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Re: Tan Tan GR040 Build
It's arrived! Frame  Sensah oily bits  Might try doing one of those exploded parts pictures. February 04, 2021, 05:06:45 AM |
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Re: Gravel Wheelset
I'm using the Light Carbon gravel wheels (with DT Swiss 350 hubs) and am very happy with them.
February 15, 2021, 10:13:48 AM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-186
For anyone else who doesn't know, I just realized that the R-168 has identical geometry to the SL7. https://bikeinsights.com/compare?geometries=5f207b42a38eb600178e639e%2C604d98c2d7c8240017c37233%2C March 30, 2021, 02:58:16 PM |
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Re: ICAN triaero A9
Finally finished.. Tomorrow morning I will ride it.. April 01, 2021, 03:55:32 PM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-186
do we know how much the VB-R-168 weighs at a 52 or 54 alone / with fork?
April 02, 2021, 02:35:28 PM |
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Re: DIY Carbon Bikes GRA700 Exploro Style Gravel/Road Frame Experience?
Well, since I pulled the trigger on this in January, I figured I'd share my experience with Ty and DIYCarbonBikes. January 14th - I placed my order, Large GRA700 Matte finish. Tuesday, February 9th - Package arrived well packed and in the time frame quoted, but it was a gloss frame and not the matte one I ordered. I wasn't too concerned with it at the time and didn't mind it. When I opened the package and was getting parts together, I noticed I had duplicates of a bunch if items (headsets, seat post clamp, bottom bracket, etc) After laying everything out, I didn't have a front axle. I offered to send back the duplicates to Ty, but didn't say he needed them. Reach out to Ty and tell him my situation. Friday, February 12th - Ty replies and apologizes and won't be able to check until Sunday about stock on the axle. February 12, 15th - I send replies about the axle, no reply. February 15th - Ty replies that he cannot find the axle. He sends me a link to aliexpress that this is the axle and nut that I need. I asked if he ordered today and when I would get it, but then tells me he sent me the link for me to order. He tells me he will reimburse me for the purchase of the axle with premium shipping. February 17th - Submit paypal invoice that I paid to Ty. February 18th - I ask when I would receive my refund. February 19th - I get the bike back from my local shop and start dialing in my fit. I noticed the top tube is short. Based on the measurements, the frame I received was a medium, not the large that I asked for. I send a photo showing how the top tube was short. He claims that based on my height and what I normally ride, it "should work or me". I ask Ty i he wants to give me a refund for the bike as well as the front axle, or send me a new one in my size/finish that I asked for in January. No reply. February 24th - I follow up asking about the refund of the axle, no reply. February 26th - I recap our current situation and say that I will have my credit card company refund me my money if he will not work with me. February 27th - Ty replies and asks me about how much the axle is, Asks me nicely to not do the chargeback on my card and tells me that when you do a chargeback, the customer loses their money as well as the company. February 28th - I forward the invoice I paid for the axle. March 1st - I still don't see the refund, Ty replies that he sent it. Hits my credit card. March 8th - I receive the axle Ty told me to order and it is wrong, It is too long. He tells me it doesn't look wrong, and tells me to ride it and see if it shakes loose. No way this is safe and I tell him it's wrong, and I want the right axle. March 9th - Ty says that the axle isn't right and has me place an order for a new axle on their website as a warranty claim with a warranty checkout code. Ty tells me that it should be 15-30 days with standard shipping. I ask him to expedite my shipping. He says he will try and get that upgraded. March 17th - I follow up about tracking since I have not received anything. He tells me that they are catching up a bith with the factory holiday and his assistant was on her honey moon. Says it should ship in 3-7 days. He tells me that they created a new system. I tell him this whole transaction has been extremely disappointed and he replies that he is disappointed too. March 22nd - I ask about axle shipping as the tracking still hasn't been sent to me. It's been 13 days since I placed the order. He explains to me that these axles are more particular. He is having to custom get the one I need so we make sure I get the right one this time. Apparently the fork is our 2019 order model, so its taking more time to get that axle. The one I got early fit the 2020 models, they are readily available. March 23rd - I receive an automated email with tracking for the axle. April 12th - Tracking shows that it's in my origin country, but I haven't received it yet. ---- So I have the wrong finish, wrong size frame, incomplete bike collecting dust in my garage after 62 days. The frame "looks good" but that is all I can say about it. I don't even know if it fits. No offer of a complete refund, no discount for the delay, nothing to make the situation remotely right. I've received better customer service on AliExpress overseas then a stateside company. I wanted to work with DIYCarbonBikes because I figured I would have better customer service, faster access to spare parts and no language barrier. I cannot suggest using Ty and DIYCarbonBikes. April 12, 2021, 01:47:25 PM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Could you elaborate on the issues you faced when building it up? I haven't ridden it enough (no 50+ milers yet) to tell you confidently that I did the sizing right. I commented a few posts ago, but I'm 173cm / 81cm. I'm pretty certain that going with a 52 (S) was the right choice. The effective top tube length is more like a 53 anyway. I was previously riding a size 56 (hand-me-down from a friend) 27lbs 3-speed commuter bike so there's a very low bar to feeling happy with the fit of this bike. My concern was mainly that the 56 has never felt too uncomfortable so dropping two sizes might cause more problems than it's worth (don't fix what isn't broken). I chose 420/110 as the bar/bracket length primarily