Well I got my VeloBuild VB-R-068 Frame set a few weeks ago......today I went racing on it, it was bloody awesome!
I got the matt black 54cm frame (I'm 1.8m / 5'11") and the fit was great. I stripped the matt black back to raw carbon on the forks and left the frame. Wet saned the whole frame and did my own custom paint job (Courtesy of Martin Grey's Etoe Youtube channel) and the result was awesome. From AliExpress I got the saddle, wheelset (50mm x 25mm carbon rims) Ultegra Crankset and brakes, Carbon bars with integral stem, Bar tape, shifter cable set, BB109 Ceramic Bottom bracket and from NZ online off Facebook (Bikeshelf) second hand near new Ultegra shifters and derailleurs. After about 40 hours work doing the custom paint job I put this all together and came in at a very nice 7.7kg ready to race.

I did see a review that said it was not very exciting/responsive but I have to disagree....it was agile and a real rocket ship on the downhills...very stable at 61+ Kph. I did however have to make a 3mm washer for the headset to work properly and pack the outer ring of the top headset bearing with ptfe thread tape to give it a nice snug fit.

Chris@velobuild was awesome to deal with and replied same day to all emails I sent him, I cant recommend this frame and Velobuild website more highly. Very impressed overall.

Has anyone actually measured the travel of this bike with 40mm and 42.5mm shocks?

With the X3 linkage software, I always got more travel than it's supposed to have. I thought it must be the flex stays that I can't properly account for.

But now I compared it to the NS Synonym and it seems like all the linkage points are exactly the same (see image below). Only the flexing seat stay is slightly higher up, but that can't make that much of a difference.

I think the only real difference between the NS rear triangle and the Carbonda version is that NS put the bridge between the seat stays closer to the tyre, so that it can move further towards the seat tube and take that 45mm shock.

So if my theory is correct, the FM936 should have more travel. Exactly like the NS Synonym, only that you can't run a 45mm shock.

Which would mean:

37.5mm = 100mm
40.0mm = 107mm
42.5mm = 113mm
45.0mm = 120mm (theoretical, not possible)

Put the bike together last night (although rear brake caliper mount bolts aren't threading in), but still have a lot of little stuff to take care of. Pretty aggressive looking for an XC bike IMO.

25lbs on the bathroom scale with pedals (Pinkbike article had the $6k EUR build at just over 27lbs without pedals), but certainly not a weight weenie build and didn't really make any compromises for weight. May consider upgrading to Step Cast fork, lighter Light Bicycle wheel build, and possibly a OneUp V2 170mm dropper.

Hoping to race the first Canada Cup XCO event at the end of March, but don't think I'll be able to take it for a test ride soon.

Fox Float 34 Performance Elite 120mm fork
Fox Float DPS Evol Performance 16x142.5 shock
Light Bicycle 29C07 30mm ID carbon rims on DT Swiss 350S hubs
Maxxis Forekaster EXO 2.35/Maxxis Ikon EXO 2.35 (putting Aspen 2.25 on)
Formula Cura brakes with 160mm rotors
OneUp V1 150mm dropper post with V2 metal remote
Shimano M9020 XTR crankset (polished) with Stages power meter
OneUp 30T oval chainring
Shimano M9000 XTR shifter
Shimano M8000 XT derailleur
e13 TRSr 9-46t cassette
SRAM X1 chain
Exustar E-PM215Ti pedals
Cane Creek 40 headset
Shimano XTR bottom bracket
Wren stem 50mm (may swap for Kalloy 40mm)
Chromag Cutlass carbon bars
Chromag Squarewave grips
Chinese saddle (new carbon saddle in the mail)
Chinese carbon seatclamp post