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One of the most detracting features of many of the wheels and pedal sets that are on the market today is the use of injection molded plastic. A racecar or anything simulated to resemble a racecar piece or part should be made from metal. And the more exotic the metal is, the nicer it looks and feels. Billet aluminum, molybdenum (chrome-moly), titanium: thatís what racecars are made from, not extruded plastics. I was pleasantly surprised when the UPS man dropped this one little package on my doorstep. I was even a bit giddy when I opened the door to bring it into the house. I guess maybe I didnít pay very close attention to the word, "kit" when I ordered. Seriously, all of the pictures that Iíve seen of this product had all shown this set fully assembled. Some people cringe at the phrase; "some assembly required" when they see it on an advertisement. I truly love the challenge thatís presented by that phrase. I giggled like a little schoolboy when I saw this rather small parcel that had arrived with a salutation of a doorbell chime. I just knew something was fishy because there just couldnít be a wheel and a set of pedals in that little bitsy box. Well, once again I was mistaken. It was all in there in well-organized boxes with a legible instruction sheet complete with pictures on step by step assembly. I guess the other thing I never realized was that this kit was solely an upgrade for the Microsoft Sidewinder USB wheel and pedal set, and not a stand-alone unit. In other words, you need the guts out of another unit to put it together. Well not exactly to assemble it but to hook it to your computer and drive with it, youíll need to be the owner of a Microsoft wheel for the crucial electrical parts required. Now for me it wasnít an issue because Iíve built enough wheels and pedal sets that I had all the nessecary pots, cable and db 15 gameport connectors to complete the project. But just a warning here if you donít have the knowledge, parts and patients to conquer the; "some assembly required" challenge then this is probably not the deal for you. Conversely if you are the mechanically inclined type that has a toolbox that weighs more that the car you drive and you yearn for a construction project, then the Frex GP Wheel and pedal set is an ingenious upgrade that will meet & maybe exceed your needs. This is an outstanding upgrade for the Microsoft Sidewinder FF and the Precision Pro wheel. With a little fabrication experience you could create your own unit without hacking another wheel unit apart for the parts. The Frex GP Pedal Kit can be ordered separately and could be used to upgrade almost any pedal set on the market. The only thing thatís needed would be the pedal potentiometers and the wiring harness that goes back to the wheel base and you could turn any pedal set into something very special. So for those of you that are tired of weakly sprung, plastic pedal sets that have no travel and sensitivity, your worries can be over in less than an hour and for around $300.00 USD. If you ever had the desire to build a set of pedals but just didnít have the experience or the tools to complete such a venture, this would be a great place to start. All of the hard parts in the kit are anodized black aluminum incased in a steel base that is drilled for a couple of different approach angles for your feet. Depending on your chair and desk configuration, the base allows you some adjustment for comfort and function. The kit also comes with a non-slip rubber mat to keep the base from scooting around. However, with the stiffness of the two rubber stoppers that come with the kit to provide the resistance on the brake pedal, I donít think itís secure enough. The correction for me was to attach a piece of carpet that my chair will roll on top of to help secure the base to the floor. That secured the pedals solidly enough to get the full sensation of a panic stop. That event where a driver needs to mash the brake pedal in order to get the car to stop very quickly. Iíve been fairly critical of other pedals on the market because of the lack of feel and sensitivity. It just doesnít fit to have the brake and accelerator with the same resistance. It just isnít accurate. The Frex GP Pedal set has the most feel of any pedal set Iíve ever experienced, with the exception of my own hand built unit of course. The accelerator travel has a nice range and with the creative, adjustable actuators, which are the connection between the pedals and the potentiometers. You can calibrate how fast or slow the pots receive their input. The ranges of linear and non-linear input for both pedals are tunable in a number of ways.For the accelerator, you can leave the last little bit of travel for the feathering and minute modulation of the throttle and have the bottom end of the travel come in very quickly. On the brake side, the very stiffest part of the pedal stroke, that last little bit of travel before the pedal stops completely translates the maximum braking input applied to