Felt NINE Ltd Review

In my search of the pinnacle of perfection with regard to my next racing mountain bike, my adventures have taken me to the land of 29ers.  For those of you that are, shall we say, "not in the know"...a typical mountain bike uses 26" diameter wheels.  A 29er, as could be reasonably inferred, is a mountain bike using 29" wheels.

Bigger wheel = heavier; but...

Bigger wheel = higher momentum
Bigger wheel = better traction
Bigger wheel = better center of gravity
Bigger wheel = shallower angle of attack (meaning bumps affect the path and momentum of the bike less)

Since I've been racing on a full-suspension (again - this is a "shock absorber" on both the front wheel/fork and rear wheel/frame) 26er for my entire 'career', I have been subconsciously pushed toward creating an uberlight full-suspension 29er.  Through all my research, as well as the ability to demo a race-oriented FS 29er from Intense, I've found two things to be true:

• The lightest I'm going to get any of the current-gen full-suspension 29ers is in the realm of high 25-lb range.
• I'm going to spend between $4,000 and $6,000 to accomplish that feat.

So, I sat back and took a hard look at hardtails (a mountain bike without the rear wheel suspension) again.  I've been told, and read other people in various internet forums, that you don't need rear suspension with the 29er, because of the positives listed above.  But, I'm a skeptic.  So I borrowed Elgee's (http://addictedtobicycles.blogspot.com) Felt NINE Ltd (carbon hardtail 29er), and took it out for a spin on the Eagle Race Course.  Bike was set up with a RockShox Reba Race fork, a full compliment of carbon cockpit components, Avid Elixir disc brakes, and Mavic C29ssmax wheels meated up with Hutchinson Pythons running tubeless. 

The course sets up in a figure-eight; the first section consists of fireroad climbing and swoopy windey singletrack descent through sagebrush.  The second section consists of more fireroad climbing, a singletrack climb up over a ridge, and a quasi-technical singletrack descent, finishing up with some more swoopy windey singletrack.  This isn't the steepest stuff you'll climb, or the gnarliest stuff you'll descend, but it does give you a good general proving ground for bikes, and the whole figure-eight is pretty quick.

My quick afternoon demo of the Felt NINE Ltd wasn't ideal, as the bike I was riding is only a 20.5" frame size.  I say 'only' because no matter what I were to do with stem length and seatposts, this frame would NEVER fit me.  But it is the largest carbon frame size Felt manufactures.

The first thing I noticed is how the bike responds when climbing out of the saddle.  It just goes.  Even my Specialized Epic has a little sag in it when you stand up; regardless of how tight you have the Brain set.  No, this bike has the feeling that every watt you dump into the cranks gets directly translated to the rear wheel.

Ride quality felt harsh at first, on the climb.  Regardless of how shallow the attack angle is, if you're fat-assing the saddle, you will get jarred every time the rear wheel tracks up and over a rock.  That being said, there wasn't much chatter or trail feedback felt - it was really smooth with the exception of rolling the rear over a decent sized bump.  However, I ride my Epic really stiff; in retrospect, the Felt wasn't substantially bumpier than a ride aboard the Specialized.


This bike absolutely destroys fire road climbs and smooth singletrack.  Between the stiffness of the bike and the better center of gravity, the Felt rides through corners like its on rails.

When descending, the lack of suspension wasn't noticed.  The bike tracked true through anything I threw at it, and was rather nimble in doing so.  I didn't huck any real drops, but the singletrack descent is steep in spots, and offers some spots to get some air.  No issues whatsoever.

The only real complaint I had about the Felt NINE Ltd had to do with out-of-the-saddle climbing up a rocky incline.  The bouncing of the bike caused some ghost-shifting of the rear transmission that was annoying, but I can't say why it was happening.  Was the rear derailleur out of tune?  Was the rear of the frame flexing that much?  Is the chain a link long?  Dunno.

After riding the Felt, though, the thought process for my next bike has rapidly changed directions...I'm officially in the market for a hardtail 29er now.