Unboxing the New 2014 Felt AR5!

Hello, I have the new bike blues right now. That's what I call it when I want to get a new bike, but I'm not sure which one I want. Luckily, Felt may be steering me in their direction with the new AR series road bikes. Today at Running Away Multisport we got the new AR 5 and I took some crappy photos with my cell phone while unpacking it.

The most innovative thing about the new AR frame is the seatpost. Rather than doing the traditional thing by having the frame clamp down on the seatpost, which is prone to slipping and can crush a seatpost if over-torqued, Felt took a new approach. The inside of the post is hollow so that a twin set of nuts can be inserted. The male bolts screw in through  holes on either side of the frame thus squeezing the post and the frame together. Felt says this is not only a lighter overall system, but it's more secure as well. The little rubber things on the side that look like Zerts Inserts are just dust covers. When you find your correct saddle height you have to cut them down with scissors. Felt handily included an instruction booklet that says just how to do it.

The other cool thing is that there is an attachment inside the seatpost for mounting the new Shimano Di2 saddle battery.

But the really cool thing is that the seatpost can be turned around to push the saddle way-way forward, like for a triathlon fit. This makes the AR more versatile for somebody who might do a time trial or triathlon but doesn't want to pay for a dedicated TT bike. Essentially you can get the exact same fit on the AR that you could on any TT bike. 

The cable routing has been updated from the previous model of AR, with the shifting cables coming out of the side of the frame instead of the top. Though is probably doesn't work as well in the wind tunnel, it relieves some of the excessive bending of the housing from the previous design. There is a large port on the underside of the frame for retrieving cables, which is nice. This bike came mostly assembled so I didn't have the pleasure of trying to thread anything through. One feature I like is that the rear derailleur housing pops right out the back.

Felt takes advantage of Shimano's new direct-mount brakes, for the rear at least. They're slickly located on the underside of the frame, nice and hidden. In testing I found the power and modulation of the direct mounts are about the same as traditional dual-pivots. They are kind of hard to adjust though, being way down there. You definitely need a stand to work on them and possibly a helper to test-squeeze the levers. The crank doesn't get in the way too much, though maybe if you put on a larger chain ring...

Fans of large tires won't have to worry. The AR with 105 brakes has plenty of room to fit 25mm Gatorskins on wide rims. Though the brakes have the reach to accommodate up to a 28mm, I'm not sure if the frame has clearance. More on that in the future. 

Initial quality of the build is decent. The wheels are OK, the brake track isn't perfectly machined and the wheels needed to be trued right out of the box. I managed to scratch the paint with my scissors while unpacking. I don't like matte paint because it attracts grease and shows scratches and can't be polished, so I could live without that. But all bearing are sealed and the chain is real Shimano and all other parts are name-brand. The one quality issue I noticed is that one of the seatpost binder bolts didn't sit flush with the frame. It's a small issue though. 

The claimed weight is 17.8 pounds, this one came out to a little more:

I didn't get much of a test ride because all I had were platform pedals and it's like -50 degrees today in Chicago, but it handled fine. One of the problems with the previous AR frame was that the tolerance between the fork and frame was so close that when you hit a big pothole it flexed and knocked. The new frame design fixes that. Otherwise, yeah, it rides like a nice bike should. Going around a corner in a sprint I was able to get some noticeable twist from the frame, but I can't think of any carbon frame out there that I can't flex while sprinting out of a corner. They just aren't as stiff as the marketers want you to believe. The geometry is a little weird because of the seat post, which has a built in set-back of about 3.5cm. I normally ride a 56cm frame, but this 54cm AR fit me, length-wise at least. I can ride a 56cm AR, but I'd have to push the saddle all the way forward on the rails. I contacted Felt and they said they have no intention of providing a zero set-back seat post, which is really a shame because as it is now everybody is going to be sitting either way far back or way far forward. 

I'm a fan of the new AR, but I recommend the AR 4 or better. In a year the 10 speed 105 group on the AR5 will be obsolete. Also, that FSA crank is pretty cheap and weighs about a ton. But for about $2500 you get the pinnacle of aero road frame design, and all the other parts can be upgraded later. 

Though my mind isn't made up, I think the new AR is one of the coolest bikes out there right now and sits some where near the top of my new bike choice.