Felt Bicycles is Back
The very first new bike I bought was a Felt. The first bike I ever sold to an online scammer was a Felt (that was painful). While working at SBR Sports in Orem, Utah, we were one of the very first Felt dealers in the state. They gave us great margin and our sales rep Betsy was always around to take any of our questions. It was a great relationship from the time we started to the time I moved on to go sell Internet for Cox Communications door-to-door — that, too, was painful.
The brand was super strong under its founder, Jim Felt. Well, until Jim got a little over his skis with the mindset of “Felt can be everything to everyone.” In 2017, the brand was sold to Rossignol and Jim left the company. It then played a bit of ownership hot potato, as in 2021 Pierer Mobility, the owner of KTM, took over the reigns from Rossignol. Pierer set their eyes on the concept of integrating gas powered dirt bikes with performance pedal and e-bikes.
The integration process that Rossignol and Pierer set out to do turned out to be challenging to say the least. And as of November 20th, Felt has new owners. The small group that had been in charge of Felt’s integration with Pierer Mobility, Florian Burguet and Cesar Tojo, bought 100% of the company.
How did they do it? Take a semi deep dive into the process over the last 5 years.
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I really hope they will be back, but they aren’t back yet. I have sold hundreds of Felt’s over the years but the take overs have destroyed the brand. The fact that are no spare parts available for over a year and a half now did not good to the brand. Not to say bike availability but owning a Felt and be in need of parts and left out hanging did not do good.
But I hope so that the brand can bounce back to what it ones was.
Jeroen
Listen to the podcast.
Even by corporate standards, that is an incredibly cringey list.
If it takes 10 bullet points to explain the mission, then it needs more work.
Is there a transcript available? Carving out an hour to listen to a podcast is tough for that one nugget of information. I have and love my Felt IAFRD but yeah, it is a nightmare if any bespoke parts break.
I have to say I am getting tired of having to listen to podcasts when reading is so much more efficient, especially when the entire subject is not super interesting.
Yes, thank you. I love my Felt AR3 aero road bike, but with a leadership list like that, I’d hate to work there.
Agree here, also. If it’s important enough to blather into a mic, it’s important enough to summarize in writing.
Had no problems with parts. Ok, I lost about 3 hrs googling for a shop that really has these seat post clamp wedges in stock. Which was a very, very nice shop in HK btw (shoutout to Anjoy Cycling Store). The package arrived three days later in Germany, just in time for my first event of that season.
So, yes, that was also a pita.
So disappointed in Felt. I had to find another bike shop to assist in a warranty claim (19 months, bottom bracket came unglued) on my Felt IaX advanced di2. My bike was purple, it was my everything. Felt sent back the white/sage since they don’t do warranty on color. THEY STILL HAVE PURPLE IN STOCK! will never recommend Felt.
They don;t have purple in stock, the website just haven’t got an update in years…..
Jeroen
I agree, and while I have many podcasts I listen to, sometimes I just don’t have the time (or desire) to listen to an entire podcast especially if it is a small clip with the info I want to hear. I just ask Gemini or Copilot to make a transcript of the pod if it doesn’t automatically have one in the show notes. Then I skim through to find what I was interested in.
Listened to the podcast. Read the story above. “Felt Bicycles is Back” is a way too strong. Finding a better home is more on point, but they have a really long way to go.
Like you, my first tri bike was a Felt. I still have it and love it. It is time to jump up to some modern tech, and unfortunately there is 0 chance it will be a Felt. There are no nearby dealers that sell them anymore. When I bought mine, Felt offered an amazing value - very high performance at a price materially lower than similar products. Today, they are among the most expensive. And the cockpit kinda sucks.
In 2023, Pierer announced its intent to sell Felt to the current leadership team by mid-2024. They were more than a year late to finally consummate the deal. Burguet has been running Felt most of the time since Pierer acquired the brand in 2021. He presided over a period of massive brand decline. As noted, their dealer network suffered, parts availability cratered, they have not kept up with the market, etc.
They need a crapton more than a bunch of inspirational statements on a wall. Why weren’t those on the wall in 2023? Or 2021? I wish them the best, and I hope they get back some day. But they have a tough road ahead.
Spot on, like you my first tri bike was an IA16. Then IA4. Loved them, tremendous value, but come on, you can’t get parts forget it. P5D and never looked back.
I got a Felt IA in 2023 because it was the cheapest option by far. It looks kind of antique nowadays with the huge “tubes”, but from an aerodynamic standpoint, the frame is on par with the newest models from the better known manufacturers. And you have to do some DIY and add 3rd party parts.