Velobuild Quality Control

[bvin]

I am looking to purchase a Velobuild frame but I am a little concerned about the build quality. Just looking through Videos and posts on here it seems like people can have some pretty big qc issues like bottom bracket alignment and shotty paint jobs. What is the overall consensus on the frames and how much work will I have to do to get one rideable?

[rasch]

The overall consensus is positive. Yet you get what you pay for. You pay 50usd for a paintjob which in other places costs at least double.

It's consensually good for the price point you pay and you shouldn't look into anything cheaper than it. Because they are unbeatable in price quality. But if you can spend more on carbonda, LC or others you'll have better quality (usually).

[FullCarbonAlchemist]

I’ve seen enough VB complaints that personally I’d recommend Carbonda instead if there’s an equivalent model, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all Velobuild frames are doomed.

[Sebastian]

Well, I’ve followed the VB-R 218 thread closely and while there’s been a fair number of qc issues, at least VB handled every single one of them fairly. They readily shipped out replacement frames. But of course that doesn’t necessarily speak for good qc.

[bvin]

I am really split. I am fine doing some work on the frame but really want to avoid needing to replace it right away. Spcycles has some of the same molds as Velobuild. Is their quality any better?

[jonathanf2]

I am really split. I am fine doing some work on the frame but really want to avoid needing to replace it right away. Spcycles has some of the same molds as Velobuild. Is their quality any better?

I like SPcycle. They're straight forward and ship fast. Only downside is that my frame didn't come with plastic guide tubes (easy to route though) and the paint easily scratches. I would buy from them again if they had a frameset I wanted.

[Eddy_Twerckx]

I have a Velobuild 168 and I’d say you get what you pay for. It was $500 for the frameset, you can’t really expect S-Works quality. Even S-Works frames have issues. If you go in with the expectation of a $500 carbon frameset, you’ll be happy and satisfied. I’ve had mine for almost two years and I love it. There are some quirks for sure, but if you’re handy with tools they aren’t an issue. I replaced the rear derailleur hanger which was a job but that’s just because I wanted something specific, the stock on is fine. My paint job has a couple chips on it but it was $100 so I find it hard to complain it still looks great overall and I get so many compliments on it it’s crazy. For the price they’re still very competitive.

[Serge_K]

I have a Velobuild 168 and I’d say you get what you pay for. It was $500 for the frameset, you can’t really expect S-Works quality. Even S-Works frames have issues. If you go in with the expectation of a $500 carbon frameset, you’ll be happy and satisfied. I’ve had mine for almost two years and I love it. There are some quirks for sure, but if you’re handy with tools they aren’t an issue. I replaced the rear derailleur hanger which was a job but that’s just because I wanted something specific, the stock on is fine. My paint job has a couple chips on it but it was $100 so I find it hard to complain it still looks great overall and I get so many compliments on it it’s crazy. For the price they’re still very competitive.

Agreed. And the 177 is improved over the 168. And the 268 is improved over both 177 & 168.

[patliean1]

I am looking to purchase a Velobuild frame but I am a little concerned about the build quality. Just looking through Videos and posts on here it seems like people can have some pretty big qc issues like bottom bracket alignment and shotty paint jobs. What is the overall consensus on the frames and how much work will I have to do to get one rideable?

What specifically about VeloBuild has peaked your interested? Price? Geometry/Design? Paint Options? And what other brands have your crossed shopped?

This forum has years of information and use cases on Velobuild. Folks have made videos as well. More than enough to make an informed decision. If your research has still led you to the conclusion that VeloBuild has some big QC issues then it's probably best just to look elsewhere. Or reframe your expectation of what a $500 is as others above have mentioned.

Based on the feedback from customers in this forum, VeloBuild is very fair in their customer service. If you are decent with your hands and willing to put in a little sweat equity, the 177, 268, and CX002 are solid options for the price.

And welcome to the forum. There are more helpful people in here than not, and offering more context in your posts will go a long way.

[blublob]

I would honestly just expect no quality control whatsoever from velobuild.
That does not mean the average quality of bikes that are shipped to the customers is bad (especially for the price), it just means there is no established process that consistently checks if what is shipped out meets some kind of internal quality standard or is exactly what the customer ordered.

If the production process is running great at that moment and you aren't looking for anything special, you'll probably get a frame punching way above its price point. If the workers in the factory had a shitty day or were in a crunch to get a batch of frames done before the holidays, you'll get a horrible frame in the mail. They might replace that shitty frame free of charge or completely refuse to do anything at all, again depending mostly on the luck of the day (and to a part your reach in media...).

