Velobuild VB-R-218

[madmax]

Picked up top cap & plug @Bike Bling in Escondido, who are an exclusive Pinarello & Orbea bike shop

They were amused when I walked in with the fork & handlebar, but were super helpful & make sure the parts fit etc & pointed out where the carbon weave direction differed
against the existing Dogma F & gave me a bunch of helpful info, since this is my first build


Image attached for existing compression plugs vs the pinarello one.
The newer one is slightly longer & the top & plug screws are different.

[madmax]

I'm missing one or two end pieces on the frame where the cable would exit for the brake or shifter
I think these are hard plastic or rubber.

Anyone know what they are called & where I can get spares ?

Rest of the frame looks fine & I just did a quick wipe down after unwrap with a cloth
BB threads seem to be fine with no indication of any heavy paint on them

Another small screw fell out of the frame (small silver grub), so I guess they did include 4 long & 4 short screws per my request

Bottom bracket bolt insert in frame seems a bit high, but I may not need to file that down as per @Sebastian, the Campy crank spindle @25mm can fit with no issues with rubbing
So i'll do a test fit with the BB cups later & check & see if everything looks ok & hopefully everything will fit.

[coffeebreak]

I'm missing one or two end pieces on the frame where the cable would exit for the brake or shifter
I think these are hard plastic or rubber.

Anyone know what they are called & where I can get spares ?

Cable stoppers? Cable guides? Mind you though, for rear derailleur and brake they are of different sizes and shapes. It would be helpful if you can post picture of the frame where it's supposed to come out from.

[madmax]

Cable stoppers? Cable guides? Mind you though, for rear derailleur and brake they are of different sizes and shapes. It would be helpful if you can post picture of the frame where it's supposed to come out from.

Here's the pix.   May it doesn't have a stopper/grommet & I was just mistaken

See attached pix.     I just went & bought a 20 pack of frame plugs for $8 & if its not needed, they can go back unopened.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09LQP1M2B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Green mat is my wife's yoga mat (I didn't know that at the time) which was used & now has grease on it & has now becoming the assembly mat   

[coffeebreak]

Yup. The shape of those cable guides is what you need though I'm a little skeptical of how well they will hold. The one that comes from VB have a deep pinch pin that goes inside the frame. I received something like this :

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mMxLOX2

[madmax]

After an hour struggling with the left side BB cup, I gave up

I cleaned the BB out with isopropyl alcohol & tried the left Campy Ultra Torque cup & no matter what I tried, I cant get the threads to bite or screw it in
I believe left side is anti-clockwise to tighten

I also put a touch of parktool polylube 1000 on the inner threads just so I wouldn't strip them out

Finally gave up in sheer frustration & just put crank on other side & took a quick pix to check clearance against the inner bolt & that looks fine.

To me the threads look clean, but then again I am extremely short sighted so its a bit hard for me to gauge that.


Edit:
GRRRRR.... I was in the wrong direction on the non-drive side........will try again in 1 hour

[madmax]

and fixed......
Some PPL-1 on the threads & patience & both sides for BB cups fit perfectly

However, I did not torque them & I forgot it had that campy yellow threadlocker on it & it was pain to remove the cups because I needed to file down the bolt inside the frame by a tiny bit
This time I cleaned the the threads on the cups & used light painters tape over the BB for now till I figure out my cables issues

This is a Campy record groupset & the 5mm housing looks like its for the brakes & the 4mm for the shifters.
The shifter cables are already on the the levers making it really annoying to try to get them on the handlebars

I now have 5 pieces of housing  3 x 4mm  (shifters)  & 2 x 5mm (brakes)

From the looks of it, some of the housing is simply not long enough to go through the handlebar & into the frame to the frame exit point  (FD/RD)

So some of the cable will be bare inside the frame & since theres no downtube access hatch & guide point as in the Pinarello F12, I'm not sure if the bare cable will be hitting anything or rubbing against the frame & not cause any issues.

Also, is there a direction the cable housing should be laid out in the handlebar

[Sebastian]

and fixed......
Some PPL-1 on the threads & patience & both sides for BB cups fit perfectly

However, I did not torque them & I forgot it had that campy yellow threadlocker on it & it was pain to remove the cups because I needed to file down the bolt inside the frame by a tiny bit
This time I cleaned the the threads on the cups & used light painters tape over the BB for now till I figure out my cables issues

This is a Campy record groupset & the 5mm housing looks like its for the brakes & the 4mm for the shifters.
The shifter cables are already on the the levers making it really annoying to try to get them on the handlebars

I now have 5 pieces of housing  3 x 4mm  (shifters)  & 2 x 5mm (brakes)

From the looks of it, some of the housing is simply not long enough to go through the handlebar & into the frame to the frame exit point  (FD/RD)

So some of the cable will be bare inside the frame & since theres no downtube access hatch & guide point as in the Pinarello F12, I'm not sure if the bare cable will be hitting anything or rubbing against the frame & not cause any issues.

Also, is there a direction the cable housing should be laid out in the handlebar

There's only one piece of rubber on the rim brake frame - where the rear derailleur cable exits the frame.

Also, my advice is to keep the cables in the shifters when installing them. They do a really tight bend on top of the shifter and it's easy to kink the cable when routing it through there.

Lastly on the housing: Yes, 5mm is for brakes, 4mm is for shifter cables. You can also tell them apart because shifter housing is compressionless and much harder to cut. You can see that the housing is reinforced with lots of wires in circular order.

