I have ridden plenty of decent, handbuilt wheels. I bought some Forte Titans when I was in a financial bind and much to my chagrin, they are actually doing quite well (the chagrin is that they don't give me a good excuse to buy the parts to make my desired built). When I bought them, I checked the tension and they were fine. Despite the low spoke count, they carry me over some really crappy roads on my commute without going out of true, popping a spoke, or breaking a flange. The bearings are still quite smooth after almost 3 years. I wish something would start giving me a reason to replace them soon.

HOWEVER, they are machine built, so I simply got the luck of the draw and it sounds like you got the unlucky ones. Well ok, if I got unlucky, I would have checked the tension and returned them, but you get the idea.


I just felt the need to point out that your opinion seems to be based on one single item while the question is about the whole line. Not saying your opinion is wrong, just that it has limited support.

Love my Forte saddle.

The Forte CF cages work fine for me.

I've heard that the Forte Titans were built by Neuvation which seems to have a bit of a following.

What was wrong with the seatpost exactly? I was thinking of getting one of the carbon ones, but was wondering if it would be worth the money to just get the more expensive Thompson elite to avoid potential disasters.

I was about to say that they would never sell... but the website says both models of shifters are out of stock, btw I got the Forte pro tires on my other bike with no problems yet, probably <600 miles though

I am positive those cages are really Blackburns:

https://www.blackburndesign.com/cages.html

I have a pair on my road bike, and the heavier ones on the touring bike.

Interesting....

And their pro slx saddle is pretty cool... A bit on the narrow side, but I didn't find it uncomfortable after a 5+ hour day

I used Microshift for the first time on a TT rig that was lent to my by our sponsor this year. It shifted fine. I was using their thumbshifters on aerobars though.

They sponsor a local team including a guy who was on one of my teams a few years ago. He says the stuff seems to work as well as any of the Shimano he's owned.

I also played with some at the Taipei show a few years ago. It seemed to shift very well.

My opinion is that it seems like decent equipment and a good value. I can't comment on durability or weight, however.

My 2 bits.

Not sure about the carbon model, but I had the aluminum one and it had a single, tiny bolt holding the saddle on. That was not strong enough to stay tight enough to avoid creaking, so every pedal stroke was noisy unless I was standing.

I use Forte tires on bikes I flip and on my vintage bikes with rims designed for, 27" 1 1/4 tires. I haven't had a problem yet and I've probably purchased over 20 tires from them. I tried Forte tubes (around 10 or so) and found they flat more often than brand name tubes by about double or more. As has been said, it's a crap shoot with a generic brand name. Sometimes the manufacturer is a quality company that's selling a knock-off to keep the lines running. Sometimes it's a firm that has poor quality control.

Upper end Forte tires suck. TPI is less than half of other comparable tires
Bottle cages are fine.
Bar tape is fine.

I have had several Forte stems with no issues. I just purchased the Nashbar shifters. I'm putting them on a bike for the indoor trainer. I'll post a review when I have the bike built and a few workouts on them.

Over the past two years I have used black gel cork tape from:
- Bontrager
- Cinelli
- Forte

As far as I can tell, all three are EXACTLY THE SAME TAPE.

The only difference is:
- Bontrager has the "B" logo stamped on it, and reflective plugs.
- Cinelli has the "C" logo stamped on it, and black plugs.
- Forte has no logo, and chrome plugs.

Personally, I prefer the clean, unstamped look of the Forte.

Good point about the bar tape, I forgot to mention it. I've used it on my bikes and the ones I flip if they need tape. It works fine.

I upgraded the handling end of my vintage 1990 Trek 1400 (can we call '90 vintage?) with several Forte' components, namely due to the undeniable price advantage: new Forte' handle bars (needed them wider), new Forte' stem (went threadless), and a new Forte' carbon fiber fork (mucho lighter than the AL/chromo oem ones), Cane Creek aheadset, new saddle, and also upgraded the downtube shifters to 7-sp Shimano Sora STI (while retaining the remainder of the oem 105 grouppo). It's been a handful of years with this setup and I have no complaints, and have rec'd several compliments along the way. A major advantage is the geometry (and pedals) are identical to my other ride (Litespeed Tuscany) now so going from one to the other takes no adjustment on my part. It was a fountain of youth for the wonderful steed, and I don't foresee ever getting rid of her anytime soon.

BEFORE


AFTER

My venerable front derailleur died after something like 12 years of service, so I just bought a forte front derailleur last night. It was hard to argue with the $29 price tag and the fact that a front derailleur isn't all that complex a piece of machinery. (I doubt I'd buy Forte brifters or a rear derailleur … ) The build quality looks good, and the component pieces (such as the spring) look decent, but I won't know about true materials and construction quality until I get it on the road and put it through it's paces. Hope to do install today and ride tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

I have Forte' Titan wheels on two bikes and, thousands of miles later, no complaints.

Its tough to make broad sweeping statements about Performances house brands as a few people stated because they don't make anything they just put their name on it.

Things I've heard good things about:
Titan Wheels, 1750 grams, 27mm deep, I've seen them as cheap as $140/set.
Forte Stem: the 26.0 stem in 100mm weighs in around 120 grams.
Carbon seatpost: Also fairly light and a decent price.

I haven't tried Microshift, but based on the reviews I've seen I wouldn't hesitate trying it either.

I have a Forte Pro DC front tire that I've ridden for over 4000 miles... it refused to die. I'm on my 3rd rear Continental Ultra Race tire in the time it's taken me to wear out the Forte.

That said, it's heavy compared to other options out there and the black stripe down the middle is not centered (and is lopsided at places). But for a $15 training tire it was money well spent.

Forte stems (4 bolt pattern, the ones I've bought anyway) aren't the best in the world, but they do their job just as well as any.

As many mentioned, it's pretty pointless to "compare" experiences between people with Forte components. They just brand stuff, which means that they shop OEMs for price. The "same" forte stem from two different years might be made by very different manufacturers.

My experience:

I've used the Titan wheels. Raced both road and cyclocross with them. Good to go.

Carbon seatpost. No problem.

Stainless cages. Same.

Bar tape. How can you screw that up?

One of my buddies has the aero wing style carbon bars. He is a bigger guy and has not turned them into little black shards despite a couple falls.

-Z

Interesting....

If you go the Nashbar route you can get:

Shifters
RD
FD
Nashbar brake calipers
Nahsbar compact crank
Nashbar chain (looks to be rebranded KMC)

...for $380 -20% right now for $304. Hard to beat?

I have the CR150 pedals. Other than a creak that started within six months of use, they're fine. I mainly bought them because it's hard to find pedals for delta-style cleats anymore.

+1 for the Titans. In a pinch I picked up a set at a local Performance for $104 plus tax.