Thoughts on FarSports wheelsets

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DavidMLee
Posts: 172
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2015 3:48 pm

by DavidMLee

Hello, y'all!

Apparently, FarSports is having a moment in my native S.Korea.

Previously having been disdained as cheap Chinese knockoffs
FarSports wheelsets are gaining market traction here.

Seems like Cycling tribes just realized we don't need to pay extra $1000 for brand reputation.

Anybody experienced those wheelsets before? Any thoughts?


Basic line-up and pricing as follows.

- Basic tubs(1100~1200g): 38mm x 25mm Tubular with Edhub, $500; DT240s, $800
Image

- Premium Ventoux(1100g): /w CeramicSpeed Bearings, $1200
Image
Legend HT 9.5 RED 22
Colnago C60 Super Record
S-Works Tarmac 2016 eTap
S-Works Tarmac 2015 DA
Cervelo R3 2015 UT
Cervelo S2 2014 UT
Spesh Venge Elite 105


by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
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dobuy
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2014 1:59 pm

by dobuy

Between my friends and I, we have bought about a dozen sets of Farsports Carbon Clinchers over the last few years and to date all of them have been excellent.
The "standard" Novatec hubs work well and are easy to service and reliable. My own wheels which have about 15,000kms on them are just getting towards needing new bearings as getting a little knotchy. These wheels have done most of their miles out here in Dubai, but have been on 4 holidays to the UK, Italian lakes and Tuscany and been up and down gradients up to 18% without issue. Yes braking in the wet is not brilliant, but good enough down a 8% average 10km descent in pi**ing rain. I use Wiggles own brand blue pads, cheap and quiet.
Here are a couple of links to my own wheels
http://dubaicyclist.com/farsport-58mm-disc-wheels/
http://dubaicyclist.com/project-orange- ... -clincher/

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F45
Posts: 1077
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:08 am

by F45

Infinite bikes? Hmm, I prefer my bikes to be fully defined in real numbers.

AJS914
Posts: 5397
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:52 pm

by AJS914

I'm going recycle this topic.

So, has anyone notice how expensive (relatively) the well know Chinese wheels have gotten? Five years ago I bought some Farsports for $600 shipped with DT 350S hubs. At the time, that was 1/2 to 1/3rd the cost of name brand wheels.

These days when I price out wheels from Farsports or Light Bicycle I'm coming into the $900 range but I can buy the budget wheels from the big brands with much better warranties for $900-1200. Found a new pair of Zipp 303Ses for around $900.

I know much cheaper Chinese wheels exist. Are they any good? I was comfortable with Farsports but not the $350 ebay or alibaba no name wheels.

Jasonlelam
Posts: 82
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2018 9:20 am

by Jasonlelam

AJS914 wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 4:40 am
I'm going recycle this topic.

So, has anyone notice how expensive (relatively) the well know Chinese wheels have gotten? Five years ago I bought some Farsports for $600 shipped with DT 350S hubs. At the time, that was 1/2 to 1/3rd the cost of name brand wheels.

These days when I price out wheels from Farsports or Light Bicycle I'm coming into the $900 range but I can buy the budget wheels from the big brands with much better warranties for $900-1200. Found a new pair of Zipp 303Ses for around $900.

I know much cheaper Chinese wheels exist. Are they any good? I was comfortable with Farsports but not the $350 ebay or alibaba no name wheels.
The price for DT SWISS 350 has been soaring for the past few years. From ~$200 to $400+ /pair. (100% increase!!!). Nearly everything is becoming more expensive. Believe or not, the good time of low price has gone far away. The name chinese wheels are still the bang for the buck as they exist in the market only because of their reputation, I mean the decent quality of their products and the great value of the service, otherwise they disappear shortly.

AJS914
Posts: 5397
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:52 pm

by AJS914

Well, we have no idea if they are now selling half as many wheels. If I can get the cheap Zipps with a modern rim profile and a lifetime warranty for $100-300 more I'm probably going to go for it.

So, DT Swiss prices are responsible for a lot of the price increase I see? That is not what I see on their site.

What I'm seeing is that they are charging a lot more for their wider more modern rim profiles (Feder, Kaze) and they still sell the "Classic" which is what I bought five years ago. If I were going to choose a wheel from them, it would be the Feder since it is a wider more up to date rim. You can't even get this wheel with a cheaper hub. The 350S is the cheapest hub on that wheel which results in a $920 wheel before any upgrades.

I would think after 5 years they would have a wider rim profile at the price of the classic.

Maddie
Posts: 1532
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 5:44 am

by Maddie

AJS914 wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 5:11 pm
I would think after 5 years they would have a wider rim profile at the price of the classic.
Why would that be? They charge more because they can. Farsports have fast response rates and IMHO excellent customer service. You can also spec Feder and Kaze rims with the hubs you'd like but you need to ask them. They do custom builds but it takes 2-4 weeks more until they are shipped.

rudye9mr
Posts: 498
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 12:01 pm

by rudye9mr

no idea if there is data out there for their rim sections - agreed that a typical V, U or combo of V/U might work - but its up to the user to test....afaik

Nickldn
Posts: 1867
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:35 am

by Nickldn

Look, the bigger and more competitive European brands like Wiggle and Sigma Sports are now using Chinese factories and open mold rim designs to beat Farsports and others at their own game. Some use DT Swiss hubs, some other hub designs.

