Felt Racing is an American bicycle manufacturer based in Irvine, California. Felt produces road, mountain, track, bmx, cyclocross and cruiser bikes. The company also has a strong reputation in the time trial/triathlon bike area.[1]
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Felt was founded by Jim Felt in the early 1990's when Felt products were distributed by Answer. Felt nearly disappeared from the domestic market following a fallout with Answer after a 7 year relationship.[2] The brand was relaunched in 2001 as an independent company.
Felt has developed several unique bicycle technologies. For its time trial/triathlon bikes, Felt has developed the Bayonet Fork, which utilizes an external steerer in front of the head tube for additional stiffness and aerodynamic efficiency.[3] Felt has also developed the Equilink suspension system for its full-suspension mountain bikes.
Felt extensively utilizes wind tunnel and computational fluid dynamics modeling in its frame design process.[4]
Felt has issued a recall of 2009 Felt model B12, B16 and S32 road bicycles because the fork steer tube can break, causing the rider to lose control, fall and suffer injuries.[5][6]
In 2007 Felt sponsored the Slipstream-Chipotle (currently Garmin-Transitions) bicycle team. In 2009, Felt signed a three-year agreement to supply frames to the Garmin-Chipotle team.[7] On August 28, 2010, Garmin-Transitions announced it is switching working agreements from Felt Bicycles to Cervelo bikes and will change its name to Team Garmin-Cervelo for the 2011 season. Felt chose not to exercise its option with the Boulder-based cycling team after a four-year working agreement. The Cervélo TestTeam will fold and some riders may move to Team Garmin-Cervelo.[8]
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