New bike nerves

I've personally had a few spins on the new 09 Felt Compulsion, and I'm getting to love it. Yeah, I know, its a big big, and its pretty heavy, but with that Equilink you really can pedal that sucker around. 6 inches of travel and it pedals like its got 3 or 4!! And that Maxle, whilst its a pain to transport the bike, HOLY HELL is it tough and direct!! I'm now barking the tyres along the side of singletrack where before the wheel would deflect and go all over the shop. Its super tough!! :)

So anyway, more saddle time is needed to really get to know the bike. A lot of people have looked with scorn at this bike saying its too big and heavy, but hell to them - we'll prove you can take a good suspension design anywhere!

Christmas comes again

Once again, its that time of year! With the old bikes getting moved on to great new homes, its time to get out the shiny new gear! Boxes turned up today, and got assembled for a trial run, before they get some more serious work for the upcoming year.



Check out the size of this new linkage!



Linkages make an appearance in the rear swingarm. That's new for us, the old ones didn't have it. I guess that extra travel warrants it.




Grease ports in the equilink - awesome!



And here it is, straight from the box.




More to come, of course! We've got some trick new kit, and some new tyres to try as well, so we'll let you know how all that is going. And of course, that little Elmo video is still in the pipeline as well.

Don't forget, Jason's 17.5 Virtue is for sale still, so drop us a line for a bargain! We're here to help you this time :)

1 Virtue down, one to go..

Just a quick note to let you know that the 21.5 Virtue 1 has been sold, and there remains one for sale.

17.5" Virtue one - contact us in the comments section if you don't know how to find us.

Cheers.

Spex Tubeless Tyre Sealant.

Ash and I received three bottles of this super sealant around five months ago. As you can see not much has happened since!
We have both run this product on our Virtue One bikes and my Felt single speed with no hiccups. Ash did get a log threw his rear tyre in WA with meant the only quick fix without throwing away the tyre was a tube.
As with all products that we test it takes time to come to a beneficial conclusion for us all, saying that we do believe this product passes with flying colours.
For more details click here.

Headed out to tour de burbs tonight. Thanks to my long time friend beside my bottle cage, I made it on time. Or 30 mins early, but that's another story... I got a staple in my tire, a standard office staple - who'd have thunk it?!



Grover, Sean Hurley, Randall, Mallachi and the spoken gang, and a cast of hundred's turned up. Grover experienced the perils of making wardrobe choices off 3 day old forecasts. I don't know why, or even how, but he decided to stay cool, he'd just attack all the downhills...!? Randall was happy at that!



Thats a decent size bunch back there, and it was suprisingly quick out there too! Hurley there, on the right, clocked up 9.5 hours last saturday, and now is calling for volunteers to come join him on another super saturday. Pass.... That said, he also put in 4 hours on the MTB prior to tonights ride. Whilst the rest of us were at work...!!




Jersey - MTBA Sport Class - series leader - circa 2000. Randall, keepin' it real...!





And then not even 10 mins from home, I was so shelled that I had to break out the food to make it home faster than 15kph... But I got there, rolling in the door at 9pm. A decent thursday night in my book, and it makes me realise that some 'base' would be helpful...

Quick update - Melbourne is burning!

Summer is here!!



I watched my Echowell computer sit at between 36 and 39 degrees during a 2 hour ride from 6-8pm tonight - thats hot!




And also hot, news is in today that we are getting new bikes, and taking things in a slightly different direction. And that means you'll be seeing bikes up for sale over the next week or two. The price has been set, they'll be getting cleaned up and polished to perfection, and ad's will be posted asap.

So if you are on the lookout for a new bike, keep a close eye here at Felt Epix :)

Belated 2008 wrap

2008 was a huge year for us, both personally and with Felt Epix. From a little idea, we grew some truely fun and exciting projects, and with renewed energy after some personal time out for both of us, we're ready to hit it once again!

Our apologies for this being a little bit late, and turning into somewhat of a whimper, but feel free to cast your eyes downward at our small summery of our year. We find that often our posts are a little bit disjointed as we don't write them together, so this time, we've combined and bring you a pseudo mini interview.

Please make sure we're locked into your favorites (cntrl + B should do it) and keep on clickin' back. We're determined to make sure that we've got a constant supply of new and exciting stuff for your this year, building on the fun and adventure we had last year. Any comments and suggestions are always appreciated too, so keep them coming!

And so it begins!



What was your favourite Epix ride?

Ash: The Wonnonagatta Epix - the weather turned it on, the ride was a monster, we ran out of water, got geographically embarrassed, had to change the route a few times mid ride, had a great bunch of guys and the location was sensational. The whole trip, from the 4x4 entry to the ride and the departure from the valley with Randall's truck on empty and hours to travel, was just a great adventure!

