Gravel Bike Wheels - Farsports 27.5” Crater Wheels Review

Farsports 27.5” Crater Wheels Review

• Rims: Farsports AM27H30C40 – 30mm deep 40mm wide tubeless disc-specific carbon rims.
• Hubs: DTSwiss 350 straight pull centre lock hubs
• Spokes: Sapim race
• Usage: gravel bike: fast riding on rough Scottish Roads; some gravel.

Website: https://oem.farsports.cn https://www.wheelsfar.com/

Contact: Sandy Xiao – sandy [at] farsports.cn

Disclaimer: I've used Farsports wheels for 6 years now, the relationship with this brand developing from regular customer to manager of a Farsports-sponsored team. These are wheels I have purchased myself (with team discount) for personal use.  Farsports asked me if I would write a review and I was happy to do so.

Purchasing

Purchasing is a simple process, but usually takes a few emails back and forth with Sandy whilst I make my mind up on a purchase! There is a direct web store at  https://www.wheelsfar.com/  but personally I've never used this. Once you've decided on a wheelset, a proforma invoice is sent and payment is required before wheels go to production. I've found using the Transferwise service to be a handy way of paying the best exchange rate.

Delivery

Delivery usually takes around 3-4 weeks after payment. There will invariably be a customs charge to pay; this has always been £35-£45 per box for me.

The wheelset will arrive, securely packaged (I've had around 20 wheelsets delivered to me over the past few years without any damage in transit) in a box like this:

Weight

Front wheel (with tubeless valve): 732g

Rear wheel (with tubeless valve): 871g

Wheelset weight: 1603g

For a tubeless wheelset with such wide rims and built with hubs for strength and value rather than ultimate performance, I was very pleasantly surprised by wheelset weight. These are over 400g lighter for the set than the much narrower alloy rims they replaced.

Performance

I chose the 40mm rim width so they would transition nicely with 40mm tyres and the rims indeed do so:

(front with 40mm Schwalbe G One Speed)

(rear with 50mm Schwalbe G One Speed)

This is my first performance disc brake wheelset and in summary I'm astonished! Paired with the incredible Schwalbe G One Speed tyres (claimed to be their fastest production tyres – faster than the pro one road tyres) my gravel bike feels as fast or faster than my summer race bike! The wide tyres glide over the horrendous Scottish roads and roll exceptionally quickly. I've done team training rides at race pace (around 27mph average on the flat) and have had no difficulty in maintaining speed and feel I have a definite advantage over the rough stuff. The results of some roller tests with a power meter and speed sensor show a massive 50-60w power saving at 30mph over WTB Horizon 47c tyres and the rolling resistance with 60psi front/55psi rear is virtually identical to my 88mm wheels with 23/25mm Schwalbe Pro one tyres at 90psi(I’ve found 50/45psi to be fast and give a good level of comfort):

27.5” wheels 40/50mm 60/55psi

80mm 700c wheels 23/25mm 90/90psi

I've used the wheels on training rides for several hundred miles so far in typically Scottish Winter/Spring conditions and they remain true with bearings smooth. The crater wheelsets are made using formed rather than drilled spoke holes so this should add to wheel strength and durability.

Summary

I’m extremely happy with my purchase of this 27.5mm tubeless wheelset and definitely consider my gravel bike to be the most ‘fun’ to ride. So impressed with the performance of the bike with this tyre and wheel setup I'm considering using the bike in circuit races and road races with rougher surfaces.