This is beast assembled

Very happy with the results. This is my second time building a fully integrated bike, and this time the process went a lot smoother. Totally worth over exposed cables. It looks stunning.

Happy biking everyone. May your builds finish without issues!

When you tighten the headset, does the steering feel perfectly smooth? On mine, without the spacers, I could feel some friction, because the headset cover was rubbing slightly against the top of the frame, and no matter how much I tightened the top cap, there would still be a small amount of play in the steering.

When I tighten the headset, it doesn't rub with the frame. There's actually a few millimeters between the headset and the frame. I've had that issue you mentioned with my previous Velobuild and I fixed with the same type of thin spacers.

The problem now seems like no matter how much I tighten the headset, there's some play in the steering when braking. And if I keep tightning it up, the compression plug slips up.

So I guess that's not a common occurrence for this bike? hm, I'll keep investigating what could be the issue.

Nice build! Was wondering if they've got some very long chainstays, but then I realized that it's fitted with a set of 650b. What made you choose the 650b wheels?

If I may know, what's your height? I was considering this frame before I've decided to get the size XS of R-168 primarily due to the geometry -- the XS of 177 about a size up of the XS 168. After rode hundreds of km on my 168, I now believe that could afford one size up (or a longer stem).

Thanks.

I've tried other road bikes and it's not doable for my foot to reach the floor because of the height of the top tube. The 650b helps in that regards because the bike sits lower to the ground. It also means the pedals are close to the ground, so I can't take a sharp turn while pedaling, but that's OK.

And, I'm about 155cm. The size of the bike fits me well.

Hey o/ first time posting here. I just finished my bike build and want to share some of my experience here. I wrote this review for the Velobuild website, but I'm pasting it here too. Hopefully that can be useful to someone else

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I've recently finished building my VB-R-177 (Size XS) with Shimano 105 hydraulic disc brake bike, Fulcrum Racing DB7 650b wheels and Schwalbe Pro One 28mm tubeless tyres. The bike is perfect for short people.

The frame came well packaged and in good condition. There were no visible marks or damage to the frame.

The frame, however, took a lot longer to be shipped than initially agreed on. So, if you're in a hurry, this may not be the frame for you.

With that being said, the frame is really good and I was impressed. The quality of the carbon seems good with no sharp bits inside. The paint job was on point and exactly how I specified it to be. The frame came with almost (more about it below) everything you need to build it other than the groupset, cables and things you expect to not come with a frame.

I said the frame came with almost all parts because after assembling the headset, the handlebar were not turning smoothly. I had to buy some very thin (0.4mm) spacers to go between the top headset bearing and the compression ring to lift the headset a little bit and don't scrape the frame. Other than that, the build went without any issues.

For the integrated cockpit and fully integrated cables, I do recommend having a cable routing tool. I also used a small file to open some internal holes in the handlebar because the hydraulic hose and the shifter cables were too big for it. As long as you're patience, and route the cables through the handlebar FIRST before putting it on the bike, you should be OK. No, really, route your cables in the handlebar before assembling it to the bike, trust me on this. Think it through. This order is not the same as a more "traditional" bike build.

Tip: If you're buying a shifting cable set, make sure you buy one with a very long cable. In this bike, the outer housings goes all the way from the shifter until the derailler.

Tip2: You can buy silicone seatpost rings that will make the transition between the seatpost and frame a lot nicer, and prevent water ingress.

After going through the pain of routing the fully integrated cables I think the end result is worth it. The bike looks amazing. It's very light (between 7-8kg) even though I didn't buy any weight savings components.

I recently finished a 120km ride and the bike had no issues.