Where are Chinese Carbon Wheels made? FARSPORTS Factories Tour.

[@ChinaCycling]

www.pandapodium.cc/brand/farsports/ - I'm proud to stock Farsports products on my own website, Panda Podium! 🐼 Thanks to Farsports and especially Mae Li for this unique opportunity to visit their factories.

[@dougmcdougall3997]

the video was great info , what i didn't see was are the rims hooked ?

[@czts4778]

Is crw and farsports the same factory build?

[@donoldduckben]

i actually wanna share an experience i had with farsports, i had some issue with the trueness of the rear wheel after a couple of weeks of getting my wheels (a feder series with sapim cx ray and dt240 coming in at just 1360 grams at 45mm ), i messaged farsports and they replied, despite not being in mainland china, they took care of me and asked me to take the wheels to a local bike shop for repair, i asked if they could take care of the bill and they did, so its actually quite nice of them to do that for me, the wheels have been spotless thus far

[@PeakTorque]

I can confirm they spin up well and hold speed. Roll really well. Last wheels I had didnt roll well because they were square

[@SamuelBlackMetalRider]

Hey maybe they accelerate well too. Who knows. And maybe they are very compliant.

[@ChinaCycling]

Has anyone told you that you could be a cycling KZbinr...? You should start making videos...

[@PeterEdern1]

I'l take for a given they are very stiff whilst having high compliance, offer excellent feel and also give great rider feedback as well... how many other vague platitudes can an industry develop? ;p

[@PatrickLino]

I love a good rim job.

[@AbielRuiz]

Most people never get to appreciate how much goes into making these products we use! Thank you for the BTS! I love visiting factories!

[@tinoschneider6350]

I own Farsports wheels for my XC and road bike and have zero complaints after a lot of riding. These guys are producing some serious good products!

[@kalanihines]

I have two sets of Farspprts wheels. Did the custom build on both. These are LITERALLY the best wheels I’ve had after 20+ years of racing. Absolutely flawless, super fast, and great ride quality. 👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽Thanks for the awesome vid!

[@ChinaCycling]

Good to hear all these mini reviews in the comments section.

[@SuperDodoe]

The best..."Happy Customer" made my day! Farsports will be my next wheel purchase!

[@1bojanbojan]

That’s the reason why I bought another set for my 2nd bike!

[@dsilva86]

I have a pair of Farsports rims witg DT240 hubs, I'm very pleased with this video! This helped a lot to increase my level of trust on my wheels. well done!

[@nochancecw]

The amount of QC and feedback is a great professional standard. Doing realtime feedback is another level. This makes me want to buy a pair just on principle of supporting good manufacturing processes. Nice job on the video.

[@pierrex3226]

Been buying wheels from them since 2015 or 2016. Great to see the factory tour, I was recently invited by my sales rep to come check out how they work.

[@ChinaCycling]

You should take the chance.... although, you've literally already seen it now, haha. But still, Xiamen is a beautiful place. My / the Panda Podium office is also a few hundred meters from the Farsports office... so make sure you come say "hi" if you go!

[@PeterPutz82]

Great video Joe, we need more of this. I'm happy to pay good money when I see quality and the labor that goes into making quality carbon products. Note the word 'quality'. I like to get home safe to my family.

[@georgehagstrom4022]

Really find these videos helpful for getting to know the Chinese brands better! Had one question: I was fascinated by the part of the tour where they tested the rim brakes. I've heard a lot of good things about how carbon rim brake tracks have improved, but has there been progress on the temperature sensitivity of the resin? If Farsports is willing to say what the glass transition temperature is of the resin they use, I would be curious to know.

[@mysho6317]

Joe; Excellent episode - Your unique (down to earth) presentation style made this a very informative & enjoyable tour. Mae Li & the Farsports factory are impressive. Well Done👏

[@ChinaCycling]

Glad you enjoyed it! It's hard to strike a balance. There's a balance between depth of info and accessibility, and also balance of it being an advert and it being entertaining. Hopefully I got close.

[@mysho6317]

Your Balance was Perfect. You Nailed it.👍

[@AlistairLattimore]

Great video Joe, super interesting. Big thank you to Mae for allowing you behind the scenes with a camera 😊

[@neilwheel]

Great video Joe! More please 😊

[@ChinaCycling]

More to come!

