I’ve been riding a Felt F85 for 6 years. It was my first and is my only road bike. It goes extremely fast but handles like Sh*t and has a wobble at high speeds.
I thought it was just me. Then I came across this statement in an article about the new Felt FR series bikes: “The difference between the traditional F and the FR is that we were able to get the stability and confidence into the frame,†said company founder Jim Felt. “The F was always a nervous, pro-level bike only. It had a very aggressive geometry …â€
Anyone else have problems handling their Felt F series bike? Also, anyone have an recommendations on a fast, comfortable great handling road bike? Thanks.
I just built a Franco Balcom S. It is incredible. Feather light and great handling. One of the industry standards is the Tarmac, but I have never ridden one.
Everyone is going to have different preferences when it comes to how a bike handles.
Personally I love my BMC Teammachine SLR01 (last generation not the latest model). It accelerates fast, corners like its on rails, is fairly light, and is comfortable for a pro level race bike.
Sure that’s not your wheels or a loose headset? Older Felt F series for sure isn’t super confidence inspiring, you have to believe it will hold the line and just do it. It will, but it does require some “oh shit, I can’t believe I made that” tolerance until you get over that.
Also, anyone have an recommendations on a fast, comfortable great handling road bike? Thanks.
(Garbage?) Opinion Section (of things I have experience with):
Best: F10/F8
Top Tier: Tarmac, Madone, Emonda, TCR, Addict, Foil, R5
Good: Cannondale, Felt, Bianchi, the rest of the major brands.
I love my AR from Felt. Use it in crits all the time, it’s great.
I’ve been riding a 2012 Felt F4 for 3+ years and love it. Never had an issue with handling and never experienced wobble, however my top speed hasn’t gotten above ~30 MPH as I live in a pancake flat area.
I’m not a Felt guy but had the opportunity last year to rent a Felt AR5 for a couple days. Very impressed…light, stable, solid. If you like Felts, I’d recommend you check out this model.
Ive been riding F series road bikes for years and the one Ive been on for the last few years has very aggressive steering because of what I assume is a steep head tube angle. Its extremely difficult to sit up and ride no handed to stretch my back etc…so much so that I don’t even try anymore.
I had a Felt F1 and loved it. But yes - referencing another thread - you could easily pick that up from the geometry chart. The F1 I had was designed with a 74deg STA and - most notably in terms of handling - a 74deg HTA. It’s that very steep HTA that gives it super “quick” (aka “nervous”) handling. I forget what the fork rake was, but the trail number was expectedly short (as you’d guess from a 74deg HTA).
I do a lot of my training on a Diamondback Podium Vitesse, which is fantastic. It’s a much more “predictable” road frame. Much more of what you’d expect. That’s 73deg HTA and 45mm of rake. If you want more “predictability,” you can look for less rake (more trail) or a slacker HTA.
I had a Felt F1 and loved it. But yes - referencing another thread - you could easily pick that up from the geometry chart. The F1 I had was designed with a 74deg STA and - most notably in terms of handling - a 74deg HTA. It’s that very steep HTA that gives it super “quick” (aka “nervous”) handling. I forget what the fork rake was, but the trail number was expectedly short (as you’d guess from a 74deg HTA).
I raced a F1 for a year (team bike). 74deg HTA combined with 43mm fork rake made for very little trail and a very unstable bike at high speeds. I was a cat 1 at the time and not a bad bike driver by any means.
I was also between sizes, and sizing up to a 60cm resulted in such a long top tube that I had to use a relatively short 100mm stem (note: for people over 6’ tall on a racing frame that is a short stem). The short stem only exacerbated things both in terms of steering and not enough weight on the front wheel. I found a 40mm raked fork that helped matters a little bit, but generally I was always disappointed that such an otherwise well designed and made frame handled so poorly.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have owned a few different top level Felts, F1, AR, and FR1 all in larger sizes. Glad to say that I have never experienced speed wobble on any of them, even at 50+ mph. That said, the F is a very quick handling frame, and is certainly not for the relaxed crowd. The new FR’s are stiffer, more comfortable and certainly more for forgiving than their predecessors.
Having a good LBS look into mechanical issues that could be contributing to your speed wobble is a great suggestion. Given the high quality of todays mass produced frames, I’d be surprised if that’s your problem.
I bought a felt z5 and have been riding it for over 6 weeks. Incredible striking difference in handling between the z5 and my felt f85. Perfect geometry and forgiving handling. And - wow - is it fast …