While road designers are busy motorizing their fleets and we haven’t seen anything innovative in several seasons, mountain is flourishing on the dirt with new, “ride over anything,” bikes. Like the new Felt Compulsion.
I was just telling a old roadie friend of mine, take that fitness you have from the bike miles, pedal at a high cadence, and be amazed by the fun you’ll have on the trail.
Four years in development, the new Compulsion is versatile enough for everyday trail riding, but was specifically created for the most technical descents of the world’s roughest enduro race courses. Having ridden the FRD, this looks next level with 165mm of rear suspension travel paired with a 170mm fork. The Compulsion features Felt’s Equilink suspension technology that pedals efficiently while handling pretty much anything.
Chipped
The carbon Compulsion also features Flip Chip technology, which allows riders to dial in their preferred setup and geometry through the adjustment of small “chips” inside the seat stays. By flipping the position of the chips, riders can adjust their Compulsion’s head angle by 1 degree, along with adjusting their bottom bracket height by 10mm. In addition, the Compulsion also comes with Felt’s newest “mid chips,” which let riders achieve geometry in between the high and low settings offered by the standard flip chips. So riders get three different geometry options in one frame.
Two complete bikes—Compulsion 1 and Compulsion 3—are available, along with a frame kit. The 1 costs $5499 and the $3999.
The Compulsion was designed specifically for single-chainring (1x) drivetrains with Boost hub spacing, internal cable routing, a trunnion-mount metric shock, and massive tire clearance (up to 2.35-inch-wide, measured). It has a 73mm threaded bottom bracket to stop bb creaking.
For the type of riding I like to do at resorts like Park City, it seems perfect. You can hit the big jumps or old school, single, single track.
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