[@marosi93]

Amazing video with amazing company with amazing story behind. Im really happy that you came there and film all these. Love your work.

[@dcv9460]

Awesome Tour! Thank you 💯👍

[@SkylarsRnD]

Love this video! I really dig these wheels and their QC process

[@christophbosshard4028]

Thank you Joe great content, nice details and insights!

[@MasterCheif211]

Have a set of C4 rim brake wheels I bought in 2022. Absolutely top quality wheel set. No issues and tough as nails.

[@卡臣-c2f]

Owner of C4 here, have been using it for a year without any problem.

[@edwinwong9547]

Own two sets by Farsports/Wheelsfar, one road and one gravel. Almost a 1000kms on each so far, happy as a peach. Great quality, great price. Went with their own in-house hubs which turned out to be lighter and less expensive than the big names.

[@Silidons91]

Are those the new ones that have the ratchet design?

[@bvkdf]

Are decals on wheels painted or are they stickers you can remove to have a total black wheels? Thank you

[@VeloclubLechhausen]

Really good video, Joe 👍 I've been building wheels for so many years with a lot of Farsports rims and I've had never any issues while building or riding these wheels. No delamination, no cracked rims, always round and good spoke-nipple lines. I can confirm that they make good quality products.

[@ChinaCycling]

Great to hear!

[@maximgoethals]

The gentlemen in the pictures is actually Etienne De Wilde and not Roger De Vlaeminck. Also an incredible cyclist!

[@wouterdobbelaere]

Indeed. And in the book, it also shows the signature of Etienne De Wilde, not Roger De Vlaminck. So I guess you guys misunderstood who she was talking about. Etienne De Wilde never won Paris-Roubaix, though he was (and still is) one of the most famous Belgian track riders ever! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etienne_De_Wilde

[@ChinaCycling]

Oh crap. Massive apologies to both of those guys. I thought it was just a thing of Flandarians switching between Belgian and Dutch or something... I messed that up. Again; huge apologies to both Roger and Etienne... (Especially as they can both probably still drop me...)

[@PaulJakma]

Love Farsports. Got a set of wheels from them many years ago, and they've been great. Though, pretty sure I bought them in 2012! Are you sure that's Roger de Vlaeminck? The guy at @18:11 and @18:15 is definitely not Roger. I'm fairly sure it's Etienne de Wilde - you have a clip of a book with photos of him and his name :).

[@radtony1720]

Waiting on a disc wheel from them now. Cool to see where they came from!

[@CarmineEspositoIT]

I bought my first pair of carbon wheels from Farsport back in 2015. Super quality and amazing customer service. They helped me to solve a problem with some wheels three years after purchasing. Highly recommend!!

[@Al-Sihng]

Awesome walkthrough Joe, quite impressed with whole setup.

[@greghart6310]

Very impressive! Mae seems awesome. Looking to use their wheels on the next build

[@dbk81]

Great video, I’m a huge proponent of the quality coming out of China in the cycling industry.

[@ChinaCycling]

Then you're in the right place! 🙌

[@chriscook4130]

Extremely happy with my race, climbing (since 2015) and now gravel wheel sets. Easy order/selection and communications back-forth.

[@treyquattro]

great inside look at carbon wheel manufacture. Very useful too - FarSports is one of the options for my next wheelset (along with CRW, DT Swiss, & Shimano - i.e. hooked, and "affordable" (rules out Princeton Carbonworks))

[@THECONTROVERSIALCYCLIST]

Amazing insight to how quality carbon rims are made. This is the most transparent process, that is so much better than the likes of Zipp marketing adverts that make out its their own dark Art. This has all the anti China bike industry snobbs crying into their soup 😂😂😂 Great work Joe👍👍👍👍👍

[@ChinaCycling]

Sea nuts unite, all aboard cap'n.

[@Hambini]

Farsports don't make hookless rims. That is all you need to know. Cue the people with the small pens who will go and check.

[@pierrex3226]

I bought 4 sets of gravel hookless rims from them. Been buying wheels from them since 2015 or 2016. Dope wheels btw. I've banged mine so many times on rocks in Bulgaria, still going strong.

