I'm thinking about buying a versatile set of wheels. I will use them only for racing - mainly hilly road races and few criteriums. I can have any of these three wheelsets in a similar price. Is there anyone who used both brands? Stiffness and handling in wind is the priority for me. I would appreciate if you share your opinions about these wheelsets.

I have an unscientific answer for you. Reynolds if you're in the Americas, FFWD in the Old World. Whatever you feel you can get better service for elsewhere.

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Bikes: Raceur, Beateur

FFWD uses generic (chinese?) rims, the wheels are nothing special. Not much wrong with that, but you pay a lot for some nice decals.

athos, some say that's not the case

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Bikes: Raceur, Beateur

from what I hear from my Local FFWD distributor, apparently it was true when they were first released. they've since changed to their own rim shape.

I can't compare the stiffness, but I can tell you my F6R are very easy handling in the winds. Is it the DARC profile? Can't tell. In my area we have to deal with wind 90% of the time.
The Team Vacansoleil guys seem to like the F4R. They're almost on every stage on them. Very light rims.
Louis

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http://www.ccsalma.com

I've always wondered about the FFWD wheels. They look like super pricey DT240's laced to Cheap Chinese Carbon Hoops. The pricepoint of the wheels is pretty nice, compared to others in the same class of wheels. Just kind of sketch on the Carbon rim manufacture.

Does it really matter where the rim is made so long as it is made well. Why should a Chinese rim cost less than a american made rim if it of the same quality. As we all know cost of production bears no relation to the cost of the finished product. The price is set at what people are willing to pay.

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www.thecycleclinic.co.uk

there are lots of guys with ffwd wheels around here. the rims are very durable, they survive potholes and other abuse well and braking is probably as good as it gets with carbon rims.
i heard that the ffwd hubs are good, but you can't go wrong with dt hubs anyway...
in the shop i work part-time, we have some triathletes on reynolds wheels. no first hand experience from me, but i brought several wheels back to the distributor because of delaminated rims. reynolds tells you to only use their brake pads because they know about the heat issue.
if you don't live in a hilly area it's not a big deal but when there's a lot of braking involved on your rides i would maybe turn away from reynolds.
one more thing: spokes...iirc all of the cheap reynolds wheels(assault, attack and strike)use round spokes, and ffwd has sapim cx ray on all their wheels. maybe also explains part of the price difference.

Simon: Was impressed by my F2R rims before last sunday. Hit it hard on hole that made the tire bottom out and the rims crack. No puncture but a small crack in the rim Rode home so no problem except the look. But nice wheels and rims except that. Will change for a cheaper Planet X rim and then it will be good again.

My thoughts comparing FFWD which I own a pair of F2R with DT190 hubs and mounted/glued some Reynolds Assault. Assault is a nice looking wheel from distance but closly looking it feels more cheap than FFWD. I would choose F4R (perfect height) everyday if I had the choice you have.

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/jonas l
http://cerrol.wordpress.com (my cyclingblog)