The most surprising thing I heard when apprised of Felt's 2012 bike line-up was that the bikes were already in the warehouse, or on the water, or soon to be on the water, even though Felt's dealers had not even seen the line yet, let alone place their orders.
Felt is a very careful company. It is the last company you'll ever see get stuck with bikes at the end of the season, which means it's among the first companies to be out of stock in the early season. I therefore find this notable, because it speaks to the confidence Felt has in its 2012 tri bike line.
The ardency of that confidence is expressed as much toward the DA4 as toward any bike in its 2012 catalog. The DA is Felt's version of a superbike. The frame was introduced one year ago exactly, and, as a complete bike, you had to spend 5 figures to get it. The DA only came with a top-end group, and at $12,500 you could be an early adopter of both the DA and Shimano's electronic TT group.
It's not that the DA has gone downmarket. The DA4 isn't exactly entry level. But, at $3999 complete, the price, from last year to this, fairly fell off a cliff. Happily, that didn't happen by picking through Shimano's catalog of non-series parts, that is to say, parts so low on the totem pole they don't even rate a Tiagra etch. The aero performance you get from the DA comes, at this price, with Dura Ace front and rear derailleurs and Felt's quite fine Devox aerobar.
Mind, you can spend more if you want. There is a DA3, a DA2 and a DA1. These cost $5000, $9000 and $13,000 respectively. I just thought you might want to know about a superbike for a price that has a 3 as its first number.
The DA4's brake calipers are part of the DA frame, and these are straight-pull TRP-like brakes that accrue to the DA's aero performance, yet are fairly easily adjustable in all relevant ways.
The DA4 is built in 5 sizes. It's 47cm size is built with 650c wheels—this is what Mirinda Carfrae rides—and in 700c you have 51cm, 54cm, 56cm and 58cm. This bike also comes in a women's-specific model, the DA4w, and, apart from its own snappy paint job, you get a Fizik Vitesse Miss Tri saddle.
The crankset is Visiontech's aluminum forged Trimax, and I really like this crank. I like it better than some of the carbon cranks that get spec'd on more expensive bikes just because they're carbon. Remember, this crank was spec'd on last year's B10, with a Di2 group, and by all accounts the shifting on that bike, with this crank, was fine. The frame is built BB30, and this is a BB30 crank, so, those who ride a little splay-footed, like I do, enjoy a bit of extra heel clearance. FSA makes various chainrings, and the rings on this bike are rather solid and 5mm thick. This is good, because the bike comes standard with 52/38 rings. If you keep the 52t ring on, or, upsize it, this ring is stiff enough to handle the front derailleur torque while affixed to a 110mm bolt pattern spider.
The chain is FSA, and uses a Wippermann-style, SRAM-style, master link. The cassette is a handy 11-25t. The wheels—Felt's TTR3—and saddle are also Felt branded (except for the Fizik on the women's-specific DA4w).
The intriguing spec was the Vision Metron shifter. These bar ends look like miniature brake levers, but, they're not. They're shifters. They've gone through some iterations since their launch last year, and Felt's high on these. I can't say that I object, because Shimano's bar end shifters have not changed—except for their upgrade from 8- to 9- and to 10-speed—since, well, they were 8-speed. If you want a modern bar end shifter, buy SRAM, or buy Shimano electronic. Otherwise, this Vision shifter is a nice option.
There is a new component for DA frames you probably haven't seen yet. Felt's pros have these available to them now, and they'll be in production by the end of this year for us mortals. As you know, Felt's Bayonet forks (the Bayonet 2 and 3 both) feature hinged stems. These make the bikes very front-end adjustable, but they do come with one drawback: The total stem length from the center of the steerer—or the closest thing to the steerer in a Bayonet fork—starts at about 85mm and gets longer from there, if the stem is configured so that its two pieces point straight ahead. This is not short enough for some folks.
So, Felt is coming out with a half-dozen one-piece stems that will work on the Bayonet 3 fork (this is the fork that comes on the DA frameset). These stems come in three heights—what we'll call low, medium, and tall—and these work out to zero rise, 30mm of rise, and 60mm of rise. By "rise" I'm talking about the height of the centerline of the handlebar clamp versus the height of the head tube top.
In a the zero-rise stem, the base bar center is the same elevation as the head tube top. This is not analogous to a -17° stem on a traditional bike, because a traditional stem's handlebar clamp sits 3cm or 4cm above the head tube top, depending on the steerer clamp length and the height of the headset top cap (and any spacers between the top cap and the stem). This zero-rise stem is very, very low, as in, analogous to a -25° or -30° stem on a traditional bike combined with a 5mm headset top cap and no spacers.
The 30mm rise stem would be, then, about analogous to a -17° stem on a traditional bike. In other words, if you keep the low-profile headset top cap that comes on a 2012 Felt B12, and put a -17° stem on it, you'd be apples-to-apples, heightwise, with one of these 30mm rise one-piece stems for the Bayonet 3 fork. The 60mm rise stem is pretty analogous to the way a Felt B16 comes today, with its 20mm Mt. Fuji headset top cap, no spacers, and -6° stem in its downward config.
The nice thing about these one-piece stems is they come short. Well, the 30mm and 60mm rise stems come short. They come in 70mm and 100mm lengths. The zero rise stem has a bit of a clearance problem with the frame that limits it to 90mm and 110mm lengths. Honestly, almost nobody is going to ever use the zero rise stem on the DA if they're going to keep the original equipment Devox bar on the bike. This, because the frame is already midrange or, maybe moderately low, geometrically. The aerobar is very low profile. If you also put a zero rise stem on this bike, you'll fall so far down in elevation just in getting into the aero position, you'll probably get a nosebleed. If you know anybody in hell, you'll be low enough in elevation to yell down and ask him the temperature.
Felt can be found here. But the 2012 bikes aren't on the website as of this writing. These bikes will hit showrooms during the first week of September. Remember what I wrote about how careful Felt is when ordering. It is my guess the new DA4 will sell briskly. If you know your size, and want one of these from the first shipment, best put a deposit down soon.
