I had one fail last week while making a decent at nearly 30mph.

Yep, my second one failed on a descent as well....going 35+. I emailed Felt a week ago, but they haven't responded.

Wow. How old are the bars? I assume that is the Bayonet 3?

Do you do most of your riding on a trainer (more sweat on the clamp causing corrosion) versus outdoor riding?

Mine does not look likely to fail any time soon, but I only have about 600 miles and 3 months on the bike so far.

Normally they are better at responding when going through a retailer

Less than a year old. The first one failed at about the six month point. I use a road bike for the small amount of indoor training that I do. Don't think the Felt has ever been on a trainer.

I went to a retailer to get my replacement parts.

I think the problem was too much sweat from the trainer. I need to find a better way to keep the front end dry.

I also went through my retailer. They called, but didn't have much luck either. I am interested to find out if this is a widespread issue.

First off glad you are ok.

Just out of curiousity how often do you ride outdoors vs time on the trainer? Just looking at that pic, it looks like there is some corrosion going on. Just wondering if that is due to maybe being on the trainer and your sweat dripping down onto your bars.

Twice in 3 months is sorta scary though. I would go to your retailer you bought the bike from and see if they can help you in getting a response from Felt.

The Felt has never been on a trainer that I can remember. I don't train inside much, but when I do it is on my road bike

Thanks. I will watch mine closely, but it is probably too new to give you data. Mine is starting to look a little corroded from lots of trainer sweat. But, it is more likely a bad part, if yours was mostly outdoor miles.

Which IA is this? Which bar?

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

2015 IA1. I think it is the Bayonet 3 bar.

It looks like it's the alloy clamp that failed. I doubt that would be a corrosion issue. More likely due to a problem with the casting, machining or heat treatment of the parts during manufacture resulting in premature fatigue. It is concerning if this is a common occurrence. Any chance you were significantly over-tightening the bolts? It looks like that could potentially cause increased stress at the point of failure.

http://www.totalmateria.com/Article17.htm


I'm guessing it's stress corrosion cracking, but that seems less likely if you're not sweating all over it on the trainer. Hopefully Felt figures it out.

I really doubt it is due to corrosion. I am pretty anal about washing my bike after every ride.....admittedly, I do see a bit of discoloration on the clamp screws in the picture.

Here's another thought... What kind of BTA do you use, and do you load it with an electrolyte drink?

I use Xlab Torpedo....lately, the new Versa. Only for races though. Just behind the seat in training

Buddy of mine has a DA (bought before the IA line was introduced) and he had the same problem so it's been around for years!! He was lucky--his snapped at relatively a low speed and more importantly a few miles before we were done riding...

I've had my IA4 for over 2 years now and I haven't seen any issues. Have you been using a torq wrench to tighten down the bolts? Are you for some reason unscrewing them often and then re tightening them? This seems very scary and strange to see ... Hope you get it figured out.

As for stopping the sweat..... I use an old tech t shirt for that. Just pull the neck over the extensions and then put the sleeves over the bullhorns. If you cut a little 'X' in the shirt right where your computer mount goes you can slip it through before afixing the computer to it. Then just pull the shirt towards the calpac and voila, you've got coverage for all the front end.

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

 

This issue just happened to me recently. So I too, was wondering if this has happened anyone else. My clamp just snapped while doing 25 mph on the flats. I had a serious wreck which required surgery. I am very lucky I did not get hit by a car after wrecking. Significant injuries. The bike is just over a year old. Went through my bike shop and Felt was quick to respond. They claim however, that they know nothing about this issue. I have a problem with that - since obviously this has happened before. I ride the bike on the trainer but I have a specific cover to protect the front headset from sweat. Screws are a little rusty but the alloy used for the clamp should be somewhat sweat resistant. It cracked right at the seam - which looks like a bad (focal stress point) design to me. I doubt sweat is the issue. And if it is, recall the part for a corrosion resistant piece before someone has a catastrophic outcome. More likely it's a design flaw. This is unacceptable.

We see this happen every once in a while in our shop. We sell quite a lot off felt's and we have this like 3 to 5 times per year. Felt isn't really very informative as a company,unfortunate, not in this or most other subjects. It happens to that part but also to the lower part where that extension clamp is mounted on. But we just stock the parts for our customers. It is very hard to tell how and why these clamps sometimes crack. One thing to make sure is not to over-torgue the 2 bolts as this seems to speed up the breaking.

You should get them replaced at no cost through your retailer. If that takes too long you can also order the parts from the felt website, i know, you pay for it and that shouldn't be the case but is sometimes to most speedy way. Heck, we as a shop sometimes just order through that channel instead of waiting for the distributor getting them from felt. We just want to have so we can help our customers the fastest way, at any cost.

Regsrds,

Jeroen
Tri-Run.com

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

I hope you are ok.


My girlfriend's DA has the same clamp and it failed after about 3 years of riding when she hit a pot hole.

I noticed on my IA i have a little washer that goes inside the clamp and her's didnt so when you torqued the bolt down to clamp the extension the top part of the clamp would sit at an angle. Hopefully that makes sense.

I think if you can find that washer it should help prevent this problem for people in the future.

Doesn't matter if you use the washers or not for this issue. You should use them but we have seen them break also completely and correctly built incl. all the washers.

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

From your picture, it looks like you are missing the spacer that sits between the clamp faces.

Mine was missing the spacer as well, but I still don't trust it. This is a known issue they should be more forthcoming about

wow, and I was considering a felt but, .....

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

That would certainly be terrifying. Do you mind posting a photo of the whole front end? Do you have very long extensions? Do you push and pull a lot on them when riding?

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Wow. 3-5 times per year? Wow. That scares me. I have a torque wrench for this very reason and only torque to the specified levels. We really only adjust the bike during bikefittings - then tighten as needed. What perplexes me is that no recalls have been made on this bracket. I understand the concept of cost/benefit ratio , but this is downright dangerous. This is a weight-bearing structure that is prone to failure. We're not just talking about my crashes and injury but we're talking about a potential loss of life. It's like an eight dollar part (retail) , why wouldn't they just replace it? I like the bike, but this is just unacceptable. Thanks for the response - I appreciate it.

as soon as i heard of this happening many months ago I swapped out the bayonet risers and brackets with Profile Design's J2 bracket kit. Never worried again. that's the beauty of it being a glorified clip-on standard based system

Not an expert here, but I wonder if overtorquing the bolts could possibly contribute to that sort of failure? For example, if it's clamped too tightly, maybe the forces from the bars are incorrectly focused on the weakpoint rather than distributed into the stem? Just wondering. Looks awful in any case.

Nope. I use a torque wrench and only torque to the specified 6 Newton meter recommendation. Have used it for years on all my bikes. It appears that this happens quite frequently so I doubt all cases are related to over - torquing. But I agree, we should look at everything.

The bike is currently at the shop so I don't have pictures. I Just use the stock extensions. I'm a slightly larger rider, 190 pounds and I do torque on the bars. But again the bike is only slightly over one-year-old and supposedly they have quality control and one would hope the product was constructed to endure forces for beyond what people can generate. I check and tighten parts w my torque wrench so this does not happen. And it kind of sounds like it's happening to larger and smaller riders alike.

Even a small guy could torque pretty hard on their extensions - it's a pretty big lever to apply to that little aluminum bracket. I suspect felt underestimated how much some people pull and push on those extensions. I've got probably 12,000 miles riding IA's and have never had an issue, but I do not push or pull at all on them. My hands just sort of lay relaxed on top of them.

I do not think bolt torque is an issue at all with this.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Yes, it is unacceptable but so far with us it never broke so that the whole extension seperated from the base bar. In all cases there was a crack and the extension came somewhat loose but more or less stayed in place although you could not ride it any longer.
This year we had 3 occasions where it happened but all on bikes that were bought 2 to 3 year ago. In total i think about 10 x in hundreds of bikes. But agreed, if you are the one where it happens and you crash bad you don't care that it didn't happen hundreds of other riders.
We pointed out the issue to the distributor and they told us that they told felt. We did get a bunch of replacements.

I do advise all to grease all the bolts that are used to attached the extension to the clamp because when you do not your torque wrench can give incorrect values especialy on the newer bars/bolts.

If i recall correct i think jim from ero also mentioned this already once in a thread.

Take care

Jeroen

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

Good idea

They should be designed for this: consider that a guy like Tony Martin pulls "up" on his extensions (pretty hard too) to generate some extra power. Also consider that you might have to brace yourself against the extensions if you hit a bump. Felt should be aware of these use parameters and design accordingly.

