The New Virtue 1 by Felt Bicycles
I've decided to post this across from my blog as I've noticed that not everyone looks at both, so perhaps they are missing out! This is from the first days of riding the Felt Virtue 1, and my initial impression. I'd also like to welcome our visitors from around the globe including Germany, Mexico, the US and other European countries. Have a look back through our archives, and drop by soon!
"Yesterday was another bloody hot day and with a 7.30am start at work (yeah, what happened to the holidays??) it was a long day. Leaving the boss hard at it, I headed up to racing and sweltered away with everyone. The first lap I did on the Virtue was awesome, I spent the whole lap yelling over my shoulder how good this thing was. As soon as you hit single track, there was no need to slow down, only accelerate. The irregularities that bump you around your line are no longer a problem so you take whatever line you like. Being a cross country/enduro racer, suspension was always going to be great, but what price did one pay for the pleasure. Would it be a donkey to sprint, or would it climb like a wheelbarrow with a flat?
The Virtue was an absolute revelation, sprinting with the best of them and soaking up bumps at the same time, and climbing like a hardtail and still being active. You may think that it can't be, that combination of traits, but thanks to the Equilink, it balances out the forces of weight transfer (squat) when accelerating, and the chain torque effect on the chain, therefore isolating the chain and drive from the suspension with the added benefit of not having squat (sometimes confused with pedal bob). And with 130mm or 5" at each end, it never feels to little or too much, always just right and always an assistance never a chore. Without going technical on you (any moreso) this Virtue one hammers on the flats, the climbs and most certainly on the descents!! Whilst it may look like other brands on the market, I'm here to confirm that it indeed rides nothing like them, taking all of the limitations of said designs and using the Equilink to balance out those forces and negating them! I'm convinced, and happy to flog them! More information on the models available can be found here, with prices to boot, so have a look and get into your Felt Dealer to test ride one soon, where you to can discover the difference!
A write up on the race last night will go up on the Felt Racing blog so have a look there for that story. But today, after going back to work after racing until 12.30am, was an early start for a You Yang ride before the heat. Didn't work, it was hot the whole time. No matter, the flies were friendly, my companions were having a ball, and I could probably be heard hootin and hollerin from Melbourne- The Virtue is just so much fun!! Rolling around a few laps of the Stockyard area with LG and Marty, was great fun. Big two wheel drifts, every rock was either swallowed up or became a jump and the climbs were no more difficult than a hard tail, so I was having a ball! Those corners that you rip around only to find 'killer death fang falls' on the other side became jumping opportunites, nothing seemed tricky any more just an excuse to open 'er up and let 'er rip. The hardest thing about the bike is learning how much you need to slow down to make the corner, and the speed you have is so smooth and deceptive. But the Juicy Ultimate 8" front rotor slowed things down, and I made the most of them :) No wonder Winny raves about his bouncing bike, when you don't have the limitatons like weight and wild pedal bob, how could you not have fun!
Needless to say, the You Yangs MTB park is great, it has a bit of everything for all levels of riders, and it holdiong up really well to many riders. I'm loving that place! Bring on the dust, just not Canberra or Kona 24 levels, that was mental! So get out there if you haven't already, Drysdales Road, You Yangs, well worth the drive."
The Virtue was an absolute revelation, sprinting with the best of them and soaking up bumps at the same time, and climbing like a hardtail and still being active. You may think that it can't be, that combination of traits, but thanks to the Equilink, it balances out the forces of weight transfer (squat) when accelerating, and the chain torque effect on the chain, therefore isolating the chain and drive from the suspension with the added benefit of not having squat (sometimes confused with pedal bob). And with 130mm or 5" at each end, it never feels to little or too much, always just right and always an assistance never a chore. Without going technical on you (any moreso) this Virtue one hammers on the flats, the climbs and most certainly on the descents!! Whilst it may look like other brands on the market, I'm here to confirm that it indeed rides nothing like them, taking all of the limitations of said designs and using the Equilink to balance out those forces and negating them! I'm convinced, and happy to flog them! More information on the models available can be found here, with prices to boot, so have a look and get into your Felt Dealer to test ride one soon, where you to can discover the difference!
A write up on the race last night will go up on the Felt Racing blog so have a look there for that story. But today, after going back to work after racing until 12.30am, was an early start for a You Yang ride before the heat. Didn't work, it was hot the whole time. No matter, the flies were friendly, my companions were having a ball, and I could probably be heard hootin and hollerin from Melbourne- The Virtue is just so much fun!! Rolling around a few laps of the Stockyard area with LG and Marty, was great fun. Big two wheel drifts, every rock was either swallowed up or became a jump and the climbs were no more difficult than a hard tail, so I was having a ball! Those corners that you rip around only to find 'killer death fang falls' on the other side became jumping opportunites, nothing seemed tricky any more just an excuse to open 'er up and let 'er rip. The hardest thing about the bike is learning how much you need to slow down to make the corner, and the speed you have is so smooth and deceptive. But the Juicy Ultimate 8" front rotor slowed things down, and I made the most of them :) No wonder Winny raves about his bouncing bike, when you don't have the limitatons like weight and wild pedal bob, how could you not have fun!
Needless to say, the You Yangs MTB park is great, it has a bit of everything for all levels of riders, and it holdiong up really well to many riders. I'm loving that place! Bring on the dust, just not Canberra or Kona 24 levels, that was mental! So get out there if you haven't already, Drysdales Road, You Yangs, well worth the drive."
posted by Ash Thomas at 1:23 pm
1 Comments:
Hey Ash,
Since we have just changed into the new year it would probably a good idea to change the blog title to "2007 Felt Racing Enduro Team" just and idea :)
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