Heyo guys,
couple of weeks ago I posted some picture from a small crack in my seat tube. As Sebastian described I tried tightening and loosening the bolts the tiniest bit and see what happened. The crack actually widened, so no bueno...
I wrote to VB-Chris with some pictures. First he said it might only be surface level crack. But I could really tell it wasn't. Even tho it wasn't big I was way to concerned to ride down a hill with a Crack that moved slightly when tightening the bolts. But Chris pulled through and they send me a barebones Frame, which looks and fells pretty much identically to the old one. Just with bottle cage screws in black instead of silver. So I gues I will be rebuilding my bike then. Since the Crack appeared I have been riding the bike exclusively on my turbo trainer, because I was not comfy to go down hills or hit potholes with that crack...

Anyway can only support your opinion sebastian. This is a nice starting point in the world of building your own bikes, if you are ready to tamper and learn. And secondly I am also unsure if I will buy again, Yes they honored warranty, when I persisted, which is nice. But my bottle cages snapped and my garmin mount snapped when riding over normal road sufaces and a couple of cobbles... And lastly my seat tube cracked under the lower screw hole. I weigh 72 kg.
Idk just leaves a stale taste...

anyway, take care guys

Get these from Amazon. I've bought these multiple times for different bikes & never had any issues
My wife can find a way to stuff the most oversized bottle in these & they have held up

ThinkTop 2 Pack Ultra-Light Full Carbon Fiber Bicycle Bike Drink Water Bottle Cage

https://www.amazon.com/ThinkTop-Bike-Water-Bottle-Cage/dp/B07D6NCQCP/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ThinkTop+2+Pack+Ultra-Light+Full+Carbon+Fiber+Bicycle+Bike+Drink+Water+Bottle+Cage+Holder+Brackets+for+Road+Bike+MTB+Cycling&qid=1669826476&sr=8-1

Nice thanks! Do you have a recommendation for the garmin mount as well? Chris said he wants to send a new mount and bottle cages. Lets see if they are any better.

Hi People,
Just wanted to give a long term update.

So I am overall happy with the bike. Have been riding for the last 4 weeks with a pause of 7 days in between. My Garmin says I rode around 700kms.

The bike handles great, with the right tyre pressure it isnt unforgiving or anything like that. I am okay with the weight ca. 7,5kg and the china ee brakes hold up fine. I have my problems with getting the sensah team shifting go alright with the 105 groupset. Scored a good deal on some dura ace shifters. I will probably put them on after the winter. That should sort out any weird shifting issues.

2 things that really grind my gears (next to the shifting issues - huehuehue) are the following: After just 3 rides one of the bottle cages I bought from velo build broke. It was the one on the seat tube. So I am guessing it is a construction error and the weight of the bottle caused this mishap. The piece on the bottom broke of. Have told chris about it, he said its under warranty and he will send new ones. Haven't heard from him since...
The other thing happenend today. I rode over some rough terrain, namely cobblestones and my garmin mount snapped of with a loud bang. It was wobbly from the start and honestly I was waiting for it to happen...
Lets see how chris handles this.

What this does though, is leave a sour taste in my mouth. What if my frame or my steerer just snap like that? Havent had any weird noises when riding, but it makes me anxious somewhat.

How is it with all you guys? any similar probs?

173cm = 5' 6"
I am 5' 10" & ride a size 56cm Trek & Chris recommended a  XL 218 frame for me.

I have a size m and am bang on 6'. Handlebar stem is 400x110. My ride before was a canyon aroad 2019 in size m.

And i find the frame big enough. So I wouldnt go for xl.

Thanks for sharing your experience. EPS is tempting but every time I weigh up the pros and cons I’m deciding against it. Centaur is great but the shifting is not as quick as with higher ranking Campy groups. It’s more resembling the feeling of SRAM Double Tap, because the shift only engages upon releasing the thumb paddle. But the thumb paddle is much easier to reach especially when sprinting.

I still have a 1st gen Chorus 11 groupset which is silly light and gorgeous to look at. I’ve read that people have made it to work with 11-32. I might just give that a try when rebuilding the bike on the replacement frame.

Well if you want electronic shifting, I would wait for some bigger changes than one more cog at the back. They must be some big innovations around the corner, because not a lot has happened lately. Maybe wireless and more buttons and customisation options.
Also using a bike - where you do everything with your own body and your own strength - it feels somewhat strange to use electronic shifting... But maybe thats just a weird thought I have.
But then again, if you find a deal you cant let pass, go for it. Something new is always a motivator to go out and ride our bikes, right?


Yeah I thought they must be a difference between Centaur and the higher ranking groups other than the looks obviously. I must say tho I am pleasently suprised with the Sensah Shimano combination. It works well and I should be able to use it with gloves no problem, because you only use one big lever.

Go for the Chorus build! If you have it laying around that would be the way to go. I would have gone for it, but it wasn't in my budget range at the time of purchasing the parts.

Mind posting a pic of the bb are, when you receive the replacement frame?

I applaud your choice, Hurburt. And my reasons are pretty much the same. Everyone has different taste obviously. But to me, the Dogma represents peak rim brake. That’s why I wanted one. But I could never afford nor justify the real thing.
Also, I wanted direct mount and fully internal cabling. The Dogma is one of very few bikes to have that.
I’m curious to see how you fare with those fake EEs. You’re aware that one other poster here already had a pair of these disintegrate on him?

Heyo Sebastian, well thanks!
the real pinarello dogma f certainly is peak rim brake road bike stuff.
Yes... the velobuild has sometimes minor sometimes major qc issues and the weight is not the same. But all in all its a stunning bike for round about 1500€. A pinarello from 2009 would just barely go for the same money hehe.

I know I have skimmed over that part of the post and try not to think about it... But it ways somewhat on my conscience. I decided to try them anyway and apart from the installation being kind of complicated, they have been quiet nice (looks and performance).
I have only been on two rides so far. One today, one yesterday. And I must say, the perfomance of the brakes has been slowly decreasing my supressed angst of sudden critical failure. I hope it stays that way.

I have them in black and maybe that is key? idk I weight around 70kg and today I went down a little berg with about 75kmh and the braking performance wasn't lacking. Could be the wheels aswell. They seem to take quite a bit of rubber from the yellow swissstop brake pads. More than on my old FFWD F4R (maybe because the pads are new or the braking surface is more grippy).

Anyhow I like your build as well. Was really debating between the 105 and sensah combo, complete 105, complete sensah or campi centaur (I have campi 11 spd eps super record shifting mixed with other stuff on my aeroad). But in the end I went for the sensah 105 with ee brake in the spirit of chinertown and i had those brakes anyway and didnt need a whole grupo.

Heyo wrote in a couple of weeks ago asking for sizing recommendations. Decided to go for a M with 110-400 handlebar.

Was my first build. Had my troubles with internal routing, but managed to pull through Pretty happy with the result. You be the judge.

For me it rides a little rougher than my 2019 Aeroad CF SL but I had 28mm tyres on there and on the velobuild its 25mm and a blank carbon saddle.

All in all a great bike and solid value for money with the 105, the sensah shifters and elite ent wheelset. I am putting on tan sidewall tyres once these contis are done. Then it should look a little more exiting