Felt Virtue Nine 20 - Reviewed

REVIEWED

Felt Virtue Nine 20

WORDS Jordan Carr
PHOTOS Colin Meagher

The Nine 20 sits smack dab in the middle of Felt's Virtue lineup, and while its aluminum frame and mixed-level component spec might not be as sexy as their top tier carbon models, the bike's $3,799 USD price makes it a more plausible option for the shredder on a real world budget. Felt's Equilink suspension platform can be found on the back of the 130mm travel bike, with its vertical connecting rod running between the rocker arm and chain stays that, according to Felt, ''isolates active working suspension from drivetrain or braking influence,'' while a slightly longer stroke 140mm travel RockShox Revelation RL is used at the opposite end. And despite running 20 - 30mm less travel than some contenders, Felt touts that their Virtue lineup is ready for an Enduro or Super-D start line, saying that ''the everyday Enduro and Super D racing crowd now has a bike that defines them,'' so we took the gold bike out to Sedona for a month of hard riding on even harder terrain to see what makes it tick. Does it live up to their claims?






As far as appearances go, the frame itself looks ready for business. There's a brawny air to it that a lot of other bikes with similar travel lack and, if we didn't know better, it could easily pass as a bike with an additional 30mm of travel and burlier intentions - maybe it's the large diameter aluminum tubing and sloping top tube that give it its purposeful look. Having said that, the bike's lack of ISCG tabs goes in the face of Felt's claims of the Nine 20 being ready for an Enduro or Super-D start line, although the threaded bottom bracket shell does mean that an old school adapter can be clamped into place if need be. The rest of the boxes are ticked off, though: a tapered head tube, cable routing for a dropper post, and a 12 x 142mm rear end are all present and accounted for.


Mimicking the geometry and rear suspension metrics of the top level $6,200 USD carbon version, the Virtue Nine 20, at least on paper, appears to offer champagne taste on a beer budget. For 2014, Felt claims to have reduced frame weight by about 250 grams, with it sitting right around the five pound mark including shock. Because aluminum doesn't offer the same flex characteristics as carbon, the alloy Virtue models feature an additional pivot on the seat stay just above the dropout that replaces the carbon version's flex-pivot. All pivots (with the exception of the rear pivot on aluminum models) see an upgrade to dual row cartridge bearings that replace the DU bushing setup used in the past, and a redesigned rocker arm is said to offer more torsional rigidity. In other words, it's supposed to be lighter, stiffer, and more reliable all around than previous models.

With six different cables sprouting off of the Nine 20's handlebar, there's no way the front of the bike is ever going to be all that tidy. You have the front shifter, the Revelation's PushLoc remote, and the button to control the KS dropper post all vying for real estate with the brake lines and and the rear shift housing, which adds up to a bit of a cluttered setup compared to many of today's machines that run sans front derailleur, let alone a fork lockout button. Lets just say that it wouldn't hurt to trim down on any controls that you don't use on a regular basis.




Equilink Suspension

Pretty much all suspension designs depend on a certain amount of chain torque to provide a degree of pedalling efficiency, with engineers trying to strike a balance between too much - you'll lose small bump sensitivity, and too little - the bike will bob badly under pedalling loads. This is true of everything from single pivot bikes to more complicated multi-link machines, although some will also employ custom shock tunes in an effort to either enhance suspension activity or act as a crutch to cover up bad pedalling traits. Felt claims to have found a way around all of that with their Equilink suspension system, although they are far from the first to make such assertions. Equilink utilizes a vertical tie rod that connects the rocker arm to a small link between the chain stays and the front triangle. Why go to all that extra trouble and complication?

Felt says that connecting the two links together eliminates the bike's dependency on chain torque for pedalling performance, allowing the rider to set the suspension up with absorbing terrain as the primary focus. Equilink operates by forcing the upper and lower links to function as a single unit, despite their differing purposes. The upper link rotates clockwise and tries to compress the shock during acceleration, while the lower link tries to pivot counterclockwise due to chain torque, but the vertical tie rod connecting them together forces both the suspension loads and drivetrain inputs to work in unison, effectively cancelling each other out. If the design functions as Felt asserts it should not only allow for a suspension setup that performs well on small impacts without sacrificing efficiency, but also not require the rider to be in a certain gear combination for optimal pedalling performance - it should behave the same regardless of gear choice, unlike many other designs. Rousing claims for sure, but only trail time will tell us whether Equilink can live up to Felt's lofty assertions.

