Hey guys, I found out about the BD Mini Velo on another forum, but there's not much interest there. Glad to see the amount of people interested here. Anyway, I had to get one and placed my order for an Orange 53cm early this month. My mini velo was delivered this past Tuesday.
After seeing the pics of Subigo's fork, I immediately checked mine. Just like his, my fork has loads of sloppy welds (looks worse than his), but hardly any metal for the brake bolt at the rear. I'll be contacting BD about the fork.
I checked the rest of the frame and found holes in the seat stays, under the seat stay/seat tube welds. I'm not sure if these are supposed to be drainage holes or not (have not seen this on other steel frames). Does any one else have these holes? The seat stay welds look fine, just the holes. Should these holes be a safety concern?
The spacing of my front and rear dropouts are a little off as well. The front dropout is a little wider than 100mm and has to be "squeezed" to meet the hub. I had a hell of a time removing the rear wheel the first time. I have to "work" the wheel a little to get it on/off. I measured the rear dropouts at 128mm, so I may have to cold set it to 130mm. I also replaced the rubber rim strips with Velox tape as suggested earlier.
Although the frame/fork has some issues, I'm really excited about the bike. I haven't had a chance to take it out for a ride yet, but plan to finish tuning it up and riding it this weekend.