Felt have leaked a tightly cropped image of a new bike undergoing testing. While the picture doesn't show much detail, one thing is certain: the company are finally developing a full-carbon cyclo-cross bike to supplement their long-running aluminum and aluminum-carbon models.
Judging solely by the appearance of the seat cluster, Felt look to be using the same InsideOut molding process they use for their new upper-end F-series road frames. If so, we can expect to see very light frame weights – our guess for the 'cross version would be somewhere right around 1,000g.
That's about 100g heavier than the mid-range F frame. Assuming the ride qualities transfer over from the road, we can also expect a very lively and supple feel, and extremely high drivetrain and torsional stiffness levels.
Felt have leaked this photo of a new 'cross bike in development. Though details are mostly absent, the new frame looks to use the same InsideOut molding process as Felt's newest road bikes
Also based on Felt's road design cues, we're putting money on a tapered head tube, full-carbon fork and a BB30-compatible bottom bracket. The leaked image shows the bike with rim brakes and, at least for now, non-removable housing stops on the top tube. The rearmost hanger is a bolt-on unit, though, which gives us at least a bit of hope that there will be a disc option as well.
Felt were tight-lipped about the new bike. "That’s just one of our Nine mountain bike frames with V-brake bosses – yeah, that’s it," said road product manager Dave Koesel. "It’s a mountain bike – I don’t know anything about it. Sorry." Stay tuned to BikeRadar for additional details.