Unless wheels have come with a bike, I like to build my own wheels. It’s fun to do, and you get exactly the wheels you want. When it came to sourcing some new TT race wheels however, I decided that I needed some carbon deep section rims. As I had never built up carbon rims before I went for a pair of hand built wheels from China, FarSports in Xiamen to be precise. Significant time searching the internet suggested that this company was the most reputable.
Their webshop http://www.wheelsfar.com was easy to navigate and in went my order for a pair of their 60mm x 20.5mm Clincher with DT240S hubs. These would be used only for TTs so nice and thin for speed not comfort, although they were fine in the CC Breckland 12 hour last year. Not only did I set new personal bests at all distances, in one race I hit a pot hole at full speed so hard it trashed both tyres but the rims were not affected at all!
So pleased was I with these wheels I wanted to try my hand at building my own carbon rimmed wheels so I next ordered some rims. One of the issues I had was that the tyres on the race wheels were not for every day use so I couldn’t use my race wheels except for racing unless I was prepared to continually change tyres. However, changing wheels from my carbon race wheels to the training alloy wheels meant changing the brake blocks, not a long job really, but a good excuse to get a set of carbon rim training wheels!
What to buy? My 60mm rims do catch the wind sometimes so I decided on 50mm deep profiles as I had read that once you go deeper than 50mm you aren’t gaining much, maybe a handful of seconds over 25 miles. I also decided on a wider rim as the roads in Northamptonshire are shockingly bad and I would use these wheels for road racing as well as long distance audax rides. So the rims were set, now the hubs. I have always been a fan of high end Shimano hubs and a 32 hole Ultegra hub would give me a good strong wheel, well suited to anything I may wish to throw at it. That was last year.
This year I wanted to build up a track bike so ordered some track wheels, again from FarSports. I am currently writing this post from Xiamen, having spent the morning visiting the company on a rare day off during a rather hectic business trip that involves visiting 9 cities in 10 days, 7 internal flights and two high speed train journeys.
The taxi ride took about 40′ including a couple of phone calls to Sandy at FarSports so that she could explain to the driver exactly where he had to go to. I suspect not many tourists ask to go out into the industrial areas. Sandy came out to meet me on the street and take me up to their office/workshop on the second floor of the building. My first impression was that is was a much smaller operation than I expected. Chatting over tea with Sandy and Mae, the owner, we spent half the time talking about their wheels and cycling, and the other half about my school and the difference between education in China and the UK!
This half of the operation is where the wheels are assembled, the rims being manufactured at a another location about an hour away, overseen by Mae’s brother Ben. Each wheel is hand built in what is essentially a two man operation, one laces up the rim and the other tensions and trues the wheel. My track wheels were built and already boxed, just waiting for an extra 88mm rim to be included in the box that I had at the last minute ordered. Mae showed me some very new rims of their own design which I can’t show you, but they looked absolutely fantastic. Also on the racks were the lightest wheels I have ever handled! Built around Italian Extralite hubs they come in at around 770g a pair, yes…a pair! Only suitable for hill climbing though, I wouldn’t want to hit a pot hole at speed with those under me.
Although FarSports will happily sell to individuals, most of their production will go to resellers and distributors across the globe with their main market being in Europe. I imagine that there are many cyclists riding FarSports wheels without even knowing it. Mae was very coy about giving any names out, for example when I asked if they did any wind tunnel testing she said no they didn’t but she had results from a company in Europe they make wheels for that showed that their rims were as good as certain popular American wheels.
My verdict on this company? Well, to be honest, I was already a fan, with one pair of their wheels and another set of rims built up coping well with the rubbish roads around here. Their wheels are not cheap “Chinese carbon” but you are paying for quality rims handbuilt onto great hubs. Actually you can opt for cheaper hubs but if you are spending this sort of money you should go for at least the DTSwiss.