It’s not even May yet but this year’s ’cross season is already heating up.At this year’s Sea Otter Classic, Felt Bicycles unveiled a freshly overhauled Fx range of carbon cyclocross bikes with lower weights, smoother ride qualities, better pedalling efficiency, and more tyre clearance – not to mention a full complement of modern features such as disc brakes across the board and thru-axles on most models.
2016 Felt Fx key features:
- 950g/850g claimed frame weight (55cm, Fx/FRDx)
- 400g claimed fork weight
- Front and rear disc brakes, post mount, 140-160mm rotors
- 100x15mm front and 142x12mm rear thru-axles
- 1 1/8-to-1 1/2in tapered head tube
- BB386EVO press-fit bottom bracket shell
- Convertible internal cable routing with pathways for dropper seatpost
- Clearance for 36mm-wide tyres
Felt’s improvements to the carbon Fx cyclocross range are pretty much what you’d expect, but even then, the claimed figures are quite impressive. According to Felt, the standard 55cm Fx carbon chassis comes in at just 950g while the flagship FRDx is just 850g – decreases of 100g and 150g, respectively, and well within spitting distance of the lightest road frames on the market today.
With a claimed frame weight of just 850g for the top-end FRDx model, Felt seems to have taken the lightweight ’cross chassis crown
In addition, bottom bracket stiffness is supposedly up a substantial 21 percent for the standard Fx while front triangle torsional stiffness jumps 11 percent over what was already a very rigid chassis. Nevertheless, Felt says the new bikes are slightly more comfortable, too.
Felt is equipping many of its bikes with 1x drivetrains as standard equipment
Felt is once again equipping all of its carbon ’cross bikes with tapered 1 1/8-to-1 1/2in head tubes but their usual BB30 bottom bracket shells have now been replaced with wider BB386EVO ones. The chainstays can be pushed further apart as a result, and all of the new Fx frames will now take tyres up to 36mm wide while still retaining a quick geometry suitable for racing.
Thru-axles and disc brakes are featured across the board for carbon models. For now, Felt is sticking with currently standard post mounts and a 15mm front thru-axle
Alloy ’cross bikes get overhauled, too, with wider BB386EVO bottom bracket shells, partially internal cable routing layouts, and new carbon forks. All of the aluminium frames carry on with quick-release rear dropouts, however, but the F55x at least gets a thru-axle up front.
All of Felt’s new ’cross bikes are slated to arrive in shops no later than August.
2016 Felt Fx model highlights:
F1x Di2:
- Felt UHC Advanced TeXtreme carbon frame
- Felt Cyclocross UHC Ultimate TeXtreme carbon fork
- Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 1x11 transmission with custom programmed R785 levers
- Rotor 3D CX1 crankset with round and Q-Ring chainrings
- Shimano R785 hydraulic disc brakes
- DT Swiss CXR 1300db carbon clincher wheelset
- 3T Team Stealth cockpit and Ionic VR seatpost
- US$6,999 / £TBC / €TBC / AU$TBC
F1x CX1:
- Felt UHC Advanced TeXtreme carbon frame
- Felt Cyclocross UHC Ultimate TeXtreme carbon fork
- SRAM Force 1 1x11 drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes
- DT Swiss Spline R24 db wheelset
- 3T Team Stealth cockpit and Ionic VR seatpost
- US$5,499 / £TBC / €TBC / AU$TBC
F3x:
- Felt UHC Advanced TeXtreme carbon frame
- Felt Cyclocross UHC Ultimate TeXtreme carbon fork
- Shimano Ultegra 2x11 drivetrain and R685 hydraulic disc brakes
- DT Swiss R24 Classic wheelset
- 3T Pro cockpit with Ionic VR seatpost
- US$3,799 / £TBC / €TBC / AU$TBC
F4x:
- Felt UHC Advanced TeXtreme carbon frame
- Felt Cyclocross UHC Ultimate TeXtreme carbon fork
- SRAM Force 1/S350 1x11 drivetrain with Rival 1 hydraulic disc brakes
- Novatec CXR 1700 wheelset
- Felt CxR Superlite cockpit
- US$2,999 / £TBC / €TBC / AU$TBC
F55x:
- Felt Cyclocross FLite aluminium frame
- Felt Cyclocross UHC Advanced carbon/aluminium fork
- SRAM Force 1/S350 1x11 drivetrain with Rival 1 hydraulic disc brakes
- Felt CxR3 wheelset
- Felt CXR SuperLite cockpit
- US$1,999 / £TBC / €TBC / AU$TBC
F65x:
- Felt Cyclocross FLite aluminium frame
- Felt Cyclocross UHC Advanced carbon/aluminium fork
- Shimano 105 2x11 transmission with FSA crank and TRP Spyre mechanical disc brakes
- Felt CxR wheelset
- Felt CXR SuperLite cockpit
- US$1,499 / £TBC / €TBC / AU$TBC
F85x:
- Felt Cyclocross FLite aluminium frame
- Felt Cyclocross UHC Advanced carbon fork
- Shimano Tiagra 2x10 drivetrain with Tektro Mira mechanical disc brakes
- Felt CxR3 wheelset
- Felt CXR SuperLite cockpit
- US$1,299 / £TBC / €TBC / AU$TBC
F FRDx frameset:
- Felt Cyclocross UHC Ultimate + TeXtreme carbon frame
- Felt Cyclocross UHC Ultimate + TeXtreme carbon fork
- US$1,999 / £TBC / €TBC / AU$TBC
For more information, visit www.feltbicycles.com.