Forge and Bond is a company that makes wheels out of a futuristic material called fusionfiber made with long-chain polymers instead of the brittle, toxic epoxies and resins that come from traditional carbon fiber. This isn't your run of the mill crapperware. Not only do these wheels look neat, they also have some insane ride qualities. They are stiff yet damp and oddly quiet. Forge and Bond wheels are also making these wheels in a much more sustainable way, which hasn't been the bike industry's forte. Forge and Bond wheels are made in the U.S.A., are 100% recyclable, create zero carbon dust during manufacturing, and zero composite material is discarded.
I have been riding the F+B 30 EM wheels with the fancy, cool noise making I9 Hyrda hubs for a few months now and absolutely love them! I will be reviewing these soon.
While this is a nothing short of amazing wheel, there is one potential problem with these and that is cost. Forge and Bond addresses this and gives the people what they have been asking for with their new "Shift" series wheelsets.
The Forge and Bond Shift wheelsets are half the cost of their other wheels and they are doing this by going with an in-house hub. These are a boost-spaced, 6 bolt hub that have been developed together with Bitex out of Taiwan. These hubs have 162 points of engagement giving them about 13 degrees of free ratchet between engagement points. This isn't your mind blowing .52 degrees of free ratchet like the I9 Hydras, but what I am more worried about is how they will hold up. I am hoping to pick up a pair of these and see how these wheels compare to their more expensive counterparts.
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