Specifications Release Date 2014 Price Travel 130mm Rear Shock RockShox Monarch RT 200x75mm Fork RockShox Revelation RL, 140mm travel, Solo Air, PushLoc remote lockout, Headset FSA No.42 integrated tapered Aheadset, custom cone spacer 1 x 8mm + 2 x 5mm straight spacers, w/ Felt Tornado aluminum top cap Cassette Shimano 10-speed 11-36T Crankarms Shimano XT Hollowtech II 2 x 10-speed: XS/SM - 170mm MD/LG/XL - 175mm Chainguide N/A Bottom Bracket Shimano sealed threaded Pedals N/A Rear Derailleur Shimano XT Shadow Plus 10-speed long cage Chain Shimano 10-speed Front Derailleur Shimano Deore 2x10 Shifter Pods Shimano XT Rapid-Fire 2 x 10-speed Handlebar Felt riser bar carbon, 8mm rise w/ 9° sweep, 720mm wide Stem Felt MTB 3D-forged threadless 1-1/8" +/- 7° rise Grips Felt Lock-on Brakes Shimano Deore disc w/180mm Center-Lock rotor Wheelset DT Swiss - Shimano XT Hubs Hubs Shimano XT hub w Center-Lock Spokes DT Swiss 1.8mm w/ aluminum nipples Rim DT Swiss 533D double wall aluminum w/ eyelet Tires Continental X-King SL Performance folding, 29 x 2.4 Seat Felt MTB performance w/ Cr-Mo rails Seatpost KS LEV dropper post, cable and lever: Compare to other All Mountain/Enduro/XC

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Aboard the Virtue

Climbing

The Virtue's somewhat compact wheelbase, gives it the ability to scamper up some seriously technical climbs confidently and efficiently. The 29" wheels obviously add to this ability as well, but it is the gold bike's geometry that lends it a maneuverable sort of personality when the corners get tight enough to trap a lot of other 29ers with a longer footprint. This was especially noticeable during slow speed moments nearing a trackstand, with the bike offering a crazy ability to creep up and over ledges at these low speeds like it has a crawling gear and suction cup tires. As you might guess after reading that last sentence, traction at the rear wheel was never an issue, be it seated or standing. As long as you keep pedalling, which the bike does very well (we almost never locked out its Monarch shock), you're likely to get to the top of whatever you're aiming to climb, providing you have the horsepower to do it.

While the bike's climbing performance was commendable, the overall cockpit feel wasn't all sunshine and singletrack. On the geometry sheet, the Felt looks comparable to other similarly positioned 29ers as far as angles and numbers go, but we found that out of the saddle climbing became our nemesis at times - we simply had a hard time finding the sweet spot out of the saddle. Seated climbing, on the other hand, we found to be enjoyable, and we found ourselves pushing our technical climbing skills to the max aboard the Virtue.



Descending / Technical Terrain

All those handlebar mounted levers and buttons that we complained about earlier come in handy when you get to the top of the climb and are ready to bomb back down. Shift into the bike's large chain ring, drop the post, and unlock the 140mm travel Revelation fork all within a few seconds and you're ready to try and channel your inner racer. What happens next? Some good things, with the Virtue's handling offering none of the stereotypical ''I'm a big wheeler so don't ask me to do that'' 29er attitude. Its numbers add up to a bike that we can't help but apply the most cliched term in the business to: it's one hell of a nimble 29er. The tighter the corner, the more the Virtue is able to extend its lead over other bikes, and it's no slouch as far as handling is concerned at the other end of the speed spectrum either. Sure, it does still feel a touch short to us but, on the other hand, it gives the bike a pinch of BMX attitude rather than make us hesitate like on the climbs.

The Virtue's Equilink suspension is a bit tough to classify, and it seems to lack a lot of the liveliness that could have made the bike a real hooligan on the right kind of trail. Initial travel was gobbled up far too easily, and it didn't take much to find the bottom of the shock's stroke until we bumped the Monarch's air pressure up high enough to create a bit of a harsh ride at the other end of the travel. Relative to other 130mm travel bikes, it just felt like it needed to be set a bit too stiff for our liking, which is is a bummer because the bike would be a potent little package given its A+ handling in many situations. Adding some volume reducing spacers to the shock's air can would be the first step we'd take if we had the Nine 20 in our garage, no doubt about it. Up front, the Revelation fork holds its own in nasty terrain when you consider that it's a mid-range, 140mm travel offering, and we'd say that you'll have to be pushing yourself pretty hard to justify dropping substantial coin for an upgrade. Then again, a lot of us seem to find a way to do exactly that, don't we?




Component Check

•Shimano drivetrain: We appreciated the Virtue's Shimano drivetrain, which is a mix of an XT rear derailleur, shifters, cranks, and hubs paired with an SLX front derailleur, cassette, and Deore brakes. One thing that we'd change would be an upgrade to a clutch equipped Shadow Plus rear derailleur in order to help limit dropped chains, something that we suffered from on more than just a few occasions.


• KS LEV dropper post: Adding a dropper post is key to offering a well spec'd bike these days, and the externally routed LEV is a smart choice that has worked well for us in the past. No troubles, yet again. Also, it's activated by the best remote in the business.

• Continental X-King tires: Although the X-Kings aren't the first tire we'd spec on a trail rig like this, we do have to say that they performed well in the drier and lose trail conditions that we tested the Virtue in. Our advice to Nine 20 owners would be to run them until they wear out, then move to a more aggressive option up front if you feel you need it.



Pinkbike's take:

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Reviews and Tech Reviews Trail Bikes Felt Felt Virtue Nine