I agree - they should have designed something that could withstand that kind of use. It sounds like maybe they did not. I think that pulling on the extensions is the likely culprit here. All this talk of improperly torqued bolts is a red herring.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Completely agree. Not everyone rides the same. And you know someone like Tony Martin is putting abnormally high stress all over the bike. There are serious competitors far stronger than the recreational athlete like myself riding these bikes. I would think a company like Felt would realize this. I wonder how long the problem has exsisted and what it would take to get Felt to actually fix the issue.

Thanks again. I guess the question I have is what the rate of failure for a relatively common bike part is acceptable? 1-100?, 1-1000, 1-1000000? It sounds dramatic but seriously do we need fatalities before it gets fixed? Recalls happen all the time. At what point does the liability caused by defective parts outweigh economic viability for a company? I was told by Felt that they had no knowledge of this particular issue (I get why a company would do that but it's still shady). This is clearly untrue. And it's not just that this happened to me. As a cyclists we have to about the weather, motorists, Road conditions etc,. No one (including me or you) should have to worry about their bike just falling apart for some bizarre reason mid ride. Honestly I don't want this to happen to anyone. Whether it be a bike number 1 or 10 of 200....just send out stronger and better designed brackets - they exist. Willful neglect endangering cyclists is inexcusable in my mind. I'll just go with another bike.

Thanks

Just get over it and upgrade to a Tririg Alpha X. You will be faster, better looking, and safer. And, you will eliminate that dodgy stem that is also waiting to kill you.

I primarily do time trials. So I do put some torque on the bars particularly at the start of a race. I think a lot of TT racers do the same. I think the quote about Tony Martin is on point. it often seems in these cases that people's first inclination is to blame the owner of the bike with any bike failures that occur. Whether it be sweat, spacers, too much torque, improper tightening etc. lots of people seem to make exuses for the manufacturer. ED you may be right on. Felt may have not considered torque forces. Irregardless, there have been enough posts on this one forum to suggest that this is at least a mildly occurring problem (likely many more cases we aren't aware of) that has been ignored by the company. I for one asked specifically if Felt was aware of any occurrences like this. They said no. That does not appear to be true. There have likely been other crashes due to this faulty part. Hopefully no one has died. If Felt didn't consider the possibility of the rider torquing on the aerobar to some degree, or actually sweating a little when they ride their bike - that's beyond short sighted and really just kinda dumb. But if they truly know there is a problem and choose to do nothing about it that's willfully negligent. That's my issue.

I think I have officially "lost that lovin'' feeling"
-two failed extension brackets
-one failed set of rear brakes
-lousy calpac
-no draft box (nor will I ever have one on my 2015 Ia1)
-and a company that fails to accept responsibility for its mistakes.

Beautiful fast bike, but enough is enough

Seriously?
You think spending $1000 or thereabouts to replace what should be a perfectly decent aerobar is a reasonable suggestion?

Seriously, I think that you have a tough time detecting written humor and sarcasm. On one hand, the reactions to the broken clamp may be overblown a bit. And on the other, the stem clamp is poorly designed and may also break.

There's nothing wrong with my sense of humour but this is Slowtwitch; where comments like that, when not in pink, are likely as not meant in full sincerity!

Wow. Well I for one am glad that you originally posted your concerns. You are a more patient person than I am. That's quite a list. One bracket failure, a crash, surgery for some of the damage - I'm done. People seem to want to minimize this issue - maybe if someone gets paralyzed or dies it will migrate from "overblown" to the "dangerous issue" it is. I would prefer not to wait for that to happen - not for me ( obviously I will recover ) , but for any expecting rider who has the bracket randomly bust at a less than ideal place or time. As cyclists we should all be doing exactly what you did. Looking out for each other. Raising issues so problems get fixed and accidents are avoided. Even more so if bike companies aren't willing to do it unless forced. So thanks. Enough is enough.

This is what I would recommend you do...

1. Decide what you want: A new bar? An upgraded bar (Devox, perhaps)? Felt to buy you a third-party bar? Felt to give you cash toward a third-party bar? Felt to buy your bike back?
2. Decide how much effort the resolution is worth to you.
3. Collect some objective data. This will be hard, because the Internet and forums like this one are prone to adverse selection. If you are not thorough and objective, you will get rejected at your first contact with Felt. If you get some specific data points from a few local bike shops and specifics here, you might have enough. Including you, this thread has four encounters plus an anecdotal "3-5 per year" from a person from a bike shop. However, at least one of the encounters in this thread is from a different bar (IA1 has Devox, not Bayonet 3).
4. Write a detailed letter outlining your specific data points and personal impacts.
5. Put what you want in the letter.
6. Call Felt directly and get past their tier-1 help desk to someone with actual decision-making authority.
7. Call Rossignol directly and get past their tier-1 help desk to someone with actual decision-making authority.
8. Discuss the issues with a real person, and let them know you will be sending the letter via registered mail.
9. Send the letter, and wait for the reply.
10. Let us all know the outcome.

Well that's terrifying. Remind me to check my extensions when I get home...

Have you contacted the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ?
Serious question.

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
DarkSpeedWorks.com.....Reviews.....Insta.....Facebook
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Currently in the process of contacting all appropriate entities. Will keep everyone posted as we progress. Thanks.

Thanks for posting. I own a 2015 Felt IA1 as well, and it would be really scary to have this happen. Glad you are OK after the crash, but still... surgery(!)

In the interest of seeing if there are any similarities in set-up of the riser assembly for bikes that have clamps which failed, here are some pages below from the manual for the 2015 IA1.

For anyone that had an IA with a clamp that failed:
- were you running the low stack set-up (Option A/ no fixed bridge) or a high stack set-up (Option B/ fixed bridge) ?
- did your assembly have both the bracket spacers and the fit washers?
- were you running your arm rests behind or in front of the aerobar extension clamps?

Thanks again for sharing your experiences. I am definitely double checking my own set-up.

Oh yeah...I forgot about the brakes that had been recalled. In my case I have 2016 IA and I proactivly called them to make sure I had the new brakes. They assured me I did.

Wasn't until less than a year after I purchased the bike that the brakes failed. After I called again they begrudgingly admitted that I had the old brakes and agreed to send them to a retailed. That was 145 miles away...

I have a Felt IA FRD 2015 but mine has not been used that much....brakes etc. that got me thinking who made those clamps? There are 3t parts on this bike. I have had big problems with 3t clamps on a ceverlo P4 breaking. Do not know if they are 3t

Thank you all for sharing your experiences with your Felt bicycles. In our experience with similar cases we have found that the cause was improper installation and inadequate maintenance. We do our best to educate our dealers and consumers on correct installation and maintenance techniques but we realize that sometimes the message gets lost in the process. As such we have made upgrades to the design of the bracket in question and this upgraded version is currently available.

Felt Bicycles takes these matters very seriously. We strongly encourage any Felt customers who have experienced any issues installing, adjusting or maintaining any component on any Felt bicycle to contact the authorized Felt retailer. The dealer will have solutions or has the ability to discuss with the Felt Dealer Support team to find solutions If any issue still persists, we encourage them to contact Felt’s customer service department at info@feltbicycles.com

We are following up with MrFuzzyPants directly and are looking forward to resolving the situation as soon as possible.

Thanks for coming here and responding
Is there a way to know if we have the updated design

I'm sorry, but this response is weak. Correct maintenance and installation? My bike was built by one of the most prominent shops in the country. Many would argue the world. Several tour teams as well as pro triathletes regard them as the best of the best. I will let them know it's their fault

i think the way i would have put it is that i got my bike built and serviced by a highly reputable Felt dealer, and if they were the last to touch it before a bracket failure then it's a dealer or manufacturer problem, not a user problem.

i think what you'd like - but maybe not, i don't mean to put words in your mouth - is the manufacturer on the forum communicating with you. were it me, i'd think it's best to gently push back with a question like that, so that the manufacturer remains on the thread answering questions for users.

but, again, that's just me.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I'm pretty sure that is not how you would do it. That is your response as the host of slowtwitch trying to maintain your site etc., not the point of view from a concerned customer who potentially has a dangerous situation and or faulty equipment to sort through...but then again that's just me.

Thanks Dan. The LBS built and torqued the bolts. If I were to mentioned the shop by name, most would likely agree that they are among the most reputable in the world. I also have to admit that they failed to use the spacer and that may have been a contributing factor. However, if catastrophic failure is the result of not using a spacer, Felt might have let the shops know that or redesigned the part to prevent that from happening.

