Felt's Edict Nine and 900 Gram Hardtail Prototypes - Sea Otter 2013
Edict Nine Prototype Felt had a lot of their mountain bike range on display at Sea Otter, but it was their Edict Nine prototype that caught our eye. The new rig sports the same silhouette as their current Edict platform, including their 100mm travel FAST Suspension design that depends on engineered flex at the carbon fiber dropout pivot rather than a traditional bearing setup. The seat stay/rocker arm pivots still use the ultra-light DU bushings and titanium hardware as the previous version as well, but the bike's main pivot now employs a 15mm pivot with collet hardware and burly dual row contact bearings. Felt told us that the new main pivot arrangement has proved to be sturdier than past designs with no weight penalty - the best of both worlds. | Edict Nine Proto Details • Rear wheel travel: 100mm • 29" wheel size • Uses Felt's FAST Suspension system • Updated front triangle • New 15mm main pivot and collet hardware • Rear brake caliper moved to chain stays • 12 x 142mm rear axle • 2014 production bike • MSRP : TBA |
FAST Suspension
While Felt's Equilink suspension platform, with its link that joins the rocker arm and chain stays in an effort to minimize unwanted suspension action, is used on their trail bikes, the 100mm travel Edict Nine series utilizes their simpler FAST design. Felt says that their shorter travel bikes like the Edict don't require the extra complication and weight of Equilink due to their already efficient nature, allowing them to assemble a lighter weight overall package. The FAST acronym stands for ''Felt Active Stay Technology'', which is a reference to the bike's lack of a dropout pivot. This is possible due to the use of carbon fiber to build the rear end, thereby letting Felt's engineers build-in a degree of flex to act as a pivot point. Felt is far from the first company to run a pivot-less rear end, but the FAST design is executed very nicely. Further weight is saved at the bike's rocker arm, with the two svelte-looking plates being held in place with titanium hardware.
Frame Details
Just like the current Edict Nine, the carbon fiber front triangle is built out of three separate pieces that are bonded together (rather than a single molded unit). Felt says that this approach gives them better control when it comes to preventing voids forming during the manufacturing process, especially at the more complicated sections of the frame like bottom bracket area and pivot locations. What is different, though, is a much more substantial looking main pivot and bottom bracket area, with a different shape that Felt says has increased rigidity. Flipping the bike over also reveals a set of nifty removable cable exit ports that use aluminum caps, a setup that, thanks to the opening being large enough to easily feed the new cable through, should make for easy cable replacement without requiring internal guiding .
900 Gram Hardtail Frame
While mega-light hardtails might not be the usual fare here on Pinbike, Felt was showing off an impressive prototype that deserves some attention. The carbon fiber frame shown here weighs in at a mere 900 grams (medium w/ der hanger and seat clamp collar), an impressive figure that rivals many road bike offerings. felt says that this was possible due to their work with the TeXtreme brand, a company that is doing some innovative things with carbon fiber that allow Felt to build a frame that is 200 grams lighter than their lightest non-TeXtreme carbon mountain frame. The weigh savings come via the use of TeXtreme's ''crimp-less fabric with straight orientation of fibers" that are said to offer a greater strength-to-weight ratio than more traditional carbon. The exotic materials are first created in Sweden, shipped to the U.S.A. to have resin added, and then dispatched to Asian in a refrigerated container (the material needs to be kept cool at this point in the process) to be manufactured into a finished frame. The expensive carbon and long process means that the production frame will retail for $2,799, a price that rivals many full suspension offerings on the market. No, it won't be for everyone, but Felt clearly means business with their new project.
Frame Details
The checker board appearance of the frame isn't a cosmetic finish added by Felt, but rather exactly how the TeXtreme carbon looks when it comes out of the mold. Felt says that they save a further 80 - 100 grams by not painting the frame, but rather simply giving it a clear coat that allows its carbon makeup to be viewed. Interestingly, Felt has gone with a threaded bottom bracket shell rather than the expected PressFit setup employed by many others, with the thinking being that this will allow for more crank and bottom bracket compatibility. Two threaded bosses just above the bottom bracket act as mounts for Felt's ''Chain Watcher'', a carbon fiber fin that can be bolted in place to prevent the chain from jumping off to the inside on rough terrain. To accomodate different crank spacing, as well as two and three-ring drivetrains, the fin can be spaced in or out via different washers that come with the frame.
www.feltbicycles.com
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"uhhh put xx1 on it"
(Just for the record, I am vegetarian, don't have a car, have applied for planning permission for an 'eco house' (with a bike track running next to it!), and have only been on a plane once in my life
The wip is superfluous if the shock would be toptube to rear horizontal instead of vertical. Saving weight. The rearstays could more or less act as pushrods but still f... because you need to close the triangel to get stability.
The hardtail looks better and would be at least 1lb lighter and thougher with 26 wheels. This is a "heavy" roadbike.
Also, the carbon fiber can be manufactured to have different flex properties. The chain stays don't flex, and the seat stays only flex up and down, not laterally (more or less)
@hamn: carbon in this dimension can only be manufactured reliably in a stiff structure, it wont do a leafspring type of bending. And most definitely not as a box or round section.
That is why you have a very limited weight range on carbon fishing rods and a limited service life.
Yes, this design is f*cked up no matter what they say. Its like driving across Golden Gate and one of the tower is missing. Statics 101.
@alpha: Formula one has pivots. They are there because the rules say so. The a-arms are solid, steel or carbon, depending on the budget. But you are right - they just want a little bit of give otherwise its a solid axle. They even block the springs. This is possible because most tracks are almost polished and they try to dial in the cars with tirepressure and compound.
Cannondale scalpel has been using flexing seat stays for a decade. They used to use flexing chainstays as well and still got 100mm of travel. Carbon is amazing, and IF done properly, it can flex all you want and not fail.
4pack.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/hartwig.jpg
I pole vaulted on carbon composite poles in college, and you can get a 16 foot pole to bend way past 90 degrees. Each pole is made with a specific length and flex. If you weigh more or run faster, you need a stiffer pole. The increments in stiffness, or the flex rating, is very precise. They hang a 10kg weight from the end of the pole and measure the bend in cm. The difference in stiffness is often less than a centimeter between flex ratings. The tolerances of each rating is less than a millimeter.