In Europe they offer good consumer protection/warranty and overnight delivery, as well as similar, or cheaper prices. So for the mass market they are eating the Chinese manufacturers' lunch in Europe.

The thing is Farsport and others provide a lot of opportunity for customisation and lots of details about each rim design, but actually most customers don't care about that, all they want is the product quickly and low hassle after sales support.

Those who do want the customisation etc. will pay more and that's why prices remain high, the business model has changed from 'cheap and good' to 'you can get exactly what you want, for a price '.
Giant Propel Advanced SL Red Etap 11s Easton EC90 wheels CeramicSpeed BB Zipp SL70 bars 6.5kg

Vitus ZX1 CRS Campy Chorus 12s Bora WTO 45 disk brake wheels Zipp SL70 bars 7.5kg

SL8 build with Craft CS5060 Wheels in progress

skinnybex
Posts: 256
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:07 pm

by skinnybex

I own 2 sets of Farsports wheels. My first set is Feder 45mm with RD230 and no issues to speak of other than truing a few spokes after 5,000km. I just received my 2nd set which are 55/60 Wave rims with Carbon-Ti hubs and I've had 2 rides on these and I'm very impressed with both the rims themselves and the hubs and spokes. Look great, hold speed well and and build quality seems excellent.
23’ Cervelo Soloist / 6.88kg - 1x Crit Bike
22' Cervelo R5 / 6.35kg - Climbing Bike
22' Cervelo Caledonia 5 / 7.55kg - Travel Bike
21' Cervelo Aspero / 8.06kg - Gravel Travel Bike
23' Cervelo Aspero 5 / 8.25kg - Gravel Race Bike

AJS914
Posts: 5397
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:52 pm

by AJS914

Maddie wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 5:21 pm
AJS914 wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 5:11 pm
I would think after 5 years they would have a wider rim profile at the price of the classic.
Why would that be? They charge more because they can.

Well, they can't because they are losing a repeat sale from me. But none of us know their sales volume and whether they care to have more or less sales. Maybe most of their business is oem and they just don't care much about retail?

It also doesn't cost them any more to produce a Feder rim over a Classic rim. It's cool if they want to keep selling the same rims five years later for more money but I can't imagine many people are buying them these days.

My Farsports were a fantastic deal 5 years ago but is no longer the case as there is way more competition from sources that aren't located in China. And the competition has better warranties.

I checked out Light Bicycle's offerings. They have more modern (wide) rim profiles and are generally a bit cheaper than Farsports. The gap has still closed between direct from China and the big names especially as the big names now have budget wheels with long or even lifetime warranties.

Jasonlelam
Posts: 82
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2018 9:20 am

by Jasonlelam

AJS914 wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 7:28 pm
Maddie wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 5:21 pm
AJS914 wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 5:11 pm
I would think after 5 years they would have a wider rim profile at the price of the classic.
Why would that be? They charge more because they can.

Well, they can't because they are losing a repeat sale from me. But none of us know their sales volume and whether they care to have more or less sales. Maybe most of their business is oem and they just don't care much about retail?

It also doesn't cost them any more to produce a Feder rim over a Classic rim. It's cool if they want to keep selling the same rims five years later for more money but I can't imagine many people are buying them these days.

My Farsports were a fantastic deal 5 years ago but is no longer the case as there is way more competition from sources that aren't located in China. And the competition has better warranties.

I checked out Light Bicycle's offerings. They have more modern (wide) rim profiles and are generally a bit cheaper than Farsports. The gap has still closed between direct from China and the big names especially as the big names now have budget wheels with long or even lifetime warranties.
With regard to "INNOVATION", honestly I vote for Light Bicycle. Much more frequently their new rims and new tech, some of which are really leading the party, come out these years. And their tech development appears coming out from their understanding /engagement with customers. The R&D I think should hit the cost up quite a bit. https://www.lightbicycle.com/newsletter ... -Tech.html

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eucalyptus
Posts: 527
Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2020 3:51 am
Location: Sweden

by eucalyptus

Nickldn wrote:
Mon May 22, 2023 7:00 pm
Look, the bigger and more competitive European brands like Wiggle and Sigma Sports are now using Chinese factories and open mold rim designs to beat Farsports and others at their own game. Some use DT Swiss hubs, some other hub designs.

In Europe they offer good consumer protection/warranty and overnight delivery, as well as similar, or cheaper prices. So for the mass market they are eating the Chinese manufacturers' lunch in Europe.

The thing is Farsport and others provide a lot of opportunity for customisation and lots of details about each rim design, but actually most customers don't care about that, all they want is the product quickly and low hassle after sales support.

Those who do want the customisation etc. will pay more and that's why prices remain high, the business model has changed from 'cheap and good' to 'you can get exactly what you want, for a price '.
I support this 100% customization is everything to me. While stores like R2 offer custom wheelbuilds, the options are still limited and prices sky high.
Buying a complete custom wheelset from the far east with EXP 180 hubs, CX ray spokes (always cx ray), with any rim and and any spoke nipple color that I want for $11-1500 (still fantastic if prices are slightly higher now) .. That's amazing! Yet to see European builders offer that kind of customization and a competitive prices.
I have two pair of wheels bought in 2020 with special turquoise Pillar spoke nipples that no other builder could offer me at the time, still haven't seen any.


by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



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