Your rim brake pads need maintenance as well as your wheels.

When the cuts are full with dirt you need to open the cuts again, so they can drain the dirt again. When the cuts are worn you need the  pads to be replaced with new ones.

For Full Carbon rim brake wheels we recommend Swissstop Black Prince.

For Alu rim brake or disc brake we recommend the pads provided by the brand of the group-set on your bicycle.

Rim brake;

When the cuts in the pads are worn than you should replace the pads. Don’t let the pads wear too much, it will ruin your rims in short time.

Disc Brake;

When the disc brake pads in your bike start to make noise you should check the wear. Worn out pads can damage your disc brake rotors.

A clincher wheel uses traditionally an outer tire with inner tube. Nowadays it is also possible to ride without the inner tube when the clincher wheel is indicated to be tubeless ready. 

You can find clincher wheels with an alloy brake surface or as full carbon clincher which has then a carbon brake surface for rim brakes. Full Carbon Clinchers can also be disc brake compatible and will not have the rim brake surface. 

We very often get this question, and while there is  a big difference, it sometimes looks the same, so here we go;

Clincher;

Clincher means  that the wheel is suitable only for tires with innertube. And a normal clincher wheels is NOT to be made tubeless ready.

The bed of the rim in deeper to hold the tire in its place

Tubular;

Tubular means that the wheel is only suitable for tubular tires, which are like a tire but than closed at the back.

Advantage is that tubulars are strong and have a very low roll resistance

Disadvantage is that when punctured the tire is waisted

Tubeless ready clincher

A tubeless ready wheel  is with  a special rim which can be ridden with a tubeless ready tire mounted without a innertube but filled with a small content of Latex but also can be ridden with an innertube.

The process of mounting the wheel with a TBR (meaning “tubeless ready”) tire is not to be taken lightly..a bit of experience is a pre.

Apply the special in the package delivered rim tape always twice.

Advantage is that you can ride it with low pressure for more grip off-road, and for more comfort on the road.

Disadvantage is when the puncture is to big you still need to apply a innertube, but it doesn’t immediately mean that waist the tire.

More and more wheels are only TBR delivered.

The valve stem is approximately 1cm longer than de rim height, you need this length to inflate with your pump.

With rim brake, When your wheel is in your bike you can check the straightness when you carefully look beside your brake-pads and spin your wheel, you will see if your wheel wobbles. If it does it needs to be checked.

When you have disc wheels, and you see your wheel wobbling please let your local bike shop check your aligment asap.

Please note that a wobbling wheel can also be caused by the tire which is not fitted correctly or has a faulty section. Therefore it's needed to look at any movement on the rim and not the tire.

The FFWD CRP stands for Crash Replacement Policy. In case of bad luck, FFWD supports you by offering replacement rims for a special discounted price. This is on top of the 3-year warranty if you have registered your wheels as first owner.

When sending the broken wheel(s) to us we will rebuild them with te old hub, a new rim and new spokes.

You can send the wheel(s) to our service department in The Netherlands by completing the form on our website.

For the latest CRP price of your wheel, please contact service@ffwd.com

INSTALLATION OF THE TUBELESS SYSTEM WITH USE OF TUBELESS SEALANT IS MANDATORY!

In order to make the best use of your tubeless wheels please follow our instructions and recommendations.

When it’s your first Tubeless wheelset and you do want to ride it tubeless we advise you to let your dealer take on the tyre mounting process with you participating.

Why? we have noticed a diversity of occurring issues which can subvert the process and cause serious problems to you and your wheelset.

- Clean the rim bed with degreaser before applying the tubeless tape

- Apply the tubeless rim tape twice to the complete rim and make sure the beginning and end of the tape overlap 10cm to 15cm

- Make sure the tubeless tape is pressed to the rim bed firmly

- Make a small hole in the tubeless tape at the valve hole (preferably with the tip of a sharp pair of scissors)

- Place the tubeless valve in the rim and make sure the o-ring covers the valve hole on the outside of the rim

- Mount the tubeless tire(s) as per instructions of the tire manufacturer (do not use metal tools to mount the tire in order not to damage the rim)