the computer. In other words, maximum braking is not attainable unless you push very hard on the pedal, allowing great modulation of the brake. Even then the amount of resistance can be adjusted after calibration so that locking the brakes is impossible. Both pedals are equipped with adjustable stops for both ends of the travel range. Allowing the user to fine-tune both the distance of travel and the rest angle. This is remarkable engineering and frankly something I never thought Iíd see in an out-of the-box pedal unit. Though the return spring for both pedals were a little on the weak side to acquire the correct feel. After viewing the assembled unit and wondering if my big feet would rest comfortably on the rather small foot-plate, the only thing that really disturbed me was that I was not able to rest my feet against the pedals without them being applied. Again due in part to the weak return springs. This was easily remedied with an additional spring. I also felt as though my feet were a little too close together with the current configuration. A slight modification to the assembly process allowed a more comfortable spacing between the pedals. By mounting the pedal pads on the opposing sides of the uprights instead of the way the instructions read, gave more space for the driversí feet and also added a little leverage to the unit. The kit comes with aluminum shims to spread the pads out some but it just wasnít enough. After a trip to the drill press to chamfer the holes in the pedal pads to mate with the beveled screw heads, the pads were tightly secured and properly positioned. Once the pedals were in order, it was time to grab the illustrated assembly sheet and fastener guide for the MOMO wheel and lay out all of the nuts and bolts needed to assemble the wheel. The wheel itself is a standard Momo Corse, Volante Steering Wheel direct from the factory in Italy. The Mod12/c Momo Wheel is outfitted with black suede that feels as if it had been tailored from a mold of your own hand. Bright polished aluminum paddle shifters sit comfortably behind the wheel at convenient distance and yet not so close that they are in the way. The shaped paddles are again adjustable for a light touch to change the gears or the springs can be cinched to require a stiffer tug to actuate the shifter. In addition to the paddles there are six momentary push buttons and one, lighted two-position button, all with colored caps to distinguish their function from each other. The connection to these multicolored buttons is neatly handled with factory Microsoft circuit connectors that plug directly into the board from the Sidewinder wheel. No wiring schematic or soldering is nessecary. Just plug it in and put it together. All switches are installed in a plate steel bracket with a plastic faux monocoque overlay made to simulate a carbon fiber mesh. A very sturdy piece of 3/16 inch plate steel backs the wheel and provides the mounting for the circuit board via o-ring buffers to protect it from flex or shorting. This is the flange that also adapts the Momo wheel and all of its accessories to the Microsoft base steering shaft. Three self-threading screws provide a rigid mount to the Sidewinder base. CLOSING COMMENTS: Although this kit is very intricate in design, the assembly is not difficult and was an entertaining and enlightening experience. It is not a tedious installation but with so many adjustments available, I found I spent much more time adjusting than I actually did assembling the kit. As I stated, it is not impossible to build a stand alone wheel unit without the Microsoft donor but if you want just a plug & play wheel and pedal set, this one is probably not for you. The Frex kit adjusts in so many ways to suit the end users tastes and comfort it is one of those things that will take quite a bit of time after it is completed to fine tune all of the adjustments that are there. If you live to tinker with stuff, youíll be quite intrigued by the myriad of possibilities that Frex has created and in the end have one of the fanciest upgrades to your controller that exists on the market. This intrigue doesnít come cheap though and Iím not sure it should. Racing in general is not an economy sport. The entire kit retails for just under $460.00 US. The pedal kit alone retails for $280.00 US and that does not include the shipping from Osaka Japan nor the donor wheel from Microsoft. That price is F.O.B. Japan. Which means you arrange and pay for it to be shipped to you. However, if I were the manufacturer, I wouldnít offer it for a penny less. Because in the real world, you get what you pay for in heavy-duty metal construction, great design architecture and fantastic engineering. All of which leads me to believe someone thought long and hard about how to make a controller upgrade that works and this one definitely works. |
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| Author: Luciano | 06-09-2002 |
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Oiiiiiiiii |
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