ptle

Forte Titan Wheels

I bought these wheels back in fall of 2009 for $150. Not bad for a 1755g wheelset with 27mm rims and aerospokes. The packaging came in two large stiff cardboard boxes with end-caps for the hubs. There might have been some thin Styrofoam sheets, but that was the only protection. The wheels come with no rim tape or skewers. They do come with easily removable stickers on the rims and hubs.

The first thing I did was take off the ugly decals. Without them, the wheels look pretty nice… very similar to Neuvation Cycling wheels. One guy actually thought I had the same wheelset he did, but I informed him they weren’t Neuvation Cycling wheels, rather a cheaper house brand from Performancebike.com

The hubs are cartridge sealed hubs, which should be very low maintenance and last a long time. The front wheel spins better than any other wheel I’ve used, while the rear leaves a bit more to be desired. The rear hub spins fine, but slows down much quicker than the front. This could be because I dropped the wheel on its hub and knocked it loose. I got that fixed, but from what I remember, it still wasn’t as smooth as I wished.

Since owning them I’ve put about 1300 miles on the front wheel and 700 on the rear. I ride my wheels pretty rough, as I don’t mind truing the wheels myself. We have a lot of bad rail road tracks around Knoxville that are hard to bunny hop sometimes. I’ve also hit some pretty deep potholes… one incident I thought that my rear wheel was surely messed up. Also one time I landed on my front wheel pretty hard trying to pop a wheelie.

Despite the harsh treatment of the wheels (I’m 140 pounds by he way), the wheels still work fine. I just got done truing them yesterday. I actually only had to touch two spokes on the front wheel, and three in the back. The whole job took less than five minutes and probably wasn’t necessary as the wheels were not off very much.

I recommend this wheelset to anyone looking for some cheap (sub $200) wheels, whether they’re going to use them for training, racing, or just need a durable wheelset. I can’t think of any other new wheels that are as light and durable as these, and only cost $150.

Sorry I'm too lazy to take actual pictures of the wheels, so this is all I've got.

Phantoj

I have had these wheels for a couple of years, and I share your positive impression.

Creatre

Cool, thanks for the review. I've been thinking about picking these up soon. And by the way, those are the same rims as the Neuvation M28 wheels, where do you think Performance gets them from!

VoodooChi|d

So what's different between them and the Neuvation wheels? Hubs/Spokes? Are the Forte hubs and spokes better or worse?

ptle

Yeah I know they're the same rim...

Neuvation wheels are about 250g lighter. I'm guessing there's some weight savings in the hubs... and possibly spokes.

psuaero

If I weighed what you weigh then I wouldn't feel bad about riding them hard either. I had a set of those on my Scattante and they lasted several thousand miles before I tore a spoke through the rim in the rear. The front is still fine and hanging on the wall at home. I thought they were plenty stiff and durable too.

Creatre

No, they are literally the exact same, just re-badged. I mean I guess technically between the two sites it says there are a 5 gram difference, but as far as I know it is exactly the same thing. Maybe the Neuvation stickers are heavier.

https://www.neuvationcycling.com/wheels.html

https://www.performancebike.com/bikes...9_20000_400038

ptle

Hmm I was comparing them to the wrong wheelset. I guess they are identical to the M28x then.

ptle

I forgot to talk about their stiffness.

They seem pretty stiff, when climbing steep hills I don't get an brake rub, and I run my brakes pretty close to the rims.

Phantoj

I remember seeing an old thread that discussed this -- supposedly, the spokes are slightly different: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/283791-neuvation-wheel-opinions.html

I think it's correct to say that the wheels are actually made by Alex.
https://www.aclass-wheels.com/road_alx320DX.html

RT

The one thing I am wary of is no weight limit on a set of low spoke wheels. I am afraid that my 185 lbs would not do well on these.

Creatre

Good info, thanks for clearing it up.

svtmike

I ride the Neuvation M28 version of these wheels. I've been as heavy as 210 early this year and am now riding them at 192 pounds. I have had no issues whatsoever with the wheels in 1800 miles. They handle my weight just fine.

tj90

I have about 3k miles on my neuvation m28s and love them. I too started at 230lb and now ride them at 200lb. I dont think they are identical to the titans. My hubs are nicely polished with clear anodized. The titans look like black ano or paint. Plus I could get mine with a campy freehub. I dont know if the fortes are based on the Sachs design freehubs like the neuvations. BTW, I too saw the weight differernce btw Forte and Neuvation. When I got my rear I weighed mine on the scale at 920g. So at least for my wheel neuvation isnt cheating on the weight claims. It would be interesting to hear what the Fortes are weighing in at....

I talked to John about getting the extended warranty due to the reports of rims cracking. He actually dissuade me from getting it since they made a change a while ago and he was convinced that the problem is gone. Of course, they come standard with a year warranty and I carefully examine around the spoke holes whenever I think about it just to make sure that I dont have a problem while Im in warranty.

