Felt may not be the biggest name when it comes to full-suspension trail bikes. But some innovative suspension designs have certainly piqued our interest.
Like a few other bikes to be released lately, such as Orbea’s Occam or Cannondale’s Habit, the 150mm travel Felt Decree uses a flexible seatstay to facilitate the suspension’s movement, rather than a rear pivot. This saves the weight and servicing faff inherent with run-of-the-mill bearings, but adds a spring force as the seatstays flex.
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Felt has moulded the carbon seatstays to rest in the sag position. This means they act to compress the shock when it’s at less than 30% travel, softening the initial stroke, yet they work with the shock beyond 30% travel, firming up the midstroke.
If this sounds familiar, it’s probably because RockShox’ DebonAir shocks use an oversized negative air chamber to achieve a similar effect. Felt has doubled up on the supple beginning-stroke goodness by speccing the DebonAir version of the RockShox Monarch Plus shock. You can’t have too much of a good thing, right?
Turn of speed
Jumping aboard the Decree, its turn of speed is striking. On flat ground, the fast rolling Schwalbe Nobby Nic treads and low weight (12.6kg in XL) allow it to really bowl along. It’s comfy too thanks to the genuinely supple suspension, which tracks chattery ground with sublime sensitivity.
Spot-on suspension
Component clashes
You can read more at BikeRadar.com
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