Felt boldly pitches its new VR as the “next step in the evolution of the endurance road bike,” with a frame made from carbon and designed to be comfortable and compliant, with disc brakes, 12mm thru-axles, mudguard mounts and space for 30mm tyres.
Billed as the US company’s most capable endurance bike to date, the company recognises that road bike trends are rapidly evolving and the emergence of gravel and adventure bikes tap into a desire to explore paths and tracks as well as roads and lanes, and it has produced a bike that on paper looks to meet its claim.
– Buyer’s guide: 2016 sportive and endurance road bikes
The VR is specced with 30mm tyres and “sub-compact” gearing using a 46/30t chainset and 11-32t cassette which provides a climbing gear ratio of 1:1. There are 12mm thru-axles at both ends and disc brakes, using the flat mount standard, and fully sealed internal cable routing compatible with mechanical and Di2.
While bikes will ship with 30mm tyres, there’s space for wider tyres, with Felt boasting of 42mm total clearance between the frame’s chainstays, but ISO standards, which require 6mm clearance on either side of the tyre, prevents the company fitting wider tyres as original equipment.
Felt is a company that knows its way around carbon fibre and uses the same advanced TeXtreme carbon fibre first utilised on its race bike a few years ago, a spread two fabric that consists of flat tape instead of the regular yarn construction.
Comfort is a big factor with any endurance bike. Felt has positioned the seatstays to sit either side of the seat tube and it has removed the traditional brake bridge and tapered the seat tube to deliver as much compliance as possible. It’s not using an integrated seatclamp, but instead a regular twin-bolt affair. The front triangle and fork have also been designed to dampen vibrations.
Geometry-wise, Felt has tailored the bike towards the endurance end of the spectrum so think taller head tubes and shorter top tubes, for a more upright position that puts less stress on your back and neck when sitting in the saddle for long periods of time. Felt has used the same size-specific approach that other frame manufacturers have been using for several years, with each tube shape optimised for each frame size.
The frame will take mudguards and there’s an additional bottle cage mount on the underside of the downtube, and a bento box mount on the top tube for long distance cycling adventures. A nice detail is the use of high-visibility decals used across the frame and even reflective bar tape, helping you to stand out in low light or at night time.
We don’t have full details on pricing and availability yet, but it looks like Felt will offer a range consisting of four carbon models and three aluminium versions, plus a women’s range called the VRW.
The VR6 will be the most affordable carbon model with Shimano Tiagra gearing and RS405 hydraulic disc brakes and a Felt tubeless-ready wheelset.
The top-end VR2 (until the release of the VR1 presumably?) gets a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset with R785 disc brakes, Mavic Ksyrium Elite Disc Allroad wheels and 28mm tyres and 3T handlebars, stem and seatpost.
The women’s VRW range similarly offers a choice of materials, with three carbon and two aluminium options. The range-topping VR3W gets a Shimano Ultegra groupset with Rotor 3D30 Adventure chainset, Shimano R685 hydraulic disc brakes and Novatec wheels with Schwalbe One 28mm tyres.
More at www.feltbicycles.com
10 thoughts on “Felt VR endurance disc bike launched – “next step in the evolution of the endurance road bike””
46/30 chainset – exactly what
46/30 chainset – exactly what I want on an Adventure/Tourer. Maybe even going to a 34 sprocket on the block just for those climbs when loaded.
bikeandy61 wrote:
It’s interesting to see the cycle trade finally catching onto the fact even the compact 50/34 is too large for some people or some purposes.
It’s also interesting to see some new adventure/gravel/fat tyred road bikes looking so similar to my cross bike, which is fitted with 35c cyclo-cross speed tyres (crossover urban cross gravel type things), mudguards and 46/30 chainset.
I had to hunt for the latter, with only Middleburn providing one that could be bought in the UK, so it’s nice to see FSA starting to make some – although good luck trying to get hold of one at the moment. The 46/30 is brilliant for really steep roads or carrying load, but Shimano need to make a front mech that is better suited to the smaller rings, as the current standard road double mech isn’t quite right. Also, the jump between the rings, although 16 teeth as per 50/34, is actually quite a bit bigger (think of it in terms of percentage of teeth, rather than actual teeth count). I’d love a 44/30 road crankset.
bikeandy61 wrote:
Unfortunately, as per Felt, none of the VR models are meant to take loads via rack and panniers, not even the aluminum ones. Bikepacking seems like the only option I’m afraid.
A missed opportunity for Felt there, I reckon.
What’s the chance of these
What’s the chance of these hitting the magical £1k c2w price point?
Jonomc wrote:
International brand, carbon frame and hydraulic discs. No chance. I’m guessing UK price for the cheapest model will be £1300+.
That is a lovely looking bike
That is a lovely looking bike. I would take the VR3 with Ultregra and nice wheels.
Though one has to see what the non-US prices are.
Good to see stuff like this
Good to see stuff like this coming out.
It’d be nice to see sub-compact on more beginners or casuals bikes IMO. It’d open more routes up to people whist they’re still building their legs. I know some people on here have dynamite in theirs but it’d probably be better for beginners,. etc to ride slowly and not get off up the steeper stuff to get their confidence up.
I was looking for a bike
I was looking for a bike early this year to get back into riding and ended up with an ‘endurance bike’ based on reviews and current ‘wisdom’.
I’ve done 1900 miles since getting it and have formed some thoughts about the whole thing. Firstly, it’s not really an endurance bike (Infinito CV). A better term would have been road race bike that’s a bit relaxed and we can market it to people who’re a bit cautious about buying a race bike.
I ride on harsh roads, like the worst on the planet. A smooth patch is so rare here that cyclists crowd round and take pictures of it if one appears.
What I’ve noticed is that the bike can either be harsh and f*** or actually quite nice, and really that just depends on tyre pressure.
It came with a compact, I outgrew that after a month and a half. Loved it at the start, could spin on it and do big distances right out of the box with it, but something didn’t feel right about it on the bike. Switched to semi-compact and the bike started making more sense. Slammed the stem, even stuck a -17 on it. Long, 130mm now. Deeper wheels. Basically it’s a race bike and feels racy as hell now.
A real endurance bike is more like this felt. Big mad wheels, disc brakes, mounting options, sub compact chainset, very relaxed. Endurance means you want to go mad distances feeling cushy.
I should have really just bought an aero road bike and kept the spacers high until I adapted, then slammed it. That’s all that was needed for a guy getting back into riding. If I wanted comfort, drop the PSI a few bar.
I’m currently looking for a fast endurance bike again now for cycle touring. A real endurance bike. But it needs mounting options. Needs to be tougher. sub-compact chainset would be perfect too.
already on
they are already on wiggle … Joules1975 is right, international brand prices, TexTreme carbon … My opinion, at 2417£ the VR3 is very interesting, the VR2 with Di2 out of my reach.
The concept is right; i have a Spesh Tricross for years. Just changing tyres for winter (Hutchinson 700x32c) and Conti all season 28 otherwise. I’m commuting 25 miles everyday for almost 5 years now , i can’t outgrow my 42/39 crank and 12/25 cassette.
I have a question; is the pattern of carbon only visible in sunlight ? i love that.
frogg wrote:
There are aluminum models below £1000.