The 2019 Felt Compulsion goes full carbon and adds travel, with revisions to their geometry and linkage to fine tune the performance. Compared to the prior alloy model, the new Compulsion gains 5mm rear travel for 165mm total. That’s paired with a 170mm fork up front, with options to adjust the geo to suit the course. Yes, the course, as this one’s their new top-level enduro race bike.
All cables and hoses go internal – drivetrain, brakes and dropper. This red model is the top model, the Compulsion 1, but keeps the price from getting too far out of hand by spec’ing GX Eagle and Fox Performance level fork and shock (rather than the Kashima-coated Factory stuff) for a retail price of $5,499. And the Compulsion 3 (grey) keeps the full carbon frame but comes in at $3,999 with the same suspension setup, Race Face Aeffect wheels, and Maxxis tires…drivetrain is TBA, but should be known soon since bikes will be shipping shortly. A frameset will also be available in a matte olive green for $2999.
They moved the rear pivot point under the chainstay, closer to the dropout. By itself that doesn’t mean much, but it’s all part of the tuning through what’s effectively a six bar system they call EquiLink.
A connector “wishbone” links the upper and lower rocker arms, which controls the motion. You can read more about how and why it’s used in my review of the alloy Compulsion.
Everything is carbon – links, front and rear, etc. only the hardware isn’t carbon. It gets the flip chip from the Decree, but adds a middle setting, too. That lets you drop the BB 10mm in low and slacken the head angle by one degree, putting it at 64.5° in low, 65º in the new middle setting, and 65.5 in high.
The bike fits a 27.5×2.6 and comes spec’d with that size tire on both models.
2019 Felt Decree
The Felt Decree gets a new rear triangle and rocker that fits a metric trunnion-mount rear shock and finally has a Boost rear end. Travel remains at 140mm using their FAST suspension design, which eliminates the rear pivot near the axle to rely on seatstay flex as part of the tuning.
The front triangle stays mainly the same, but it’s a 1x only design now. A new carbon rocker saves weight, and they say it’s 10% stiffer overall. Look for several carbon options, including an FRD level with lighter, stiffer carbon from TexTreme.
2019 Felt Edict
Long known as their full suspension XC race bike, the Edict becomes more trail capable with more modern geo, 1.5° slacker head angle, a bit steeper seat angle, and 15mm shorter chainstays…which now also lead to a Boost rear end.
Internal dropper routing with room for a longer dropper up to 150mm.
Lower end models get a 120mm fork, higher end versions (like the FRD one shown here) gets a racier 100mm fork. Rear travel stays at 100mm. Other upgrades include a seat tube pivot with bearings and a locking collet axle. They say lateral stiffness is 20% better, and they say the prior model was already stiffer then many competitors.
Felt E-MTB
If you’re into e-mountain bikes, their bikes switch to the 8020 internal battery and a Shimano motor, which let them make the chainstays a lot shorter, now at 445mm, down from 495 when they were using the BOSCH system. It, too, gets the metric shock with trunnion mount.
Similar updates to the hardtail.