[@MrJaycobsen]

You can choose hooked or hookless on there custom site wheelsafar

[@andiandi9275]

I have one pair of farsport hookles wheels

[@ChinaCycling]

I think they have some hookless models in their "DIY" range, and also some of their OEM customers request hookless models. But, yes, currently all their "Farsports" brand road wheels are hooked... safety first kids.

[@shawnsmith7009]

My hairdresser what me with hookless. 🎉

[@RobbArmstrong1]

The "making the rim" portion I found most interesting. I'd like to see a wheelset in that 12k weave pattern!🔥It's crazy what you can do with carbon. The ideas are endless! Excellent coverage Joe! #RobbArmstrong

[@ChinaCycling]

You and me both!

[@Multi8h]

Incredible video! Mind boggling how labour intensive carbon is

[@ChinaCycling]

Yeah, the ladies doing the layup was very labour intensive, also very mentally taxing (although I'm sure it gets easier with repetition) Also loading up the molds looked tough.

[@itsok2023]

Excellent video. My junior daughter has a pair of carbon 50’s far-sports rim and got a flat 1km from finish of natz road champ and rode them to finish. Not one issue with them. Not even out of true.

[@ChinaCycling]

Right on!

[@BikesandMusic]

I have MTB wheelset which done 30000kms mix of XC/gravel races and rides. The only thing I've had to do is regrease DT Swiss ratchet. Everything else considered are bulletproof. I am 80-90kg rider ( depending on the time of the season :D )

[@jasonlevitt]

Super impressive. Ive a few sets of their wheels and a few F1S cockpits- the quality is fantastic.

[@ChinaCycling]

There's a reason they've been around so long. 👍

[@davidnicholson6680]

I have several pairs of Farsports wheels. They are top quality, light, fast rolling and well built. Excellent stuff if you ride a lot.

[@craigblowfield8821]

Built a set of wheels using Far Sports Kaze 38/40asy rim brake rims laced to DT240 hubs 3yrs ago and they've clocked up about 30.000km so far 👍

[@ChinaCycling]

They seem to be very solid rims!

[@craigblowfield8821]

@@ChinaCycling I weigh in a 65kg but will do around 3000m of vert each week so it's not just riding on the flat. My only worry is that by the time they wear out Far Sports won't be doing rim brake rims any more :)

[@bonbonflippers4298]

I support farsports. I have one of their wheels for over a year. Its currently on my heavy touring bike and it had taken the abuse no problem. I am 88kg not light at all.

[@glennoc8585]

88 kgs isn't heavy mind you

[@vietnguyen4312]

Awesome video Joe. Thanks

[@ChinaCycling]

Thanks for watching!

[@mrcycling7007]

This was fantastic!! Thank you so much 🙏🏻

[@ChinaCycling]

Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. 🙌

[@keatonhanson]

farsports are fantastic - best customer service as well!

[@ChinaCycling]

Good to see comments like these. I obviously get the red carpet rolled out when I show up with my camera, so seeing that genuine paying customers are getting great service is also reassuring!

[@henrychungfitness]

Thanks for sharing! It’s awesome to see the different steps in the process for manufacturing a set of carbon wheels 👌

[@Speedy.V]

Yeeees. More of this content.

[@benoitdugas745]

Hi Joe, are your CRW wheels made in that factory?

[@niceracleous9999]

Great vid👍

[@DanTuber]

Impressive setup. Got a set of farsports and didn't know the process was that extensive.

[@ChinaCycling]

Probably built by one of those three wheelbuilders in there!

[@DanTuber]

I should get them checked out but so far they have been good. @@ChinaCycling

[@noze02]

Love these factory videos, thanks for sharing!! Maybe a little too far on marketing with the 2 microns for the first CNC operation 😅😅 but otherwise great to see this👍👍

[@e92zerorider93]

At the 12 mins mark, those wavey pattern rims, are those PCWs?

[@TomTang-sr8wd]

Love Farsports Products for Ever. Love its pholosophy

[@markxkovacic]

I have 4 sets of Farsports wheels. The gravel bike set have 32 K miles. Quality products and have never had to true or replace spokes on any of them. I don't have experience with their hubs always using DT swiss because of availability of parts but I would suspect they are high quality.

