit I didn't bother looking at the dimensions
https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwnTG9a

Sticks out about 11mm either side. Couldn't get a good photo as black on black, sorry.
If anyone finds one that fits pop it up ln

Unfortunately the page doesn't exist anymore, i meant this one

[Rebel_Yell]

Unfortunately the page doesn't exist anymore, i meant this one

Can you measure and tell us the width of the bottle?  I can’t find the width anywhere?

[pertual]

Can you measure and tell us the width of the bottle?  I can’t find the width anywhere?

i don't have one on my hands unfortunately, i was waiting to see if it made sense to buy it or just stick to round bottles.

EDIT: i did find the size in one aliexpress listing, seems to be 7cm wide?

[mtm]

Got the bike more or less completely assembled, just missing a few non-vital parts like bar tape and proper bottle Cages. Here's some findings.

- The headset dust cover/top cap is hitting the frame (even with the C clip included). I made a small plastic C-shaped 0.5mm thick spacer and that seems to do the trick so it clears the frame (at least so far).

- The fork just slightly scrapes the bottom of the head tube (see attached picture). I'm guessing it might be hard to space this out, so probably going to sand the bottom of the head tube a bit so it goes more clear of the fork.

- The chain stay issue that Patrick also showed seems to be also present with Ultegra R8150 rear derailleur - I have not played around with chain length yet to see if that might change things (if someone is more experienced than me with B-screw vs. pulley wheel to cog clearance vs. B-screw I'm open for input). Basically you seem forced to have the B-screw tightened more than needed for the RD cage not to hit the chain stay. I couldn't get the ZTTO SLR Gen 3 11-32 cassette to shift well (it shifts OK on two other bikes here) as the cage cannot be moved close to the cassette, which seems pretty important for that cassette to work. I've put on an Ultegra 11-30 now and that seems to be better in the stand at least. You can see on the attached pictures how close the RD cage is to the chain stay currently, yet it's still quite far from the biggest (30T) cog on the cassette. If I loosen the B-screw to bring it closer to the biggest cog it will hit the chain stay in the smallest (11T) cog.

Unless I find a good fix for that last issue it is a bit annoying as I think it's quite the oversight in the frame design - and a bit surprising considering this is not their first frame. I know they've fixed it already in at least some of the sizes, but it seems they've also shipped some frames out with this issue after they became aware of it.

[gribs]

Got the bike more or less completely assembled, just missing a few non-vital parts like bar tape and proper bottle Cages. Here's some findings.

- The headset dust cover/top cap is hitting the frame (even with the C clip included). I made a small plastic C-shaped 0.5mm thick spacer and that seems to do the trick so it clears the frame (at least so far).

- The fork just slightly scrapes the bottom of the head tube (see attached picture). I'm guessing it might be hard to space this out, so probably going to sand the bottom of the head tube a bit so it goes more clear of the fork.

The long term fix for both these problems is to use slightly thicker bearings than the standard 7mm deep ones. 52mm x 40mm 45 degree bearings can easily be found in 7.5mm or 8mm depth.

[BeR]

For my information, how do you explain Velobuild making such obvious errors?

I understand that their testing phases don't allow them to test every configuration and that they have a limited number of testers, but still. How is this possible?

I am, however, aware that many frames undergo some modifications after the initial sales. It's a bit like treating buyers like beta testers.

[toxin]

A lot of the designers over in these newer chinese brands are younger engineers who may not be avid cyclists or bike mechanics themselves and don't have the decades of individual or collective experience that the designers at established western brands have. They can't have the foresight to predict all the problems that can arise from actually using the bike. There's only so much you can copy from someone else when you're not directly involved in the design process, even if you're the one ultimately producing it. Furthermore, a low cost outfit like Velobuild probably doesn't put that many resources into all stages of design, so issues are more likely to be overlooked. More experienced engineers and designers might also be able to get better salaries at other places that charge more for their products and therefore have more revenue to spend on employees.

Simply put, you get what you pay for.

Open flange hubs with side inserting spokes are another design disaster that I think has a similar origin. New Winspace SLC5 fork crown hitting the frame when turning too far is probably another.