FarSports 38mm Carbon Clincher Review Thread, The

[addictR1]

Random101: I use a hair dryer on them first before gently peeling them off.

[TheDarkInstall]

Black Prince pads will melt FarSports carbon clinchers. I am speaking from experience.

[random101]

Black Prince pads will melt FarSports carbon clinchers. I am speaking from experience.

Well that sucks, haha

I might change over in the near future.

[OwenJames]

They are not listed on the approved / safe for use pad list.

Also, yeah, I melted front and rear on a steep descending ride at the start of the rear. Sucked.

The FSE pads they sell work OK for me (nowhere NEAR as good as Shimano pads on aluminium though, obviously; going pack to metal rims and Shimano pads shows just how hilariously bad this cheap Chinese stuff is at braking, no matter how much we try to convince ourselves otherwise. I have to be extremely careful for the first 500metres of riding not to hugely over-brake when I swap to metal rims)

[random101]

They are not listed on the approved / safe for use pad list.

Also, yeah, I melted front and rear on a steep descending ride at the start of the rear. Sucked.

The FSE pads they sell work OK for me (nowhere NEAR as good as Shimano pads on aluminium though, obviously; going pack to metal rims and Shimano pads shows just how hilariously bad this cheap Chinese stuff is at braking, no matter how much we try to convince ourselves otherwise. I have to be extremely careful for the first 500metres of riding not to hugely over-brake when I swap to metal rims)

Maybe I just don't ride alloy rims enough, but my training wheels were very spongy nothing to ride home about.

As for the black prince pads - I emailed kyle asking him if they were okay

Hi,

Glad to hear that you got them.
You can use both ours and black prince.
But you can have a try of ours firstly, as they enjoy good feedback I think.

King Regards
Kyle Fu--Farsports


Xiamen Far Sports Co.,Ltd
Phone:86-592-6103812
Fax: 86-592-6101658
Email: sales2@farsports.cn
Skype: farsports12
Web: http://www.farsports.com.
Add: No.96 Jingquan Road Jimei Norththern Industrial Area Xiamen China.

I'll consider using their brakes with shimano but have to change the inserts - massive cbf

[trex021]

There is no way I'd use Black Prince pads on my FarSports rims after #1 your rims were hot after a couple hard stops #2 another forum member melted his rims with them. Sheesh. Your email to Kyle should be to demand the FSE ceramic pads for your Shimano brakes. I don't care what he says, #1 & #2 means you're going to ruin those rims. The best he'll do for you if he's wrong is send you new rims. You'll be on the hook for building them up again.

[random101]

There is no way I'd use Black Prince pads on my FarSports rims after #1 your rims were hot after a couple hard stops #2 another forum member melted his rims with them. Sheesh. Your email to Kyle should be to demand the FSE ceramic pads for your Shimano brakes. I don't care what he says, #1 & #2 means you're going to ruin those rims. The best he'll do for you if he's wrong is send you new rims. You'll be on the hook for building them up again.

Okay I changed over to the FSE Ceramic pads Let's see how it goes

[trex021]

random101, I'm sure you're doing the right thing!

Update: I've acquired and tested Enve pads on my high temp brake surface Farsports Rims. No doubt about it, these are the best feeling brake pads I've tried. They stop extremely well and they have a softer supple feel. The rims remained cool no matter what I did. I even got rained on and they were excellent, only slightly less effective than aluminum rims with Shimano pads: very impressive. Unfortunately, the rear brake does squeal slightly on my high-temp brake surface, dry or wet. It's not nearly as pronounced as the blue pads, but it is there when I brake harder.

I hate squealing brakes so I'm inclined to go back to the FSE ceramics. I have yet to see how those perform in the rain so I'll update here when I experience that.

[random101]

Well, the FSE brakes are rubbish... they stop but just need to apply that extra force.

I have a set of enve pads for my enve wheels which I'll likely put on come crit season

Mind you on the enve's i was also using Yellows - no issues there

[Matti]

What is the main difference between the 20.5, 23 and 25 mm rims? Any preferences? Stiffness?

Also, the new U-shaped rim, advantages?

Apologies if this has been covered earlier in this thread.

Thanks,
Matti

[Matti]

Replying to my own question after having read the whole thread, and after some correspondence with Farsports.

The 23 mm is the one that goes best together with a 23 mm tyre, and is also stiffer than the 20.5. The 20.5 I assume is for lighter weight weenies than myself (85 kg).

The 25 mm is for wider tires.

[pushstart]

I think no one answered because your question is just about the merits of wide rims, a topic that has been covered to death by the cycling press for the past couple+ years.

Yes, wider rims are stiffer. As are deeper rims. Internal width is all you care about for pairing the clincher tire size. My guess is that the 25mm tire will work swimmingly on the 25mm rim, since the tire will measure wider than 23mm when used on that rim. E.g. November's Rail rim is 25mm wide (18mm internal width) and designed for 23mm tires. I have used 23mm tires on 24mm wide rims (17mm internal) and they work just perfectly. Right now I have 25mm tires on my 24.5mm rims (17.1mm internal width) and they measure 27mm wide. Same tires measure 28mm wide on my Flo30 rims (19.1mm internal width).

[ToffieBoi]

I have a question about these wheels.

Now I am riding on my Token C28a wheelset. XC279 rims, PSR1422 spokes and Token Arsenal hubs.
1550 grams with rim tape.

I want to buy a second, more aero clincher wheels where I can use for my flat rides. (Even on the flattest rides, I have 10meter/km attitude) I am 65kg and 183cm.

I have two options for my budget;
1. Buying Shimano RS81 C50 wheels. 2kg set, but fail free. For windy days, I can use my Token wheel for front so 28-50 it will be. A bit lighter for climbs, plus less effected on sidewinds.

Or buying 38-50mm (or even 50-50) 25mm wide wheelset from farsports. Lighter than my current set, plus more aero. Same price with RS81. But I am not brave enough for it.

Even one more option is, if I can convince myself about farsport wheels for my daily rides, I can sell my Token wheels and buy both 38 and 50 for front and 50 for rear. So it will be light and also good enough for windy days.

What you guys would recommend for me?

[eric]

I'm your height and weight. I have no problem with 50mm deep rims in the mountains. There's been a couple times when it's been super windy that I have been concerned or slowed down a little, but it's been on descents after races so I did not need to push. My rims are older narrow V shaped ones. Newer wide rounded rims are somewhat less bothered by side winds. But it does take some practice to get used to them.

I also have u shaped narrow 38mm rims. They're a bit less bothered by side wind than the V shaped 50s.

I won't use carbon clinchers on super steep and technical descents where you're on the brakes for every tight corner. But 55 mph mountain descents? No problem.

If I were you I'd get a set of 50s and keep the tokens. 50s are good all around rims. I don't use carbon rims for every day rides but I tend to kill wheels and would rather rack up the miles on inexpensive aluminum rim wheels that I build.

[pushstart]

+1 on just getting 50s for everyday wheels. At 75kg, you are heavy enough that crosswinds shouldn't be an issue. Of course, it will depend on the rim. My 50mmx24mm u-shaped Farsports rims did excellent in crosswinds. My 45mm LB U45 rims seem a bit twitchier, but still no concerns with riding them in whatever conditions -- and whatever the course profile.

I agree that if you have very technical descents, you might want to stick with alloy rims (or brake tracks). Or do what I did and build a disc-brake road bike. The expensive (but awesome) way to solve that problem.