A review of my buddy Josh’s Felt Decree
This is a review of my friend Josh’s mountain bike. This is not a review of the Felt Decree as a whole, but this particular bike, and it’s particular features and quirks.
The bike has been in my garage for nearly two weeks now, the result of making the most of a visit from Troy of Flying Sprocket (mobile bike repair). I was in desperate need of a proper brake bleed, Josh brought over the Felt for a shift adjustment. And since Josh has another, possibly better bike – we’ve since been storing the Felt for a $10/day fee. Happy to keep it as long as you need Josh.
Alright let’s do this.
I’ll say this – the shifting on this bike is fantastic. At least in terms of engagement. Up and down the range each cog change was crisp and quick. Josh will be happy to hear this. Prior to Troy’s handiwork the bike apparently shifted on it’s own. Ghost shifting, as they say – and those ghosts have been exorcized.
I found the shift levers slightly too far in for my hands, and a bit on the stiff side. One or the other on their own wouldn’t be too bad, but the combo made me wish I’d brought along a toolset for a quick adjustment. But the lack of tools is what made this review possible. This isn’t my bike after all, and setting it up to my personal liking would defeat the premise, and run counter to Josh’s personal preferences. And you KNOW I wouldn’t undo my adjustments after this one, singular, 6 mile ride. So my thumb got an extra workout.
The climb
Right as I rolled out of the driveway I knew the seat should have been raised a bit. The bike has a dropper post however, and no quick release so I rode on. I’d feel those extra inches the entire ride, as it increased the pedaling effort just a bit, and the lack of leg extension squeezed the lactic acid flow. Or so I imagined. I kept thinking the crank arms were too short perhaps, but I didn’t measure so it’s unlikely. I think the combo of the slack head tube, the mis-adjusted seat, and the imaginary short cranks made the bike a mushy, less efficient climber than I’d like. Especially being carbon and all.
The descent
The first descent was on a downhill trail near my house. I prepped the bike by flipping the shock to descend mode, and lowered the seat post. I love having a dropper post. I’m not particularly fast on descent, but having the seat out of the way makes me feel faster and in better control. The dropper works well enough on the bike – it goes down and stays put – but the actuation is mushy and slow to compress. It’s also slow to extend. I’m used to a quick SNAP so I know the seat is in its full upright position. This is slow and silent. The dropper lever is way too far away from the thumb, not reachable without moving the hand off the grip and over to depress. The cable is too hard to depress as well. I usually raise and lower the seat quite a lot on a ride, but with this bike, I needed to choose wisely.
Once rolling down trail, the strength of this bike starts to show. It corners well and feels stable. It’s super plush and lands soft. Way softer than my own bike. This is the first bike I’ve ridden with such a slack head tube, and for the little things I don’t like about it, launching and landing made up for it. I’m wondering if the shock and fork have been set up with a slower rebound, and it’s making me rethink the setup on my Turner. I really can’t say how fun it is to descend on this bike.
Braking
Braking is solid and strong, which makes me wonder yet again if SRAM isn’t simply better than Shimano here. I have the same positioning complaint – too far from in on the bar. Maybe Josh has gigantic hands or something. The levers are too stiff as well – the extra effort is noticeable even on such a short ride. Adding up the shifting, breaking, and dropper levers, my hands got a solid workout. Which isn’t necessarily a good thing.
The creaks
I’m an aluminum guy, and that puts me in the minority as carbon is taking over the biking world. I don’t think Turner even builds and aluminum frame any more, dammit. I didn’t find the carbon particularly better. There’s a weird plastic-y feel and I couldn’t sense it as any lighter. Maybe if climbing on it didn’t feel so mushy I’d change my mind on this. Either way I know that carbon is my future so just deal with it.
I’m hoping all carbon bikes are not the case, but this think creaks like a muthafuhfuh. I was thankful for my AirPods and the sultry sounds of a Twins game. Music may have been a better choice to fill in the gaps between pitches. But did I mention the creaking? It creaks on the way up and down. It’s not the same creak both ways, but similar. Within the same genus. Or family. Or some other biological term.
Speaking of sultry sounds – the freewheel on this thing is re-diculous. Obnoxious. So far the end of one spectrum that I hope all who hear it long for the days of quiet smooth freewheels.
The verdict
It may seem unfair to give a bike ridden only 6 miles and not set up for me a review, but this is where the world has taken us. As fun as this bike is on the downhill, it’s equally frustrating on the up. Yes with adjustments this could be improved, but for now, I give the bike 3 stars.