because that was the measurement of my commuter bike. But, that isn't a very sound way to make the decision when you're dropping two sizes. First, I figured I should keep the bracket long (110mm+) given that the top tube (TT) is shortening. Also, since the TT is shortening, I considered narrower bars to achieve the equivalent shoulder-width position. Unfortunately, since there isn't a 400/110, the 420/110 was still my best bet. I also got a 165mm crank arm instead of the usual 172.5mm+. I'm more of a runner than a cyclist and after hard runs my knees would be extra sensitive to the lever action of cycling. I'm hoping this works out. As for my self-inflicted issues: - I got the wrong size barb for my hydraulic hoses (I asked for barbs and my LBS gave me some without asking about sizing) which made insertion super difficult. Eventually, I had to replace my hoses, barbs (BH90), and olives to do it right. - I didn't know that shift cables needed special housing even with internal cabling. After my build, I realized the rear shifting wasn't going to work right, and I had to do the cabling over. - I bled the rear brakes incorrectly. You need to make sure the bike is rotated upwards to compensate for the bottom-bracket being the natural lowest point on the bike. That way, air bubbles can propagate upwards without hindrance. - I bled the front brakes incorrectly so they're mushy. I need to redo it once I get more fluid. I'm not brave enough to use J&J mineral oil from the supermarket. - I squeezed the brakes (to test the feel) after bleeding the brakes (but before adding the rotors) which gets the pistons stuck in the closed position. It's a simple fix, but for a while I thought I had made a serious error. - It took me a while to focus on indexing the rear derailleur rather than the futile process of maxing out the H/L limit screws. - I didn't realize that the chain will inevitably rub against the 105 front derailleur skid plates. It was clearly impossible to avoid the rubbing, but everything I had read assumed the absence of skid plates and assured me there should be no contact when adjusted correctly. That's just off the top of my head 
June 23, 2021, 02:51:37 PM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
I'm having some problems briefing VeloBuild on the paint scheme of my frame, can someone verify if what I'm trying to explain to them is correct? Good choice  . That is actually the frame which is on it's way to me. My paint job was put together as follows, I asked Chris to paint the frame as much as possible like:  Which translated to the following mockup made by Chris:  Mine is made up out of two colours: gloss black and gloss green chameleon. The gloss green chameleon is green / purple based on the angle. I had to pay for 4 colours (1 for gloss black, 3 for gloss green chameleon). July 06, 2021, 09:38:57 AM |
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Ordered a VB-R-068 from Velobuild
So, after pining for an open mould frame for almost a year, I finally bit the bullet and pulled the trigger- I ordered an R-068 from VeloBuild about two weeks ago. As far as I can tell, it's pretty much a 2017 Venge Vias clone- at least in terms of geometry, it obviously doesn't have those janky direct-mount brakes (thank God) and aside from not having a lip at the top/tip of the head-tube, the frame looks quite similar to the Venge Vias and IMO it looks pretty fucking dope when painted up. However, because I'm super impatient, I'm just getting it in matte since I want it as soon as possible so that I can hopefully get a few races in on it before the season is over. While this is going to be a race/training bike, I'm also going to try to build it up with as many budget-friendly weight weenie parts as possible- I know, it's an oxymoron, lol. My current main bike is somewhat of a freak-show; it's a Cervelo P3 that I built up as an aero road bike a few months ago. At its lightest, it was 6.6kgs w/out pedals and 6.85kgs w/pedals, but that was with tubs that I have since sold. Right now it's running either a set of Chinese 50mm clinchers or ICAN 38mm clinchers in terms of wheels and in terms of groupo, I'm running Sram Red/Rival shifters, Apex brakes, Rival22 med. cage RD, Ultegra 6500 FD (b/c Sram doesn't know how to make a FD that doesn't suck asshole), Ultegra 6800 50/34 crank and Sroad 11-32 cassette. With Garmin dual sided power meter pedals and water bottle cage w/Wahoo, it weighs in the low 7s- which isn't too bad for a 14 year old TT frame. The frame itself weighs 1250 grams or thereabouts IIRC. With my lighter ICAN wheels and maybe either a full Red or Dura-Ace/Ultegra groupo I'm hoping to have the VB-068 AT LEAST as light as my P3, if not a hair lighter. I've had a lighter bike that was 6.3kgs and I hated it (Emonda SL w/Di2 that I built up)- it was set up as aggressively as the P3 but it just felt slow, so I'm rather comfortable building up a light-ish aero frame as long as the position is aggressive and it's kinda aero- I doubt it can be much heavier than a 14 year old TT bike. I'll definitely be updating this thread with full build pics and weights. I'm *thinking* about maybe spraying the 068 with neon pink or green depending when I get it. if I get a few days before a race and think I'll be able to have it dialed in by race time, I'll probably say fuck spraying it, let's just build it up, but there's also part of me that wants to take my time and make it look goofy as fuck. Someone on here gave me the brilliant idea of asking Chris to put a Made in China or C-Works decal on there but he said it would take 5 more days and i'm just WAY too impatient for that, lol. So here are some pics of the Cervelo to hold everyone over until the 068 is in my possession. July 13, 2021, 07:19:52 PM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Fwiw my dengfu bike box came beat up like that too. Took pics and videos, frames fine. Thanks! All seems to be okay on first sight, I checked with Chris and he asked to unpack and make pictures. Have checked and all seems okay, frame was packed really well indeed. They did send me the wrong headset bearings... Anybody knows the correct size? So far really happy with the paintjob and the quality of the frame. Will do a more thorough check in daylight tomorrow. Some first pictures:        
July 21, 2021, 02:24:07 PM |
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