VeloBuild VB-R-268 frame

[SillyMochi]

So my frame arrived today. Well packed and undamaged. Took about 5 weeks from order placement and 14 days from shipment notification to delivery. Not super fast but not super slow either.

Weights of my setup as measured by myself:

• XL frame (painted but without metal parts or axle): 1164g
• Fork (painted, w/o axle): 410g
• Handlebar: 396g
• Seatpost: 236g
• Front/rear axle: 29.4g/40.4g
• Various metal parts, headset, spacers, seat clamp, ...: 392g

So my full riding setup comes down to 2588g. A bit more than I expected but I guess the paint job did add a bit.

I'm pretty happy with the paint job in general. Close up inspection does bring out a few issues. There are a few minor scratches, chips, and imperfections. Luckily, the latter kinda look like reflections so wouldn't really be noticeable under riding conditions. The chips are mostly at hidden spots. The lines don't always match perfectly but they hid those quite well, too. The brake mounts seemed to have been masked but got some overspray. The BB wasn't covered at all and is fully painted. Weirdly enough, some parts (like axle mounts) have only been painted with the base layer but not the effects. It won't be visible at some points but definitely at the axle mounts. The "drain hole" at the bottom isn't centered which is no technical issue but slightly bothers the perfectionist in me anyways.

I wasn't expecting a flawless paint job especially given the added complexity of mine. If you "require" a better pain job, get the frame unpainted and look locally (for a much higher price) as others have said before. However, under normal riding conditions I don't think any of these issues (apart from the "non effect" axle holes) will show at all. I think for 100 USD it is absolutely fine and will catch a few looks once I'm riding it.

The only thing that might actually bother me, is the text decals are quite a bit narrower than in my mock-up. In the mock-up I did space out the letters and stretch the whole text a little bit to get it fill the frame more. To be fair, I did not mention that in my email, so I am not blaming them for it. Just something for me to remember for future designs.

Looking forward to building it up in the next days. Unfortunately, still waiting for the chainrings to arrive, so full build will have to wait until ~end of next week.

[Serge_K]

Very nice, well done. I would have ordered it without the text, and added the text with car vinyl cut locally. That way you can get exactly the text & spacing you want and, importantly, you can easily change your mind, rinse and repeat.
Looking forward to the pictures of the fully built bike!

[SillyMochi]

Very nice, well done. I would have ordered it without the text, and added the text with car vinyl cut locally. That way you can get exactly the text & spacing you want and, importantly, you can easily change your mind, rinse and repeat.
Looking forward to the pictures of the fully built bike!

Yeah, I honestly thought they gonna paint the decals on instead of just using stickers. Otherwise, I would have done it myself as you suggested. Well, still learning but I think for my first design this could have turned out much worse

Some hold the cable with adhesive tape on the fork (at mid-height) to keep it on the right side. Also make sure that your cable has not passed behind the fork to come back in front

Currently struggling with this as well (having just 2 hydraulic brake hoses to route since I'm using Di2): where do you cross the lines if you cannot route behind the steerer tube? In that little cut out section between steerer and stem/handlebar? Done that but didn't really like the feeling of it; it's super tight there. Have to cross them somewhere as my front brake comes out on the right side and my rear brake on the left ... Thoughts?

[holmosapien]

Currently struggling with this as well (having just 2 hydraulic brake hoses to route since I'm using Di2): where do you cross the lines if you cannot route behind the steerer tube? In that little cut out section between steerer and stem/handlebar? Done that but didn't really like the feeling of it; it's super tight there. Have to cross them somewhere as my front brake comes out on the right side and my rear brake on the left ... Thoughts?

What does the entrance to the cockpit look like? Could you keep the front brake on the right side and rear brake on the left side all the way through the headset and then cross them in the body of the cockpit?

[SillyMochi]

What does the entrance to the cockpit look like? Could you keep the front brake on the right side and rear brake on the left side all the way through the headset and then cross them in the body of the cockpit?