They "feel" identical to my old ksyrium SSC SL rear. Except now, I dont have an annoying creak from wearing aluminum drive spokes and stupid plastic bushings that wear out on the freehub body. These neuvations are actually much more trouble free.

I just wish that I got the updated stickers for 2010. I have the older font but havent bothered to remove them.

7bmwm3gtr

I love the Forte Titans i've had them for about 2100 miles and I haven't had any problem. I actually collided into a car at around 17mph and I thought my front wheel was tacoed. But the wheel was fine It wasn't even out of true.

I got them as an upgrade from my 3000g Bontrager SSR's and losing over 1kg helped a lot especially when I climb. These wheels are much more stiffer too.

Luckily, I'm blessed with a low weight so that I can enjoy Low-Spoke count wheels, and the wheels do look pretty badass on my bike

mazdaspeed

How much was shipping? Too bad they're out of stock...

powers2b

I rock these wheels on one of my bikes and love them.
I weigh much more than you. I commute urban routes carying a full bag and ride rural centuries on these wheels.
I've done messenger races that included curb hopping and riding down staircases.
I have yet to have a wheel fail.
I also have 16 and 20 spoke wheels I built myself on other bikes and never had issues.
I think for long loaded tours high spoke count is fine but I never understood all the "Fear" of low spoke count wheels.
Not arguing, just stating experience.

Enjoy

ColorChange

I only own 3 sets of them. Awesome wheels for the price. And I also have 202's and 404's.

Been bullet proof for me and I love the silent rear hub, especially when compared to the noisy zipp rear Hub.

ptle

Back in October, the shipping was $34.99.... That included two tubes and a seat post collar.

When ordering from Performance I try to get at least a 10% off coupon and have the product on sell.

sd790

I've got > 3000 miles on my Titans in all weather since they are on my rain bike. I am heavier at 200+ and ride on some tough roads. I have never had a problem with these wheels and think they were a great purchase. They have always stayed true and will be buying them again when these go.

RT

Good info. I do not understand the physics of wheels - it's like voodoo to me. I figure the less material there is to support me, the more fragile the wheel. Glad to hear these wheels endure heavier masses.

byte_speed

I've got some Titans with about 6000 miles on them and they are good wheels for the price.

I do have a big problem with them though. Mine were driving me crazy with all kind of creaking and popping noises. I finally took all the spokes out one-at-a-time and greased the threads and heads. I think some kind of thread lock they put on the spoke threads was much of the problem. The grease effectively silenced the noises, but I had to touch up the treatment with some heavy oil after getting caught in the rain once. I still have one spoke that is popping when climbing out of the saddle that I can't find.

When I had the rim strips out greasing the spokes, there was an Alex sticker on the rim, so the poster that pointed out these are made by Alex is correct, I believe.

DXchulo

I had an older version of the Titans for a few years and they were very good to me. I had been on Shimano wheels for the last year, but my rear wheel was damaged and since there is a Performance store in Indy now I figured I might as well go there and get a cheap Forte replacement.

The bad news is that I think I got a defective hub. I rode it for only about a month and it developed a nasty scratchy sound. It was the worst at a certain point in the revolution of the wheel, and I could actually feel it while riding.

The good news is that they replaced the wheel for me. The first time I went back they were no help at all. I took it back a second time and the mechanic lubed the hub, which made it a little better, but the problem was still there. I took it back a third time and the manager was there. She was actually very helpful. All I had to do was wait a couple days for a new wheel to arrive.

I just had the wheel replaced on Wednesday and so far I only have 101 miles on it. I hope this one is good and the last one was just a fluke.

haggerd

Nice review Ptle. I just ordered a pair myself. I have 200 miles on them and so far they are proving to be a worthwhile upgrade from my ALX 200's (which have proven to be a decent enough set of stock wheels themselves). I am definitely noticing faster decents on hills I travel often and faster acceleration. The only problem I've encountered is some possible spoke pinging on steep climbs. I'm thinking I'll have to check the tension, but the wheels still appear true. We'll see how they hold up, but for the price and the favorable reviews they look like they are worth the gamble.

ptle

Before buying the wheels I did a bit of research. There seem to be some negative reviews. However many said that if the wheels come with the spokes properly tensioned (characteristic of nice handbuilt wheels), they should be very durable. If they weren't, people seem to have problems with the wheels.

This reminds me though, I need to check my spoke tension on the wheels. I'll have to true the wheel on my Bianchi first. I hit some railroad tracks pretty hard coming back Tuesday night. It knocked the rear wheel out of true a good 8-10mm. I've gone over that railroad tracks many times on the Forte wheelset and have always been fine.

They really need to fix those tracks. Trains never use them and I can't avoid them unless I go far out of my way to.