FarSports 38mm Carbon Clincher Review Thread, The

[eric]

Crap! A bearings' already died on the new 38mm wheels I've been riding for less than two weeks.
Cheap chinese ceramic bearings....

Anyone know how the axle comes out of the "edhub" rear (after the end caps and freehub is removed)? Other bitex rear hubs have an axle with no lip but gentle tapping with a plastic mallet does not move this edhub axle either way.

[addictR1]

@ eric: sorry to hear that... maybe that just means you ride too much. sorry i can't be of any help.. as i don't know how to remove or service the hubs.

on a side note... looking to build a cyclocross bike and thinking to get Farsport's FSJ-38C-23 (for Disc use). anyone riding cyclo currently using Farsport wheelset? would love to hear some feedback. i have their road clincher 38mm with edhub (non-ceramic) and it's solid like a rock...

[Beancouter]

AddictR1 I have the farsports 38x23 on novatec hubs. Have used them off road a couple of times but done plenty of on road KM's (they are on my winter bike). Still perfectly true and spin really well - I get quite a lot of friendly abuse about my Chinese wheels (I have farsports 38's on my summer bike too) but they build and hold speed really well and I am rarely 'out rolled' down a hill - granted I am carrying a few kilos on some of them but I think the wheels do make a big difference ). In some ways the disc brake wheels deal with the one bit of uncertainty most have over cheap carbon wheels of heat dissipation on the brake track. In short, highly recommended. All I need now is my hydraulic discs back from Sram!!!

[eric]

I got the bearings out. As I suspected the axle has shoulders on the inner side of each bearing. I needed to heat the hub with a propane torch (gently and carefully!) then whack the axle with a hammer + block of wood to protect the axle to get the DS bearing out. The NDS side came out easier.

One bearing is rough: it's dead. I pulled some 6802s out of a Bitex freehub and used them to replace the ceramic bearings. I put the bearings in the freezer for a while which seemed to help but they still needed some force from a socket the same size as the outer race (and the hammer) to get fully seated. A shop press would be much better but mine can't fit a wheel.

6802s are tiny! That's how they got the weight down.

[duckson]

Are the Edhubs known to be rubbish or have you just been unlucky? Or are the ceramic no good and the regular (steel?) versions decent?

[eric]

I've heard of a few of the ceramic bearings going out quickly on the edhubs. I took a chance anyhow, because ceramic. I think the regular steel ones should be ok.

The BHS (Bitex) hubs I have been using for training use a 6802 on the NDS and a larger 6902 on the DS. BHS gets them with Enduro bearings.
I think I have had one go bad ever, which is a pretty good record. I may just buy some Enduro bearings for this wheel. I'd like to get the bearings White Ind uses for their hubs as they roll very well.

I'm not sure but I suspect that the problem may be excess preload. With this hub design the distance between the bearing seats in the hub and the shoulders on the axle must be exactly the same or the bearings will have too much preload on them. I suspect that to deal with manufacturing tolerance they would make the distance between the seats in the hub to be slightly short. If it is longer than the axle shoulder distance then the preload would be too great no matter what you do (because the axle caps squeeze the inner races as they are tightened). If the hub distance is shorter than the axle shoulder distance, then you could just not fully seat the bearings in the hub in order to get the preload right. When I put mine back together I fully seated the bearings and the axle turns stiffly. I bet that if I took up all the slack on the axle but no more it would turn freely.

I hope that paragraph is not complete gibberish.

Anyhow, I'm guessing that when FarSports put in the ceramic bearings they fully seated them in the hub, becaue the axle was kind of stiff when I got the wheels. Ceramic balls don't handle excess preload as well as steel, from my experience.

[Method01]

Which of the 2 brake surfaces (basalt or high temperature) looks the nicest with a UD Matt rim?

Because I don't want it to be like this (is this basalt or high temperature?):
https://s29pjg.dm2301.livefilestore.com/y2muGBehhL5nMIJbcm_rY-CXNELQ63oOyTbbPjT_GGeUmexBB0BN6T5-6mPG0JIp2dOBE6AmvJCVhvUgIlhk0Vssn-3J3d-4o0n3ML2GRsX3H55yAluLk0s-24dBKKB7Hn5/WP_20140430_012.jpg?psid=1

I want them like this:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7434/10862442613_40807bfe13_b.jpg

[eric]

The bottom one is the basalt as it looks after being used for a while. Top one is the high temperature, and it looks new.