What frustrates me is that this is an issue that has been ongoing for quite some time and that Felt has known about. Instead of redesigning the part they have consistently denied responsibility and claimed this is an isolated issue, which it is not.

Somebody could have been killed.....somebody was seriously injured. They could have and should have fixed the issue long before now.

That washer is ridiculously easy to have accidentally slip out while assembling the bars.

If there is actually a redesigned part then customers should have been notified and FELT should at least have it for sale on their site.

As of right now, I don't even know how to tell if I have the upgraded mount. I'm assuming not since I have the spacer.

What was updated and how do we know if we have updated bar clamps? Secondly have the directions been updated recently?

I spend the day creating process for people build complex assemblies. The directions and the supplement that was included with the bike is lacking in several ways. Do you use grease, loctite, certain type of grease, nothing, ect in the instructions as an example. Packing of the bolts and the fact that they are not marked.

The pictures in the manual are ambiguous. Even from the pictures above; Where exactly do you put the fit washers? One picture shows one thing and the second page shows another. If the washers are so important that not having one can result in catastrophic failure then it should be very well documented.

Thank you for coming on and responding.

Can you please describe what "inadequate maintenance" means in the context of what type of inadequate maintenance would lead to catastrophic aero bar failure?

This is a genuine concern for me as I am considering purchasing a Felt IA.

Hello all, We are following this and will have a more clear answer soon.

Agreed with the pictures, they could be better. The washers themselves are not highly critical to the assembly. They keep the shims in alignment. To keep them in their respective hole, grease can be used to keep them in place. Little drop here and there will do the trick.

The biggest thing that I see that could cause the breakage from an assembly standpoint is the clamp spacer and bolt lengths. My bike was shipped with a supplement instructions sheet which isn't on the Felt website (purchased Feb. 17). This included a couple new bolts that are not seen in the above screenshots. There were a couple of combinations that would allow for minimum bolt engagement, hence the new bolt lengths. Missing spacer on the clamp will cause the force through a different point in the clamp, not saying this is the cause of the failures, but it would be one of the potential causes that would need looked at. The directions certainly don't do this piece much justice in its importance.

It would be useful if we could receive the following:

- exactly which models are susceptible to the issue
- how customers can check their setup is safe and correct i.e. exact pages, links etc to relevant instructions, not just take it to your LBS
- what the appropriate service interval is for these particular parts, the whole bike in general
- clarity around the suppositions written above, such as sweat and spacers
- how to spot a bad setup that may have been done by a LBS

Should readers not ride these bars until we receive a full response?

Other readers may have other requests they would like to see you provide..

Part of the issue is that FELT doesn't actually have model years. Each part is serialized (as I understand it).

Which in my case is how I purchased a bike shipped from FELT at the end of 2016 but ended up with parts that had been recalled in 2015. They didn't have a way to know until I took the part off and gave them the serial number off that specific part.

Since reading this thread, I've contacted my bike shop to ask about both the IA brakes and the aerobar extension clamps and they say there has never been a recall on either part (assume that means official recall.) Still, if there are improved parts available, I would think it makes sense to replace the previous spec parts.

On the brakes, I cannot find the batch number so far (my understanding is that numbers 15051 or earlier can be upgraded and 15061 or later are the upgraded version), although I have taken off both front and rear covers - is the number printed on the hidden surface of the brake? Meaning you need to first remove the brake cables and then remove the brakes from the bike to find the number?

You have to completely remove the brake. The serial number is on the individual arms of each brake.

I'm pretty sure it was an official recall as FELT replaced everyone's brakes (including labor) for free. But I guess I could be wrong since I had to proactively ask (twice) about it.

Rest assured, if you have the old brakes they WILL fail. Like within 2-5k miles of riding depending on conditions. Fortunately they fail closed and you end up trying to figure out why your brake is rubbing on your wheel.

In our experience in working with consumers on an individual basis regarding issues involving the Bayonet 3 aerobar assembly, the primary cause has been improper installation. To simplify the installation process and improve the overall setup, as some of you have noted, Felt developed a new bracket system and accompanying hardware to alleviate any potential issues such as have been described in this forum thread. Here is how you can tell whether or not you have the updated bracket: (see attached)

Authorized Felt retailers have these new brackets available or available to them, so if you’re interested in an upgrade, contact your authorized Felt dealer for ordering information. This will be provided free of charge.

Finally, there are many terrific bicycle mechanics who produce great work. But we strongly encourage all riders to seek out an authorized Felt retailer for work on their IA Series, DA Series, or any other Felt bike. Missing components such as washers, incorrect bolt sizes, improper torque settings, or any other deviations from the manufacturer’s specifications can result in suboptimal performance, including causing the bracket or the aerobar to come loose or even break. All information regarding the proper installation and adjustment of all Felt bicycles can be found at the following link: http://www.feltbicycles.com/manuals[/url]. Any and all work performed on your Felt bike, whether by the rider or a bike shop, should adhere to the requirements outlined in the manuals and technical documents.

We strongly recommend ensuring that your bike is safe to operate before each and every ride. This includes checking tire pressure, looking for any loose bolts, inspecting your brakes, etc. Generally speaking, it’s good practice to take your bike to an authorized dealer regularly to ensure it’s in proper working order, the frequency of which depends on how often and the conditions in which you ride. Sweat and riding near saltwater conditions can corrode parts on your bike, so these factors are cause for shorter intervals between professional services. Every rider’s sweat rate and the frequency by which they ride near saltwater is unique, so again, we advise checking your bike for rust on a regular basis and consulting with your authorized Felt dealer if you have any questions.

For more specific information or questions, our customer service team is ready to assist you. Please contact them at info@feltbicycles.com[/url]

 

Thanks for the information, I will go and talk to my dealer in the morning to get the upgraded parts as mine say V2.

How many athletes and/or shops have to "poorly install" these old brackets and get badly hurt before you don't just make new brackets available but actively process a recall through these great retailers of yours? Or at least tell these dealers that you have this part available?

This is a pretty frightening thread honestly. Not really sure how I can buy any more Felt's after this.

Looks like for a 2nd time in less than a year I'll be getting a free part from felt... That should have been proactively recalled to begin with.

Time to contact my local felt dealer...

I was interested in a Felt AR bike, but the lack of interest your company seems to show in this serious issue has definitely turned me off.

In all honesty, I wonder if this would have been kept quiet if superdave was still with felt.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...20pedestals#p6321456

This case wasn't a FELT.

You show the current pedestal assemblies any structural engineer worth his salt, and he'd tell you that this is failure-prone and not advised, given the load patterns, etc. Especially if the "towers" are not bridged.

You won't see me on any pedestal superbike unless the drop from pads to base bar is minimal.

In their instructions they to specify you need a stabilization bar after a certain stack.

I have a 1.2cm stack and don't use one. But Ive seen others with super high stacks in "super bikes" that look really squirrelly

For what it's worth, my local bike shop told me they did indeed just receive a dealer tech notice from Felt on proper aerobar clamp install procedure. In the notice, Felt mentions there is not a recall on the design but that they are offering a new clamp design at no charge for those who want one.

Felt,


Thanks for the link and advice but isn't there a better way to get this message to customers?


It was pure chance I logged onto ST and scanned for Felt IA threads. Similarly, I only knew about the brakes because I contacted the Felt online shop directly about another matter and was told to replace the whole brake system. So, if I hadn't messed up the screw thread on my rear brake and sought advice about replacement parts, I'd still have the old brakes, and if I hadn't by chance logged on here, I wouldn't be trying to get the new brackets before I race this weekend (looks like my 2014 IA FRD has the unsafe version).


The highly reputable shop I bought my IA from in south London doesn't stock Felt anymore so how can i get the correct brackets within 2 days?
If it cant change them are the old brackets safe to race on, assuming correctly torqued?

This video was a pro closed road race, what happens on a country road going round a blind corner? Ffwd 2 mins in:
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/videos/watch/watch-ag2r-development-rider-crashes-high-speed-as-time-trial-bars-snap-after-going-over-bump

I would second this request.

I can say that once I identified and issue and reached out to FELT they were fairly painless to work with. The exception being when I specifically asked about the brakes when I purchased the bike and they assured me I had the new ones (I didn't).

But given that most of us (I'm assuming) took the step to register our bike. Wouldn't it make sense for FELT to notify us of any tech bulletins so we can proactively reach out to our local dealers and get the upgraded parts?

Not replying to you specifically but ever since SuperDave left Felt feels like the way they handle issues like this or the direction they are going is not favorable imo. I was considering an IA as my next bike (when that happens) but seems to be it'd be easier to source a frameset then deal with parts that are suspect that are hard to find outside of Felt itself.

