Felt Edict Elite

It has taken a while but Felt has finally filled the gap between their hardtails and the marathon/trail oriented Virtue dually. Dubbed the Edict, the new platform has been in the works since 2010 and is now available in a full line of models for 2012.

Aiming for the 100mm travel XC race market, Felt hasn’t just trimmed weight and travel from the Virtue line; they’ve employed a whole new suspension system. The six-bar ‘Equilink’ of the Virtue was ditched in favour of a comparatively simplistic single pivot design with a seat tube mounted rocker link. Continuing the bike industry’s love affair with acronyms, they’ve dubbed it ‘Felt Active Stay Technology’, orFAST.

Having reviewed the 120-130mm travel Virtue previously, we found it to be a very efficient platform to pedal. So why abandon a really efficient design when pedalling prowess clearly benefits the XC racer? Felt states, “Though the Equilink offers the best solution for longer travel XC and trail bikes, the highly specific demands of XC racing warranted a different approach.” With its extra links and pivots, Equilink design has always carried a weight penalty, and unnecessary weight is the bane of serious XC racers. The other priority is lateral stiffness and the Edict aims to achieve an optimal balance between low weight and maximum rigidity, whilst still maintaining efficient pedalling in the shorter travel format.

All Carbon & Only Carbon

To this end, Felt has gone all-out to make the Edict super light and stiff. There’s no alloy version; every model in the four bike line-up features a similarly formed full-carbon frame. Virtually everything is made from carbon too; dropouts, cable guides and even the integrated headset bearings rest directly inside the carbon head tube. The only alloy components are the rocker link, threaded bottom bracket shell and a couple of mounting points for the suspension hardware. Other weight saving touches can be found in the titanium shock mounting bolts, the use of bushes in the smaller rocker pivots and the complete lack of a rear pivot on the seat or chainstays. Instead, Felt relies on tuned-in flex to allow the few degrees of movement that are required throughout the suspension stroke.

With all of this effort directed towards their diet, the bottom line wasn’t quite as exciting as some may expect. Our large-sized Edict Elite frame came in at 2,360g—this included the rear shock, built in bottom bracket chain guide and rubber down tube protector but no seat collar. While respectable for a 100mm travel frame, a number of competing brands have frames that touch and even break the 2kg barrier. As it happens, the Edict really stands out in the other aspect of Felt’s design focus; lateral rigidity, but more on that later.

It’s also worth noting that the carbon construction on the Edict Elite differs from the more upmarket models. The Elite and Pro use the same ‘UHC Advanced’ carbon, but the Team and Limited models utilise ‘UHC Ultimate Nano’ which uses higher modulus carbon with the resin infused with tiny particles that add an extra element of toughness to the frame. Felt offers a claimed weight of 2,150g for the top end frame but a 100g weight saving over the UHC Advanced model would sound more realistic to us.

From the top down, the Edict Limited comes with kitted up withSRAMXX and sells for $8,599. At $6,699 with the same nano-carbon frame and X.0 parts the Team will hold a broader appeal. The $4,859 Pro version steps down to the UHC Advanced frame that we rode but has Shimano XT running gear and Fox suspension at both ends.

Our Elite represents the entry model Edict and it sells for $4,129. At this price point the spec isn’t hugely different to the Pro; it has the same frame and still comes with XT 2x10 cranks, as well as XT front and rear derailleurs. The wheels are downgraded fromUSTtubeless ready Shimano XT to Mavic Crossride, and the Fox suspension is replaced by a RockShox Reba RL up front and a matching Ario RL shock on the rear. The brakes also change from Shimano XT on the Pro to Avid Elixir 7 on the Elite. Interestingly, Felt uses SLX shifters with the 2x10 drivechain; a slight oddity as the left hand trigger lacks the double chainring set-up option found on the XT and XTR versions. While it still worked okay, it took a little extra fiddling to get the cable tension sorted and the shifting didn’t feel quite as nice. With all of this gear aboard, the Edict Elite tipped the scales at 11.7kg without pedals.

The carbon construction on the Edict looks first rate. Looking inside the frame you can see that it has been formed around hard moulds. This produces a very smooth finish both inside and out, reducing the chance of irregularities such as folded or kinked fibres. It also allows a high level of compaction, ensuring that any excess resin is squeezed out and allowing the carbon to achieve a higher strength to weight ratio. The junction around the head tube, down tube and top tube is massive, while the top tube tapers down to comparatively fine dimensions. There’s an acre of standover clearance thanks to the radically sloping top tube and plenty of room for a full-size water bottle too—all good stuff really. The only oddities come with the cable routing, which is a slightly strange mix of in-moulded carbon guides, clip-on guides and internal routing for the front derailleur—one style of mounting would suffice. The other odd thing was the stick-on rubber chainstay protector. It zip-ties onto the rear derailleur cable housing and mounts with double sided adhesive tape at the back—an interesting design but it was unsightly and came unstuck pretty easily.

Evolution or Devolution?

So the Edict is a nicely finished, reasonably light 100mm travel XC race frame, but how does the single pivot suspension pedal—is it really fast? When compared to their Equilink design, theFASTsuspension has less built in anti-squat (an average of 50-60% in the big chain ring compared 120% on the Virtue Equilink). Anti-squat uses chain torque to stiffen the suspension when you pedal hard and it works to limit energy-sapping bob. Rather than using chain driven anti-squat, Felt has been creative with the carbon layup in the rear stays in an effort to enhance pedalling performance on the Edict.

