Farsport Carbon Wheels

[usernameforme]

15 year old kids are so demanding these days.

They are

[r2160]

In that case, might I propose something different. Are we able to get a few different people, of different abilities, different fitness levels, with different wheel sets.

That way, we would end up with real world opinions and that would eliminate what different people think of different things.

How does that sound?

We could try them in training situations and racing situations as well. I have a set of Fulcrum 5 Evo's that I will donate to the test if you like.

cheers
Glenn

[AUbicycles]

The principles have merit, fair testing, though the reality is that to do this properly and following the conditions mean it most likely wont happen.

Still waiting to hear back on my emails before starting to invest serious time.

[Magpie]

Baldy wrote
"The way I see it if farsport think their wheels are good value/superior product then they should foot the bill for the testing. This includes buying the wheelsets you want in the comparison. And then publishing the results without moderation, if it is shown that farsports make an inferior product"

Can't see the logic in this ?

I dought there's any accepted objective tests to ISO standards that can be done by an independant NATA registered testing authority,

It's a wasted disscussion full of unfounded opinions
M

[wombatK]

...
The way I see it if farsport think their wheels are good value/superior product then they should foot the bill for the testing. This includes buying the wheelsets you want in the comparison. And then publishing the results without moderation, if it is shown that farsports make an inferior product.
...

I would not trust such a test's results, no matter which manufacturer ran it.

Vested interests?

Exactly. Testing persons need to be independent, and to have some reasonable professional standards to uphold.

As a suggestion, it might be worth contacting the mechanical engineering school at local universities. It could be an interesting project/learning exercise for final-year under-graduates to research testing methods and conduct such testing. They are often looking for people in industry to suggest good topics.

cheers

[fixedlegs2012]

To be fair only real world testing is done by UCI standard which would involve sending mutiple sets of wheels to the UCI to test till failure. How would I know? My team is sponsored by a wheel manufactuer which had to go through it.

However FarSports do have a good rep!!

[wombatK]

To be fair only real world testing is done by UCI standard

In view of the scandalous EPO/LA era, the UCI brand has zero credibility. As Lance demonstrated,
they are easily and cheaply bought.

Cheers

[Mulger bill]

To be fair only real world testing is done by UCI standard

In view of the scandalous EPO/LA era, the UCI brand has zero credibility. As Lance demonstrated,
they are easily and cheaply bought.

My thoughts too but if we ignore that, what sort of testing would be recommended? What sort of testing would a rider as opposed to a scientist think important? Truth and hub drag are two things I look at without conscious thought whenever I look at a wheel but there's got to be more that could be done without a dedicated lab. How could impacts tests be reliably repeated?

Sorry, just thinking aloud. I like to tinker...

[high_tea]

To be fair only real world testing is done by UCI standard

In view of the scandalous EPO/LA era, the UCI brand has zero credibility. As Lance demonstrated,
they are easily and cheaply bought.

My thoughts too but if we ignore that, what sort of testing would be recommended? What sort of testing would a rider as opposed to a scientist think important? Truth and hub drag are two things I look at without conscious thought whenever I look at a wheel but there's got to be more that could be done without a dedicated lab. How could impacts tests be reliably repeated?

Sorry, just thinking aloud. I like to tinker...

How even the spoke tension is. Maybe lateral stiffness, but I dunno how easy that is. Easier than getting the wheels into a wind tunnel, I'd imagine...

[Mulger bill]

I reckon I could knock up some sort of jig to support the wheel horizontally then hang say a 5kg weight off the outer edge of the rim and measure deflection. What'd be the most repeatable way to test hub drag?, can't just pick up one end of the bike and spin the wheel... Real world impact testing, should the wheel be turning or stationary?

[greyhoundtom]

Real world impact testing

I still think the idea of sending a set of wheels to toolonglegs is the best way to achieve that.

[usernameforme]

turning or stationary?

IIRC, Tour (or one of those magazines) did a similar test and they did it stationary.

[jacks1071]

To be fair only real world testing is done by UCI standard

In view of the scandalous EPO/LA era, the UCI brand has zero credibility. As Lance demonstrated,
they are easily and cheaply bought.

