Felt F75X 2012 Review
The F75X from Felt is a cyclocross specific bike with the Shimano 105 groupset, an aluminium frame and carbon fiber fork, and it’s all wrapped in a very reasonably priced packet. The fact that the F75X uses a lot of Felt’s own components has meant they have been able to keep the price down, but not at the cost of quality. For example, we were very impressed with the wheels on the F75X and felt that the bike handling was very responsive and snappy for a cyclocross bike.
The F75X’s frame is made from Superlight 7005 aluminium and comes with a flattened hydro-formed top bar to make shoulder carrying more comfortable. The frame provided very impressive feedback and we felt that we could take a sharp corner with confidence on our test ride. The frame is available in a range of 47 – 60cm sizes so there should be an option to suit most riders. The 3KP weave carbon fibre forks helped to absorb some of the vibration from rough tracks and bumpy roads and we were also impressed with the performance of the cantilever brake pivots that had minimum vibration even under high stress.
The F75X comes with Shimano’s 105 groupset and while the 105 may not live up to the quality performance and low weight found in the Ultegra groupset it still performed well during our test ride, offering quick and smooth shifting. The wheelset on the F75X is one of it’s strongest selling points though. The Felt CXR3 might not have the lightest rims around but the bearings on the hubs felt silky smooth and offered an excellent build quality. The Vittoria Cross XG tyres might not be top of the range but they still offered a good compromise between grip and road performance.
Felt have decided to go with Tektro front and rear cantilever brakes and they offered good performance on both wet and dry tracks. Many of the components on the F75X, such as the seat, handelbars and stem, are Felt own brand and we have no problem with this. Felt have a good reputation of making light weight and quality components and it also helps to keep the overall cost down.
The Felt F75X is and excellent budget cyclocross bike. It offers a fast and responsive ride, has a good and reliable groupset in the Shimano 105 and also comes with an excellent wheelset for the price. And with an overall weight of just 9.2kg it’s also on the light side for a cyclocross bike.
Written by: Quatos