Re: Farsports Tubular Wheels
Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:13 pm
I purchased several sets of wheels from Smart at FarSports. Wheels were built with UD Matte, 23.5mm wide, 50mm deep carbon rims, 28 hole Novatec D711/D712 disc brake hubs, and Sapim CX-Ray spokes. Time from order to delivery was 26-28 days for the wheelsets and averaged 1390 grams and as with all such transactions, in this price range one cant expect perfection but the rims looked pretty good with no obvious flaws or defects but I did swap out the hub bearings with a mix of Enduro Zero and Hybrid Ceramics. After a weekend cross races, other than being ~100 grams heavier than the non-disc Easton EC90SL tubualars they replaced, the Farsports wheels worked pretty well and despite my best efforts, did not self destruct.
I am on the fence about whether or not the 'v' channel lends to or detracts from mounting tubulars and without getting into the merits/techniques of such, I found after gluing tires, one wheel with a new FMB Super Mud was canted way to far to one side and needed regluing. I used Vittoria Mastik 1 in concert with Cyclocrossworld's Belgian tape and while the tire was difficult to get off the rim, the tape came off with the tire and were I expected to see a moderate layer of residual glue, the rim bed was actually pretty pristine.
In retrospect I probably could have saved a bit of money and decreased turn around time by purchasing only the rims from Farsports and the hubs from another source then had the wheels built locally. I say this because Farsports adds a 4% surcharge whether you pay with Paypal or use bank-To-bank transfer not to mention they really mark up on the cost of shipping. At this point, since cross wheels are like bikes and you can never have too many, I have purchased another set of hubs from Ebay and for use with a set of Enve 29er XC tubular rims.
I am on the fence about whether or not the 'v' channel lends to or detracts from mounting tubulars and without getting into the merits/techniques of such, I found after gluing tires, one wheel with a new FMB Super Mud was canted way to far to one side and needed regluing. I used Vittoria Mastik 1 in concert with Cyclocrossworld's Belgian tape and while the tire was difficult to get off the rim, the tape came off with the tire and were I expected to see a moderate layer of residual glue, the rim bed was actually pretty pristine.
In retrospect I probably could have saved a bit of money and decreased turn around time by purchasing only the rims from Farsports and the hubs from another source then had the wheels built locally. I say this because Farsports adds a 4% surcharge whether you pay with Paypal or use bank-To-bank transfer not to mention they really mark up on the cost of shipping. At this point, since cross wheels are like bikes and you can never have too many, I have purchased another set of hubs from Ebay and for use with a set of Enve 29er XC tubular rims.
