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2020 Felt AR aero road bike adds disc brakes, boosts compliance, speed & tire clearance

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Felt announced an all-new AR aero road bike for 2020. Said to be their fastest-ever road offering, the bike adds disc brakes and generous 30mm tire clearance. A new seatpost design boasts a 112% increase in compliance, while tube shape improvements speed up the frame by 9.4% at zero degrees of yaw.

2020 Felt AR carbon aero road bike

It’s been over six years since the introduction of the last AR, and Felt went back to the drawing board for the new model. The aero arms race continues, and Felt sought to improve their numbers all around, focusing specifically on low yaw angles (more detail on this later). And of course, everything new comes with disc brakes these days…

…and Felt said that riders of the previous AR demanded them. In an effort to optimize aerodynamics, the thru axles are countersunk fitting flush with the outside of the frame and fork.

Felt noted that the tube shapes are designed around newer aerodynamic theories. The old theory stated that yaw angles of over 10 degrees were common, while the new theory says that the majority of riding is done under 10 degrees – and often close to zero.

Felt provided the following drag comparisons between the old and new AR:

  • 9.4% faster at 0 degrees
  • 7.0% faster at -2.5 to 2.5 degrees
  • 5.2% faster at -5.0 to 5.0 degrees
  • 3.2% faster at -7.5 to 7.5 degrees
  • 0.7% faster at -10 to 10 degrees
  • 1.4% faster in overall conditions*

* “A weighted calculation that describes the distribution of time a cyclist travels aboard a road bike at specific ranges of yaw. We weight this as 90% of the cyclist’s time is spent riding between -10 and 10 degrees of yaw, and the remaining 10% of time is spent riding between both -20 to -10 degrees and 20 to 10 degrees of yaw. Utilizing this 90/10 distribution to weight the time spent riding within and beyond the range of +-10 degrees, respectively, was determined due to a variety of studies that have validated its veracity.”

Felt continues their use of TeXtreme carbon construction for 2020, and provided the following claims for stiffness:

  • 11% improvement in lateral head tube stiffness
  • 21% improvement in lateral stiffness of fork
  • 15% improvement in torsional stiffness of fork
  • 14% improvement in BB pedaling stiffness

Despite the increase in frame stiffness, Felt reports a substantial improvement in ride comfort, due to a new seatpost design. The post itself it split into two halves that behave like leaf springs, and are surrounded by a co-molded plastic/rubber sleeve. In total, the system is said to provide 112% more deflection than the previous AR. The clamping mechanism is reversible, allowing for 0 or 20 millimeters of offset.

Up front, the new AR uses what Felt is calling a semi-integrated design, with cables routed under and through the stem. The stem cam be removed without cutting the cables, and is available in 90 – 140mm lengths.

The full carbon stem includes a faceplate that’s designed for use with aftermarket computer mounts. If you don’t like the stock stem, Felt cites that you have the option to run a standard stem and headset spacers.

The bike includes a proprietary chain catcher that’s designed to keep the chain from falling off the inner chainring.

Click to enlarge.

The new AR is offered in six sizes, all using 700c wheels.

Spec & Pricing

The AR is currently offered in two build levels, plus a frameset option. They expect to release FRD-level complete bikes and frames in Spring 2020.

The AR Advanced Ultegra Di2 ($6,499, 18.2 lbs) includes Reynolds AR58 wheels and Continental GP5000 folding tires.

The AR Advanced Ultegra ($4,999, 18.3 lbs) keeps the same wheels and tires, but opts for a mechanical drivetrain.

The AR Advanced Frame Kit ($3,499, 5.2 lbs) includes the frame, fork, headset, seatpost, and integrated chain catcher.

The 2020 Felt AR is available now, and includes a lifetime frameset warranty for the original owner.

FeltBicycles.com

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15 Comments
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Bill Bob
Bill Bob
4 years ago

The seat stays should be lower to really compete in the 2020 bike look-alike contest. 😉

And then again: would be faster with rim brakes…

Velo Kitty
Velo Kitty
4 years ago

It’s so sad to see the same design mistakes being made again and again. They bumped up the frame clearance for larger tires, but they didn’t bump up toe clearance (a.k.a. front center) for larger tires.

As for the cable routing, there’s not enough information to determine whether it’s decent or not.

On the plus side, the frame appears to have a BB386EVO bottom bracket shell, though they call it BB386.

Tom
Tom
4 years ago

applaud the fact that they offer up to 140mm stem, so you can dial the fit. Cannondale only goes to 120, for instance.

Hexsense
Hexsense
4 years ago

A round of applause for Felt to spec 3 different forks (with different offset) across 6 size range.
It shows their attention to treat small rider right. However, trail value of size 58 and 61 is only 53mm. Isn’t that very low?

Velo Kitty
Velo Kitty
4 years ago
Reply to  Hexsense

All with too short of front center.

Hexsense
Hexsense
4 years ago
Reply to  Velo Kitty

Front center length of 577 for size 48 and 579 for 51 is pretty good. Not as long as SS Evo, but comparing it to 566 for Specialized Allez Sprint size 49, that’s more than 1cm improvement.

Eric
Eric
4 years ago
Reply to  Hexsense

Trail on both the smallest and largest sizes looks a little odd. I’d be curious to hear real ride reposts at the extremes.

Velo Kitty
Velo Kitty
4 years ago

Okay, maybe the front center is okay on the smallest sizes, but the front center on the 56 is 20 mm too short for me!

satanas
satanas
4 years ago
Reply to  Velo Kitty

…ad the trail on the 58 is only 53mm, IMHO not enough.

Antoine Martin
Antoine Martin
4 years ago
Reply to  Velo Kitty

Most road bike geometry are not scaled up properly. I feel in pain for tall rider and their way too short front triangles. No wonder why tall guys fell more.

Joe Bond
Joe Bond
4 years ago

$1500 more for Di2 when the groupset price delta is roughly $700?

pm732
4 years ago

that BMX stem faceclamp looks SUPER aero 🙂

ridealot100
ridealot100
4 years ago

The armchair experts have spoken.. It would absolutely blow me away to see people actually being positive in the comment section.. but nope. It’s just a bunch of everday people telling engineers how they’ve done their job wrong without ever even turning the pedals over on what they are bashing.

raffi
raffi
4 years ago

Hi I just purchased one of these bikes. so far its great. anyone know where i can get a garmin mount for the AR Advanced?

Rich
Rich
11 days ago
Reply to  raffi

Just in case anyone has a right reference for the headset mount. I am interested 4 years after the purchase. Mine is still not properly aligned

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