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FIRST LOOK: Felt's 2013 Lineup   Bookmark and Share
images by Nick Salazar   •   Jul 16, 2012   •   hits 115,306

The new Felt B12, from the front.
 
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Felt Bicycles invited a small group of media to its headquarters in Irvine, California. TriRig was there as they unveiled their 2013 line of tri bikes, including the brand new B2 and B12 bikes, which borrow much of the tech of the flagship DA lineup, but put them into a budget-friendly package. The B12 frameset can be had for just $1,749, which will be very attractive to those building a new bike from old parts.


The B12 shown here and B2 both get the same brand new frame, built from the aero platform of the flagship DA. Almost everthing behind the head tube is identical to its bigger brother.

Every DA and the new B-level bikes come with the integrated TorHans bottle, which mates seamlessly within the main triangle of the frame.

The top of the VR bottle is always open, and has an integrated splash guard. So you just pull out the bottle and squeeze to drink.

With the bottle out, you can see how it mounts. It does obscure bolt holes on both the down tube AND seat tube, so if you run this bottle, you can't run a second one in the main triangle, but that shouldn't be a big problem if you follow the trusty TriRig hydration guide.

Circuar protrusions on either side of the VR bottle keep it in place, but it's very easy to grab and remove.

The new B2 and B12 frames use 1.125-inch bearings top and bottom, for easy assembly but still a very narrow shape. It's worth noting that Cervelo has also retained 1.125-inch bearings on its flagship P5, finding that narrower head tubes didn't actually reduce drag with a rider on board.

Even the all-white B12 has a reverse showing off the carbon goodness.

Felt has never been shy about showing off their carbon, and I love it. Virtually every paint scheme shows off some bare carbon, and some are practically all nude.

Even at the potentially messy junctions, beautiful carbon weave is visible all over the bike.

The alloy Bayonet bar isn't as sleek as the carbon version, but very nice and very adjustable nonetheless. Both versions are Di2 compatible.

A whole host of bridges and spacers are available to keep the Bayonet bar dialed in and performing great.

Threaded spacers are the key to the bar's sleek profile, especially for the carbon version.

Not ultralight, but this version of the bar has alloy arm cups and tall spacers.

The UCI approval badge is molded into the frame, under the clearcoat.

The carbon Bayonet bar is super sleek, and gorgeous to behold.

The B-series bikes use fully internal cable routing, using housing right up to the derailleurs. The front derailleur cable stops just outside the frame, rather than below the BB.

The alloy Bayonet bar is formulated using a technique that allows Felt to easily produce different widths of bars. For now, the OEM bars will be 39cm, c-c.

Little bridge pieces will connect the pad towers, adding stability to tall setups.

Here's a closeup look at the front end of the new Bayonet alloy bar.

I can't help but admire all the nude carbon all over these bikes. It's superb.

The DA now comes with fixed stems by default, since the new Bayonet bar provides so much stack adjustment on its own. But the adjustable-angle stems are still available for those extreme situations where they're necessary.

One thing Felt finally got right is their arm pads. Previous versions were either too slick, or too mushy. These are solid rubber pads with a very nice grip.

One thing to note about the DA downtube - it isn't a cutout. The front of the tube is the same as the front of the rest of the tube. So when the wheel is turned, there's no concave cross section in the wind.

The B-series frames use a two-post TRP brake instead of the custom brake inside the DA's chainstay area. This is the exact same brake used on the Specialized Shiv and Blue Triad SL.

The new Felt B12, from the front.

Brand manager Dave Koesel also showed off some special Felt projects, like this F24 bike built for kids as young as seven or eight years old, with some special kid-sized features like custom shorter-reach shifters and mini cranks.

Felt's new adjustible stems can offer a wide variety of rise adjustment, by replacing the included eccentric shims.

Each adjustable stem comes with two shims.

This shot demonstrates how the eccentric construction works. The lip at the top of the shim changes the effective angle of the stem once installed.

Koesel brings out the flagship DA, mostly unchanged for 2013.

The new front end now follows the prevailing theme we've seen from other bike manufacturers: provide a few macro stack adjustment options at the stem, and then a lot of additional stack adjustment at the bar.

The Bayonet Carbon bar is gorgeous, but for now will ONLY come on the most-expensive DA1 or DA1 frameset.

The bar has a super narrow profile and clean hardware.

The Bayonet adjusts much like the bars on the Speed Concept or Shiv, but by eliminating extension tilt adjustment, it becomes sleeker and lighter.

The big socket bolts on the underside of the bar won't be this big in production, and will be swapped for some lower button heads instead.

Felt will be stocking the DA bikes with fixed-position stems, in one of six sizes: flat, 30mm rise, and 60mm rise, each in 70mm or 100mm lengths. Three of those are shown here.

The bar was built to be Di2-compatible, while still remaining as narrow as possible.

Lots of adjustment, only a little hardware.


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