2011 Felt DA

Years of research, engineering and wind-tunnel development went into the all-new 2011 DA. Already ridden to major triathon wins by Felt athlete Terenzo Bozzone, this is the bike that left the competition in the dust. With UHC Ultimate+Nano carbon fiber material—shaped through extensive Computational Fluid Dynamics engineering and real-world testing—it's 14% more aerodynamic and 13% stiffer than the last-generation DA. It's also optimized for Shimano Di2 electronic shifting, with internal cable routing and an integrated battery mount.

Click below for more info:

feltbicycles.com/​USA/​2011/​TT-TRI/​TT-­TRI-Series/​DA.aspx

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  Sports

[bluev01d]

The wheels appear to turn backwards because of teh frame rate of the camera

[inJCwepray]

while in the long run the amount of air crashing into the frame/disrupting air flow around the frame is minimal in the general scheme of things, over a 112 mile course where you may be facing a plethora of different wind buffets, degrees, and magnitudes is simply not addressed given that THIS bike and THOSE wheels were not designed to go together. while personalizing wheels to every bike is not cost efficient, felt could have done a slightly better job and designing the DA w/wheel spin

[inJCwepray]

carbon race wheels are typically designed by themselves in a wind tunnel, however several (like the firecrest) are designed while on a variety of bikes. however the uniqueness of firecrest and other such wheels which are designed to provide a better air flow around the wheel (and thus prevent dirty air from flowing in between the spokes). this is the extent to which companies like zipp and reynolds' aero-designs reach. where this current of air travels is beyond them.

[HDub16]

I think you over estimate the importance of rotation, not to mention the wheels were designed while on a bike, and in fact if it were to be "unflawed" by your standards they would have to have a rider on bike during every test. Air flow over the frame and fork is unaffected by the wheels; the turbulence the wheels create is the issue they would be concerned with minimizing, but wheel manufactures take care of it first, hence the engineers don't care which way they are spinning.

[inJCwepray]

of course they do. but what are the wheels connected to? The bike. If you're going to be testing the aerodynamic properties of a bike, last time I checked the wheels are a part of the bike. They're not rotating properly thus skewing whatever data is collected for the bike. Everything needs to work in harmony. Just bc the wheels are aerodynamic in their own regard, and just bc the bike is aerodynamic in its own regard does NOT mean that the whole system is fluid.

[HDub16]

the wheels have been designed separately, Zipp and Mavic take care of the wheel engineering

[inJCwepray]

no doubt this is a slick looking bike. but theres a HUGE flaw that theyre not taking into consideration! in the wind tunnel, the wheels are spinning freely by the jetstream..backwards! when riding on real roads, wheels spin the other way, which will have a fundamental difference on air flow throughout the fork, frame & drive train, not to mention how the "used" air will attack the rear wheel. when the guy was on it, yeah the back wheel was spinning the correctly, but the front wheel still wasnt

[thienly]

6:37 placebo effect. i think that makes riders faster than fast bikes

[Yur van Gor]

i will love passing competitors on these things on something that's 1/4th of the price.

[Nick Dwyer]

Scott Plasma is a better bet, iterative modular design, SLA model fabrication more wind tunnel hours, proven race pedigree. Felt is playing catch-up.