Velobuild VB-R-177

[Nickk2000]

Thats a bit on the heavier end. My 61 painted AND AERO was 1130 ish at 425-450g for the frame, so youre only at like a 150g bonus. Thats ashamed

[adriaanm]

Congrats on the new frame! Enjoy the build and many happy rides!

PS: I regret posting the weight of my frame and build earlier. Weight is an easy metric to compare, but I don't think a few hundred grams (or even a few kgs) are very relevant to the joy of building and riding. Cycling should be accessible to all, and a focus on weight (and thus expense) probably scares away newcomers.

[Nickk2000]

Its probably being the weight weenie in me saying that.

[ivorhooper]

Finally finished my build. Very happy with the result!
First of all, everything from velobuild was excellent. There was only one slight problem with one of the holes for the front brake caliper - it was too short, so I had to use a shorter screw.
The internal cable routing was "interesting". Had three attempts but the cables were crossing over inside the head tube and were seizing up.
Got it in the end though.
Wasn't doing a weight weenie build at all, but the final bike as pictured is 7.5kg so 7.2kg without pedals. Happy with that!
It's one by, with a 42t SRAM chainring on a 105 crankset (wanted to keep this as I have an xcadey power meter). The rear derailleur is SRAM rival medium cage. Cassette is sroad 10-36. Brakes are juin tech F1 with SRAM rotors. Tyres are Goodyear F1 tubeless 28mm. There's loads of space there so looks like you'd get 32mm in with no problems. Shifters are SRAM force 11.
Wheels are from elite on AliExpress. 47mm deep.
Went for brown on black with the saddle, bar tape and tyres.

[Nickk2000]

Impressive weight!

Its nuce to have a build in the 16’s! Im curious why my bikes so heavy.

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

Finally finished my build. Very happy with the result!
First of all, everything from velobuild was excellent. There was only one slight problem with one of the holes for the front brake caliper - it was too short, so I had to use a shorter screw.
The internal cable routing was "interesting". Had three attempts but the cables were crossing over inside the head tube and were seizing up.
Got it in the end though.
Wasn't doing a weight weenie build at all, but the final bike as pictured is 7.5kg so 7.2kg without pedals. Happy with that!
It's one by, with a 42t SRAM chainring on a 105 crankset (wanted to keep this as I have an xcadey power meter). The rear derailleur is SRAM rival medium cage. Cassette is sroad 10-36. Brakes are juin tech F1 with SRAM rotors. Tyres are Goodyear F1 tubeless 28mm. There's loads of space there so looks like you'd get 32mm in with no problems. Shifters are SRAM force 11.
Wheels are from elite on AliExpress. 47mm deep.
Went for brown on black with the saddle, bar tape and tyres.

How are the juin tech F1 brakes? I've been considering a 177 project but the price of 105 hydraulic brifters + calipers is crazy.

[ivorhooper]

How are the juin tech F1 brakes? I've been considering a 177 project but the price of 105 hydraulic brifters + calipers is crazy.

I haven't managed to ride the bike yet! Bad weather and groin strain.
The juin tech brakes look quality though including the packaging.
Problem is that the clearance is tiny even with the adjustment screw all the way out. They rub all the time. The back is fine but I can't sort the front out.
I can stop it rubbing with the top screw into the frame fully tightened and the bottom screw about 80% tight. When I fully tighten the bottom screw holding the caliper, it starts to rub again. Not sure if the screws holes in the fork are slightly out.
I also have some zrace calipers from AliExpress and the juin tech look far better quality. The zrace are only one sided too

[Nickk2000]

Fwiw my dengfu frame had a bit of rubbing in the beginning. It took 50-100 miles to wear the pads down i think. It made a squealing noise and it was so bad i didnt use the front brake for the rest of a ride.

I wouldnt recommend it but you could always sand down the pads to a desired amount.

Unless the calipers arent aligned straight? Are they very crooked? My dengfu one is maybe .25mm crooked, enough to notice, not enough to be a problem.

[jstrawks]

I love the brown on black. I'm leaning to a VB-R-066, but I haven't ruled out the 177. I've got some questions for you!

