FarSports 38mm Carbon Clincher Review Thread, The

[optV]

There is also a new 23mm wide "high temp resin" clincher rim available at the same weight as the previous lightweight versions. At least as claimed in the latest 2013 new items "catalog" that Farsports emailed me the other day...

I asked about that wheelset and the response was that they are not the aero U shape. I'm kind of confused as to which wheelset to get in a 38mm clincher. I've also noticed that their pricelist weights being emailed do not match their website weights. It doesn't seem to matter when I send a question, email responses come about every 1.5 days and are often confusing, making the process of ordering frustrating and time consuming. If they would just list the wheel shape (u or v) and the width along with the other specifications on their eCommerce site, I would have probably ordered a week ago.

My options:

(1) The information that I received on the "new aero 38mm wide (25mm)" U shaped road clincher wheelset mentions it uses a cyclocross rim and weighs 1560g +/- 30g and I'm guessing that it has the combined braking surface.

(2) 38mm (23mm wide) non-aero (V shaped?) weighs 1250 +/- 30g

(3) new 38mm (20.5mm wide) high aero U shaped 1245+/- 30g

Opinions? Anything else that I should consider? I wish that there was a 23mm aero U shape in the 1250g range,

[DCnoJ]

Thanks for the thorough review. I'm now considering their 38mm tubeless compatible as an everyday wheelset.

[eric]

email responses come about every 1.5 days and are often confusing

Remember you are dealing directly with people in China. They're in a time zone that's about halfway around the world, and they are not native english speakers.

I agree that the web site could be up to date.

There are different sales people. I have dealt with Angela sales4@farsports.cn and been satisfied. She usually replies the next business day (China time).
Kyle who has posted here also seems to communicate well in english.

[optV]

email responses come about every 1.5 days and are often confusing

Remember you are dealing directly with people in China. They're in a time zone that's about halfway around the world, and they are not native english speakers.

I agree that the web site could be up to date.

There are different sales people. I have dealt with Angela sales4@farsports.cn and been satisfied. She usually replies the next business day (China time).
Kyle who has posted here also seems to communicate well in english.

I understand the time and language differences. I've replied to an email literally 5 minutes after it was received twice and still a 1.5 day response. Either way, the person has been kind and patient with all of my questions. Just could be faster to reply.

[optV]

I'm really not trying to take over this thread, but for anyone wondering, I switched sales people after I got a hold of Smart's email address. He was AWESOME and responsive. Anyone wanting to order from farsports should ask for him.

I got the new 38x25 U shaped aero road clincher with the new braking surface, EDhub ceramic and UD matt finish. Est weight is 1390+/- 30g and he said it is set to ship out on Monday via EMS!

I will post an update once the wheelset is received.

[addictR1]

optV: congrats~!

by the way for those that are riding this wheel with EDHubs.. how did you guy make them quieter? i put about 500+ miles on them and thought it would be quieter by now.. but these are louder than my friends Mavic SLR.

which got me thinking.. maybe changing to a lighter, quieter hubs is in the near future? which hubs though... cuz i'm clueless on which to get.

[oreoboreo]

Have you taken your hub apart and re-lubed the pawls? When I first received mine, I rode them once and felt that I needed to know what was on the inside of that hub and wanted to confirm the bearing upgrade You have options of the lube type, I use Dumonde freehub lube which is thin type. I have also used boat wheel bearing grease (limited amounts) on noise Mavic hubs on my winter wheels since the grease is better for the wet. I have also used Shimano thin grease, however it did not feel robust enough and looked black when I removed it and changed to something different.

The wheels do not stop smooth, still pulsing when applying the binders. I have preformed most of the possible fixes noted. I am now using the Black prince pads which is actually worse than the FS blue pads. I have about 1k on the set now and really like them and have read that pulsing on carbon wheels can be just part of using them. I took them to a local builder and received great comments from them, when they double checked the build and tensions and removed a small wobble on the front. The only note was that they were not built to full tension, however was fine for my weight.

[eric]

I also found the blue FS or Reynolds pads to be a little better than Black Prince pads.

[casper]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for taking the time to post reviews. As a result of this thread I'm ready to order a set -- well actually 3 pairs (38mm clincher, 50mm Clincher and 38mm Clincher disc). I was wondering what the standard price for shipping is to Canada that you guys paid. Farsports wants $88USD for each set ($267USD), this seems extremely high to me - I recall recently that I shipped two sets of wheels to Hong Kong for $50 bucks. Am I getting ripped? or is this standard pricing?

[addictR1]

oreoboreo: i haven't taken the hub apart yet. but if adding more grease to make it quiet.. wouldn't that make it spin less efficiently? also.. for me.. i've been using the blue pad that came with my wheels.. love love love them. no pulse or anything like that.. just squeal every now and then. after each ride i would use an old toothbrush to brush off the brake dust that's stuck between the pad.

[oreoboreo]

On the hubs, do not add grease, clean out all the old clear vasoline type stuff then apply the new stuff. The heavier grease will quite the tin sounding pawls. Remember you are not filling the area up, just placing it where there is contact. A small paintbrush works great here in my experience.

Personally I have Chris Kings on my other bike and the ones on my FS wheels are a nice sound.

And what we say is if you can hear your wheels you need to pedal, no coasting, if you can hear your wheel you need to go faster, if you do not like the sound of my wheels you need to get in front of me and quit sucking my noisy wheel

[eric]

$88 is about what it cost me to California last year.

they use a nice quality box that has a lot of room for the wheels.

brake pulsing is usually caused by uneven width brake tracks. I've measured a bunch and I start feeling pulsing at about .1mm width variation. My FarSports 50mm rear is more than that. Front is not too bad and the tuibulars I got are totally even.

[carlislegeorge]

I also found the blue FS or Reynolds pads to be a little better than Black Prince pads.

can you elaborate on why you they they're better, please?

[MisterNoChain]

I have a problem with the freewheel body. Sometimes it doesnt grip.
For example: i'm rolling towards a red light, so i'm just pedaling along without putting power on the pedals. The moment i put a little bit of power on the pedals the pawls dont grip, so i have a 'mishit'. Same thing happens when i stand op the pedals behind a slow corner. It doesnt happen all the time, once every 50km's lets say.


It's a bit disappointing that when you buy the wheels they answers your mails in one day, and when you have a problem they dont answer at all.

Edit: Got the body out to see how it looks. It wasnt dirty, none of the pawl were sticky. Made everything clean, greased it and put in back together, so couldnt really find a problem. System looks good with his 6 pawls, grips very fast when you spin it by hand.
What i dont find strange is the facts that the pawls arent flat at all. As you can see you have a little spring underneath the right side of the pawl forcing it upwards, but the left side goes downwards because of it. Once the body is placed on the the wheel the pawls press againt the ratchet wheel so probably that solves the problem Does like strange, i've opened up a lot of body's in my life and never seen this before. Lets hope the grease helps to let it grip every single time, i'll see on my next ride.

[Monkeyboy3333]

yeh report back mate, interested to know...