Fast FWD F4R Wheels
Chrisrebbeck
Posts: 133
FINALLY settled on a wheel set and ordered these at 20% on Wiggle yesterday morning and today they are no longer available (2013 version although you can still get the black/white colour scheme version).
Sorry for the pants photo, took it quickly on its first ride for the wheels so will take some better ones for the your road bike section.
So my background on wheels. Ride cosmic carbone Sl (50mm) deep on my TT (Cannondale Slice) They are nice but at the end of the day I think they are an elite wheelset with a carbon fairing and quite heavy. For the last 18 months I have used Campag Neutrons with shimano freewheel which have been nice but at 82KG im more of a diesal than mountain goat so really wanted some deeper wheels. When I got the cannondale it came with an ultegra 6700 wheelset and I wanted to try tubeless so over the last month I have run it on Bontrager 25mm tubeless tyres. I felt the 6700 really lacked the zipp of the neutrons and felt a litte flexy up hill out of the saddle. Then started my new wheel journey! I decided I liked the idea of C35 dura ace wheels but wanted them in tubeless and research told me I couldnt. Therefore I spent AGES mulling over C24 (tubless) Bontrager Race (tubeless) or handbuilts (tubeless). Sadly I really couldnt shirk the feeling that I wanted a bit of aero, not loads as I didnt want to struggle in side winds like I can on the Mavics and I didnt want to take the weight uphills on my Alps holidays. Then I came across these on wiggle. They looked good, weighed in at 1635 which was fine for me. Had a proper carbon rim to them (not a fairing like the Cosmics) and at just over £800 looked better value than the C35s. So I gave up the tubeless dream for a bit and took the plunge.
Unboxing was lovely you get the feel of a class package.
1st ride out:
Flat to start and they felt nice. Fast and comfortable but not blown away 'wowness' over the ultegras but they were slightly faster and as comfortable. They did however feel more responsive, more 'flickable' which was lovely. They weren't affected by the lightish cross winds at all this evening. Uphill they were flex free and felt quicker than my ultegras and as quick as my neutrons. But down hill. WOW. They gave me the greatest laugh out load moment I have ever had on a bike. They rolled so well they just kept accelerating with hubs feeling as smooth and fast as my neutrons, but the rim encouraging even more speed. They felt planted comfortable and just so fast. I then hit another flat with a slight tail wind and sat comfortably at 25mph and they felt simply awesome. I am so pleased with them and they suit my riding so well.
I should say ATM they have 4 seasons on in 25MM varient which although I rave about, are a little ugly. Summer tyres will be Ultremos or GP4000S.
So what have I learnt? There is alot of advice on these forums and internet pages to help so get amongst it but be selective and be aware that alot of people will have polar opposite views/experiences with kit. I ended up going with Fast fwds because I liked the look of their after sales support and the wheels look like a good wheel builder could replace spokes etc. So far really impressed.
Sorry for the pants photo, took it quickly on its first ride for the wheels so will take some better ones for the your road bike section.
So my background on wheels. Ride cosmic carbone Sl (50mm) deep on my TT (Cannondale Slice) They are nice but at the end of the day I think they are an elite wheelset with a carbon fairing and quite heavy. For the last 18 months I have used Campag Neutrons with shimano freewheel which have been nice but at 82KG im more of a diesal than mountain goat so really wanted some deeper wheels. When I got the cannondale it came with an ultegra 6700 wheelset and I wanted to try tubeless so over the last month I have run it on Bontrager 25mm tubeless tyres. I felt the 6700 really lacked the zipp of the neutrons and felt a litte flexy up hill out of the saddle. Then started my new wheel journey! I decided I liked the idea of C35 dura ace wheels but wanted them in tubeless and research told me I couldnt. Therefore I spent AGES mulling over C24 (tubless) Bontrager Race (tubeless) or handbuilts (tubeless). Sadly I really couldnt shirk the feeling that I wanted a bit of aero, not loads as I didnt want to struggle in side winds like I can on the Mavics and I didnt want to take the weight uphills on my Alps holidays. Then I came across these on wiggle. They looked good, weighed in at 1635 which was fine for me. Had a proper carbon rim to them (not a fairing like the Cosmics) and at just over £800 looked better value than the C35s. So I gave up the tubeless dream for a bit and took the plunge.
Unboxing was lovely you get the feel of a class package.
1st ride out:
Flat to start and they felt nice. Fast and comfortable but not blown away 'wowness' over the ultegras but they were slightly faster and as comfortable. They did however feel more responsive, more 'flickable' which was lovely. They weren't affected by the lightish cross winds at all this evening. Uphill they were flex free and felt quicker than my ultegras and as quick as my neutrons. But down hill. WOW. They gave me the greatest laugh out load moment I have ever had on a bike. They rolled so well they just kept accelerating with hubs feeling as smooth and fast as my neutrons, but the rim encouraging even more speed. They felt planted comfortable and just so fast. I then hit another flat with a slight tail wind and sat comfortably at 25mph and they felt simply awesome. I am so pleased with them and they suit my riding so well.
I should say ATM they have 4 seasons on in 25MM varient which although I rave about, are a little ugly. Summer tyres will be Ultremos or GP4000S.
So what have I learnt? There is alot of advice on these forums and internet pages to help so get amongst it but be selective and be aware that alot of people will have polar opposite views/experiences with kit. I ended up going with Fast fwds because I liked the look of their after sales support and the wheels look like a good wheel builder could replace spokes etc. So far really impressed.
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Comments
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Chrisrebbeck wrote:Then I came across these on wiggle. They looked good, weighed in at 1635 which was fine for me. Had a proper carbon rim to them (not a fairing like the Cosmics) and at just over £800 looked better value than the C35s.
Finding a better value wheel than the C35 is not difficult, tbh. In any case, those are heavy wheels for that price. You could have bought Quattros - ok they're another 100g on top, but they're also £600 cheaper...
edit - where did the other replies go..??0 -
Imposter wrote:edit - where did the other replies go..??
Deleted... too offensive for this forumleft the forum March 20230 -
Haha, frightened of the abuse?
You shouldn't even be a mod because of your actions.
In fact...Advocate of disc brakes.0 -
I've converted my f4r tubeless. Running bonty r3 25c.
VavavooomRitchey Road Logic - Focus Izalco Chrono Max 1.0 TT0
