I've ordered so much stuff on AliX. As soon as you receive it, have a very close look. Install it right away on a bike (I think you have 14 days) and make sure it works. If you can prove it's fake, or prove it's broken or what not, you'll get your money back.
AliX is now doing what Ebay has always done: offering buyer protection.
Are fake FD / RD / shifters a thing?

Just gave me VB 168 a good cleaning and inspection
Have about 1200 miles on it, with a lot of talk about split bearing cap and steerer I pulled apart and had a look, I see a broken steerer as a catastrophic failure !!

Besides having issues with getting proper compression on bearings and plug slipping up when trying to preload the bearings

When I took it apart the outside of the tube looked good, no cuts or grooves, the inside on the other hand had a lot of delaminating carbon

Should I be concerned ?

OK, so I fixed the situation pretty easily. I bought the Deda compression ring 45 degrees:



First I sawed the largest part of the top (circa 2mm I guess) with a hacksaw and then I ground the top down a smal bit at a time with a Dremel tool till it was at the correct height to compress correctly but also not leave a gap between the frame and the headset cover (there is still a very minimal gap say 0,5mm). I also used a Deda 70mm expander plug to get a bit more grip while tightening the top cap. No play anymore and a very cheap solution.

Chain supposed to be on the big ring for a photo

Still thinking about ordering this one as well, but the crappy C-ring is holding me back.

I have had some increasing issues with my headset recently. Lots of creaking no matter what I did.
After inspection is was clear that the C-ring was the culprit (as others have discovered). It just doesn't have enough wrap-around angle. You can see on the picture how much pressure is on the edges of the c-ring, causing rubbing and creaking.

I know Velobuild have made an updated version that might be better, but i wanted a significantly better version. My idea was to use the c-ring from the Specialized SL7 (the replacement after recall). It seems like a good design that wraps all the way around (95%) but doesnt need the hydraulic lines to be broken. The main problem is that it is made for a Ø40.5mm inner dimension bearing. Its also too thin to be a direct replacement.

Sourcing the SL7 c-ring (ID: s212500016) was a bit of a pain. Specialized was slow to send it to my local dealer (3 weeks). On top of that the price was high (35$ + shipping) and the customer service was terrible. The holy trifecta of a shit deal - but it worked out in the end.

I work in engineering so I called in favor to get the c-ring lathed down to Ø40 (a little tricky with an open ring) and I got a small spacer made for purpose. Spacer measurements are Ø30.9 x Ø28.9 x 2mm (stainless steel). Fits just as intended with the one piece handlebar. I have gone for a couple of rides now and I cant get a single creak out of the headset no mater how much I pull and twist on the bars.

Dear Velobuild - Please spend the extra $10-15 dollars on a proper c-ring design like this one. It is sooo much better. 

Original C-ring. Waaay to open.


You can see that so much of the load is going through the edge of the ring.


Lathed c-ring from SL7 + spacer


Spacer needs to be very small to not squeze the cables.



Gap between frame and cover is pretty good. You can shave of a couple of 0.1mm if you want it tight.