[@ChinaCycling]

32,000 miles? Thats bananas! Great to hear...

[@jitterspec]

I bought a set of far sports rim brake carbon wheels back in 2012. They aren't my highest mileage wheels, babied them at first and eventually learned they don't need to be babied. Still going strong today!

[@faderblock]

8:20 rim mold is very controversial right now because of the hook less rims incident in races nowadays. im not saying the video itself is for hook less but is shared some same process with the hooked types.

[@ChinaCycling]

Yeah, the rim in that shot is a hookless MTB rim I think

[@n.eilo_rides]

Great work Joe, love this kind of vlog

[@ChinaCycling]

More to come!

[@Ghostina1]

I love the parts which are overexposed or blurred in purpose cause of the OEM Brands! ;-)

[@ChinaCycling]

I had to be very careful with camera angles, and still some things snuck through. Ended up with more mosaic than....some other video I once watched.

[@lichang4110]

Very happy owner of 2 sets (650b disc and Feder rim 700C). Solid even after going through some scary potholes.

[@jauxed]

I like the attitude of the owner...how she care about the customers.

[@mikes41720]

This was a great video! Now considering a set of Farsports wheels.

[@TomTang-sr8wd]

Wow love to see how Farsports products are made

[@Silidons91]

I love FarSports wheels! Always responsive. Two sets of wheels zero issues ever. I use the cheaper custom option through their wheels far site.

[@frankreyes4]

Informative, and thank you for being a thorough businessman

[@cyclespassion.]

Merci Joe, il me tarde de tester ces roues. 😍

[@ChinaCycling]

Good to see you here! And yes, good quality wheels!

[@kawabus]

Are farsports and wheelsfar the same company? I have 3 sets of wheelsfar wheels with dt swiss 240 hubs and they are fantastic. Better than the zipps I have.

[@AboutMyBikes]

Does anyone know the brands they are producing wheels for them? I did not find any info on the web.

[@sasha371]

Got their handlebars! Amazing piece of engineering

[@ChinaCycling]

Yup! Rocking them on my 3T. It's crazy how many different spacers they have to make and trying to keep it compatible with all the different routing options out there. The new F1X is a bit pricey, but I do like the look of the "lava carbon" finish.

[@CG-99]

Anybody know which big brands are made at FarSports?

[@jkotsche7035]

Does Farsports make rims/wheels for 9Velo or is 9Velo a separate company?

[@gregschramm8180]

Wow very cool and very interesting thanks

[@KingdomOfJah]

What happens to their products that don't pass QC? Are they sold on a secondary market as unbranded? Are they recycled? Thrown in the waste bin....etc?

[@mediakk1]

Hi there, I wanted to buy the lightest farsports wheel set for road bike, farsports on aliexpress clam to have 810g clincher but one guy from farsports tells me that the lightest possible was 1050g someone knows?? Thanks

[@ChinaCycling]

Just make sure anything on AliExpress is an official seller. If in doubt, email farsports with the address on their official website.

[@Lazy_Jay_Racing]

I have carbon Xc MTB wheels from Farsports and they've been excellent.. 😁👍

[@stevenfairchild8477]

Looks like a nice steel test frame. LEAL, never heard of them. Anyone know them?

[@ChinaCycling]

I was also surprised to see that in there... but then I guess it makes sense, steal is real or something. ;) ;)

[@stevenfairchild8477]

@@ChinaCycling hope to see you at Taipei show.

[@LB-mr1fs]

Are 9velo and Farsports the same company?

[@richo7751]

I'm a blind para cyclist on a road race rim brake spec tandem. Would be interested to see if options exist for 28 bladed spoke, for 25mm tyre. Currently use Chris King hubs on training wheels.

[@ChinaCycling]

Farsports can also do custom wheel builds through their sub-company Wheelsfar... you can send them an email.. Also, just curious... how do you watch my videos? I assume not fully blind? I want to approve my videos accessibility for more people.

