If you take a look at our list of the best gravel wheelsets available on the market, the choices are pretty incredible. There’s just no other way to describe the options listed there. A wheel like the Cadex AR 35 offers the option to spend a lot of money and get yourself an incredibly light and responsive ride. Alternatively the Hunt 42 Limitless Aero wheelset is much less expensive, still competitive on weight, and a leader in aerodynamics. Either way, whatever gravel might mean to you, there are amazing carbon fibre wheels designed to make your ride better.
Tech specs: F+B 25 GR
Price: $2,199
Rim Dimensions: 820 g rear, 670 g front as measured with rim tape, valves, and XDR freehub (lighter than the quoted spec)
Weight: 1510 grams quoted
Hubs: I9 Torch Disc
Spokes: Sapim CX-Ray bladed stainless spokes
More info: forgeandbond.com
All those wheels share something in common though. The basic process of creating a carbon fibre wheelset is the same no matter what type of wheel you decide to go with. The final product is non-recyclable and there are a lot of inefficiencies in the system along the way. The F+B 25 GR FusionFibre Wheelset is different.
Forge+Bond has a new process that limits waste, energy use, and creates a final product that’s recyclable. The end result is a wheelset unlike anything else on the market. Is that worth altering your buying decision though? Do you have to make sacrifices in the ride experience to get a sustainable product? I set out to answer these questions, and now that I’ve spent some time riding the F+B 25 GR wheelset I’m ready to talk about the experience. If you are looking for a new pair of gravel wheels, keep reading to see if these are the wheels for you.
Design and aesthetics
Understanding the design of the F+B 25 GR wheelset has to start with an understanding of the production process. As already mentioned, every carbon fibre product in the world, and certainly in the bike industry, starts life with a very similar manufacturing process. What’s different about FusionFibre is that the base material uses Nylon instead of Epoxy to set the carbon fibre.
To explain the difference, Forge+Bond Global Marketing Director, Travis Tomczak, starts with a very basic example. What he asks is that we consider the difference between a plastic water bottle…
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