No, that picture is not backwards. Felt is once again teaming up with the U.S. women’s team pursuit after making history with a silver medal at the 2012 Olympic games which was the greatest achievement by a U.S. track racing team ever. Now they want it all!
Felt teamed up with HED, FSA and others to create the Felt TA FRD (Track Aero | Felt Racing Development). Check out the video to see how they came up with this Olympic weapon and why they went south-paw with the drivetrain…
Felt spills the juicy details on how they along with HED & FSA came up with the TA FRD’s design and proprietary components. And when you see why they stuck the drivetrain on the opposite side, the competition will probably say, “why didn’t we think of that”?
And the UCI outlaws left side drivetrains in 3…2,,,1,,,
Of they start going the other direction.
If your crank doesn’t have airfoil profiles and a threaded GXP/Campy bottom bracket you can do this simply by swapping pedal axles and threadlocking the pedals, and just flipping things.
Remember “Project 96” ?? They never learn
Sure do… but do you actually have a point (?)…or are you just reminiscing?
The project was a disaster. The no top tube design was proven to be slower than the Lotus’s, but the designer still pushed it through despite everyone telling him it was a bad design.
The GT Superbike was a superior machine, unfortunately the team rode the Boone position instead of the now outlawed Superman position.
Very cool.
There was nothing wrong with project 96 bikes. At the time they were probably the most aero bikes out there. But just because you have a fast bike doesn’t guarantee a gold medal. You still need the athlete.
The new Felt looks great, btw.
Nightfend,
I was about to say this bike triggered a lot of contreversy… when in absolute it didn’t. There was a consensus among the Engineers of winning bikes (Look and Mavic for what I know) that the bike had a lot of troubles, the stiffness was one and if I remember properly there was some questions on the bike sizes.
Quick web search still has traces of the poor feed-backs
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-08-04/sports/9608040319_1_national-coaching-director-medals-bronze
Pardon my ignorance, but I’ve wondered why the drivetrain is on the right side? Is there a UCI standard that say’s it must be on that side? So if a company wanted to do a left side, could they?
UCI approval only matters if you are racing in UCI-sanctioned events.
For example, triathletes compete under a separate set of rules under a different sanctioning body, many times riding triathlon bikes that aren’t UCI-legal.
Wow that is pretty sick. Want to see that in motion on the track.
The anti-stem and dropouts, really neat looking aero bits.
And I’ve been using a felt brougham on the track for some time now…. I’m fat aero bike is the least of my worries. Awesome bike.
NO BAN THIS NOW! IT IS TOO MUCH FOR THE UCI TO TAKE IN!
TOO MUCH TOO SOON!
LOVE IT!