eventhorizon

I am in the process of narrowing down my bicycle selection and am looking to test ride a Felt Speed bicycle. Felt Speed seems to have good price/performance and good reviews and I don't want to decide on a brand/model without test riding it.

I have not been able to locate a South Bay LBS that has a Felt Speed in stock. I've tried Summit, Hyland, Wheel Away, Sports Basement, and Cupertino Bike Shop. The Cupertino bike shop representative told me that Felt may have run out of the 2010 model and the 2011 model may come by September. I don't want to wait that long.

If you know of a bike store in the Bay Area that has this bicycle in stock or can get one without requiring a deposit, please let me know.

Thank you.

fastev

Cognition in Mountain View is a Felt dealer. It's a new shop so I don't know about their inventory, but it may be worth a try.

medianox

I got my Felt last year at CalBicycles in Livermore.

eventhorizon

Thank you for your response.

I contacted Cognition and they told me that Felt Speed wasn't one of the bikes they plan to carry.

I contacted Bike Connection in Palo Alto. The store manager Mike told me that he could order one for me provided that the distributor has it in stock. I am hoping that Mike will succeed in getting me one to test ride.

None of the Felt dealers in the Bay Area carry this model. Not sure why. It's not Felt's quality or support -- every dealer has nice things to say about Felt.

BlastRadius

If someone carried Felt typically it would be their road bikes. Felt isn't the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions hybrid or flat-bar road bikes.

eventhorizon

I've seen pretty much all the dealers carry Felt drop bar road bikes. Bike Connection also had the Felt X-city hybrid bike, but this does not have front gearing.

I've heard that Felt was R&D intensive and produced excellent, high-performance bikes. I was hoping that some of their road bike technology and expertise filtered down to their flat bar road bikes. Please let me know if I am mistaken in my assumption.

Felt Speed's geometry, component set, and pricing (based on my research on their web site) seems like a good fit. The few Internet reviews I've seen also had nice things to say about Felt Speed. That is why I was keen on test riding it and, if it felt comfortable, purchasing it. If they are not known for models other than their road bikes, should I reconsider? Should I stick with one of the known brands (Trek, Jamis, Giant, Specialized, etc.)?

Thanks.

BlastRadius

Exactly, it would seem anyone wanting a flat-bar road bike are going to go with the less expensive Specialized or Giant models thus few shops are going to have Felt's equivalents in stock.

HIPCHIP

I'm not sure if they carry the Speed, but Davis Wheelworks in Davis, Ca is a Felt dealer, so if you don't mind driving a bit, or you're going to watch the TOC start out here, you could check with them.
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