The one-piece carbon seat and chainstays feature their own built-in spring rate. Together they form a ‘leaf spring’ of sorts, with the neutral or resting position correlating to the sag point in the suspension. The idea is that the spring-loaded stays will always encourage the suspension to settle at the sag point, resisting the gentle up and down oscillation that we know as ‘bob’. Disconnect the rear shock entirely to isolate the stays and you can feel the springiness that Felt is talking about. However, with the shock attached, the subtle spring rate is lost behind the far stronger influence of the oil damping. I feel that the notion of a bob-eliminating built-in spring rate may be overstated for the sake of marketing. Of course this doesn’t mean the Edict is an inefficient pedaller; the only way of judging its real-world performance is by getting it out and hitting the trail!

With 25% sag and the shock in the ‘open’ position, there was next to no bob under power when seated—even in the bigger of the two chainrings where the anti-squat effect is at its lowest. I put much of this down to the firmly damped RockShox Ario RL rear shock. It may not be the most supple and compliant but it does produce a solid pedalling feel that is well suited to a bike of this ilk. Rise from the saddle and the back end will unsettle, but by no means is it obtrusive and the only time you’ll be reaching for the lockout lever is on the road. For flat-out 100% pedalling efficiency – both seated and standing – the Edict would benefit from a shock with platform damping (like the Fox RP23 or RockShox Monarch RT3 that comes on the more upmarket models). Of course platform damping will compromise small bump compliance but that’s the price you pay if you want ultimate pedalling efficiency from the Edict.

Looking beyond pure pedalling performance, the Edict stacks up well against most of its short travel race-oriented competition. Some 100mm travel XC bikes only use 70-80mm on the trail and simply feel harsh. Once set with 20-25% sag, the Edict willingly uses all of its available travel on most XC style trails, with just enough ramp-up at the end to avoid any sensation of bottoming out. Finding the O-ring completely off the end of the shock was an every-ride event. It never feels trail bike plush, but it offers good control in the rough and gets the job done in an efficient manner—just what you want from an XC race bike.

Unwavering Edict

So far we have a bike that pedals acceptably for an XC racer while offering better than average bump absorption, but where the Edict really stands out is in its amazing lateral stiffness. With no pivots at the rear to propagate twist and a short distance between the rear wheel and where it is anchored to the rocker link, there’s next to no unwanted flex in the back end. This is more or less matched by the stiff as a board front triangle, leading to a bike that feels very precise and direct on the trail. The only vagueness comes from the 2012 Reba fork, which features slimmed down lowers and a rather fine looking crown—it looks more like aSIDthan the Reba of days gone by. Like the rear shock, the fork is the basic RL version, so there’s no adjustable ‘Gate’ to work as a pedalling platform—it’s all or nothing; locked or soft and fully open.

The lateral stiffness of the Edict is a double-edged sword. In most situations it ensures the bike goes exactly where it is pointed, but this combines with the old-school steep 71-degree head angle and narrow 660mm bars to make it a handful at higher speeds or in rough terrain. While the handling is predictable on smoother trails, and easy to keep on line when climbing, it’s not forgiving when pushed beyond its comfort zone.

It’s also important to note that Felt runs a very long top tube on the Edict. Most ‘medium’ frames that I’m aware of tend to have a 580-590mm effective top tube length; the Edict runs 606mm. A regular ‘large’ frame may be around 610mm but this bike comes in at 630mm. Felt don’t spec them with a short stem either, so be aware that you’ll probably need to go down a size from what you typically run—not a bad thing in any way as it will only improve the already impressive top tube clearance.

Look at top level XC competition and you’ll see the majority of elite riders will still choose a hardtail over a dually—low weight and simplicity wins over for most. If they do choose a dually, it’s likely to be a minimalist suspension design that doesn’t offer much in the way of additional traction or control. The Edict is definitely a notch above. While it doesn’t accelerate with the urgency of a 26-inch hardtail, the suspension really works and it’s that stiff laterally that you may as well be on a hardtail. With the entry-level Elite, the outright performance is stunted somewhat by the 1,900g-plus Crossride wheels, but the frame itself is very sharp, and with a few upgrades you’ll be on a top-flight competition machine. Simple it may be, but it’s certainly not slow…

Thumbs up

Amazing lateral stiffness

Effective suspension

Great standover clearance

Thumbs down

Handling too quick for some

Slight bob when standing

Narrow bars

Specifications

Frame: UHC Advanced carbon

Shock: RockShox Ario RL (100mm travel)

Fork: RockShox Reba RL 100mm

Headset: Fully-Integrated Tapered 1 1/8 - 1 1/2

Handlebars: Felt Butted Alloy riser 660 mm

Stem: Felt 3D-forged Alloy

Shifters: Shimano SLX

Front Derailleur: Shimano SLX

Rear Derailleur: Shimano XT

Cassette: Shimano HG81, 11/36 10-speed

Chain: Shimano HG81

Cranks: Shimano XT 28/40

Bottom Bracket: Shimano

Pedals: N/A

Brakes: Avid Elixir 7

Wheels: Mavic Crossride

Tyres: Continental X-King 2.2

Saddle: Felt Cro-Mo rail

Seatpost: Felt 6061 Alloy

Weight: 11.7kg without pedals (Large frame 2,360g)

Available Sizes: S, M, L (tested) & XL

Price: $4,129

Distributor: Southcott Pty Ltd (03) 9580 7388 / www.southcottcycles.com.au