If Canyon ever gets their act together in the US and offers a frameset only for the Speedmax I'd might have to seriously consider just picking one of those up as my next bike. The frameset offerings for the DA/IA are really expensive compared to buying a whole bike. A little disappointed in that actually with Felt.

Here is my experience so far.
-At Felt's direction I contacted my local dealer instead of contacting Felt directly
-Asked them about the new clamps as well as the new Calpac.
-Local dealer did not know anything about IA's, clamps or Calpacs. I had to explain (and spell) what a Calpac was.
-Local dealer called Felt for direction
-Felt then told local dealer to have me email Felt with pictures of bracket, serial number and size of IA and that Calpac would not be available until after Kona.

Seems crazy to have to contact local dealers that may or may not know anything about TT bikes only to then to be asked to email Felt directly.

I met some of the Felt guys at Oceanside 70.3 earlier this year and they were really great. Can't say enough about the way they took care of me. However, this whole issue with the extension clamps has been really frustrating. I contacted them directly about the failure of this part and started this thread over a year ago and it is still unresolved. They just don't have the customer service end of this figured out. It doesn't need to be this hard.

Wait...there is a new calpac?

Haha

can i ask you this, because i'm getting whipsawed by you folks and i just don't get it. and let me state here my financial entanglements: canyon is a partner here. felt is a sometimes partner. premier has a marketing arrangement with us for chains, not for bikes.

what i'm hearing is:

1. boy, i like that speedmax
2. canyon is having early stumbles in the U.S. market
3. jeez, why can't people offer good customer service, i'd go right there if they did

and then premier offers:

1. a bike that looks, tastes, feels, sounds an awful lot like a speedmax
2. slowtwitchers are about ready to erect a statue to dan kennison for his customer service
3. his bikes come in very nicely priced
4. he'd probably sell you a frameset if you asked him

what is it exactly you want?

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Yes he would. Apparently because people did ask him.

I think different people want different things. In the context of this thread and as an IA owner concerned about safety, I'm keen for my bike to have the safest brakes and brackets. I've contacted Felt dealer for guidance.

My past experience with Felt on an issue with my AR road bike (last year) was absolutely superb - one of the best customer service experiences I've received from any company in any sector. So, I'm optimistic that they'll help with brake/ bracket issue in a reasonable manner.

Happy to update on progress.

A nice aero frameset that doesn't cost more than a full bike setup.

Only reason I interested in the Speedmax is the full setup for a bike read to ride is listed as $2500 (or so). So I would like to buy a frameset sub $2000 but preferrably $1800 or less for a great frame with a good (an non problematic aerobar setup). or $1500 with no bars is fine....but I don't know if they will do that. The use of direct mount brakes pleases me to from a wrenching standpoint especially where they are located (like how most road bikes are that are non-aero shaped).

Look at it this way:
Felt:
DA1 Frameset - $2999
B14 (full bike) - $1999 (same looking frame but front end and fork are different)
IA FRD Frame Kit - $6999
IA1 Frame Kit $4999
IA2 Full Bike $7499
IA10 Frame Kit - $2499
IA10 Full bike - $4999
IA16 full bike - $2999

I don't feel the DA1 frameset with a different front end/fork is worth that much more than a full B14 or an IA16 bikes. That pricing seems way out of line to me.

Nothing against Premier actually as I forgot about them. Wouldn't rule them out as they are a better value than a DA1 Frame Kit and on paper seem better than an IA10 Frame Kit (since that doesn't seem have bars either). But again, for their asking price I'd rather get a Canyon full bike for a couple hundred less.

For reference I do like Felt bikes as I own a previous gen B12 (last of the threaded BB's too) and am pleased with it in general. But I do eventually want a newer bike (just because not that I need it). I've even seen firsthand IA owners with aerobar extension slippage issues this past summer.

All in all I'm a little cheap and prefer something I can wrench on without having to contact the manufacturer to get ahold of proprietary parts if I can help it.

i've been talking to felt about this. they're taking it quite seriously, it's front of mind, and i'm quite sure that there'll be a proper response. the engineer on these bars was an engineer for profile design for some years. there is proper intellectual heft behind the bars.

now, what i think is going on, just my guess, is it's kind of like that equifax breach, where they knew a couple of months before we knew that there was a breach. you want to have your ducks in a row when everybody starts demanding action.

in felt's case, this company is very committed to working through its dealer network. and, look, i don't know how many people have thought about this, but if there's any kind of replacement or service work or recall or anything of that nature - which there will be for every bike company! - bear in mind that there is a dealer network at which to execute these service events.

but to the point, i can only surmise that part of what felt is doing right now is alerting dealers, arming dealers with the necessary parts, service bulletins, etc., if such a service event is in its future (and i have no idea if it is).

just, this is sometimes why, i think, there is a lag between the popping up of a potential issue and the public, organized response. i think you must add to this the perfect storm of a new owner (rossignol) along with a new product manager and i don't mean the guy who replaced superdave, but the guy who replaced the guy who replaced superdave (the guy in between got, from what i heard, a nice job outside the industry).

when we lose your faith in felt's ability to respond to customer service issues, we may as well throw in the towel. they don't really get much better than felt.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

if what you're saying is that you really want an affordable frameset and you want to take it from there, you are ahead of my editorial. here's a hint: when i write about building a plasma premium frameset, and an andean frameset, realize i could have gotten whole bikes from these companies. i asked specifically for framesets only.

behind the scenes i'm pushing for this. i'm kind of insulted by $6,500 framesets. we are all asking ourselves, and the industry is asking, what bike shops are going to be like in 5 or 10 years. i think one possible future is a pro shop a lot like they were when i started racing 40 years ago, where there were no complete bikes (or if there were nobody wanted them).

you buy your frame and then you hang parts. the parts you want. your shop does it or you do it. the frameset should cost between $1,000 and $4,000 depending on what comes with it (if you see everything that comes with the plasma premium you'll see why it's a bit pricey).

this is a necessary and compelling part of the pro bike and tri industry that is missing. i promise you this opening is going to be filled.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Barring the bullshit 3T interlocking seatpost angle adjustment system, the Felt IA is the best super bike out there from a component integration perspective. It's a tank from a heft perspective that doesn't feel too stiff when riding on rough roads (not like a KM40 or Softride, but nice). The brakes are great. The bars are great. The seat post is secure, the stem/bar interface is fantastic.

I do hate that there is a second width on the bars that makes them less attractive as well, so that's -2 points.

Honestly, even with the issues I've had - I have zero buyers remorse and I apologize if I gave the impression that I do. If I had to make the choice again, I would buy the IA2 again in a heartbeat.

That being said; When you buy a super bike you expect a certain level of support and care from a vendor. And I think that's maybe where FELT fell down a bit here. I'm sure they will make it right and learn lessons going forward

Sorry I have been away for a while. I am currently recovering from a second round of surgery due to injuries sustained with my Felt bayonent 3 bracket failure. I do appreciate all of the input - I think this is how these things get fixed and at the same time I find a couple of things rather frustrating.

- I was actually able to get a hold of Felt right after the accident. I asked if they were any issues with this particular bracket, and was told no. I then found this forum and it's clear that that is just not the case. This is a very small sampling of cyclists and an alarming number of examples of bracket failures have been given. From a statistical standpoint , the total numbers of these types of failures are guaranteed to be much higher. Unfortunately there is no way for the consumer to know the number of failures, accidents or settlements that have occurred. And I understand it is a business, but a little honesty, I feel would go a long way. Why in the world would Felt have a redesigned bracket, if the current bracket had no issues?

-The continuous assertion by both Felt and others that the bracket failure was secondary to poor maintenance or poor installation. These are possibilities sure, but how can you know that w certainty? There is no mention of the possibility of a poor design by Felt.. My bike was maintained, the installation was done by a certified Felt distributor who sells an awful lot of Felt bikes. Many others have voiced the same experience. Several of my acquaintances who are engineers looked at the bracket and the first thing they said is that this is a poor design. There is an acute angle that looks like a significant stress point. The original post picture and my picture showed it failing along that exact crease. On the new bracket schematics provided by Felt, that area is rounded out and the acute angulation/stress area is gone. I find that to be somewhat telling. Just my opinion though.