Personally I think they look about the same. If the high temp. doesn't wear like the basalt does then it'll look better. "nicest" is in the eye of the beholder.

Braking qualities seem comparable. One of my sets of basalt rims has uneven braking but the other does not, so I don't know if it's characteristic of the basalt construction.

[eric]

The rears ed hub appears to use 4 6802s. The BHS SL211 uses 3 66802s and a 6902 in the hub DS. (also 15mm ID but larger balls and OD). The SL210 uses two 6902s in the hub.

In researching bearings I found that enduro makes some ABEC 5 6802s with plastic cage. I wanted high quality steel bearings. Their lower level ABEC 3 ones with the blue seals have a steel cage. Supposedly the plastic cage ones have less drag. (ABEC rates the tolerances- higher numbers have closer tolerances of the parts and so should be smoother running, but many other things determine bearing drag). I found the enduro bearings on amazon.

[Method01]

Does anyone have some experience with their carbon clinchers in the mountains? I'm talking about 20km descents (like the Alpes).

I really was convinced of buying some carbon clinchers but i've read some horror story's about failures in descent.. Luckily I only weigh about 129lbs and planning to use 25mm tyres, I assume that would decrease the risk?

[eric]

I have used them on 20 mile 55 mph descents. No problem. But that sort of descent does not heat the rim as much as one with a lot of tight turns. I've used them on some of those as well and not had a problem. There's a couple really steep and difficult ones locally where I'd hesitate to use them.... very tight turns, bad pavement and 13% or steeper. But from what I've read the Alps aren't that steep.

I'm a confident descender. Someone who is not will brake a lot more and heat their rims more.

The 25mm tires themselves won't make it less likely to have a problem but running lower pressure will. What happens is the rim wall get hot enough to get a bit soft and the tire pressure pushes it out. That part gets even more brake heat as a result, thus more heat, more bulging, etc.

[Method01]

Yes, what I've read about 25mm is that you could ride them with a little less pressure than 23mm and still have descent performance. So that was my point .

French alps not, but take a look at the Giro

[eric]

Something like the Stelvio with its hairpins would be ok (for me). The grade is 10% or less and the straights are long enough to let the rims cool. The roads where I would not want to use carbon clinchers have 15 mph turns one after another or have utter crap pavement (because they're abandoned) which you have to slow for, all on a 12-15% grade. For you SF bay area riders, jamison and alba would be the former and hicks the latter. I've ridden down Page Mill and the east side of Mt Hamilton with no problem. That one is the steepest most technical descent that we race down in NorCal. For the race they station medical people and ambulances all along it because there's a lot of crashes.

The ambient temp has an effect too. If it's 100 degrees (F) vs 60, you're that much closer to the temp where the epoxy gets soft before you have even started down the hill.

Doesn't it rain in the Alps in the summer? Carbon rims don't brake well when wet.

[Method01]

I'm going for some alu/carbon Dura Ace wheels..

My biggest concern are the gran fondo's in the Alps, if there are 20 people blocking my way in the descents, I can't brake the way I should brake with carbon clinchers. And I would probably be thinking all the time about the braking and lose time in the descent.

And yes, it does rain sometimes over there

So my plan is some Dura Ace wheels and light weight skewers. Thanks for your advice eric!

[Shortsocks]

Just some more updates...

I now have 8000 miles on my 2014 U shaped 38mm farsports. No ISSUES at all. I do keep the wheels extremely clean. I wash the brake surface, as well as inspect them, every three rides. Unless there is rain. Then I immediately clean the wheels. I Keep the brake pads very clean as well. Over all Im very satisfied with this wheelset.

Braking hasnt been an issue at all. In fact Ive gotten very adjusted to how it brakes. The still is very little wheel squeaking , but they are louder when braking. But that seems to be a carbon wheel thing.