[@richo7751]

@@ChinaCycling yep, blind as a bat so like all YT content I watch with my ears. Would love to see China produce a race tandem comprable to a Calfee or Filament tandem. I know people who have imported from UK and US and spent over 30k Australian on a complete build. As for your content, I get the info I need from you and other creators from UK and Aus.

[@pepessz32]

IMO farsports is on par with hyper wheels. I’ve got friends who uses them both rim brakes and discs, and they’re really solid. Please also review Avian factory. I think they’re one of the next big thing.

[@ChinaCycling]

Yeah, Id also like to visit the Avian factory.

[@lordalfa600]

I love all my Farsports rims that I build. And I will continue getting their rims and build my wheels.

[@Stealthwealth1001]

China is making affordable cycling products that are well made and hi performance. Your channel sold me on Winspace Hypers. Lots of racers have made the leap to non legacy brands.

[@RodneyMuhling]

Grate wheels and price

[@EveryTongue]

Impressively strong brand 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@bikesavvy3654]

Great content

[@silverxia497]

Great video. Very clear.

[@Saladh_Olivier]

How is Wheelsfar related to Farsports?

[@flynando]

I was going to ask the samw thing. As far as I know, it`s the same company, but maybe Joe could confirm that for us.

[@julmeissonnier]

As far as I know, Farsports is the OEM supplier of rims and f the Farsport branded models. Wheelsfar is the channel through which they sell custom wheel builds...

[@Saladh_Olivier]

I mean, it would be nice to know for sure. I have wheels from Wheelsfar that have Farsports stickers on them, and I even recognised some wheels in the videos as wheels sold on Wheelsfar site. I just seek to a clarification. Thanks for the reply🙏

[@eto2352]

@@Saladh_Olivier Wheelsfar is simply Farsports custom choice website. They offer much more variation while Farsports is their namebrand stock setup. All from the same place.

[@1bojanbojan]

I have 2 sets of farsports the best wheels especially paired with DT240 EXP or DT180 EXP

[@2wheelsrbest327]

Boy this was an education ! So many people are only to ready to diss Chinese bicycle components and when I now see how thorough they are in producing them its an insult to all those that are involved in the process. I'm pretty sure those wheel builders would get jobs over here in the UK. When finances allow I will definitely looking at yours and Farsports for new wheels.

[@jorgecastolero5678]

I’m using farsports hubs and never had an issue…been using it for 3 years..but recently.,I decided to use a respectable brand.,I won’t name it though..lasted for only 6 months so I have to put it back again…

[@Aiden.K]

Been using farsports for rim break over 2 yrs. FYI. . My weight is around 185lbs. Still solid no issue. But riding mostly jn flat or rolling hill terrains. So not sure their rim brake surfaces would be okay for long term if you live in like Colorado or Cali areas where have long distance downhills

[@ChinaCycling]

As much as i love rim brake, it definitely has it's upper-limit.

[@pibil8052]

i have set of their rims without coating and look amazing

[@loeurnchim213]

Yaasss super Nice ❤

[@cyclingcalifornia510]

I love that the wheel builders use a Park Tool truing stand.

[@ChinaCycling]

When you use a tool for 7hrs a day, better make sure it's good

[@JesperPickering]

Whats the name the hub in the video?

[@ChinaCycling]

It's from the Evo series.

[@JamesMason-i7s]

That was cool I did not know about all the q c thank you .

[@TheXiamenCyclingFeed]

That QC is legit, love to see it

[@lilth501]

I'm interested in Mae's story

[@Pragmatist101]

So FAR SPORTS still making and testing RIM BRAKE rims......speaks volumes!

[@ChinaCycling]

Rim brake wheels and HOOKED tubeless...it's almost like they listen to consumers instead of pushing things they didn't ask for...

[@Pragmatist101]

@ChinaCycling agreed! As big manufacturers push expensive complicated tech on consumers, they will continue to have sales worries (BMC, SCOTT are you listening?) . The clever , hungry manufacturers (mostly in East Asia) will take the gap created and give the market what it wants.

[@undefined624]

The og best chinese carbon wheels.

[@endtimeslips4660]

hope they made 6 spoke series. for road bike

[@fnqadv1162]

Really interesting, ghood to know where my money went, a lot of work in building a set of wheels.