- There has been a great deal of concern expressed over bracket (and brake) failures and subsequent potential crashes. A few have implied that maybe it's not that big of a deal. Let me assure you, its a big deal when it happens to you. I'm not saying that Felt doesn't make a fast bike. I Loved that bike, right up until my aero bar snapped out from under me. I would just like for Felt to let people know of the potential danger. Bike shops shouldn't have to stock spare parts (post #23) for the NEXT customer that has a failure like this. All bike companies have recalls. Felt has several recently - the steering tube cracking on TT bikes - recall issued in 2014 (bikes dating back to 2010), cyclocross frame breaks recall in 2014, OEM seat post on mountain bikes recall 2015, etc. I applaud them for doing the right thing and recalling those parts. In the back my mind I can't help but wonder what had to happen for those parts to be recalled? How many people REALLY got hurt? If brackets are failing and rear brake set ups just stop working and it takes this much discussion to get a reaction, how can you have trust in the company? Again, I agree Felt makes great bikes, but they need to do the things necessary to keep them safe.

And of course the risk for both Equifax and Felt is that while you're "getting your ducks in a row" more people could get injured.

I'm not an MBA, but I always thought Tylenol was the business school case study on how to handle these things. Take instant and completely responsibility and pull product first. Then get your ducks in a row. Protects customers and your brand. Maybe Felt can't afford to do that, like Tylenol could. Equifax definitely should have done that. Their brand is ruined forever. I hope Felt's isn't, as an owner of 3 Felt bikes (which have astonished me with their ability to handle abuse).

 I completely agree. Take responsibility. Be proactive instead of reactive. How about a little pushback against the status quo? Be the company that aggressively gets out in front of the problem before the injuries start to pile up...

I reached out to my bike shop and asked for a set a clamps. They said they would get back to me to get things setup (this was yesterday).

I kinda want to ask them to just send me all the stuff that should be replaced...like the Calpac apparently?

There has been no replacement for me at Felt. Scott, as the product manager, was there when I left. I'd participate in this and a dozen other forums as a means to keep tabs on a sector of consumers as well as dispel misinformation on the products I'd help conceive and create but it was never my job to be here nor was "customer service" in my job description. Jay and Gerard (not Vroomen) in customer service remain and were the guys that executed when someone here would contact me with an issue. I'd just operate the Slowtwitch switchboard for Felt's customer service team. Recently, the value in having participation in internet forums was prioritized at Felt and a ST user account created for Felt Bicycles. This is a noble step in providing an ear for the ST voice.

funny how felt, trek, cervelo didn't think having a robust presence on internet forums or at least on this internet forum wasn't an important thing. and then i see dan kennison pop up with nothing other than an idea, no ads, no marketing, and he's got an owners thread with 500 or most posts on it.

fine. no big deal not having anybody on this forum. instead just pay a PR firm $3000 a month to send slowman press releases.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I realize there is a bit of a price diff, but I had the opportunity to see a premier and a speedmax side by side a month ago, and hands down I'd take the premier frame over the canyon frame (assuming it fit of course)... And thats coming from someone who kind of openly crapped on the premier when it was announced a while back....(sorry!).. The rear draft box on the premier - gotta see it in person, -very- slick.

The ST group and forum users in general fall outside what most brands would link to marketing duty. The scope of questions cannot be answered by those in marketing and often eclipse the customer service team's "consumer need" understanding even those with exceptional customer service departments who meet "consumer expectation" in that realm. The two departments can reply with "buy our widget" or "We'll fix your widget" but seldom "this is why we made our widget".

I'm grateful for the platform you've provided over the years.

See you at IB?
Dave

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

i will be there, in the triathlon pavilion, and will buy you a peets if you direct your request to mr. ignorant slut.

i know brands don't have in their org charts the job title of "slowtwitch forum monitor", nevertheless i can guess what the forum has meant to trek, felt, trainerroad, zwift, sufferfest, premier, flo, and we can go down the list. this isn't to puff our chest. controlling your message on this forum works for some brands, less so for others.

still, i find it interesting how brands are all about the new ways of communicating their messages to their audiences (we hear about this all the time), but they universally omit this. i am peppered incessantly by PR firms, but those firms have no voice. they rely on the voices of media. without media (velonews, cyclingtips, etc.), brands can control their own messages only via their own social media. but trek's facebook page isn't where triathletes hang out.

carl hung out where triathletes hang out.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

At PremierBike we listen to athletes and those that have been around the industry for a while. Slowtwitch is a huge part of how we listen. The triathlon community built the Tactical and continues to play a huge role in current/future products as well as distribution models we have and will enter.
I read and listened to what forum members and contributors have written and discuss about triathlon bikes and the industry as a whole. Where else do you get this type of back and forth?
I hope I'm correct in believing that the triathletes that would consider purchasing our bike participates in technical discussions, reads a lot about the sport, understands the impact that aerodynamics play in equipment choices and thinks about all aspects of the sport; a lot – those athletes are found on Slowtwitch.

There is no better input/feedback found in one place that is both easy to access and free.

But, it’s a two way street. If manufacturers are not here to answer questions about choices and fail to participate in discussions - we are not serving those that have helped develop the products. Are Slowtwich members super critical – yes; good. If it passes mustard here it should be ok in the general marketplace.

One observation that has been striking to me is the large group of athletes that don’t know and don’t particularly want to get into the weeds on products.

Here we talk about micro inches of surface roughness in chains and how that effects parasitic drag and I have athletes that ask me if I’m sure I know how to put the velcro tool kit back on their bike because they are not sure how to do it.

This is a huge and diverse market. There is plenty of room for all kinds of companies providing all kinds of services.

---

Dan Kennison

facebook: @triPremierBike
http://www.PremierBike.com
http://www.PositionOneSports.com

Does anyone know when these parts will be available. My Felt dealer says there are still waiting on a email from Felt. I have New Orleans 70.3 coming up next month and I really don't want to do it on my road bike.

Brakes were recalled? How do we find out more information on that? I have an IA4...

I'm not sure it was an official recall as much as it was a "sorry, these are terrible. We'll pay for the parts and labor"

Though I'm not sure..

Which brake was it?

Both of them.

You know you have the "old ones" if they are black. The new ones are a pewter color.

So you bought a 4K bicycle and are not contacted about 'brake issues'?

Honestly, I' really want to just buy a frame, as apparently all manufacturers can even do is vouch for a frameset....

At least this way I know I am responsible , if a part performs substandard or not at all.

FYI

Just got my second set of J2 bars after both have snapped...

In my case I bought what retailed as an 11k bicycle and wasn't contracted about the brakes. To be fair, they were not recalled and were never a safety issue. The problem was if they got dirty they would get stuck closed. Once I had the issue and contacted FELT they were very helpful and got the products to my dealer and then to me fairly quickly.

My only frustration with the process was that I knew about the brake issue when I purchased the bike and specifically mentioned it to FELT. They assured me I had the new brakes and assured my FELT dealer who was assembling the bike. It wasn't until the issue came up 8 months later that I contacted FELT and said "WTF?" They then had me take the brakes apart and give them the serial numbers. It was then that they realized that I had somehow been given the old brakes.

Wait...the new ones are snapping now?

No the J2 is the old original bracket.

Check out Dan's feature

http://www.slowtwitch.com/...listening__6413.html

Wtf ... this probably deserves it's own thread then. Any photos?

Not sure I still have broken bar.

First time I bought replacement from tris ports
come as everyone in UK was charging £40+.

The 2nd bar only lasted a few months and was bent before snapping.

Original bar is years old.

Both are used as clip ons on road bike so taken on and off a bit.

Second set I managed to get sent back to distributor as a warranty replacement.

Not sure which bars you're talking about ... I'm using the bayonet base bar woth the j2 bracket kit

http://www.profile-design.com/...ries/j2-bracket-kit/

I bought my IA a couple weeks before this thread started. After I read it I contacted my LBS about the clamps, they contacted Felt who sent out the replacement or upgraded clamps. So far I really like the bike.

I saw this on a IA 16 yesterday.

I received my new brackets last weekend and installed them this week. They look much improved. I will send a pic when I get a chance.

Great, hopefully mine show up soon.

Happy to report that Felt have sent replacement brakes and brackets :)

Once again, I have to say I'm impressed with Felt service levels.

I went to LBS and they contacted Felt, new brackets shipped that day. Have installed them and happy with Felt’s response as well as the LBS, Bike Therapy, which is a new shop in Morgan Hill.

Mine took a few weeks, but I got mine also.

Interesting...no instructions though and they are quite different.

They have updated their manual, which is online


http://www.feltbicycles.com/...s/Bayonet3_Alloy.pdf

Awesome! Thanks!