Did you consider the 066? Was there somethig about the 177's geometry that sold you?
Is the bar/stem carbon?
What bottom bracket did you use?
What press tool did you use?
Can you describe how routing the rear brake line went?
Do you think hydraulic lines would be any harder to route than the Juin's mechanical housings?
Do you think that the lines would be easier to route if there were no deraileur cables to route?

Sorry to pepper you with a bunch of questions with my first Chinertown post.

[ivorhooper]

I love the brown on black. I'm leaning to a VB-R-066, but I haven't ruled out the 177. I've got some questions for you!

Did you consider the 066? Was there somethig about the 177's geometry that sold you?
Is the bar/stem carbon?
What bottom bracket did you use?
What press tool did you use?
Can you describe how routing the rear brake line went?
Do you think hydraulic lines would be any harder to route than the Juin's mechanical housings?
Do you think that the lines would be easier to route if there were no deraileur cables to route?

Sorry to pepper you with a bunch of questions with my first Chinertown post.

Hi, i love the brown on black too! The saddle and bar tape are both Prologo so i was hoping they would be the same shade of brown, but the saddle is a lot darker.
I didn't consider the VB-R-066 as i wanted the clean, integrated bar with full internal cable routing. Nothing specific geometry wise to be honest.
The bar and stem is carbon - looks great
I got a ZTTO BB86 24mm ceramic bottom bracket from Aliexpress. It threads in the middle.
The press tool was also from aliexpress - MUQZI Bicycle Bottom Bracket Install and Removal Tool. It has cups for all sorts of BBs
The routing of all of the cables through the frame was very easy, even with the BB installed. The difficult bit was then threading through the integrated bar. There was no cable guides installed in anything.
I had 3 attempts to get the handlebar installed on the fork - the first two i got the outer cables crossed over inside the head tube and when tightened down, it was impossible to thread through the inner cables so i had to reroute the cables through the handlebar so that they were in the correct order from headtube into handlebar.
I would assume that hydraulic brake lines would be exactly the same process and difficulty as the mechanical brake housing. Just keep the brake lines in the correct order when installing handlebar on to fork. Inside the frame is easy. I would have gone for hydraulic brakes but the price for shifters + calipers was crazy!
If you were to not use derailleur cables (electronic shifting), then the cabling will be easier through the handlebars.

[jstrawks]

Hi, i love the brown on black too! The saddle and bar tape are both Prologo so i was hoping they would be the same shade of brown, but the saddle is a lot darker.
I didn't consider the VB-R-066 as i wanted the clean, integrated bar with full internal cable routing. Nothing specific geometry wise to be honest.
The bar and stem is carbon - looks great
I got a ZTTO BB86 24mm ceramic bottom bracket from Aliexpress. It threads in the middle.
The press tool was also from aliexpress - MUQZI Bicycle Bottom Bracket Install and Removal Tool. It has cups for all sorts of BBs
The routing of all of the cables through the frame was very easy, even with the BB installed. The difficult bit was then threading through the integrated bar. There was no cable guides installed in anything.
I had 3 attempts to get the handlebar installed on the fork - the first two i got the outer cables crossed over inside the head tube and when tightened down, it was impossible to thread through the inner cables so i had to reroute the cables through the handlebar so that they were in the correct order from headtube into handlebar.
I would assume that hydraulic brake lines would be exactly the same process and difficulty as the mechanical brake housing. Just keep the brake lines in the correct order when installing handlebar on to fork. Inside the frame is easy. I would have gone for hydraulic brakes but the price for shifters + calipers was crazy!
If you were to not use derailleur cables (electronic shifting), then the cabling will be easier through the handlebars.

Thank you very much. Most helpful!

[ivorhooper]

Been out for a ride - the bike is great!
Very fast and comfy. The brakes are excellent, but bear in mind I've never used any sort of disc brakes before.
I'm sure hydraulic brakes would be better but I'm impressed with the juin tech.
First time I've used deep wheels too so I definitely noticed the wind a couple of times.

[Drarak]

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.

[ivorhooper]

Hi, very nice bike.
I've put another 80 miles into mine and I think it's great. No problems whatsoever.
Where do you get the silicone seat post ring from?
Thanks

[jokage]

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.

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.