Does this bike not have a rear brake?

The rear brake is just behind the cranks.  More aero that way, I guess.

OMG, I think I'm in love!!!

I have this habit of hitting my rear brake with my leg when I stand sometimes.  I've done this  so much that the brake is rusty now becasue of all the salt I left there from sweat.

Anyone have this bike?  Reccomendations?

Seems like a pain to get to it for maintenance, no?  I can't imagine the aero advantage would be very significant.  Looks nice, tho.

Yes, I have a B2.

HIGHLY recommended .......

(Chessieman.jpg)

It's not that bad at all, and with the ease of crank removel nowadays if you do feel a little cramped it can make it easier just by pulling your crank (not that one ... the one on your bike!!).

Yes, actually it is a pretty significant aero advantage!!

Not because of the location of the brake itself, but because it allows the frame designer to shorten up and tighten up the "seat stays" going from the seat tube down to the rear dropouts.  This IS a significant aero improvement.

There is a reason most of the top manufacturers are now designing their frames like Felt already has in that respect. ........

And THAT is called "marketing". Works quite well. I certainly like the look of it. I like how it cleans up the seat cluster area (sure, at the expense of the BB area, but that's already mega-clustered anyway).

Actually, no it's not.  Felt spent a lot of time in the tunnel and on the road figuring out exactly how to get the most out of the rear of the frame.

Call it marketing all you want, I call it innovation (for the masses as a few smaller and custom manufacturers have known this for awhile) and a PROVEN faster design.

I call it ingenious.  I spend last season with red mark behind my left knee where I'd hit the rear brake with my leg when I'd stand to stretch.

So the next question is this.  The MSPR is $2,700.  What sort of mark-up is in bikes and what sort of deal should I shoot for?

~Mike 

Don't expect much of a deal as they are pretty well fit out for the price to begin with.

Go to bikesportmichigan's site (Tom Demerly comes on here occassionaly now) and read the review of the "best for $2,500" or whatever he called it.  He talks about this bike, the P2C and two others (that aren't even in the same league for overall package).

Keep in mind that my B2 frame and fork cost me $2,400, so that gives you an idea of how much you get for the MSRP in the B12!

hey Rick. I am not up on all of the bike porn rules yet but isn't there something in the book about not posting pics of your "Old Bike" while the Porn thread is still up for the new bike?

Surely your B2 is gonna get lonely sitting at home while our out tearing it up in LP

No, it satisfies the fixie purists that think brakes ruin the zen and mounting holes are fugly! 

WaterDog66 - 2008-05-02 12:24 PM hey Rick. I am not up on all of the bike porn rules yet but isn't there something in the book about not posting pics of your "Old Bike" while the Porn thread is still up for the new bike?

Surely your B2 is gonna get lonely sitting at home while our out tearing it up in LP

Nah, the B2 gets pulled out for action in just 2 weeks when I'm doing the bike portion of a relay at the Columbia tri.  Then I use it again at Eagleman in June.

And it's not my "old" bike .... it's my "other" bike ......

Last year in my tris I averaged 24mph (Sprint - 2nd overall split in the race), 23.4 mph (HIM), 24.6 mph (Oly - 2nd place split in AG), 21.7 mph (irondistance aqua velo - 1st place split in AG), and 21.4 at IMFL.

Yeah .... it's fast, because it certainly wasn't my bike training which was well behind everyone elses!!

Check this out:

http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/reviews/2500wars.shtml