Felt AR4

Price Paid:  $4000.00 at Bicycle World of Wes

Favorite Ride:
Picnic Loop, Memorial Park, Houston, TX

Bike Setup:
Full SRAM RED gruppo, compact crankset, stock wheels, Continental Grand Prix 4000S tires, Eggbeater SL pedals, Easton EA30 aero dropbar, Fizik bartape, Specialized Phenom SL Team saddle, Specialized Ribcage Pro Road cage, 16.92 lbs (7.67 kg) including pedals and cage

Summary:
Since RBR's thing only lets you put in years up to 2007...

Model Year: 2009

I love this thing. It is the best feeling road bike I've ever ridden (well, aside maybe from a full Ti Litespeed archon), and it's just fast. A lot of the aero stuff may be hype, but ride this thing into a 30mph headwind and you'll feel the difference. Felt bikes in general are great for those of us with slightly longer torsos (the flat top tube helps a lot). It's gotta be one of the best looking bikes I've ever seen too (and it's an attention-grabber). It is a bit annoying when people ask why you're riding a TT bike, but I can deal with that.

Strengths:
Fast...and faster, definitely feels easier to pedal through headwind than any other road bike, decently light despite the large aero tubes and not being the top CF (it's HM carbon, not Felt's top UHC or UNC), stiff BB area, good shock-absorption, internally routed cables (full-length sleeves, easy as hell to feed through)

Weaknesses:
A little sketchy in crosswinds (big flat tubes), more expensive than other similar level bikes (e.g. more than the Felt F4), internal routed cables mean that you can't use stuff like nokon cables, proprietary seatpost (nice aero, but I usually go for Thomson), heavier than other similar level bikes, current models only come with Shimano groupsets

Similar Products Used:
Specialized Tarmac SL2, Litespeed Archon, Giant TCR Alliance, Specialized Allez