Felt 2014 AR1

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SuperDave
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by SuperDave

spartan wrote:SuperDave,

why is the listed felt AR FRD frameset so heavy ?


Weight:
1.77kg, 3.9lb

http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2014/Bikes/Road/AR-Series/ar-frd-frameset.aspx


Wow, good question. My guess is they weighed the frameset complete as it comes equipped. I'll verify though.

1.77kg sounds right for the complete package to me:

frame
fork (uncut)
headset + headset spacers
VM seatpost + titanium M6 mounting bolts
ceramic BB bearings w/ 24mm spindle reducers
rubber cable guides

We don't typically post the weights of the complete kit as it is unconventional and misleading. I'll request we post the raw 56cm frame weight as we've done in the past. The two samples we've had here have been 908g and 912g.

-SD

SuperDave
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by SuperDave

euan wrote:Dave any confirmation that the ARA will be sold as a frameset only in Europe and not just as the AR15?


There are no plans to offer the AR aluminum frame in aftermarket trim. The cost of producing the framekits vs. the volume of the complete bikes would make the price difference between the complete bikes illogical. I would bet you'll be able to find a shop that is willing to strip the complete AR15 and offer just the frameset.

Image

-SD

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spartan
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by spartan

watch the video. the felt AR was bench marked against the Venge/Cervelo S5/Scot Foil/Giant Propel. the AR was fastest -20 +20.

the tt bike has half the drag over the previous DA tt. impressive. can not wait to read the whitepaper for the details

http://www.feltbicycles.com/frd/#prettyphoto1/0/
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ricerocket
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by ricerocket

^^ FWD? It's front wheel drive? :doh:

justkeepedaling
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by justkeepedaling

spartan wrote:watch the video. the felt AR was bench marked against the Venge/Cervelo S5/Scot Foil/Giant Propel. the AR was fastest -20 +20.

the tt bike has half the drag over the previous DA tt. impressive. can not wait to read the whitepaper for the details

http://www.feltbicycles.com/frd/#prettyphoto1/0/


OK, I'll bite. I see no dummy rider and no water bottles. Without either of these, that data is essentially worthless.
Even in their own promotional video, you can see the crank angle of the IA is not even the same as that used for the AR. The AR is a 3 o'clock and the IA is like between 3 and 4 o clock.

That said, I'll probably be buying an AR5 at the end of this year if it's anywhere close to the S5 simply due to stiffness and weight

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prendrefeu
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by prendrefeu

Taking a look at the Felt AR, Cervelo S5 and others in that wind tunnel made me think: I wonder how the Santa Cruz roadster compared to the modern lot of "aero" frames. :twisted:
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ichobi
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by ichobi

@SuperDave, not sure if this has been asked, but what's the thinking behind the decision to leave to front brake unhidden like other TT/ Aero road bikes? Is it faster this way in your testing?

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by ultyguy

prendrefeu wrote:Taking a look at the Felt AR, Cervelo S5 and others in that wind tunnel made me think: I wonder how the Santa Cruz roadster compared to the modern lot of "aero" frames. :twisted:


I had such mad lust for that bike back in the day!

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by Zigmeister

I really don't care for the Venge like seatpost which you can flip around. When flipped forward, it really screws the entire lines of the bike up and looks like a silly TT/Tri setup.

Why they don't offer a zero offset post is beyond me....kind of a big fail for me personally, won't buy a frame that doesn't offer a simple seatpost that is zero offset.

Too bad, really nice frame and design the FRD road setup.

SuperDave
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by SuperDave

ichobi wrote:@SuperDave, not sure if this has been asked, but what's the thinking behind the decision to leave to front brake unhidden like other TT/ Aero road bikes? Is it faster this way in your testing?


We did some testing with shrouded brakes like our new DA2 uses. There are some marginal gains to be had but the AR was built around the best balance of low weight, high torsional and drivetrain stiffness, low aerodynamic drag, and a high degree of vertical and cockpit compliance. Building a fork that housed the brake would push the bike weight up over 1100 grams like the Propel. We wanted to keep the AR FRD under 900g during development and keep the fork compliant for-aft.

Using "regular" Shimano brakes on the bike allows the bike to perform in 4 other key categories beyond aerodynamics as well. It freed up development time to focus on taking the ~20g of added drag from the conventional calilper and ~10g of drag from conventional front brake cable routing and saving drag with fork and downtube blend and shape modification.

The AR3 EPS does use a centerpull aero front brake mounted on the front of the bike and for those looking for aerodynamics over pure stopping power or all conditions braking performance there are calipers like the TriRig that'll give back 75% of the drag a Shimano dual pivot brake adds.

I'm running one of our IA brake calipers on the front of my AR1 as I'm typically riding 90 minute parking lot crits, not Alpine descents so giving up a few feet of braking distance doesn't concern me if I can shorten the finish line by a few feet gaining aero performance.

-SD

pyrahna
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by pyrahna

Dave-
Now that Interbike is upon us is there any update on the whitepaper?

theloper
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by theloper

Dave......for those of us that are interested in running a mech. group set how does the AR1 compare to the AR FRD in terms of weight, stiffness and overall ride quality?

nigel379
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by nigel379

Looks like the guys at aero geeks saw the new AR white paper and shared some of the results:
http://aerogeeks.com/2013/09/24/2014-fe ... -analysis/

Pretty impressive. Will be nice to see the entire white paper, though.

SuperDave, care to share more info about the felt IA brake you use (and which showed impressive results in the tunnel). I assume it is similar to the TriRig Omega.

justkeepedaling
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by justkeepedaling

IMO, without two water bottles and a mannequin, this test is not a very good representation of reality

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