Mindcrime

I don't have pics of my actual ride, but you can see the OEM pics here:

Z85 - Felt Bicycles

I took the plunge on my first brand new real road bike. Started riding last may on a Cannondale Hybrid, I still have that and love it, but I use it for leisurely rides with the wife and to get into mountain biking slowly. Grabbed a cheap used Raleigh road bike a few months ago to decide if I wanted to go that route. Built that bike up with new wheels, drivetrain, saddle, stem, tape, etc and learned to do my own work. Decided I wanted a new bike with CF fork and much better components. Got a big donation towards it from a family member who was stoked about my charity riding, otherwise I was going to wait till next year.

Went to my LBS (Bike Lane north of Houston for anyone in the area) and spoke with the main guy, Ken. I have been using this shop since I started riding, bought my Cannondale there back in may, a bunch of parts and accessories, and generally built a relationship with them.

I came in asking about bikes, thinking I would go after a Cannondale Synapse with Tiagra. I test road one, liked it, but then Ken said he had a closeout 2013 Felt Z85 with 105s that he thought would fit me. I hopped on, tested it out, it road like a dream. Loved the 105s crispness and larger hoods. Sticker price was too high though.

I got back to the store, told him I loved it, and he got this twinkle in his eye, and told me he'd do it for 1100 bucks, only a hundred more than my budget.

SOLD

I cannot WAIT till tomorrow morning for my usual Saturday ride. I get to show her off, and find out if I can keep up with the 16-18 MPH group for the full ride finally!


/bouncebouncebouncebounce

TrojanHorse

Awesome!

txags92

Congrats on the new bike! Who are you riding with tomorrow morning? NWCC? Or Woodlands? I will probably be out with the NWCC 16-18mph "liar's club" tomorrow. Last time I went out with them a few weeks ago, we averaged 20.5 mph for the first 24 miles.

And congrats on buying something other than a Cervelo from them. When I went in to look at some bikes with them a few months ago, the only thing they would even talk to me about was Cervelo. I asked about Cannondale and Felt models, and despite having a couple in my size, they wouldn't let me get on them even to just test ride around the parking lot. Their attitude was basically "yeah, those are ok bikes, but you really want the Cervelo". I walked out of there convinced that they must get a huge kickback from Cervelo and wondering why they even bothered to stock the other bike brands. I also walked out convinced that if I bought a Cervelo, it wouldn't be from them. Glad you had a better experience with them.

Mindcrime

Yeah, its with NWCC. I have been riding with the no drop 40 mile group since June, first on my hybrid, then on my beater roadie. I've been consistently faster than that group for a while though, and am planning to go out with the faster group for the first time

Sorry you had a bad experience at bike lane. I've really liked it there over Bike Land, Performance, and Sun and Ski in the area. I never felt like I was being sold on anything, and they do good work in the shop. I destroyed the OEM wheel on my hybrid, and they replaced it with a hand laced wheel for free. I do think they like the cervelos though, a couple other guys I ride with bought them there. Might be a price point thing though, as my budget kept me out of the cervelos entirely.

txags92

I think it probably had a lot to do with price point. I had heard a lot of good things about them, so it was probably just not a good match between me and the guy I was talking to.

Good luck tomorrow! They are fun to ride with, and I believe the group actually usually ends up breaking up into several groups after about the first 10-15 miles as the pace picks up, so I am sure you will find a bunch to hang with. I am usually hanging on for dear life to the front group by the time we make it to the turnaround out at Prairie View. If I make it out, I will be the guy in the Aggie jersey riding a silver steel Marin.

dhender02

CONGRATS on the new bike!!! I picked up one, Felt Z85, last year and I absolutely LOVE it!!!

scrming

WOOHOO!!! New Bike!!! Congrats!

mox

Congratulations!

linnefaulk

Congrats! It looks great.

Mindcrime

Weekend report on the new ride!

I went out with the 14-16 MPH group (not the no drop group though) instead of the faster group because it was my very first time on the bike and I was a touch tentative on it right out of the gate. The group split in two, and I was with the latter half for the first few miles, just testing everything out and getting comfortable. I dropped that half and caught the faster half which turned out to be part of the junior race team and parents/coach working on paceline stuff and sprinting. I stayed with them till around mile 14 and chatted with the coach, taking some tips about cadence, interval training, and paceline efficiency. The juniors started a sprint, and I decided to go with them, passed them, and dropped the group heading into the fastest stretch of the ride usually. Caught a bit of a headwind, so that kept me from a PR on the section, but only by a tiny fraction of a MPH. Cruised into the 22 mile stopping point, and eventually the front half of the group I went out with caught up. The coach found me and we chatted some more, and he suggested if I kept it up I should come see him about joining the race team in the spring and try out cat 5! Best compliment I have ever gotten.

To this point, I had pushed the bike a bit, but not much. Generally really enjoing how quiet, responsive, and reliable it was compared to anything I'd ridden before. Out of the stop, I decided I would push it for the 14 miles back on Washington road. I went out with the front half of the 14-16 group, but they dawdled out of the stop, I took off, dropped em out of sight in a couple minutes, and never looked back. My best speed ever on this stretch was just a tich over 16 MPH over the 14 mile section. I blasted through it at 19.5 on Sunday. I spent 4+ miles in the drops, and found I could reach the brakes and shifters (could never stay in the drops more than a couple minutes and couldn't get the sora thumb button from the drops and the brakes were tough to get to.) Absolute bike pleasure. Just wind, breathing, and the road. No noises from the bike, absolute responsiveness from the shifting with no skipping or thunking even under load.

Finished the ride with an average near 18 MPH, 1.5 MPH faster than I have ever done the route, and it would have been more had I not been tentative over the first 14 miles.

Gorgeous day for a ride, great result. Could have ridden another 20-30, and felt absolutely great the rest of the day.

So good, in fact, that I went out and did 40 more on Sunday, 20 with a friend from NWCC in the middle of the ride (though we went slower, about 16 mph ride just enjoying the scenery and chatting instead of dropeing the hamar!)

Conclusion - I bought the right bike. I love it. Not even a hint of buyers remorse, and all I want to do today is play hooky and go out for another ride. (sadly, I'm posting this from work instead.)

Next week, I go out with the liars club for sure!

txags92

Cool! Glad you had such a great first ride on it. I was looking around for guys on shiny looking Felts all morning. I set a personal best for the ride saturday as well. I went out with the liar's club to the break point and thought I was leaving with part of that group to return. Seems as though maybe I got in with some of the 18-20 or 20-22 group instead because we averaged about 24-26 for the 18-ish miles back on old 290. I ended up with a 21.0 average (1 full mph above my previous best) for the 43.6 mile route and 24 PRs on Strava segments. If it isn't miserable this weekend, maybe I will see you out there. Early forecast sounds cold and rainy though.

gjhsu

Nicely done! Glad you're enjoying the new toy.