- Fill the tubeless tire(s) with tubeless sealant (THIS STEP IS MANDATORY) as per instructions of the sealant manufacturer

- Make sure the sealant is evenly divided within the tubeless tire

- Inflate the tire taking the maximum inflation of 8.5 bar (123 psi) for the rims in consideration (if the tire has a lower maximum tire pressure please take this in consideration)

- Check if the tire is placed correctly and follows the rim profile

- Reduce tire pressure to your preferred riding pressure

WARNING:

NOT FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAN CAUSESERIOUS INJURY TO THE USER OR DAMAGE TO THE PRODUCTAND WILL VOID THE FAST FORWARD WHEELS WARRANTY!

Unfortunately there are fake FFWD wheels being offered. We are aware of this and do our best to stop this.
You can check a few things to determine if it concern official FFWD wheels:
– FFWD wheels have a serial number beside the valve hole on the outside of the rim
– FFWD wheels are build with hubs with FFWD label or with DT Swiss hubs (DT350, DT240 or DT180)

Wheels without serial number at the valve hole, with other brand of hubs are most likely not an original FFWD Wheels product. If you have any doubts please contact us to be sure!

Remember that in most cases when something seems too good to be true, it usually is!

Buying fake products is not only dangerous but illegal as well.

No, you should not use brake pads for carbon rims on alloy rims!  (And also not the other way around, so also don’t use pads for alloy rim brake on your carbon rims)

The FFWD brake pads by SwissStop are developed and intended for use on carbon rims. When using these pads on alloy rims you get little pieces of alloy in the brake pads which will cause damage when using carbon rims again. The use of brakes pads on FFWD carbon wheels which have been used on alloy brake surface before will void any warranty claims.

In our wheels we offer hubs by FFWD or the hubs from DT Swiss. All hubs have the same high quality internals but are different in choice of material and therefore the weight and price.

All hubs have a star ratchet system internal to drive the body with quick engagement and low maintenance. High-presicion spring-loaded ratchets guarantee performance, durability and reliability for many years.

Al our wheels are easy(without special tools) to convert to all branch standards. Campa, Shimano or SRAM XD freehubs and also to all different kind of frame fittings; quick-release and 12 or 15mm thru axle.

FFWD and DT350 hubs use steel cartridge bearings where the DT240 uses stainless steel cartridge bearings. Compared to the DT350 the DT240 brings a weight saving of 60 grams in the disc brake version and 40 grams in rim brake version.

DARC is short for 'Double Arc'. The FFWD DARC profile is the rim shape that make FFWD wheels more aerodynamic by reducing drag. This profile is featured on the TYRO, F4, F6 and F9 models.

If you want your wheels to match perfectly with your bicycle, we offer a selection of colors for all the RYOT's (33, 44, 55 & 77). Check out which option would fit you here!

If you want to clean your carbon or alloy brake surface without harming the material of the rim or influence the braking performance we recommend to clean your rims with Acetone, its Is recommended to clean every once in a while when you are riding with rim brake.when you are riding disc brakes its of course not necessary.

You can use a solvent like benzene (white spirit) to get the glue off. But if there’s not too glue left on the rim much then you can glue the new tire on top of the ‘old’ glue. This will soften up when it comes in contact with the new glue.

NEVER use a sharp or hard tool to scrape off the glue. You could damage the carbon rim and endanger the structural integrity.

Only DT Swiss Aerolite & Competition and Sapim CX-Ray spokes are used to build FFWD wheels. All of them are pretty much identical with the same high end quality and performance results. Aero, Strong, durable and very lightweight.

Front wheel is pre-tensioned with 90/100kgF in each spoke.

Rear wheel is pre-tensioned with 110/120kgF Drive side.

Rear wheel (NDS) and Front disc wheel (DS) tension will vary based on hub selection and necessary tension to bring the wheel into dish.

(The old F2R wheels are set up with 10kgF less for both the front and rear wheel)

Important note: each spoke should have the same tension.

We use brass nipples on all our laced wheels as part of our ‘no-headache’ approach. It is such a small weight difference (around 28g per set) that we rather lace an easy serviceable wheel. Alloy nipples don’t offer the serviceability like brass nipples do.