New wheels FFWD!

[micky]

Rims are made by Karbona, and wheelsets are too expensive imo

Err..Karbona is just a dealer, not a producer.

But I do agree with the "too expensive" part.

[izzo]

Ok lets put aside price.... price is known, weight is known, what about stiffness? Where can we put them on the scale Roues Artisanales.com has made? 30 N/mm? Maybe 35? maybe higher? Any suggestions if they are stiff enough for 70-75 kg, and strong rider?

thanks, bye

[Tumppi]

I'm 77kg, sprinter (I can do +1000W quite easily when sprinting) and I have those F2R240s wheels. Weight was 1062g for a set and honestly I can say:

1) Front is stiff enough for sprinting, rear is not.
2) Anyway these are stiffer than my old Zipp 303:s (not dimpled), but my Hyperons are stiffer and heavier also.
3) These are not wheels for sprinting, but I prefer these over 303's anytime.
4) if I say front is something between 45-50N/mm, rear 35-40N/mm I could be quite near truth..?

[izzo]

Thanks for info, stiffness worried me alot, but I ve heard and read some good reviews about these wheels so I decided to go for it, specialy because I got real good price on them.
I ll post my reviews in spring. Since they are so light and I intend to lose some weight myself, I expect noticable improvement specialy in step climbs I intend to race.

bye till then

[beatnik]

They are pimpy and light, not only bad things can be told about these ws.

[izzo]

hi again, just got them, F2r, I can only say WOW, 1082g pair w/o skewers, little more as they promised (1050)
They look really good, with DT240 hubs,carbon nice finished, assembly is really superb as they say, looks very stiff inded, integrated stickers WOW, Reynolds and BORAs have really disgusting stickers on, although they cost twice as much!
Just ordered new casette and tubulars, I ll post more comments when I get them on the road.

And hey, have u noticed that FFWD have new product F9R! with 90 mm height, weight unknown, but very afordable price!! Anyone thinking of having them?

bye

[Samu Ilonen]

I have coming some sample wheels here. And I definedly will get some new 90mm front wheels with DT 190 hub.

Lightest wheelset for over 80kg boys is take 28 spoke 38mm F4C (Cx model has more spokes so for better grown boy's...) and Then! F2C on front.

Anyway, I should have on mail set of F5 20+28 spokes and one disk. F4 set looks anyway interesting, 1300g in not bad for 38mm profiled wheels.

[izzo]

Review from 1st hand:
I got the F2 240s ultralight carbon wheelset, 1080g, mounted TUFO 215g tubulars. fitted my TREK madone with them and there we go,....

First impresion: Ultralight bike 6,9kg, loks ok (higher carbon wheels looks better i admit), after 300km impression is just great. I filled tubs with 11 bar and it was ok, then i went to 13 bar, even better! Ride is very smoth so far, pressure is not a problem, I ll try 15 bar on first real trainning route. It feels like ride is smother with tubs inflated to 15 bar than clinchers filled with 9, although i cant explain why?

Plains: It feels like bike goes faster? Maybe just my impression but speedometer actually showed higher speeds on flats, maybe aero spokes are the reason?

Uphill: WOW, these wheels really rooks there. Although I didnt break (yet)my time rekord on the local hill, what really impresses is the acceleration! I just wouldnt believe something like that is possible, on a 6-7% steep climb where speeds are around 14-16 you can accelerate in a moment to 20 or even 22 km/h! Thats just not possible with alu clinchers, i dont believe so, not with the same horsepower on the bike (me lol ). That is really the most impressive thing with these wheels, uphill acceleration, sprinting cost youz alot of power and eat up reserves but hey, who cares, when sprint decides the race you just cant macth 1080g of rolling weight, (maybe with pricey lightweights ). Only think to do is beat my time rekords and go to some races.

Downhill: Downhill is and braking is a part where you lose some compared with alu clinchers, braking is not so good and because of the high pressure these wheels are not so well for the fast descending, speccialy turns with sand on the road could be a problem, i just didnt test that much cos I concentrated mostly on uphill ride.

Stifness: So far, so good, after mechanic had to additionaly put some tension on the spokes on the new wheels, (i guess hand made assembly fault) wheels go straight. I didnt notice any problems at the back wheel although I weight 75 kg, these wheels are not soft! I used Bontrager alu clinchers before, and these are real butter compared to Fast forward F2.

Conclusion: I am very satisfied with the purchase, I even train on them becasue ride is noticably better than with clinchers. these tubs suposibly last 3000 km, so they are not so costly with 45€/each, I like to pay some more for the better feeling. I d surelly buy them again , I am even thinking of buying F9 for time trails. My advice to everyone who wants to buy ultralite wheels, just go end see and maybe try them! They really impressed me, for the cost around 1000€ I dont think you can get same quality/weight wheels anywhere?

I ll post some more reviews after some race or rekord breaking time lol


bye

[kenyoncycleist]

those tufo's are absolute shite....i hit a pebble on a decent and the tire exploded causing me to crash and break my hand in 3 places...for your own safety please get a better tire such as vittoria cx's. it sounds like this is your first time riding tubies...IMHO your running way too much psi and that will only increase the chance of a catastrophic tire failure, and make them roll slower.

[powenb]

Can people post pictures of their bikes with these on please?
It would be great to see them.

[izzo]

The fact is, that low profile rims like F2R doesnt look outstanding on the bike,..if you want to improve the look then F5 or F6 are better choice,...

[apLe]

Hi folks,

I couldn't find it and I'm curious if the weight for F4R rim and wheelset listed on FFWD site is accurate? I'm planning to buy either whole set or just rims and lace them with some light hubs and CX rays. Just want to know if 330g per rim is plausible?

[Kjetil]

Can people post pictures of their bikes with these on please?
It would be great to see them.

Thread resurrection/first post.
Here's the first generation F2R 240s on my Bianchi Infinito. Pardon the crappy iPhone photo quality.
They're light and comfortable, but rear stiffness is so-so. I'm not impressed by the braking performance. Especially the rear pulses quite a bit and tends to lock up unexpectedly. However this rim is discontinued. The current F2R tubular has a different texture on the braking surface.

I might be giving FFWD another chance. Since most of my riding is on flat and rolling terrain a set of F6R tubulars is interesting. That 300 g weight penalty should be offset by the aero benefits (I hope).

[madmax]

Hi
I don t read all post in this topic.
Have any problems with this rims?FFWD F2R I had spoke 28 different models, the old model and new model 20/24, but they worked much better.All the latest failure,
mine was already broke three rings and it is always at the valve.

[Kjetil]

I had the first F2R (20/24) and was not pleased with the unpredictable braking performance. Structurally it seemed fine, but a bit soft for sprinting.

Agreed with FFWD to rebuild the hubs with F6R tubulars.