Version française

First Impressions

The FR2 is part of Felt's Race bikes.

Felt's race range includes the lightest, stiffest and most nervous bikes oriented for competitions and mountain road climbing.

As with the VR2, the matt black paint shows the UHC Advanced + TeXtreme carbon fiber. Personally, I love this apparent braiding. You can see the quality of the work carried out by Felt in the building of its frames.

The saddle is a Prologo Nago Evos Pas TiRox, light and comfortable.

The front brake is a Shimano Ultegra Dual pivot while the rear is a direct mount from Trp.

The wheels are Mavic Ksyrium Elite. The blue hub and spokes match perfectly with the blue Felt branding of the frame.

The handelbar is a 3T covered with a reflective tape, a real plus for safety once the night comes.

The FR2 is mounted in Shimano Ultegra Di2 with a 52/36 crankset.

The icing on the cake, it's equipped with a Pioneer power meter mounted on the left crank.

The integration of the cable brakes is very well thought, a neat job.

The bottom bracket is a 386 which offers super stiffness, without any torsion. The bases of the frame are short, 405 which further contribute to improve the rigidity and the vivacity. 

Riding it

At the request of readers, I would like to specify the conditions of use for this review.

I was very lucky to ride this felt FR2 for a period of 3 weeks.

This led me to use it on the Belgian roads, in the mountains and especially during the Triathlon of the Alpes d'Huez in France where it was able to express all its potential as a climbing bike.

The test took place over 600 kilometers with a total positive clim of about 10.000 meters D+

You get used to the FR2 very fast. After the first ride, I had already been able to adjust my driving position in an optimal way. Regarding the adjustment, I still don't understand why Felt uses Torx screws for the adjustment of the stem. I don't see the usefulness of mixing on the same frame, Allen screws and Torx screws, but that's no big deal ...

The bike weights 7.3 kg in size 54 which is very light, especially when you are used to ride a time trail bike of 10 kilos.

His behavior is very nervous and swift with an immediate response when you get on the pedals.

The frame doesn't bend, all the energy of the pedaling is transmitted to the wheels.

The Shimano Ultegra Di2 group works great. Even in the uphill climbs, the changes are very smooth.

The handlebar is equipped with Sprints Shifters which allows you to change the sprockets while keeping the aero position.

At first, I would have preferred sprints shifter on the top of the handelbar, to shift without moving the hands from the mountain position. But after testing it in a steep downhill, I can tell you that it's just a real pleasure. They allow you to ride the hardest turns without moving your hands from the aero position...

The braking of the FR2 is healthy and progressive. It never let me down, even on the fastest runs.

The Pioneer power meter, originally mounted on the left hand crank of the FR2 worked perfectly. It pairs in a second with the Garmin instruments. Calibration and battery life did not weaken for the duration of the test.

During the Triathlon of the Alpe d'Huez, it came perfectly to complement my heart rate monitor to help me not to exceed my limit zone in the ascent and keep my legs good for the run part.

The 52/36 crankset with cassette 11-28 is perfect for sporty use as the FR2 is meant to be. However, for pure mountain use, an 11-32 cassette would be welcome to keep a good pedaling frequency even in the steepest climbs.

For whom and for what use ?

The Felt FR2 will delight cyclists in search of a nervous, lightweight and ultra reactive bike without sacrificing a relative comfort.