thanks everyone for the suggestions. actually stumbled on this comment https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,5285.msg66449.html#msg66449 the other day and reached out to the various oems as I can wait a bit. xcs doesn't seem to have what I am after, waiting to hear back from farsports and yuanan and for light bicycle: based on the builder on the site I am getting roughly $860 without shipping for the ar55s with house hubs and 1420 spokes. does that seem correct for pricing?

Are triathletes still using these ISM saddles? I thought they'd gone out of style. These, second hand, a easy to find.
On AliX, i've bought several saddles, like fizik knock offs w a short nose and a relief channel, which is usually what you want to be in aero position. The 3d printed saddles so popular now also have that design, to a large extent (wide frontal area with a relief channel).
I've bought various saddles and sold the ones i didnt agree with, if you buy the heavy versions, they're usually super cheap, so you can experiment with what you get along with best for cheap. There's no 1 saddle fits all, anatomic differences, as even the bib itself can turn a great saddle into a bad one. Too many variables to have a gold standard, afaik.

Yes, no problem but It is quiet heavy. Be careful when choosing width.

Got one of these cheap base layers and they are heavy! compared to something legit like cutaway.
still works but meh.

Please quantify. The thought of weighing jerseys and choosing them based on weight never crossed my mind

Long Teng now blamed the excessive paint on the edge of the cover  and downtube that prevent the cover to be locked securely, want me to use a rasp to grind off the excessive paint on the edge along the cover and the downtube opening 

It's an OEM frame that does zero marketing, you're not dealing with Trek. I really doubt they developed a frame with a closing mechanism that doesn't work, starting with the fact that argon 18 has had these things on their frames for years (I have a friend with a TT bike from them and it's got such box too).
So, I don't think it's unreasonable to use a jewellery file or sand paper to grind some paint. I bought a whole set of jewellery files because frames often need some work to facilitate routing, bars especially, it's standard practice really.
If you use sand paper or a soft sanding block, you can easily grind off paint following contours. Any DIY shop will have these and they should cost 3 bucks. If you don't want to use sandpaper, get a Trek

I'm wondering the same. Would be really cool if somebody could share their experience with mounting another handlebar on the frame

It's possible to use other bars with most of VB's frames either integrated or separate bar/stem combos with either hidden or exposed cables. In the case of the 268 I think you just loose out on the top tube cover which is shaped to match the frame and would just need to find something appropriate that can fit. Seems like theres lots of headset covers/spacers available on aliX that would do the job.