Jason: Buller Epix- This was our first chance to test our nerves, equipment and bikes on a large scale and that we did. In the first 15 min we had already completed eight river crossings, then proceeded to ride off our map, no radio contact, climbed muddy rutted hills on foot, descended like mad men on one of the best descents Victoria has to offer (Klingsporn) and all of this was completed in solid rain. At the end all riders were overwhelmed by what we had achieved.

Best photograph of the year?

Ash:

Jason: A Wonnangatta photo I took of Ash and Nat with the mountains in the background. I think it’s one of the only pics that can truly justify how steep that climb was.

Best dummy spit of the year?
Ash: Jason wanting to call the helicopter on the Grampians Epix. Funny, afterwards...!

Jason: All of the riders on the ADA tree Epix. Cutting their way through thick scrub as we all looked for this *big tree*, only to find more overgrown tracks. But true Epix style we got there in the end.

When did you think it all may be going horribly wrong?

Ash: Probably when we discovered that Randall had no fuel and we were a LONG way from anywhere with fully loaded trucks.

Jason: Buller Epix. Two hours of climbing only to find out that we are off the map. Equal first Grampians Epix. Running for hours not knowing what was ahead of us to get off the mountain before sunset.

Best save of the year on the bike?

Ash: For sure Jason's tankslapper down near Corn hill Road on the Buller Epix. Super steep descent, water bars, pouring rain, cold and slightly misplaced and Jason lets 'er run! A full, step off the side of the bike, sidesaddle, tankslapper down the ruts. Awesome!

Jason: The fact that no one crashed on the Wonnangatta Epix.

Toughest moments?

Ash: Running across the Major Mitchell Plateau on the Grampians Epix for 18km, racing darkness, along boulders with little to no track marking. A slight slip meant a broken ankle, and a logistical nightmare to resolve! Clifftops and ridgelines meant no chance of moving at night, so if we ran out of time, it was going to be a long night...

Jason: Climbing up Wonnangatta track out of Wonnangatta. Forty five minutes to the top, ouch…

Most 'fall off your bike funny' moment?

Ash: Whilst it wasn't on the bike, I was reminded of moment following the Wonnongatta Epix. All knackered after a long ride, in a remote place, on a stinking hot day, we were sitting preparing dinner. Swags lay around our campsite, and after Nat drained the dishwater from washing up, he picked up the bucket and hurled it in the dark. Right on top of Jason's open swag...

Jason: Nat losing the uhf radio on a super steep descend of around 5km long. The look on his face when I asked him to go and find it :(

And what was the best singletrack you rode all year??

Ash: After a fair bit of thought, I still think that Klingsporn has it all for me at the moment. There was plenty of good stuff at Castlemaine, and the YouYangs is mighty impressive at the moment, but my winner still has to be Buller/ Klingsporn

Jason: Murrays Trail. Super fast, technical, burms, logs, BMX style and loved it!

Best food find?

Ash: Without sounding naff, I'd have to say the Ascend choc mint bars. They are seriously the best tasting food I've had with me. They don't go soggy, can be consumed in the snow or the desert, they just rock!

Jason: Hot chips at the top of Buller after riding in the rain and mud for six hours.

Best new equipment for the year?

Ash: Every time we do an Epix, my camelback Havoc pack comes with me, so its a winner. A combined second place has to be the UHF radios and the new Elmo helmet cam!

Jason: This may sound corny but the new ozriders grips. No more sore hands while running alloy bars, problem solved.

What did you learn in 2008?

Ash: Don't plan rides from 30,000ft - unless you seek an adventure. Which we do :)

Jason: Never completely trust Google earth and local maps, tracks do change over time.

Dads gone mad.

With a late call Friday night from the night owl (Claxton), Jeff, Andrew, John and myself hooked up at the Ringwood clock tower at would you believe 5am to head into the hills for some km's and climbing in the legs. The Dandenong Ranges was our destination for the day.


The only time I will venture this far from home is either when I am really fit or have a new bike to ride. Today its the bike because at this point I wasn't fresh at all.

If you do get a chance to head out here give Bailey Rd a go. No matter what way you ride this climb you will still dribble on your bars.


Most people know this climb as the WALL, say no more...

Looking back on the WALL.

At this point I had said cheerio to the boys so meaning no more intensity, thinking thank god for that. Home at 9:30am with around 100kms and 2500m of climbing behind me I was well and truly smoked.

Its amazing just what dads will do for a peddling fix!

Lusty Lysterfield

Some days, you just gotta go!

And go we did, out to Lysterfield with seemingly the rest of the pedalling population of Melbourne. Its really great to see that many people getting out and about on mountain bikes, and the Lysterfield trail network really is a cool place to get started, or get faster!

Company today was Matty Hoffmann, out to work off some Xmas cheer he tells me. I reckon by looking at him, he'd blow away in a stiff breeze, but others disagree apparently. Either way, he's still flying and developing the itch to race again too!