Also, for everyone elses reference. Here are instructions for carbon version

http://www.feltbicycles.com/manuals/Bayonet3_Carbon.pdf

I’m sorry I’m far From happy with Felts response! It’s great that the V3 brackets have “magically” appeared (ironic since the V2 was just fine according to FELT) and are now available for those who happen to read this thread, or happen to know someone like myself who has crashed and been through a couple of surgeries and can tell them to contact FELT about your bike. WHAT ABOUT THE VAST NUMBER OF FELT OWNERS WHO HAVE NO IDEA THEY ARE RIDING ON AEROBARS WITH BRACKETS PRONE TO FAIL?!?!? Just let them crash?!?! I specifically asked FELT if cracked brackets were an issue. I was told no. Then THANK GOD I found this forum. People came out of the woodwork with this issue! There is a post from a bike shop on the forum that carries spare parts for these brackets when this Inevitably happens! Ask yourself a question - If not for this for this forum and the numerous complaints would Felt have done ANYTHING? Would we know about the V3 bracket? I STILL see the old brackets on brand new bikes all the time. My shop guy has asked FELT why they don’t recall the bracket and he gets no answer. I ask the question again, Seriously - does someone have to die before FELT recalls this part? Or a C-spine injury serious enough to cause quadriplegia?!?! if you are a quadriplegic it’s far worse for the bike company because they have to pay for care for life - better if you just die . I completely cracked my helmet so I was very lucky not to to suffer a neck injury.... I’m sorry just because FELT is Ok with risking people’s lives until it becomes unprofitable to do so doesn’t mean we as cyclists (Or just decent human beings) have to be OK with this extremely weak (and forced) response to critical safety issue. Good God, Exactly how low is our bar? Recall the damn part so people are safe!!! I guarantee you the failure numbers are far higher than just the people on this post. And no it’s not because every single one of those brackets was over torqued. That’s just BS and FELT Knows it. That’s why the new bracket exists! FELT - recall the bracket before someone dies. Please.

Mrfuzzypants,
First, I do hope you are recovering and well on the road to 100%

Secondly, let me clarify my thoughts on the replacement clamps. I AM satisfied with how fast I was able to get the clamps, once I went to a shop and raised the issue. The shop is a Felt dealer for "lifestyle" bikes, and a dealer for Specialized for everything else (TT, Road, Ebike, MTB) so this was low on their list.

I had forgotten all that is in this thread regarding the clamps. Without commenting on the percentage of failures, or theories on the reasons for failure, I have to agree that Felt should be doing more to address this issue. These clamps are not just on complete bikes, but on Bayonet bars sold as an accessory as well. My clamps did not break, but I replaced them before the have a chance, and thank YOU for that! My son is also getting his replaced proactively, as he is moving to England and wants this straightened out before he leaves.

Thank you for that. After multiple surgeries it’s going to be a while and a long road but it could certainly be worse. I’m alive. I appreciate the response. So glad Greatzaa started this post over a year ago. And when people like yourself help to get the word out - it goes a long way to fixing a serious and dangerous issue. We should all tell everyone we know that owns a Bayonet equipped FELT that these brackets are failing. If FELT won’t take the time (or spend the money) to keep its ALL its customers safe - it’s up too us to take care of each other. Every Cyclist that has Entrusted their safety to FELT products deserves to know about this. Not just the ones who happened to be on this forum. Period. I really don’t want other cyclists going through what I went through so I’m glad for forums like this. Thanks again.

Finally my LBS received new bolts from Felt Germany. I asked what’s up and why no urgency from Felt. Answer, different manufacturing waves of the bolts in different countries, which sounds like some were dangerous and some weren’t. But also this thread suggests there hasn’t been a recall anywhere. The above question/answer is just a guy having a convo with a guy at a bike shop so don’t take as fact.

The frustration on this thread also suggests it would be good for us to understand why no recall? If there was no issue in some jurisdictions please educate us. To be honest, I haven’t wanted to ride mine since I found out about it months ago - what a shame that is. I rode it once in a race and rechecked the torque in line with guidelines beforehand. During the race the extenders felt loose and I was worried when I shouldn’t be but that’s a separate thread discussion, just a little over torque is good...?!

This is a many thousand £/$/€ frame after all. Owners and the community deserve to know if one/many guys crash/es in some jurisdictions are not a reflection of risk globally.

I contacted Wiggle.com today to enquire about getting replacement brackets for my IA14 which I purchased from them. They appear to be unaware of the issue and asked me for more information. They are one of, if not the, biggest online vendor of cycling goods in the world and a Felt dealer. I presume they sell a large volume of Felt products worldwide. They don't know about this issue.
I have sent an e-mail to the address you provided in your post to let Felt know and ask for guidance on how to proceed in obtaining replacements. I thought it best to let you know here also.

I got a very quick response to my enquiry to Felt regarding V3 replacements for my V2 brackets. They responded yesterday afternoon telling me they'd contact the European office and ask them to follow up with me (I'm in Ireland). I heard from the European office first thing this morning who say that they have definitely informed Wiggle of the issue but will contact them again. In the mean time, to avoid delays, they'll sort me out with V3s.

So, their response is quick and quibble free. Kudos. My only concern is whether the issue warrants a recall. Does the Felt argument that they're safe if installed correctly hold water?

As a shop who sold a shit load of Felt tri bikes, yes, we have had a few issues with those clamps, but in almost all cases they were incorrect torqued by the customers and/or not built the right way or with completely corroded bolts due to sweat, salt and specially with indoor use.

That said, that Wiggle doesn't know about this is likely because they don't care or are too big or any other reason. All EU Felt dealers got a email with explanation that there are some issues with the V2 clamp. Not frequent or many, but they noticed some reports on the issues with these clamps (and some bolts too). Every dealer could order some V3 parts straight away after the memo by email. I did and received them just a couple of days later. But in a few hundred of B and IA bikes we ran into this issue like about 6 times.

But I do admit that if you are 1 of those 6 you get scared, true. But nobody in our customer base got hurt, nobody fell of their bike, just scared because of of your extensions is instantly a little loose.

So there are V3's available, Wiggle just need to order them. But I have hear rumours that they will not be a Felt dealer for too long. Different ownership, different strategy.

Jeroen

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

This is EXACTLY why I am forever and will always be a Specialized girl. In 2015 they issued a mass recall on their aerobars. They not only sent me a letter personally, they also had the LBS contact me and insist I bring it in for a replacement. Specialized did this after only 4 instances. And no injuries. There are clearly more than 4 just on this page alone, and severe injuries. Customer service and just being a company with a conscience is so valuable. How many people will be hurt or worse because they didn’t stumble across this forum?

Well, you got lucky with the right LBS. You don’t have a clue how many shops just didn’t informed their customers. As a fitter i have advised quite a lot of people the shiv when that was a fitting bike. Even 18 months after the recall i have had people coming in with the original aerobar hardware. They were never told that there was a recall, they were very surprised when i reacted shocked that they were still riding around with that recalled hardware. Maybe us customers got a personal letter, eu did not. Not saying that it matters but there were way more crashes then 4 with the specialized issue.

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

They know. That's just customer relations 101 for any big company.

Don't admit to anything that exposes any kind of liability until you have to or decide you want to.

Garmin are another example that springs to mind; if you contact them about a known fault with a unit you can guarantee they won't have heard of it before, even though there are hundred of complaints and reports of warranty returns and replacements.

As far as I know it was only the LBS informed by Speci over here in Europe.
Luckily I didn't trade in my Bayonet1 Bar for the old speci, what I wanted to do with a friend around that time.
He wanted to get lower(bayonet1), I liked the adjustability to angle the extensions more(specs).

But funny is, I knew earlier about the Speci recall through ST than my LBS, only a few days but...

Those threads are very important!

---

-shoki

To all,
Still recovering after yet another surgery due to injuries sustained due to a failed V2 bracket. We’ve already established from this relatively small forum sample size that this is a common problem so no need to beat that horse. Here are some things that bug me about Felts lack of urgency....

1. It’s apparently typical. Felt makes great bikes. They are not a “bad” company. Some have implied that the “powers that be” on this forum have relationships/financial interests with Felt. I don’t know about that. But the relative silence, or attempts at forum topic redirection on this post, by those powers when it comes to critism of Felt bother me. Unfortunately statements like “they don’t come much better than Felt” I feel are somewhat telling... the truth is most companies are “exactly like Felt.” No better. No worse. Examples are rampant.

