This Just In: Felt's 2013 Road and Cyclocross Line Up!

Mountain bikes are fun, but they account for a tiny portion of the bikes we sell.  I love them, that's how I got my start into cycling, but being in a major metropolitan area with virtually no elevation gain, we'd go out of business focusing solely on mountain bikes.

Time trial and triathlon rigs are growing in our shop, we know them well but are just scratching the surface of what we can do with them for our customers.  Felt is killing it with their line-up, but again it's a relatively small fraction of what we do, though we do more with triathlon than we do with mountain bikes.

Which brings me to road bikes.  Road and cyclocross bikes are what we do.  Sure, we sell hybrids as well, and I think we understand them quite well, but road and cyclocross bikes are what we revolve around.

2013 is bringing a lot of new stuff to the Felt lineup.  The F-series line was brand new for 2012, so I didn't expect much of a change there, and we're primarily just seeing color and spec changes.  Much as expected since those bikes are so new and so good.

More importantly though, are the new Z-series bikes.  The carbon Z-series bikes were damn good already, but their technology was falling behind the incredible F-series and some of their competition.  So what did Felt do?  They made the new carbon Z-series bikes 50g lighter, 25% stiffer, yet more comfortable!  That's what I'm talkin' about.  They also made the carbon Z-series bikes natively electronic and mechanical transmission ready, added BB30, and gave the frames a tapered head tube for a tapered fork.

Here is the magical frame that I think people are going to love the second they ride it.  Felt knows carbon, and they've applied years of work to this frame.  Also, Felt has gone very subtle with colors this year which I am a HUGE fan of.  Though I believe this photo is of a prototype and not a stock color, you'll see what I mean in the next few photos

An image of that oversized head tube that's going to make this bike really shine.  Imagine a bike that when you stand up sprint just goes like a rocket, but also is smooth and comfortable enough to not beat you up when you hit a really bad stretch of road.

Another interesting shot of the head tube shows how far Felt has gone with their carbon mold to add ride quality while still retaining stiffness.

The Z4 will be a very popular bike for us sporting Shimano 105 and this beautiful color scheme.  Toned down is becoming very unique these days with so many brands kicking out bikes that have 12+ brand logos plastered all over the bike.

The AR-series also gets majorly refreshed for 2013.  While externally the bike remains virtually identical, internal changes net a loss of 350g (!!!!) while improving ride quality.  The weight of this frame was always the biggest detractor of it, but to drop nearly a full pound from the frame is shocking and should make this series much more appealing.  Even more, check out the paint scheme!  White with silver logos (only a couple of them) and a very small graphic.  Amazing if you ask me.

The AR does us a straight 1-1/8" steerer tube to maintain the best aerodynamics possible, whereas most of the other road bikes in Felt's lineup are now using tapered.

You've made it this far, you deserve some kudos.  And maybe a cookie.  Instead I'm giving you the Felt carbon disc CX bike.  This was shown in prototype form last year, but she'll be ready to race this fall.  Basically the F-series bike but with huge tire clearance and disc brakes.  This thing will be sweet!

The fork isn't new news to us since it's equipped on the F65x that we have in stock, but having it attached to a carbon frame is damned exciting!  I do have to say I've been surprised with the Ashima rotors so far.  In my experience light rotors are rarely round, but these have been great.

Rear dropouts were of course reworked for disc brakes, though not much.  Word has it that the current non-disc models were designed around disc brakes but cantilevers ended up being the go-to since so few road disc systems were available for 2012.

One feature I've loved since day 1 of the new F-series and the carbon cyclocross bikes is the ability to convert your frame from mechanical to internal electronic and back.  It literally takes about 90 seconds to change the cable stops to internal wiring and it integrates perfectly.

Tire clearance is huge on the disc bikes.  The last two seasons haven't seen much mud around here, but I have a sneaking suspicion that's going to change this season.  I'm picturing my disc carbon CX bike sporting some Clement PDX tubulars.  The perfect foul-weather CX bike.

There you have it, the info I have so far.  Much of the info was already there, but we hadn't received many pictures before the media day.  Luckily the guys at bikeradar.com are better photographers than I am anyway, so their pictures this time were worth what, about 1,000 words?

On Test: 2012 SRAM Red

I hemmed, and I hawed.  The previous generation of SRAM Red was good, the rear shifting was great, the weight was the best, but the front shifting was just never there.  When perfectly set up, it shifted fine, but not exceptionally.

After a few years of experience, SRAM kicked out 2012 Red, which has addressed all of the major concerns of their top-level group.

