megalowmatt

^^ way too many pictures. It's a not for me.

groovestew

Apart from the hideous aesthetics of the frame, it looks like a very well set up and functional commuter bicycle. I'm inclined towards hot. The drive-side photo would have been the best one were it not for all the clutter in the background.

bigbenaugust 

I like that bike.

tjspiel

Rockhopper?

Nice bike and good candidate for drop bar conversion. Yours is an example of a conversion that didn't turn out looking weird as so many of them do. Doesn't quite rise to the level of hot for me though. With the potpourri of colors you've got going on there a green wheel couldn't hurt.

Not sure I like the blacked out tubes and the Sora-esque shifters. Also not quite sure how brifters really work on bars like that but I've got no actual experience with that sort of set up.

Germany_chris

Threaded to Threadless with no spacers to hide the fact..Sora shifters where Barcon's would be more effective and flexible. No fenders fork shuddering canti cable mount combined with cheap pads are going to lead über scary stops with any weight on it..

Not Hot

Nice old specialized though.

ThermionicScott 

The fender stays? Yeah, that definitely needs to happen. I think what I really need to do to make this build "pop" is to spraybomb the rear wheel green.

PatrickGSR94

heh finally got around to going through this thread and now subscribing. Nice to get in early in case it goes on for years and hundreds of pages like in the 41.

This is what I commute on, 30 mile RT twice a week, split up between days so I never have to carry any bags or packs or anything. Just put on brand new A530 double-sided pedals to replace my old no-name SPD pedals. Will be so nice to not have to keep switching out pedals for different types of rides.

I have Raceblade fenders in case it's wet, but I don't keep those on most of the time.

My first road bike, and man do I love it.

Germany_chris

There is no need to continue to uglify and already ugly bike.

Germany_chris

Look mom I have a wünderbike with a riser stem on a compact frame and a maladjusted saddle, but hey it's a carbonaluminumscandium Felt that all the pro's ride does that make up for it?

Not Hot

Set you saddle to level, get you stem parallel to the rise of the top tube or perhaps buy a bike that fits preferably not sized like t-shirts. The only thing that has any redeeming value about this bike is the red cable casings.

Andy_K 

Finally, a bike that isn't just "hot for a commuter"! I like this one a lot. In particular, I'm a fan of red and black, even though it's everywhere in road bikes these days.

Your 30 mile commute justifies the use of an unladen road bike, and yet your stem isn't slammed. Well done.

PatrickGSR94

Sorry sir, saddle is already level, and the stem/spacer stack is what fits me. But the more I ride the more flexible I'm getting so I'm actually in the market for a 6° stem instead of what's on there now.

I have longer legs but a shorter reach. Any larger frame and I would be too stretched out.

This ain't the 41 dammit

Andy_K 

Unfortunately the laws of physics are against us on this one. You can't just go buy an off-the-shelf bike that "fits" in all proportions unless you can use a lot of drop from the seat to the bars. I've spent a lot of time thinking about bike fit, and I think what it comes down to here is body weight distribution. I'd love to have the bars on my road bike set up in a way that gets me "low and aero" but I've got enough of my body weight above the waist that it just doesn't work that way without putting too much weight on my hands (maybe it would if I had about a 65 degree seat tube and could really stick my butt out behind the balance plane). So, like PatrickGSR94, when I buy a road bike that has the right top tube length (i.e. the size that fits for this model), I have to point the stem at the sky to make it comfortable.

You could make a case (and I sometimes do) that bikes should be made with longer head tubes relative to the top tube, but then the skinny guys would have a hard time bending at the waist as much as they need to for a proper fit.

FWIW, I happen to also like the look of an upward sloping stem. Feel free to draw whatever Freudian conclusions you feel are necessary from that.

Here's a pic of my own wünderbike (not used for commuting) which probably goes a long way toward explaining why I like Patrick's so much.

PatrickGSR94

ohhh man you have a nice 105 crank with red bolts on it. I need that for mine! I hate this FSA crap that came stock on there.

tjspiel

I think the bike is actually pretty hot but that's one of the best comments I've seen on the thread so far.

Andy_K 

The bolts are after-market. I stole the idea from Campagnolo, but I love the way they look. On the downside, I've now got a shiny silver spot on the crank where my shoe hits it once in a while. I cover it with Sharpie, but it comes right back.

Germany_chris

So you have Belgian Trek with 105 and you call it a wünderbike, please come back when your bike costs about 7 times what yours does and is bespoke.

I am far outside the bell curve fitting wise I'm 6'2" with a real close to 30" inseam i.e. I ride 55x58-60 depending on angles. The gentleman/lady bought a bike because the shop told him it was cool an he wanted a smaller bike most likely because it's more racy. You ordered an ill fitting frame through QBP most likely because it was in the warehouse and close enough.

Not Hot

Germany_chris

You should have looked beyond Felt. If you need a shorter top tube find some Asian made Italian stuff vs some Asian made asian stuff it'll have a slacker head tube angle while maintaining the the steeper seat tube. This will give you the shorter TT you need while letting tou buy a bike that can have a level saddle and no riser stem.

Medic Zero

Black model paint will last a little longer.

"Permanent" markers are only permanent when you don't want them to be!

Andy_K 

Or because the next size up would have had too much reach.... You have a very "41" understanding of bike fit.

Plus the shifters, brakes and rear derailleur are Ultegra and I ordered the frame from Competitive Cyclist, not QBP.

Germany_chris

So find a bike with a slacker head tube angle i.e. Italian geo.

QBP is the importer of mass produced Ridley's..

Remember you pointed out the long stem on my Colnago? That stem is there because Italians use a much slacker HT angle. That slacker HT angle will let you use a normal stem at a normal angle because your TT will be shorter and a slack HT means more rise out of standard stems.

I like forums I tend to like the cycling community on forums but I wish people would stop posting "what such and such should I buy" it ends up putting people on bikes that aren't right because we all say well I love my trekgiantfelt so you should too with no thought given to anything other than it's mine.

Ultegra doesn't change it's nonwuderbike status. When the downtube says Parlee et. al. I'll call it a wunderbike

PatrickGSR94

Yeah I knew they were aftermarket, I have blue ones on my KHS chain rings.

Shutup Bianchi10! Yeah I'm 5'11 with close to a 34" inseam. So you see anything larger than a 56 feels like it's way too long. One shop tried to put me on an Orbea size 57 with a 70mm stem. I wasn't having that.

Felt was never my first choice. I had a budget for around a Sora-equipped bike as my first road bike. Looked at Orbeas and Treks at different dealers. But then a friend told me about a shop near him (but 200 miles from me) with a previous year Felt with 105 for a hefty discount. So I spent about $60 in gas to save around $300 on a bike. Works for me! I never would have been able to afford a 105-equipped bike otherwise.

*edit* wait, your posts sound like a combination of Bianchi10 in the 41 and acidfast (used to live in Germany) in this forum. Y'all kin to one another?

Andy_K 

Well, I love my mass produced Ridley, "happy" stem and all.

Head tube angle changes more than just the top tube length, and by itself it doesn't change top tube length much at all. If I had a head tube long enough to put the bars where I want them without a sloping stem, I'd need more slope in the top tube just to be able to stand over the thing (regardless of top tube length), and that would be ugly too.

Andy_K 

Germany_chris

You're right, it generally stabilizes the ride especially in turn in, gives you more front center, and was generally the standard until the MTB revolution. Slacker head tubes and tire clearance are what are now called pave bikes.

There is a balance between slammed stems the requires a contortionist to get into the hooks and happy stem/80mm stem etc.

Bug Shield

Hot.



Win.