2. I have been told by several lawyers that initiating a recall is something all companies (not just bike companies) just don’t want to do. For obvious reasons - it’s expensive, time consuming, brand injuring and lowers your bottom line. All companies have product liability insurance that cover inebivatable manufacturing QC issues or inherent design flaws (that’s why the V3 bracket exists). Coupled with multiple other types of insurance you can cover most of these occurrences as they occur. If there are no injuries you replace the part, call it good. If people get minor injuries do everything you can to fix it quickly (pay for injuries, replace bikes/parts, give something extra). - call it good. Try to get them to sign a non disclosure agreement so you don’t have to report the number. Deny, Deny, deny again.

3. When I asked Felt if there was a problem with the V2 bracket - what do you think I was told? Of course not. This is totally new to us. So you lie. And it’s not like Felt is required by law to report part failures to anyone. Not the government, not the consumer, retailer and certainly not the people who crash. SO there is no way to know how often this occurring and how many people have been hurt. We will never know. But Felt knows and they already have a replacement bracket that no one would know about unless they are on this forum.

4. So Felt blames you. And your shop. The above prewritten statement by Felt absolves them of all responsibility. Despite the apparent existence of a more robust bracket (why did you make it if nothing was wrong) they don’t even acknowledge that it could be a bad part. My shop built my bike. I didn’t. I own a torque wrench only to check parts to make sure they aren’t loose. I NEVER make major adjustments. But they are saying that it’s my shops fault. Or my fault. Until.....

4. Someone dies. Or worse (for the company) gets crippled - see Trek several years ago largest recall ever (you have to pay a paraplegic victim for life). Or until the cost of insurance premiums goes up so much due to claims, injuries or lawsuits it starts to significantly harm profits. There will be an monetary cost past which Felt simply cannot hide their dangerous bracket.

5. Then, and only then will you see a recall. I for one am dreading to see what the number is going to cost Felts customers.

Curious, how do LBS inform customers of recalls?

I have bought 5 bikes in my time. Never did a bike shop ever note down my contact information. There are times when I only visit a bike shop once a year during tune up and re-stock of tubes. That'd be the only chance for them to inform me as a customer of a recall.

If I go in mid-year for new helmets / kits / race gels. A new employee won't even know what bike I have and whether I got it from the shop or not.

For us, we don't sell a bike if no fit is done. We are a bit of a different cookie I guess. We have showroom bikes on the floor, but those are just to show so people get an idea how a specific bike looks. We don't have that much bikes in stock. We just order them after a fit is done. That creates a situation for us where we can be as objective as possible in advising customers which bike fits after a bike fit. We can sell them a bike if they like, we have 5 key brands, but if they don't buy from us that is also fine. Let them get the bike they want regardless of what we sell. With those 5 key brands we made the arrangement that we can order without pre-ordering stock. The downside is that it gives us very small margins, but on the other hand also no loss of money in dated stock and most important objectivity in advice.

We have all email address of our clients that bought bikes. Sure, they can change from address over time, its not completely waterproof but close enough to inform customers if needed. I do am surprised that none of the bike shops got at least an email address from you when you bought a bike.

Jeroen

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

2nd this. What surprises me in this is how the part failed. My understanding of over-torquing bolts when it's aluminum on aluminum is that the first point of failure would be the bolts and threads. This particular mode of failure is surprising.

I assume the most likely maintenance failure is over-torque, would be interested in understanding what other possibilities Felt has in mind. I don't think sweat can cause this. Or is installation of the spacer that important?

I just purchased a Bayonet 3 Devox for my DA. This is a very interesting read. Has there been any issue with the V3 replacement bracket?

I've been using mine for a few months without issue. Though this time of year it's all inside riding.

To be fair, I never had an issue with the original clamp though

I have had no issues with the V3 nor have I heard of anyone who has.

Good to hear now if I could only get a response from someone at felt or bike shop that knew what the hell I'm talking about.

So I just picked up a used IA14 and it's got the V2 bars. What's the right move forward? Is it unsafe to ride?

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

I'm not building my da until I have the replaced bracket.

Make sure the washer is installed in the bracket; Make sure the bolts are torqued properly. Order the V3 bracket

Sounds good. Just reached out to my LBS, thanks.

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

Did they know what you were talking about because none of the shops around here that carry felt have any idea

Yeah, knew exactly what I meant when I said V2/V3.

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

Replaced mine with V3. For piece of mind if nothing else......

I had to tell the LBS about it because FELT wouldn't just send me the part. So I had to call the LBS, explain to them what's going on, have them call FELT, order the part, and then I went and picked it up from them.

But when I initially contacted them...they had zero idea what I was even talking about. Pretty frustrating because my LBS is listed as a premier FELT dealer. You'd think FELT would have reached out to them with a tech notice

Getting ready to re-outfit a new '17 IA16. This thread has made it even more enticing to ditch the stock bars and go tririg....

Just checked mine and noticed they are V2, so I'll be speaking to the LBS tomorrow morning.
More disconcerting for me are the arm rest clamps.
Today, my right armrest suddenly slipped around the extension, to almost vertical position!
Luckily, I was on the turbo. I almost fell off, into my fan.
I'm using carbon extensions, and have applied CF paste on the clamped area. The clamps are torqued to 6Nm, as per the decals on them, yet I noticed just now, whilst reading this thread, that the latest instruction for the Riser clamps also says 7NM for armrests.
I'm wary of using too much torque as I don't want to crack the carbon extensions, but, I don't want the clamp slipping while out on the road, s I could have easily fallen into the pan of a car today.
Anyone else have issues with the arm rest clamps?

I will start a separate post and also contact Felt in the morning.

The V3 is much better than V2 and you can torque it higher as well. I have had the same issue with the arm rests in the past. I just made extra sure I had the torque at 6nm (if not a twitch more)

I had my arm pads slip down too, but I didn't have grit/carbon grease on them. So loosened them off, applied gritty stuff, put back in position and torqued to spec. They didn't move again. That was about a month ago.
I've since decided I absolutely hate the stock arm pads/cups, not comfy, and I wanted to change out the extensions anyway. So now have Zipp evo 110 aluminum extensions, and using the clamps/pads (ceegee) from my gen1 Trek SC9. Oh, and yeah, I replaced the V2 extension clamps with V3.

Cheers

I want to reposition my arm rests further apart and noticed that the part that connects the pad to the aero bar has 4 screw holes, 2 inner and two outer.

I have been using the 2 holes nearest to the center but want to move to the outer ones. Is this ok? The metal around the outer holes seems much thinner compared to the inner ones. I don't want it to snap off mid ride.

The material is a lot thicker around the inner holes to cope with the bending stresses from using the outer holes. So using the outer holes shouldn’t be any problem.

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Personal best:
Ironman 9:22:02
Ironman 70.3 4:20:00

Has anyone had any luck getting the replacement v3 clamps in the UK?

My dealer, where I bought my bike has been really helpful, but they are getting no response from their emails to Felt.

I've also emailed Felt Europe directly but no response either.

Anyone had any luck? Would be great to swap these out for piece of mind before race season!

I got them from Felt Europe to Ireland way back. IIRC it was a guy from Felt on ST that assisted getting it sent from Felt Europe

Thanks! With a bit of luck the Felt guy/girl will pop up on here with some advice.

In the meantime I'm hoping Felt get back to the dealer directly.

Did you ever get this resolved? We just bought a second (pre-disc) IA and had forgotten that we'd need to go and get the brakes and the clamps replaced. The shop we bought it from in Germany is super helpful but they don't seem to be getting much traction with Felt Europe and Felt Europe aren't replying to my emails either.

FELT was all over it from me. I just called them directly. The only annoying part is they had to ship it to my local bike store.

The local bike store didn't know what was going on when I called them at first

This must be an issue with the shop. If we email Felt for parts needed i get response mostly the same day and information that it is shipped the day after. No issues at all. Which parts do you need, we stock most parts.

Jeroen

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

I sure did, took a bit of doing though. My dealer in UK was great but his Felt contact never replied, so I emailed Felt Europe but I got no reply either. So I then emailed Felt US/Global and got a very quick response saying they had passed my query on to Felt Europe. A couple of days later someone from Time in France (part of Group) got in touch for address and sent me the clamps which arrived just in time for me to fit for a race.

So, I’m summary, email Felt’s global/US email address directly and hopefully they’ll push the right local buttons for you.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

I straight up sent FELT support this thread and told them I wanted the new clamps. I had them a week later.

The brakes took a bit longer, but was more waiting for shipping than anything

Wow. I have some Bayonet 3 bars I've been riding for a couple years. Just checked and it's the V2 bracket.

