by huguest on Sat May 24, 2014 8:56 pm
Since I found a lot of good advice here, I wanted to post my experience with purchasing FarSports wheels. I had some Easton circuit wheels, and although I never had any problems with them, wanted to upgrade and try to reduce some of the weight.
After reading a lot on the web, I decided to consider buying carbon clinchers from FarSports. I decided to contact Kyle directly since people seemed happy with his service. When I first contacted him with my questions, he was very quick to respond (keeping in mind that there is a big time difference between the East Coast and China). His responses were fairly brief but did address my questions. After a few emails, I decided to order a set of 24 x 23 mm carbon clinchers with ED Hub 2:1 (for what it's worth, I'm 5'9" and 137 lbs).
15 days after placing my order, I received an email with picture of the wheels, also indicating that they were ready to ship, and received the tracking information in a separate email the next day.
9 days later, the wheels arrived home (without any delay and extra fee at Canadian customs). The wheels were well packaged, and looked great. I don't have a scale at home, but FarSport reported the weight of my set to be 520 g front and 670 g rear for a total of 1190 g. This is 510 g (1.1 lbs) lighter that my Easton wheels.
After unpacking the wheels, I proceeded to mounts the tires. I don't know if it is the wheels, the new Michelin Lithion 2 tires (I had never used them before) or both but it has never been so difficult to mount tires. I finally succeeded after 4 (yes 4!) pinch flats (was much easier when I had my first flat on the road, so I guess that the tires stretched a little).
I only managed to ride about 500 km so far but first impressions are really good. I don't know if it's the weight, width, new tires, and certainly some placebo effect but so far, I am really pleased about how the bike handles with the new wheels. Speed is good (for this time of the year), and the ride feels a lot smoother than before. Braking is not as good as with aluminum rims, but still very manageable. I did my first ride in the rain today, and it was a little more challenging, just had to be more careful about planning ahead and not gaining too much speed in long descents. So in conclusion, very pleased with my wheels for now.
