Felt AR3 (upgrades)

jus71n

Just though I'd share a couple of pics of my new bike,

2012 Felt AR3 in black/monster green, bought as an upgrade from my ribble

Thought I would treat myself as wanting to get more into doing some events next year, And got the green light from the wife so ordered it straight away before she changed her mind

It arrived on tuesday and all I can say is WOW, I love it.

Spent some time setting her up, fitting bottle cages, garmin, Ultegra carbon pedals, heli tape

here's the spec


Frame: Felt Aero Road UHC Advanced MMC carbon fiber w/ 3KP weave, InsideOut internal molding process, machined threaded aluminum BB shell, internal Di2 or mechanical cable routing, carbon fiber dropouts & 7075 CNC machined aluminum replaceable derailleur hanger

Fork: Felt Aero Road UHC Performance monocoque fork, 100% carbon fiber 1.125"" steerer tube, crown, blades, & dropouts

Drivetrain: Shimano Ultegra Di2 shifters & derailleurs, Shimano Ultegra 53/39T crankset, Shimano chain & 11-25T cassette

Components: Ultegra Super SLR dual pivot brakes, Felt VS Aero 2014 triple butted aluminum bar, Felt SL 6061 aluminum 3D forged stem, Felt Aero UHC Advanced carbon fiber seatpost, Felt SL saddle w/ hollow Cr-Mo rails

Wheelset: MAVIC Cosmic Elite

Couple of pics





Went for a Felt because I haven't seen many, and loved the look of this one
Just going out to see how she goes on a 30 miler

ianbar

very nice, i have been looking at a ar4 especially if price drops in sales :-P. let us know how she rides.

ilm_zero7

a quick bike in a straight line - used to have an AR4, but the best thing I ever did to it was swap the Ultegra for Chorus 11 sp - it was an improvement. Also, check the seat post arrangement has the split adjuster which allows rotation - some dont and without it there is no l-h tollerance

RideOnTime

looks superb...

jus71n

Rides really well, did a 35 miler in avg 19.1mph (good for me)

Handles good, little bit of tweaking to do with the set up and the gears are taking some getting used too.

Sat thinking what my first upgrade may be, maybe some good wheels to shed 0.5kg

One thing I did notice, because of the aero frame and wheels it's a little more twitchy with a side wind, which took me by suprise a couple of times...

ianho

jus71n wrote:

Rides really well, did a 35 miler in avg 19.1mph (good for me)

Handles good, little bit of tweaking to do with the set up and the gears are taking some getting used too.

Sat thinking what my first upgrade may be, maybe some good wheels to shed 0.5kg

One thing I did notice, because of the aero frame and wheels it's a little more twitchy with a side wind, which took me by suprise a couple of times...

Wait till u get some deep carbon wheels on it. Then u will feel like a sail boat. My Venge with Zipp 404s r scary when the wind starts blowing. Partly because I'm a puny lil guy but I suspect even bigger riders suffer the same fate on all aero bikes.

fludey

Love it looks great....mind you I am a bit biased..love my AR4

leeso

absolutely class , enjoy

junglist_matty

jus71n wrote:

Rides really well, did a 35 miler in avg 19.1mph (good for me)

Handles good, little bit of tweaking to do with the set up and the gears are taking some getting used too.

Sat thinking what my first upgrade may be, maybe some good wheels to shed 0.5kg

One thing I did notice, because of the aero frame and wheels it's a little more twitchy with a side wind, which took me by suprise a couple of times...

Is that faster or slower than previous bike?

I can only wish I had you're sort of cash to spend on a bike, I could drop at least 2-3kg on the bike weight (mine's about 10kg) and probably get a minimum 1mph increase in my average speed; today rode 53mile average speed 19.4mph on a CX bike modded with road tyres.... I would love a ride on a proper lightweight road bike like this just to see what the difference would be!

jus71n

My normal rides are 17-18mph avg, I'd put the extra down to new bike syndrome

I'd toyed with the idea of a second hand Felt or S-Works frame & an Ultegra Di2 setup, but frames fetch £1000 ish, and same for gears so i thought I may aswell go for a new one.

Its funny how cycling gets hold of you, when I first started out 3 years ago it was " you'll never see me in lycra!" now got drawers full of bibs, "never get me wearing a cycling helmet" now wouldn't ride without one, and "I'll never spend thousands on a bike" ...... and here we are.....

lawrences

oh that's nice. I'm getting an AR4 soon. Same frame sh!ttier wheels basically.

baldwin471

Thinking about getting this beauty. But the Red groupset, lighter weight, wheels and carbon bars of the AR2 are tempting me but still not sure it's worth the extra grand.

lawrences

that's the problem when the models are quite close together. Always thinking well it's only a few hundred more.

TgNewbie

Hello...where is the battery for the Di2? Can't see it anywhere.....

RideOnTime

RideOnTime wrote:

looks superb...

another peek. still looks superb...

Ec0

awesome looking bike, the more Felts I see the more I like them

baldwin471

TgNewbie wrote:

Hello...where is the battery for the Di2? Can't see it anywhere.....

I'm guessing under the non-drive side chainstay.

jus71n

Picture of battery location - non drive chainstay behind BB (just giving her a clean)



Hmmm clean





1st upgrade, new saddle

TgNewbie

Looks superb

Still have not made my mind up though on this and the CLX!

Time is not on my side, there are only two left - one of each in the UK - and when I finally get round to biting the bullet, they both would have gone!

TgNewbie

Bingo!!

Pick up my AR3 this w/e and hoping sun continues to shine!

Jus71n hoping you are still enjoying the ride!

tremayne

Very nice indeed. Like it a lot.

RideOnTime

jus71n

TgNewbie wrote:

Bingo!!

Pick up my AR3 this w/e and hoping sun continues to shine!

Jus71n hoping you are still enjoying the ride!

Nice one, you will have to let us know what you think.... Still loving mine although as the weather get worse she may have to hibernate and i'll dig out the cube for commuting

TgNewbie

@Jus7in

Well, I do hope I will be considerably quicker than I currently am. Today was truly awful, been out of action for a month after an accident and my fitness has just plummeted! Disastrous session, 3mph slower over 35 miles...yes there was a fair old headwind but not that much. Am hoping this new buy is going to give me the impetus I need to push me on harder and faster!

Will let you know how I get on...but unless things dry out a bit, I expect the bike will be stabled until blinking spring!

fludey

If you upgrade wheels let me know as interested in old ones

TgNewbie

@Fludey

Upgrading the wheels, you must be blinking joking it has taken me months to convince my wife to release the shackles and let me buy this so any wheel upgrade will go down like a sack of the proverbial!

moscowflyer

Lovely looking bike. Di2 is fantastic, I can't get enough of mine on the Cube.

edewer

Keep on looking at these too. Got an F95 to start out, but my LBS has these in and theyre making me a seriously tempting offer on it too!

TgNewbie

And here it is! Picked up from my LBS today. Went for a quick ride, and it felt good! This is one quick bike, step into the pedals and the response is immediate! Really looking forward to my first big ride!

FrancisScotland

Bike looks awesome! Just wondering if the light means you're going to be using it on wet gritty dark winter lanes?! :O

TgNewbie

@Francis....wet gritty lanes, to be honest I bought the bike to ride it not to keep it locked away when the weather turns a little sour; at least that is what I thought when I first got it! BUt now, I don't want to the tiniest bit of mud on it and am throughly p***ed off that the weather has turned really crap!