Sorry, all we got is self portraits... Tell you what thought, I was rocking those Ozriders grips gloveless yesterday, and they were very impressive. Grippy, still spongy, not bad at all!




I used to have one of these LTS3000 in 'atomic grape' colour, many moons ago. And they were so much fun, so when I saw this one, I had to take a picture on the way by.







And you know the Hoff is getting 'er out there and loose, when you tell him to 'give it a bit' for the camera, and he's so sideways he fills the bead with dirt and leaves!




There should be a quick Elmo movie to come shortly!

Get outside, its brilliant out there!!

In sad news, my new road bike is still a few months off *sob*...

However, these look fun!

Back on the road again...

With a day as good as yesterday, I hope you got out there as best you could! Jason and I went for a cruise up on the hills, perhaps to get away from the heat, perhaps to simply be outside on a bike. Either way, it was a good bit of suffering to remind oneself of the past few months.



Rolling out, looking jealously at Jason's new little pocket rocket!




Small maybe, but it goes like the clappers and corners even better than the last. Those drag races down Mtn Hwy with AJ and Joel just got a bit crazier...!




Rolling into some town or other, most likely for me to fill my bottle for the umpteenth time. I reckon I was 4 parts fish yesterday.





Yeah, just taking it all in. If you look real close, you can see the red warning lights on my dashboard, hitting both rev limiter and high temperature marks...




Jason, tapping it out on the climbing machine.




Revealing just a little bit of the magic that is Felt Epix (thats a joke, you serious people....)




Thankfully, atop Skyline, and at Skyhigh...

09 Felt F1SL.

Santa's present arrived a little late but who cares when you are opening this box.

Taken from Feltracing web site.

The same bike ridden by the Garmin/Chipotle-H30 pro team, the F1 comes with a World Championship-winning pedigree. Classic road racing design, legendary low weight and I-beam stiffness, the F is renown for its performance and is the dream of sprinters and climbers alike. Nothing is left to chance with its pro-quality componentry.

And quality it is!

After riding the 08 F1 I did think this is as good as it gets *wrong*, it can and does get better!

The new DEVOX UHC-Nano Ultra Hybrid Composite Carbon Fiber Monocoque Handlebar with 3K finish and Ergonomic Drop feel super stiff and direct. I am still getting used to the new Dura-Ace shifters. Having no external shifter cables in front of me is a little mind bending, it just feels very open but maybe that's just me.

Hmmm carbon....

Super sleek all round, this bike just screams Technology at its best!

The new shifters have what I call a 'trigger finger grip' to it. When riding on the hoods you can wrap your index finger comfortably around the top of the level giving you more pulling power while riding on the flats and standing on a climb.

The Dura-Ace brakes are sooooo strong! After building the bike I headed straight for the hills, "Bike Test" I told my wife. The first major descend I found myself nearly going over the bars on a nice off-camber corner. Mental note, if I grab a fist full of brake I need to tighten my grip on the bars.

Did I mention the quality finish!

Bling Bling...

This is the first time I have had Shimano wheels. They do feel stiff under load with little to no flex while riding out of the saddle. It has always been Mavic for me simply because of their durability, but time will tell if these bad boys stand up and deliver.

For all the specs and info check here and then place your order here. You know you want one!

My overall feeling of the bike is, "I'm not worthy", it is simply the best technology 09 has to offer, with all the bells and whistles in one package. I say if you can't ride in the tour while not ride their bikes!

Thanks heaps Santa! Its going to be a big year for Felt Epix...

Felt epix has a new member.

Aaron Christopher Jackson, born on the 26/12/08 at 11:40pm, 7 pounds 3 oz, 51cm 'tall'. Tessa and Aaron are doing well.

Yesterday I got out on a glorious day, for a less than successful Hell ride. So I guess 1 out of 2 ain't bad?! Anyway, I was munching down on some Ascend bars and finished off the morning with some Recovery drink, as remembered that there is some great starter pack deals at Ascend Sport.com.au



Some of the deals are almost 50% off, and there is never a better time to get onto the best proteins on the market today. You know that you can always get a sample off us to give it a try, and you'll be suprised at the results. Many of our friends have actually reported a tangible change and improvement, and that's pretty impressive.

So get over there and at least check out the offers available. With web based services, you can be assure of a quick delivery, and they also are starting to get the product into gyms, bike shops and other fitness related retailers.


And sometimes, often during the festive season, you just have to get resourceful to cover the food groups..




Onto some more selfish and gratuitous advertising, we've got our new artwork and stickers delivered. Look out for 'em around the place!




In a final cheap dig, Jason has the words and pretty pictures from the Fatties BBQ during the week, but the interweb is being pesky apparently. Soon, my friends, soon...