By my count at least, that means the Shift line is the most affordable made in North America carbon wheelset on the market right now. It edges out We Are One’s Convergence  line at $1,580and even manages to beat their Revolution series at $1,275. They’re also more affordable than Enve’s $1,400 AM30.

This may be the most promising step forward yet in the potential of U.S.-made thermoplastic-style carbon components. We’ve talked a lot about FUSIONFIBER, the carbon rim material used on wheels from Revel and Chris King. And when the engineering team behind FUSIONFIBER launched their own brand, FORGE+BOND, it was positioned essentially as the tip of the spear. It’s who would be exploring what’s possible with this unique material and process. And not surprisingly, their debut wheels were aimed at the high-end carbon wheel market, including models laced U.S.-made hubs from Industry Nine starting at $1,900. But pricing in the carbon wheel game has gotten extremely competitive, so FORGE+BOND has now introduced the much more affordable Shift series to their wheel lineup, offering wheels with U.S.-made FUSIONFIBER rims for $1,250.

"Forge+Bond currently offers three mountain bikes and one gravel bike wheelset and sells the rims from these wheels. For starting an industry-wide trend (hopefully) that can make cycling far more sustainable, we give Forge+Bond a GearJunkie Gear of the Year Award."