Felt 2014 AR1

[mitchgixer6]

Thanks for the pic, nice bike!

Hopefully Dave might be along to tell us of any tests that Felt may or may not have carried out on the bike in terms of it's stiffness. That is a lot of power you're putting out though and may well have some affect on the frame. I hope t doesn't spoil your enjoyment of such a nice looking bike.

[Twinning]

Thanks for the pic, nice bike!

Hopefully Dave might be along to tell us of any tests that Felt may or may not have carried out on the bike in terms of it's stiffness. That is a lot of power you're putting out though and may well have some affect on the frame. I hope t doesn't spoil your enjoyment of such a nice looking bike.

Thanks! It's definitely a little sad that it isn't as stiff but I went into it knowing that it wasn't going to be ultra stiff. Aero frames aren't known to be super stiff and if I wanted to get a super stiff frame I would have just bumped up to the s-works tarmac sl4. I wanted this frame because it looked super sweet. Haha


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[Mize]

Thanks for the info and the photo Twinning. I would have never expected it to touch SL4 stiffness, but was sorta, kinda hoping for SL3 stiffness. At 170 lbs maybe I won't notice it as much...I assume you were running similar wheels on the SL4...

[mitchgixer6]

Just out of interest what size of frame is that?

[Twinning]

I have the exact same set up as what I had on the SL3. except for the bars. Aero bikes need aero bars.

It is a 56.

[MarkGiardini]

Thanks for the pic, nice bike!

Hopefully Dave might be along to tell us of any tests that Felt may or may not have carried out on the bike in terms of it's stiffness. That is a lot of power you're putting out though and may well have some affect on the frame. I hope t doesn't spoil your enjoyment of such a nice looking bike.

Thanks! It's definitely a little sad that it isn't as stiff but I went into it knowing that it wasn't going to be ultra stiff. Aero frames aren't known to be super stiff and if I wanted to get a super stiff frame I would have just bumped up to the s-works tarmac sl4. I wanted this frame because it looked super sweet. Haha


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Dude that's a super sweet bike - stiff, or not stiff - looks dope!

My first and only Felt was a 2010 Felt AR3, not stiff obviously, but aero - and probably the nicest ride from a riding bike (regardless of stiffness) I had, until I grabbed a TCR SL!

[BobCummings]

Just finished my build this week. Last night was a 30 mi maiden voyage on familiar stomping grounds. Hammered it on overpass hill. I too experience more flex than had hoped for. It was mostly in the head tube. From the bottom bracket back much better than the old AR. I too am a power guy. I have raced/ridden the AR since 2009. Have had 09', 10', and 12'. I am a cat 1 racer and my team bike for the last two years has been the Fuji SST1 which is super stiff so this is what I am comparing it to. Took it out today and put in 85 miles. I am in KS and was riding in 15-25 mph winds. Bike felt fantastic in the wind. Was super impressed the way it handled cross wind. Ride was smooth and soaked up road seams very well. Going out tomorrow for another 110mi or so. My thoughts so far. I think they made the front end softer for comfort. Back end is adequately stiff and seat post/seat stay design makes it a comfortable compromise. I plan on changing to a stiffer stem and run it flush with head tube to take out some flex. I am using it as my prime 2014 race bike. Can't wait to push it through high speed crit corners.

I'm new to this. How do I post a pic?

[Twinning]

Just finished my build this week. Last night was a 30 mi maiden voyage on familiar stomping grounds. Hammered it on overpass hill. I too experience more flex than had hoped for. It was mostly in the head tube. From the bottom bracket back much better than the old AR. I too am a power guy. I have raced/ridden the AR since 2009. Have had 09', 10', and 12'. I am a cat 1 racer and my team bike for the last two years has been the Fuji SST1 which is super stiff so this is what I am comparing it to. Took it out today and put in 85 miles. I am in KS and was riding in 15-25 mph winds. Bike felt fantastic in the wind. Was super impressed the way it handled cross wind. Ride was smooth and soaked up road seams very well. Going out tomorrow for another 110mi or so. My thoughts so far. I think they made the front end softer for comfort. Back end is adequately stiff and seat post/seat stay design makes it a comfortable compromise. I plan on changing to a stiffer stem and run it flush with head tube to take out some flex. I am using it as my prime 2014 race bike. Can't wait to push it through high speed crit corners.

I'm new to this. How do I post a pic?

I use tapatalk on my phone. Very easy to load the photos. But yes. I also feel some flex in the head tube. I just slammed my stem today so that should increase rigidity slightly. I wanted to get a zipp sprint sl stem for stiffness but I wouldn't have enough clamp room for my k edge garmin mount.



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[mitchgixer6]

You guys are lucky to even have the frame to test! Still waiting on mine.

To post pics you can use Flickr. Upload the picture to there and then select the share option (bottom right). Copy and paste the text it should start [img]and%20end[/img]. I think that's correct. Basically copy the text from Flickr and paste it in here as a reply.

[BobCummings]

Just wrote a lengthy post on my second ride. I submitted it but was not logged in. When I logged in it was gone. Frustrated. Let me know if anyone "really" wants to hear it and I will try and recreate later.

[Twinning]

Just wrote a lengthy post on my second ride. I submitted it but was not logged in. When I logged in it was gone. Frustrated. Let me know if anyone "really" wants to hear it and I will try and recreate later.

I want to hear about your second ride. I have now logged in close to 500 miles on this bike and I have to say it is definitely flexier than the s-works tarmac sl3. Whether it's the bottom bracket or head tube I can't be sure. Perhaps both.


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[jlaitinen]

Just wrote a lengthy post on my second ride. I submitted it but was not logged in. When I logged in it was gone. Frustrated. Let me know if anyone "really" wants to hear it and I will try and recreate later.

I am also interested as I think that the AR1 is one of the most interesting frames of 2014.

[mitchgixer6]

If you can be bothered I'd like to hear your opinion too.

Just as a wee note, If I do a huge post I always copy it to the clipboard first before hitting 'Submit'. Been there, done that, not got the t-shirt yet!

[mitchgixer6]

Just heard through my dealer, no AR1's in the UK until March at the earliest!

[Porkinson]

mitchgixer6, did your dealer have on on order for you from Saddleback and there are absolutely AR1s in the UK, or just new orders?

I ordered one at the weekend after the dealer had spoke to Saddleback who said they were in due in two weeks, but stocks left to order were very low ( two separate dealers both told me there was only one 54cm left to order). Presumably the shipping process from Taiwan takes longer than two weeks and so would have already begun when the dealer spoke to Saddleback at the weekend.

Cheers.