[Takiyaki]

I have no proof or evidence of this, but I'd wager overall quality out of outfits like Velobuild has probably recovered substantially as COVID stuff subsided. The fact that they haven't hiked prices much if at all suggests a lack of demand, which means they probably have plenty of capacity and time to get stuff out.

There are insanely long threads here on their most popular models as well so those seem like the first place to get first hand QC data. But IMO I feel like their newer and more popular frames are fine.

[Serge_K]

I would honestly just expect no quality control whatsoever from velobuild.
That does not mean the average quality of bikes that are shipped to the customers is bad (especially for the price), it just means there is no established process that consistently checks if what is shipped out meets some kind of internal quality standard or is exactly what the customer ordered.

If the production process is running great at that moment and you aren't looking for anything special, you'll probably get a frame punching way above its price point. If the workers in the factory had a shitty day or were in a crunch to get a batch of frames done before the holidays, you'll get a horrible frame in the mail. They might replace that shitty frame free of charge or completely refuse to do anything at all, again depending mostly on the luck of the day (and to a part your reach in media...).

I wish there was a dislike button. Who are you, and how much 1st hand experience with VB and other frames do you have?
Saying there is "no quality control whatsoever from velobuild" is simply false. I don't even want to argue, I just wish posts could be downvoted.

[Sebastian]

I would honestly just expect no quality control whatsoever from velobuild.

Most if not all my Chiner (frame) parts had QC stickers on them somewhere. Whether that means that somebody actually checks tolerances or whether there's just some bloke applying them to make customers feel good - I don't know.
Anyway, I've not dealt with Velobuild in the early days - only started buying from them in 2022. But ever since then I have followed the VB threads here closely and they dealt reliably with all warranty claims from what I can tell - even if it takes a while sometimes. And since they do seem to respect their warranty and ship out replacement frames and parts, you would think that they're making some kind of effort at least to not have to deal with overly many of these issues.
Also, Chris told me that all their parts undergo testing according to the ISO 4210 testing protocol. However, providing documentation of ISO 4210 fatigue tests is obligatory if you wanna sell bike parts in most countries, AFAIK. No matter how cheap the stuff is. So that is not really a distinguishing factor.

But on the flipside, you will find plenty of horror stories of bad QC from the big brand's frames. This is the internet. People are very vocal here when they have issues. And very rarely are they screaming about it when stuff just works. Though this forum seems pretty balanced most of the time.

[blublob]

I wish there was a dislike button. Who are you, and how much 1st hand experience with VB and other frames do you have?
Saying there is "no quality control whatsoever from velobuild" is simply false. I don't even want to argue, I just wish posts could be downvoted.

I'm sorry that you feel butthurt. It would certainly help the conversation if you could bring yourself to argue your point. Have you audited their production to know they are doing any QC? Are you sure you aren't conflating quality with quality control? In general you don't necessarily need any of the later to produce a decent product...

I've bought two frames from them, one perfect as you can only wish for, the other had a fork steerer tube that was 2mm(!!!) out of round, oval oversized pressfit BB (so you can't press in anything because you can just pull it out without any force), threads of the brake interfaces filled with resin, a seat tube that was only reamed out to about 7cm depth, voids on any machined surface and flaking paint right out of the box (that it wasn't painted as agreed upon should be a given at this point),.
The issues of that second frame are so obvious and present through the whole manufacturing process that I can't imagine even a rudimentary QC process to miss ALL of them and not pull that frame at some point from the production line before it reaches a customer.

I've audited enough production places to know the theme. They aren't evil, notice the defects and send them to the customers anyway - they just don't have dedicated processes set up so a defective product can be detected and pulled from the line at a later stage without incuring penalities to the person reporting the defects.
QC is a significant "non-productive" share of the production cost. If you can cut that, you'll be able to offer the product for cheaper. If your production is set up well in general, so the defect rate is low, you might even come ahead in customer experience on average.

[Eddy_Twerckx]

Agreed. And the 177 is improved over the 168. And the 268 is improved over both 177 & 168.

I wouldn't call the 177 improved at all. It's basically a non-aero version of the 168. Might be lighter but it's not an improvement in my eyes. The 268 is an evolution for sure but that weird quick release thru axle thing is a big step backwards to me. But everybody can have their own opinion. I'd still pick the 168 given the choice of all three.