Hey, like the build in general, but I have doubts regarding the cockpit safety. Considering current setup, I assume you have most of your weight on the aero bar pads which are shifted way beyond spacers' point of higher rigidity which may eventually result in a catastrophic failure of: a) base bar; b) aero bar. Depending on where your elbows are I would install longer stem or buy longer aero bar extensions.
Additional note on the feed box: If it has the same shape as your upper plate adapter and you want to keep it there I would change the shape for a more aero shape or narrower one (basically, change the position of the 'shelves' from horizontal to vertical). Maybe I am wrong but from these pictures it looks like the box has aerodynamics of a brick 
Hi! Excellent points, but obviously all things I considered and thought about (this is - by far - not my first custom build). Let me explain ...
#1 Custom Base Plate
There are three main factors determining the stress on that plate. 1) your own body weight and how much of it will rest on it, 2) the strength with which it is attached to the rest of the bike and 3) where you will be riding this bike. I thought about all three.
First of all: this base plate shifts the underarm rest pads only 1 cm further forward than the original VeloBuild base plate would have allowed anyway. So we are not talking huge shifts here.
But even leaving this aside, the 4 mm carbon sheet I used is stronger, stiffer and at the same time lighter than what VeloBuild supplied.
Also keep in mind that by 3D-printing my own spacers (from the hardest 3D-printable plastic available, by the way) I raised the height by 70(!!) mm over what the spacers supplied by VeloBuild enabled me to do. That in turn means that your upper body is also much further up, which in turn means that a lot less of its weight rests on the pads.
I also do a lot of TT-related body core exercises, so that I don't actually rest with a lot of weight on it, as compared to the average cyclist not doing any strength training.
Further, the one-piece spacers are vertically and horizontally stiffer than the individual pieces VeloBuild supplied, which you have to stack on top of each other. They are solid inside.
More: they have much thicker M6 bolts going through them, then the M5s that VeloBuild supplied. And I didn't go cheap with these bolts. These are high-strength steel bolts that were $10 a piece. Not cheap at all.
Lastly: this bike will only be ridden on flat and excellently paved asphalt roads where I live. There are literally no potholes to speak of. But even if there were, I have 100% confidence it could handle them repeatedly.
#2: Feed Box
You probably can't fully judge this from the photos, but the gels are actually inserted parallel to the ground, so that the box' long side is in line with air flow. And: it has an air foil shape, also in line with the airflow. And no: it's not the same shape as the base plate, it's much narrower. The pictures from the side of the bike just leave the impression that it's bulky and boxy. But it's not.
So I thought about this as well.
I did actually read a few reports on handlebar feed boxes and/or hydration system and my custom box is smaller and more aerodynamically shaped than any of the hydration systems you will find on the market.
Lastly (and of course I can't fully confirm this without using a wind tunnel): but it could actually be argued that it helps separating the air in front of the main wind obstacle: you body and waist. Similar to what a water bottle stuck under your jersey in front of your chest would do. The UCI banned this, but tests have shown that it makes a very significant difference to split the wind before it hits your body.
Hope that clarifies things!
Best,
Martin
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