DO NOT run the cables bare through the frame without anything to guide them. The frame is designed for full length housing. Campagnolo annoyingly does not deliver housing long enough. The pieces they deliver are designed for traditional externally routed frames. Also, they do not sell their housing any longer to my knowledge. So just go to your LBS and get brake and shifter housing long enough. They sell it by the meter, or whatever unit you guys are using in California .

If you run the cables bare, I can't imagine it will shift right. There are no cable stops inside the frame so the cables won't be under tension AND even if it did work, the cable would most likely rub through the carbon over time.

I might try and install cable stops with heat glue on my replacement frame. At least for the rear brake. But not sure yet if it's worth it.

[madmax]

Gave up trying to fiddle with the campy housing and just ordered 20’ of brake housing and 30’ of derailleur housing from jagwire on Amazon

After an intense battle trying to get the 5mm housing into the handlebar, I realized that it simply wasn’t long enough to reach the rear   of the bike and the exit point hole for the rear rim is so small, I can’t even put a wire through it never mind the housing. I might have to enlarge that a bit with a drill bit

The  derailleur housing is 4.1, but the 4mm housing above should work.
Campagnolo included 1x 1’ and 2 x 2’ or less which will not reach the rear of the frame and this housing may have been intended for older bikes with external routing and non integrated handlebars


Edit
….and Seb replied above as I was typing this ……at this point thanks to your posts and detailed emails, I probably owe you a keg or 2 of beer 

Yeah, I forgot there was a local shop down the street and I’ll buy a few feet of housing unless the Amazon shipment shows up tomorrow

I do think I will need to drill that hole in the rear for the brake as the exit is so tiny I can just barely get a .09 guitar string in there
I think they forgot to finish that at the factory

[Sebastian]

the exit point hole for the rear rim is so small, I can’t even put a wire through it never mind the housing. I might have to enlarge that a bit with a drill bit

Yes, that's what I and a few others here with rim brake frames have done.
It almost looks like the exit hole is designed to act as a cable stop. But there's no cable stop on the other end of the top tube.
I used a drill and widened it by hand. A dremel would probably be even better. I also told Chris that this is an issue with the rim brake frames and he promised to get it sorted on my replacement frame. But it looks exactly the same
This is exactly the kind of stuff that you need to be prepared to deal with when ordering frames at that price point.

[Sebastian]

……at this point thanks to your posts and detailed emails, I probably owe you a keg or 2 of beer 

You're welcome! Glad I could help.

[madmax]

Is the hosing clamped somewhere on the bottom so it doesn’t hit the spindle ?

You were right about the campy spindle.
There is gap between that and the bolt top, but it is quite small and so I had to file it down a bit, just to make the gap a bit bigger for safety

[Sebastian]

Is the hosing clamped somewhere on the bottom so it doesn’t hit the spindle ?

No, there's absolutely nothing in the frame to secure the housings.
I ended up running them short enough so they would bend well above the spindle. On this particular frame there's so much room above the spindle in the BB area that it works quite well. I did not bother with foam dampener. But I should have. It does rattle in the down tube and I can hear it rub when I turn the bars to their extreme left and right. Over time, that might not be too good for the frame. But I'm sure it never rubs in normal riding scenarios. Anyway, once I rebuild this bike on the replacement frame, I will probably address all these issues.

[madmax]

No, there's absolutely nothing in the frame to secure the housings.
I ended up running them short enough so they would bend well above the spindle. On this particular frame there's so much room above the spindle in the BB area that it works quite well. I did not bother with foam dampener. But I should have. It does rattle in the down tube and I can hear it rub when I turn the bars to their extreme left and right. Over time, that might not be too good for the frame. But I'm sure it never rubs in normal riding scenarios. Anyway, once I rebuild this bike on the replacement frame, I will probably address all these issues.

Ok, while I wait for the new cable housing's to show up, this is the idea I had in mind

Looking at the drive side of the frame, ie rear to your left, fork to your right

1. Rear brake cable housing & foam cover will go through top tube & I will have to enlarge the exit hole

2. Rear derailleur & front derailleur cables now go through down tube & under spindle, near the bottom hatch area

3. FD loops up into seat post to exit  & RD continues through rear chain stay

The bottom hatch has a metal cylinder piece attached to it that would hold a Di2 battery or part

1. Simply tie a very thin zip tie at the base of the cylinder where it meets the plastic

2. Before pulling it tight, add 2 small zip tie loops on either size & clip & keep the circumference small for a housing to pass through

3. Add a drop of superglue to zip tie around metal so it wont move


This should allow you to have a foam covering on each housing in the down tube up until the BB starts & then the housing goes on its on

OR

Use a simple cable clamp around the cylinder with a bolt/nut & that makes the base wide enough that it retains the cables in place without needing zip ties or superglue

https://www.amazon.com/TICONN-42PCS-Cable-Clamps-Set/dp/B094YKZBKP/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=metal+cable+retainer&qid=1670342718&sprefix=cable+retainer+meta%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-13


Edit:
After much thought (and 3 more cups of coffee), I realized that any simple rubber O-ring over the metal cylinder pushed to bottom will securely hold the cables on either side as the lower part of the attachment has a plastic base on which the cylinder is sitting


Edit #2
After another cup of coffee & a file I managed to do this as a test fit.
In practice the 3/4" plastic bushing will be reversed & it is a very tight fit & should hold the cable housings in place

[madmax]

Upon further reflection, the metal piece simply unscrews from the plastic base, so all the above options may not be needed

There is enough space at the base inside the plastic flange where the cylinder used to sit so the cables will sit there & I guess you can just add a small plastic cap on top