Forge+Bond Shift Series Wheels
Internal Width:
- 25 XC: 25 mm
- 30 AM: 30 mm
- 30 EM: 30 mm
Sizes Available: 29’’
Material: Carbon Fiber (FusionFiber Thermoplastic)
Stated weight:
- 25 XC Rim: 380 g
- 30 AM Rims: 480 g front / 530 g rear
- 30 EM Rims: 530 g
- Shift 25 XC Wheelset: 1,600 g
- Shift 30 AM Wheelset: 1,832 g
- Shift 30 EM WHeelset: 1,920 g
MSRP:
- Wheelsets $1,250
Intro
Forge+Bond launched last year as the in-house wheel brand for CSS Composites, who have been making novel thermoplastic carbon fiber wheels for a few different brands for a few years now. We’ve been impressed with the ride quality of their offerings, having reviewed the 30 EMs last year and spent a bunch of time on the 30 AMs (full review coming soon), and now Forge+Bond is offering a more affordable version of both, as well as ther 25 XC wheels, in the new Shift series.
Design
Despire the new branding, the Shift series rims actually carry over from the original Forge+Bond lineup. The cost savings comes from the hubs, which are a Forge+Bond branded, and were developed with Bitex. They’re available with Boost spacing and six-bolt rotor mounts, and use six pawls engaging on a 27-tooth ratchet ring one at a time for 162 points of total engagement.
The rest of the wheel specs match those of Forge+Bond’s higher-end wheels — including using Sapim CX Ray spokes on the 25 XC and 30 AM wheels, and Sapim D-Lites for the 30 EMs. Check out our full review of the 30 EM wheels and our First Look on the 25 XCs and 30 AMs (again, full review of 30 AMs coming soon) for a whole lot more on those. All are available in 29’’ diameters only, at least for now, and as with all of Forge+Bond’s rims, the Shift ones are built in their own facility in Gunnison, UT.
The Shift hubs bring the stated weight for the Shift 25 XC wheelset to 1,600 grams; the Shift 30 AM comes in at a stated 1,832 g, and the Shift 30 EM at 1,920 g. That’s only about 10 to 30 grams heavier for the wheelset than the Industry Nine Hydra 6-bolt versions of the same wheels — a very modest difference, all told.
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) We know that the 30 AM and 30 EM wheels ride well, but how do the Shift hubs perform?
(2) And how is their durability? Having a single pawl engaged at a given time might raise some eyebrows, though it has been done successfully by a number of other brands at various points.
Bottom Line (For Now)
The new Forge+Bond Shift series wheels are impressively well priced for a US-made carbon fiber wheel, and if the hubs are up to the task, they might well be a winner. We’re curious to find out.