Ergonomics were always one of the strongest points of SRAM, so the change to a new lever shape concerned me.  But what works for me doesn't necessarily work for everyone, and we heard some people talking about a sharp edge on the back of the lever bothering some hands.  SRAM addressed this issue by smoothing the transition from the lever to the bars and adding some rubber inserts if someone still feels some pressure at the rear of the lever.

For years I settled on SRAM's front shifting to get it's amazing weight and to support the local boys.  Last winter I strayed to Shimano, drawn in by their industry-standard front shifting.  It was great, Shimano did exactly what they claimed.  Shifting was spot-on every time, front shifting was incredibly fast.

With the introduction of 2012 SRAM Red, the boys down on Kingsbury addressed a number of things but most importantly the front shifting.  The new Yaw front derailleur doesn't move like others, it actually moves laterally and slightly rotates to improve shifting.  In doing this, it also eliminates the need for a trim setting.  I was skeptical, but after being around this system for a couple of months I'm impressed.

The integrated chain spotter is a really nice touch as it's independently adjustable from the front derailleur.  Get your derailleur in place, then use the separate bolt to attach the spotter later.  A brilliant design.

The rear derailleur didn't see the same type of overhaul the front derailleur and shifters saw, which is just fine by me.  The shifts are crisp as always with a light touch but a positive engagement.

So here's the test rig.  If shifting in the stand, or on my short test ride, are any indication, this stuff will be sweet.  Now, if the front shifting remains great under power the way it did in the stand, SRAM will have a homerun with their new Red group.  It's only a matter of (not very much) time before the tech trickles down to Force-level where things will really get great for the masses!

Lynskey Cooper - Stars and Stripes Edition

This is a special build that we partook in, though we can't lay claim to the entire bike.  You may recognize the wheels from a few weeks ago, which we were thrilled to be a part of building.  Rims are Velocity A23, hubs are White Industries H2/H3.

Let's backtrack a little.  This bike belongs to a friend of the shop who has served out country in the Army.  From the get-go this bike was to be loud and scream patriotism.  But at the same time, we didn't want to go down a route that lead to a bike that crossed a line TOO far into being gaudy.

The fork was painted locally by a great friend of ours, Duane over at Chester Cycles.  If you need something painted, this is your dude.  Turnaround has always been totally acceptable, his pricing is great, and his work is top-notch.

It's clear that in as many areas as possible, choices were made to stick with US companies, and preferably US-made products.  Of course, it's pretty much impossible to completely pull that off, but Ryan got damn close.

The frame is one that hits close to home for us, a Lynskey Cooper.  I've spent a ton of time on an identical frame, Chase still sports his, and we have a few more team people riding theirs, check them out here, here, here, and here.

The drivetrain is a mix of SRAM Force and Red.  The headset is a Chris King, the stem and post are both Thomson, tires are the wonderfully plush and grippy Vittoria EVO CS.

While the Cooper is considered by some as the "budget" Lynskey, it's far from it.  The tubing is still shaped, the frame is light, and it has one very nice feature some of the other Lynskey frames don't: a replaceable derailleur hanger.  Don't take that the wrong way, a Ti derailleur hanger makes for excellent shifting, but in the case of a serious crash isn't it nice to know that hanger is replaceable?

Nothing "budget" about this bike.  Built with care, each part chosen for a very specific purpose.  I can't help but to assume this bike rides as well as it looks.  Enjoy it, sir.

Lynskey Cooper - XS with SRAM Force/Rival mix

Here's a sweet "little" build.  An x-small Lynskey Cooper with a nice SRAM mix of components, HED Bastogne wheels, Vittoria EVO CX clinchers, and a Salsa cockpit.

This one was built up for a rider at roughly 5' even, with the intent of beginning the journey into road riding.

Titanium frame, Alpha-Q carbon fork, 700c wheels on this x-small.  Normally on a bike this size we'd really lean toward a 650c, but if you already have wheels and want to make it work, we can.

Beautiful decals are easy to replace.  One of the great aspects of Ti and Lysnkey's finish specifically is that we can take care of it in-house.  We have a few tricks to handle scratches, though you'd really need to do some damage to leave a mark on your Ti frame.  We can also order replacement decal kits in a number of colors to customize the frame.

Lynskey uses a beautiful head badge on all of their bikes.  It's also available as a key chain, a nice touch for the cyclist in your life who has "everything".

SRAM Force, a bit of an unsung hero of the SRAM lineup.  The vast majority of the performance of Red at a much more affordable price.