The B2 is made in Taiwan and thus you can get all of the value and production numbers out of a bike that would make it a great value and appeal to the masses. The DA is a spare no expense made in USA frameset. For 2004 the line seperating the always nice B2 and the ultra exotic DA has been blurred. This is a result of Felt's relentless pressure on their manufacturers and designers to come up with better designs and materials. The DA, concieved 4 years ago now, was made with nearly all one-off hand made parts, custom costly Easton aero tubes, crafted small components like the braze on mount, the seat clamp for the post and the clamp for the saddle. All of these items were designed and produced by artisans for one purpose. The nature of the B2's production is like picking parts from a huge catalog of available parts without having complete control of every detail.

The 2004 B2 is an incredible value, look at it vs. the Cannondale IM5000! The DA is still a unque example of Jim Felt's ability to make simply one of the finest bikes on the market, bar none. Its construction and racing heritage show what Felt is capable of. The 700c bike uses 76 degree seat angles either of which should give you the "slack" fit you are looking for.

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

What is the price of the Felt B2, and do you know the prices for the s22 2004

B2 is about $3800ish and the S22 is $2200ish.

I'll let your local Felt dealer fill in the fine print as I don't make up their prices. Locally there are 4 or 5 Felt dealers I visit in Michigan and a handful of others in Ohio and Indiana their prices vary by 5-10%. The www.feltracing.com website should point you in the right direction for your closest dealer.

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

Hey Superduperdave, the Felt DA is a stunning frame, but I have one question. What does one do if one installs a saddle on the bike's custom seatpost, puts it in the frame, and the seat does not point forward, but points askew to the left or to the right? The reason I ask this is that I have seen a few DAs built up and they all had this problem. Can the seatpost head be rotated on the aero seatpost shaft? Or is there another solution to this problem?

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Where would you want to swim ?

I've seen this on one other frame as well. Felt simply sent the owner a new post, if it were the seat tube itself that was askew, I'm not sure what they'd do. The frame does have a warranty against manufacturers defects.

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

This seems like the crux. I am in the market for a new ride next season and am waiting to see what Shimano's DA20 is going to do to the 2003 market. For example, existing complete bikes of 2003 still sitting in shops with Ultegra/DA18 group(s) will likely fetch for a price that will be more favorable with the offerings for 2004 and the "older" perception of the 2003 lines, e.g. Guru Crono, Cervelo P3 etc. On the other hand, I am clueless as to what pricepoint the 2004 Felt B2 will come in at given the heft of the DA20 group's price tag.

The obvious/glaring difference, from what has been disclosed so far, is the origin of the frames and how they were built. Perhaps the DA700's Asian counterpart, the B2, is a product of streamlined efficiency and iterative production practices. It occurs to me that the B2 is made overseas to cut costs but the material is still the same isn't it (Easton 7005). Ofcourse, there are questions regarding the welding, butting, some of the new fangled and eccentric nuances that gearheads will go ga ga over but the actual performance/durability gains are probably small. I mean, the CNC machined parts on the DA700 are a marvel but in my price range I am not sure it is worth the extra dough. Nonetheless, I would spend the extra dough just to not have that "if I'd only swallowed the pill of an extra few hundred bucks I wouldn't be living with the feeling that I am riding an inferior frameset."

At any rate, it is a very interesting discussion as I am looking at the Guru Crono, the Cervelo P3 and the Felt DA700 and this 2004 B2 comes into the fray just before the holiday season. Quite a shake-up and I hope Cervelo's and Guru's answer come swiftly and competitively. Felt has definitely made a statement with the offering of the 2004 B2. . .

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"For there are brighter sides to life and I should know because I've seen them but not very often." -Morrissey

You'll be able to find the B2 for $3650 at your better Felt dealers. This is for '04 Dura Ace. The bike will be ready to roll in November and with the Zipp wheels, I don't think you'll find a comparable bike.

FYI, the B2 does not use Easton tubing, it uses the same alloy and butt configurations, but my guess is that is it Kinesis drawn.

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

"The B2 utilizes the same aerodynamic tube shapes found on the DA, and is constructed with Felt customformed 7005 aluminum tubeset, which features an aero seat tube. A carbon fiber Felt Airfoil fork and
carbon aero seatpost complement the frames' windcheating design."

That price tag is not bad for what you are getting. . .but you are right, no Easton Alu.

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"For there are brighter sides to life and I should know because I've seen them but not very often." -Morrissey

[reply]This seems like the crux. I am in the market for a new ride next season and am waiting to see what Shimano's DA20 is going to do to the 2003 market. For example, existing complete bikes of 2003 still sitting in shops with Ultegra/DA18 group(s) will likely fetch for a price that will be more favorable with the offerings for 2004 and the "older" perception of the 2003 lines, e.g. Guru Crono, Cervelo P3 etc. [/reply]

I think that will really differ from model to model. Ultegra bikes won't change that much in value, and since you mention the P3, there are maybe a dozen 2003 bikes left for sale worldwide, so it may be hard to find one locally in your size, let alone one that would be discounted since the dealer knows it will sell in the next few weeks anyway.

The early 2004 P3s are built with Ultegra, and since half of the allotment for Sept-Dec have already sold in the first three weeks of September, I doubt we'll see mcuh price fluctuation there since they will also all be gone too quickly.

So once the DA20 P3 arrives (at $3599) there won't be any Ultegras left and even if there are, the spec difference between the two is pretty much in line with the price difference so there won't be much movement in either case.

As for the issue of straightening the saddle, the issue is not jsut frame straightness (which is easily solved with a bit of attention in production but also because some people PREFER to have their saddle a bit angled to the side and it is tough to custom-make that for the individual customer. This is why we have the swivelling head on the seatpost.

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Gerard Vroomen
3T.bike
OPEN cycle