In this case I gotta say... it's a faulty design. Not only is there a sharp stress riser at the base of the bolt heads, there is hardly any thickness to the clamp at that point. Even if there weren't any failures (and it appears there have been many!) I wouldn't expect that clamp to last.

For the sake of anyone else with these bars, this is the broken bracket in the original post:



This is what the new bracket looks like:



And this is a comparison diagram from Felt posted earlier in this thread:




The brackets aren't for sale anywhere that I've seen. Going to call Felt, and hope they'll ship them to me. The nearest dealer is over 300 miles away.

My closest dealer was 150 miles away. They still made me ship them to the shop..then the shop shipped them to me.

I couldn't find a phone number either. Just sent a help request.

Thanks all! I'm very glad you all managed to get yours sorted.

After many days of trying, our dealer replied to say they had managed to get the clamps about 30 seconds after I posted here! :-)

FWIW, they've been great but Felt Europe have been incredibly slow. I have been emailing them since April to try to source other spares and it's taken many, many emails to even get a reply, let alone any sort of constructive action.

Tripro - Thank you very much. We're just down the road from you in IJburg so we now have an extra excuse to come visit one day soon. If we can't get anything else I'll definitely drop you a line.

All the best,

Ed

Did you actually call them? I don't see a phone number anywhere. The only listed way to contact them is through this: https://feltbicycles.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

There used to be...I had mine replaced awhile ago

No response to 4 emails through their system... Great customer service, Felt!

Would be nice to get some sort of response... anything.

That's nuts. I recently had to send a 2nd email to get them to send me a part but it was nothing like that. Though...the part has not arrived yet... hmm.

I am conflicted. I started this thread many moons ago after my second clamp failure. Since then I have had a couple of opportunities to interact with numerous members of the Felt team at Oceanside 70.3 and I came away very impressed. They could not have been more accommodating or customer focused. My 1:1 interactions with them have been so favorable that I have completely let go of my frustrations over the clamp issue. They have won me over.

In my opinion, what is really holding them back is their dogmatic insistence that all communication be through a local dealer. Unfortunately, local dealers are often far more familiar with lower-end or road products and have little knowledge of TT or triathlon. Sometimes, you just need to be able to cut past the middle-man to get something done quickly and efficiently. I can't think of another company that pretty much refuses to speak to their customers.

At their core, I believe Felt is a good company that really cares about their customers, but their service model is not letting that shine through.

You've even had the new clamps fail?

No. The new clamps are great. Seem bomb-proof to me.

phew... I'm a big guy (190, 6'5") and having my aero bars come loose is a weird phobia of mine...

I just heard from Felt support. They say they will work through my local shop (not a Felt dealer), but will not sell direct.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Had one of my clamps fail during a race earlier this year. My bike isn't even a felt, it just has the IA basebar and extensions. They still replaced them for free! I did go through a shop here in NYC and it took about 2 weeks, but not bad.

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Strava

Finally got mine after some confusion (wrong parts sent), but all is good now.

If there is no Felt dealer near, they will work with another local shop.

My clamps are fine but i struggle with the aerobars spinning forward on the basebars when i hit a bump, despite torquing to 7nm with carbon paste.

I am 130lbs but my armpads are infront on the basebar so i am leveraging on it.

I never had an issue myself but I had mine replaced with the V3 version after seeing this thread a year back just as precaution. For me the process was effortless.... I mentioned the issue to my LBS, they already had some knowledge of this via Felt, said Felt would simply send V3 version, they arranged it and swapped it out free while I was getting a regular tune-up. My LBS is a Felt dealer and seem to have good support and a good relationship with Felt. From reading the thread it seems this can be pretty simple with a LBS that is a Felt shop and has good support... seems more of an issue if you're trying to go directly to Felt or even via a non-Felt dealer.

Reviving this thread. How have the v3s held up? Is felt being more responsive? My clamps just failed and my Felt lbs just went under recently. Emailed felt but have yet to hear back.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

Never had this issue occurring with the V3 clamps, so you want them switched.
If you are based in Europe i can set you up with Felt.

Jeroen

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

Mine held up great for the ~6 months I used them before switching to a Tririg bar.

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Strava

You need to get a local dealer to do it. If you don't have a Felt dealer, then use another shop. Give them all the info they need, so they don't have to look stuff up. Be nice to them, since they don't make any money.

So i have three shops working on this and cant seem to get felt to let me know if i can use a non felt shop.

Frustrating paying that kind of money for a bike, their part fails and they wont even communicate with you the bike owner.

What is it the three shops are 'working on'?? Sourcing the V3 clamps?

I assume you've tried messaging Felt directly (info@feltbicycles.com)?
Maybe try looking at the list of dealers in North America and start contacting some of those to see if any have some replacement V3 clamps in stock?

You have 3 shops looking for parts for a 5-6 year old bike?

I'd just buy a new aerobar, something different. There are aluminum systems that are pretty good.

Isn't this the part you need?

https://feltbicycles.com/...-for-aero-extensions

Ive ridden felt for years and Ive had trouble with the aero bar extension rotating when I hit bumps etc...
Ive removed the "anti crush" spacer hoping to get it a bit tighter and it still slips. Ive added carbon paste etc to no avail. Im thinking about adding a touch of jb weld to see if that will solve the issue.
Im hesitant to buy another clamp on their website fearing itll just do the same thing.
It almost seems like the bolts are bottoming out and not allowing me to tighten them enough.

Are you putting anything on the bolts?

If you use the V3 clamps they won’t rotate. Taking out the spacer makes them rotate worse and the clamp will fail. Ask me how I know!

hmmm how do you know that? personal experience.....?

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Stay home, stay healthy.

Im thinking of just swapping out to some profile aero bars instead of jacking around as much as I have with these.....

I think you are still going to need that V3 clamp regardless of the bar you use. Don’t worry they work well. I haven’t heard of anyone who has had issues

That is what I am really doing.

I got felt IA disc integrated bars and I really got sick of slippage and lack of tilting functionality though I want to keep the base one.

So I purchased 12.5mm thick carbon plate (aero-space grade maybe) and machined 10mm ~ 5mm thick adapter plate which also functions as bridge btw two columns.
I also bought 3t aura pro clamp kit (100~110g) on ebay and 10 degree tilt adapter(40g) on speedmetrics.com

The plate goes btw basebar(with 5mm stacker on) and 10 degree tilt kit(on which 3t clamp is bolted).
I also considered PD aeria evo clamp kit seriously for it has own tilting functionality but it is helluva heavy (270g)..
You can also think about getting giant trinity clamp kit for it is quite cheap on 'giantspareparts dot com'(maybe?) and there are tons of 3rd party tilt kit for trinity.

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Stay home, stay healthy.

You obviously have the newer V3 clamps on yours, surprised to hear you have trouble with slippage, I've never heard of anyone having that issue with the V3 clamps.
Anyway, I recently got a IA disc as well, and decided to go with completely different bar setup. Got the felt dagger stem, Zipp Vuka Aero bars. Very robust feeling and looking, and have some tilt available.

A question to anyone here......I purchased my Felt IA in 2015, I believe. So, I assume this means I should have this concern about the aero bars? I rode the bike for one Ironman and then pretty much quit triathlon soon after, so the bike has been sitting in my garage. But, just in case I decide to race again (or sell it), I’d like to make sure I have this issue resolved. Do I just call the LBS where I purchased the bike, and get them to help me with this safety issue? Thanks

Yours looks so gorgeous. Yes.. It was on my first ride when slippage happened.
Anyway did you buy forged one or CNC one? and could you tell me the length of it?
Felt homepage does not have any specific info about the stem but price.

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Stay home, stay healthy.

This is the one I got, says CNC, 110mm, -16. (Canadian Felt site). Keep in mind it is pretty much the only stem you can use that will:
1. Fit the already cut short steerer tube
2. Has the little cutouts on the side for the top of the head tube cover to attach to

https://feltbicycles.com/...arts-bike-spare-part
110mm x -16. CNC'd aluminum


Compared to the stock integrated bar, I believe this one places the base bar 1-2cm lower, and possibly further out. I really love this setup.
I had the felt integrated bars on a '15 FRD, and didn't like the spacer system with all its tiny washers, and everything seemed more fragile.
The combo of the dagger stem and the Zipp bars likely adds some weight, but again, it feels so much more robust, easier spacers to work with, tilt, etc.
Note - I was originally wanting to get the tririg bar system because of the mono riser, but the stem would not have fit the felt front cover without modification. But now that I have the dagger/zipp, I'm glad I ended up with this setup instead.