by roadytracky on Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:45 pm
After reading a few WW posts on various aluminum frames, I bought a 2012 Felt F85. I pulled the trigger 2 weeks ago after my buddy told me Felt was clearing out their 2012 inventory, and I could get a great deal on an F Series. This bike is meant to be my spare/winter/crit bike so aluminum and cheap were 2 directions I was going in. After reading WW the past few months, I narrowed my list of bikes down to the CAAD10, Allez EVO, Giant TCR (the aluminum one), and the Felt F75. The CAAD10 was 1st on my list but after trying it out I realized there was no way their frame geometry would fit me - not even close. The other 3 all had similar geometry at least as far as small frames go. The Giant wasn't out with their 2013 aluminum frame in the US so that was ruled out. It was down to the Allez and the Felt. When my buddy told me about the Felt clearance deal I did my research and realized the Felt was the way to go. Instead of the F75 or FA (which wasn't sold here in 2012) I went with the F85 which was lower on the wrung and cheaper as well ($700). Framewise, the difference between the F75 and the F85 was BB30 vs. GXP, weight (1292g claimed weight for the F75 vs. 1320g for the F85), and paint (which might be the added weight on the F85). Everything else was the same - tubing, fork, geometry etc. Since I had an extra GXP crankset I wanted to use, and the F85 was $200 cheaper than the F75, I went with the F85. I used a bunch of the stock parts mixed with some of my own, including wheels. Without much effort or expense, the bike weighs 17.06lbs with pedals, cages, and Barfly. Since it's a spare bike that's about as far as I'm going Weight Weenie-wise, at least for now. So far I've been extremely happy. In fact, the Felt is the best riding bike I've owned, including my carbon-fiber 2012 Fuji Altamira Limited Edition (the all black model).
Last edited by
roadytracky on Sat Sep 22, 2012 7:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.