First look: Felt Curbside urban singlespeed/fixie

BMX styling for the skateboard crowd

Published: November 10, 2008 at 9:13 pm

The US$729 Felt Curbside is a purpose-built, flat-bar road singlespeed/fixie that melds adult BMX fun with a skateboarder's aesthetic.

Based on the California company's signature use of a hydroformed 7005 aluminium frame (pioneered by company founder Jim Felt in the early 1990s), the smartly-specced 700c-wheeled Curbside weighs approximately 19 pounds with pedals, and is laden with gold-finish hubs, headset cap, seat collar and platform pedals.

First introduced at the 2007 Interbike trade show, the 2009 model has a carbon fork and ample room for mudguards, with frame and fork braze-ons necessary. A nifty wingnutted axlenut tool is included, bolted to the water bottle bosses on the seat tube. The 540mm wide Felt Meatstick flat bar is painted to match the frame, and has a massively sized 31.8mm constant diameter out to the cork brown handlebar grip tape.

How will the Felt stack up against similar bikes on the market? Look for a complete BikeRadar review soon.