That's exactly what I did after fidling around with it for an hour or two
Eventually I just forced them down and made them cross in that spacer (see picture attached). Is that the recommended way to do it? Or how do the "pros" deal with it?

I'm pretty happy with the result. Can freely move the handlebars to both ends, touching the frame even, without any tension or "snapping" back to center.

Build is almost finished now. Brakes are bled, BB installed, and wheels attached. Only missing saddle, chain, and final tuning. Will probably finish it tomorrow.

[Serge_K]

That's exactly what I did after fidling around with it for an hour or two
Eventually I just forced them down and made them cross in that spacer (see picture attached). Is that the recommended way to do it? Or how do the "pros" deal with it?

I'm pretty happy with the result. Can freely move the handlebars to both ends, touching the frame even, without any tension or "snapping" back to center.

Build is almost finished now. Brakes are bled, BB installed, and wheels attached. Only missing saddle, chain, and final tuning. Will probably finish it tomorrow.

Are these VB bars? They look kind of open on the underside, would that be enough to detach the cockpit and tape it to the side of the frame for travel? I'm looking for such an option.

[hazzer19]

Are these VB bars? They look kind of open on the underside, would that be enough to detach the cockpit and tape it to the side of the frame for travel? I'm looking for such an option.

I think they are VB bars. I have relatively little slack in my hydro hoses but it's enough to take off the bars when I need to put the bike in a travel bag without issue (spacers need to come off).

[SillyMochi]

Are these VB bars? They look kind of open on the underside, would that be enough to detach the cockpit and tape it to the side of the frame for travel? I'm looking for such an option.

Yes those are the ones that came with the frame. I believe there would be enough space to tape them to the frame for transport.

New issue: they only included the 7x9 saddle rails but not the 7x9 clamps ... So no chance of mounting my 7x9 rails carbon saddle. Have to go with my shitty 7x7 fizik saddle for now. Hope they still have spares and send them quickly.

[pavlo.k]

Yet another silver chameleon. Build the bike for my girlfriend and she is yet to test it. The frame quality is ok. A bit of paint overspray in the bb and the headset so I had to clean that up. Even though I ordered a frame quite recently it didn't have a drain hole so I had to drill one myself. I asked for a 36cm handlebar since they only offer 400mm on their website and I received a kocevlo handlebar and spacers. The handlebar itself is nice but the spacers are thrash: very soft, flexy pastic that deforms very easily and even the cables pushing on the spacers from the inside deform them. The build was relatively easy. The only tricky part was routing the cables through the headset and the handlebar. I went for a mechanical drivetrain build and it was very very tight. What didn't help is ghat the exit port for the front brake hose is on the right side of the steering tube and it was difficult to re route it to the left.
I thought this frame was EPS molded but I found a piece of bladder inside when routing the cables.

[BAcy]

This is my first carbon frame ever. Is this normal?

[toxin]

I wanna say normal for a velobuild but, could do with some more angles and inside shots

[BAcy]

Looks like someone cut the carbon on both sides of the tube.

[csanz]

Two months have passed since VB agreed to send me a new seat clamp, and I'm still waiting. They said there was a problem with the shipment... I think the best option now is to try to get an SL7 seat clamp, as it appears VB used the same design.

After 2000 km, the only issue I found is the headset becoming loose, I had to adjust the preload a couple of times. Otherwise, it's a fine frame.

[SillyMochi]

Urg, still waiting for mine as well. Not a good outlook ...
Might have to get the SL7 clamps, too, as my arse is getting sore.

I also had the headset coming loose. I put some lock tite on but it seems to still get loose. Did you find a more permanent solution for this or are you just re-tightening after every ride?

[csanz]

Urg, still waiting for mine as well. Not a good outlook ...
Might have to get the SL7 clamps, too, as my arse is getting sore.

I also had the headset coming loose. I put some lock tite on but it seems to still get loose. Did you find a more permanent solution for this or are you just re-tightening after every ride?

For now, I have just applied a bit more torque. Let's see how it goes...