Cheers

The testing is not done by the UCI - I already told everyone where the testing is done.

[jacks1071]

Real world impact testing

I still think the idea of sending a set of wheels to toolonglegs is the best way to achieve that.

If he lived here I'd be posting him all sorts of gear to test! I have some similiar guys who "break everything" that I do use regularly with new products just to satisfy myself

[BenevolantDictatorD]

What about anyone who has a set of these giving us some feedback - I'm inclined to risk the money on an unknown but wouldn't want it to be falling apart under me - so if anyone has views on the quality of the wheel they have ridden I would be interested.

For those who profess to know - how does the hub compare - etc

[jasonc]

What about anyone who has a set of these giving us some feedback - I'm inclined to risk the money on an unknown but wouldn't want it to be falling apart under me - so if anyone has views on the quality of the wheel they have ridden I would be interested.

For those who profess to know - how does the hub compare - etc

you could have some minimum requirements for the amount of kms. it's also going to depend on type of riding. e.g. commuting, racing, weekend coffee shop rides etc, type of tyres run. the geometry of the bike may also make a difference.

i've got 5 sets of wheels for 2 bikes (2 sets deon would be happy with). all for different purposes. haven't run all on both bikes. so couldn't comment how they all went on the one bike. they also all have different tyres (brands and types)

[winstonw]

What about anyone who has a set of these giving us some feedback - I'm inclined to risk the money on an unknown but wouldn't want it to be falling apart under me - so if anyone has views on the quality of the wheel they have ridden I would be interested.

For those who profess to know - how does the hub compare - etc

Done.....http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=51377&start=325&hilit=chinese

[winstonw]

The testing is not done by the UCI - I already told everyone where the testing is done.

And something tells me Farsports will now pursue UCI testing and approval.
A much bigger step towards credibility.
And they'll sit back and let bicycle forums do what they do best.

[jacks1071]

The testing is not done by the UCI - I already told everyone where the testing is done.

And something tells me Farsports will now pursue UCI testing and approval.
A much bigger step towards credibility.
And they'll sit back and let bicycle forums do what they do best.

For sure it'll give them cred. Thats if they they pass the test which is not safe to assume.

[dale79]

plenty of china carbon wheels have passed so shouldnt be a problem..

[jacks1071]

plenty of china carbon wheels have passed so shouldnt be a problem..

Yeah for sure since everything that comes out of China is top quality.

[Ben82]

Ok i'll chime in here! Recieved my Farsports 50mm carbon clinchers last week and they are absolutly flawless. I am using these as race wheels and have wrapped them with gp4000's. I'm not very qualified to comment performance as i've not ridden to many differnt wheels in my time, but they roll nice and helped me to my maiden 'D' grade win on the weekend. Lets see how they go in 'C' grade

[bardygrub]

Ok i'll chime in here! Recieved my Farsports 50mm carbon clinchers last week and they are absolutly flawless. I am using these as race wheels and have wrapped them with gp4000's. I'm not very qualified to comment performance as i've not ridden to many differnt wheels in my time, but they roll nice and helped me to my maiden 'D' grade win on the weekend. Lets see how they go in 'C' grade

Hi Ben,

What hubs did you go for?

[Xplora]

helped me to my maiden 'D' grade win on the weekend.

There you go. The results speak for themselves... RACE PROVEN FARSPORTS CARBON TAKES BEN82 TO VICTORY

[MarkG]

Ok i'll chime in here! Recieved my Farsports 50mm carbon clinchers last week and they are absolutly flawless. I am using these as race wheels and have wrapped them with gp4000's. I'm not very qualified to comment performance as i've not ridden to many differnt wheels in my time, but they roll nice and helped me to my maiden 'D' grade win on the weekend. Lets see how they go in 'C' grade

Ben, I would like to see how they go after several months - not saying that they're going to fail or anything of that nature, all I do know however is that quality wheels cost a pretty dime, but they do last a damn long time. Case in point - my Fulcrum Zeros - cost over 2k when I bought them a couple of years ago, and they're still going flawlessly.