# Upgrade a F95?



## Dcmkx2000 (Mar 18, 2010)

I am thinking of getting a new bike, only put 1100 miles on my 2010 F95. I really like the look of my bike, and my Microshift brake/shifter assembly. I don't like how Shimano's brake levers aren't fixed. My rear Tiagra shifts okay, but I am really not to happy with the front shifting quality of Sora. And its seems like every 400-500 miles they need adjusted. I know these are basic entry level components. I also hate my brakes. Looking into entry level carbon bikes, about 1600-2000......I want to make sure I get a reasonably significant upgrade in components. I rode a Specialized entry level Roubaix carbon bike and couldn't believe how smooth is was over bumps and such. But I didn't like how it handled..too upright, and it felt like the handling and steering was slow (I know its a comfort bike). I went back to the shop and rode a 2011 carbon Tarmac and noticed it was smooth but not as much as the Roubaix (didn't seem like a huge leap from my bike).

Since I'm not going to race/compete, and not not going to get a significantly lighter bike or better wheels on a 1600-2000 carbon bike.... would it be reasonable to get an 8 piece SRAM Rival group set from Ebay for about $650 (front and rear derailleurs, brakes, shifters, BB, cassette, and crank) to upgrade? Or better off buying a brand new bike?

I really like the double tap and stationary brake levers. Plus I wanted to take classes to learn how to work on my bike, and I found a shop I like that basically let's you rent their tools and a mechanic for 50 an hour which is their shop rate for labor anyway. This way i figured I could pay to have them help/teach me to install everything. 


Thoughts


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## tk89 (Apr 2, 2010)

lol...I'm in the same boat! I've had my F95 for about the same amount of time as you, Dcmkx2000, and I'm starting to get upgrade-itis. The microshifters work okay for me and the back derailleurs are fine, but, as you point out, the FD's are not good at all. 

Re: the frame, I was at my LBS recently and the owner of the store told me that it wasn't worth upgrading the components since I had an entry level frame. I suspect that he's one of those west LA bike snobs since the frame on the F95 is the best part of the bike! 

I love this frame and it's really a lively and quick handling package that belies its low price point. That said, I'm looking at upgrading the groupset to the SRAM Apex, since the Rival seems like a bit of an overkill for my riding purposes. 

I've only been riding seriously for a year now, but the best part of my experience has been buying up a couple of old frames on Craigslist and upgrading the components to bring them up to riding spec. I've bought bike tools from Nashbar and a couple of other places, repair manuals from Borders and gone to town on ebay to buy up old parts and bearings. There are a couple of places here in LA (Bike oven/Bike Kitchen) that offer free instruction and facilities as well for the self-made bike mechanic. 

I'm pretty confident now that I can buy a frame or groupset and build a complete bike and am torn between building up a classic Columbus tube Italian frame or upgrading my F95. If only I had the time and money to do both....


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## easyridernyc (Jan 10, 2008)

if you guys are talking about the team garmin issue, i envy you. that's one of the most beautiful frames in the entire felt line. great deal for noob rider. 

to the end, yeah, i would say upgrades are worth it. spec wise, the frame has some sweet features, most notably the 7005 (light light light) aluminum and custom butts. i have an 09 75 with the 7005 aluminum, a compact 105, carbon stays, 1.3 fork, and, i think most important, carbon steerer, that feature is huge. otherwise i think the 95 compares pretty favorably with the other aluminum bikes in the felt line, especially that blue garmin version a definite keeper. if i had that one i would switch out for a full compact ultegra first, and then a bombproof wheelset later, that is a terrific looking frame.

otherwise, and if you've already purchased a 95, its gonna cost a lot to upgrade the groupset. and then, like i say, there's the wheels. all in all you probably would have been better off investing in the custom upgrades on a new 75 (like me, ha ha), the fork and steerer, for instance are felt pieces that you cant readily just swap out on the 95 frame. and a new groupo is gonna cost. big, like a thousand easy, maybe a little less for a new apex, but that's not gonna be a legitimate upgrade over a sora/tiagra mix, especially not the tiagra shifters, they are kinda close to 105. probably the best thing to do is swap out the shifters for the best cost 105's you can find, then go for a nice crank...i think that will give you the uptick in performance you're looking for at a cost effective rate. the biggest difference in weight and handling is ultimately going to be in the wheelset, which, again, you can find a nice value for a few four five bucks. lol by the time you're finished, 

you would have been better off buying a better bike (like the 75) from felt to begin with. the 95 (especially the team garmin) was/is a good deal, felt rocks up and down the line, bro, i love felt bikes. all iin all it's a tough mix, but there is a solution set; if you love your frame and really want to keep it, i'd say set up a budget, two budgets, really, one for the group, one for the wheels as indicated, and go for it. good luck keep riding


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## tk89 (Apr 2, 2010)

lol...easyridernyc, why didn't you post this last year, BEFORE I bought my F95? 

But that said, I still love my F95 frame and I think that I'll buy a Rival group for it and move the Tiagra/Sora to an old Italian steel frame I'm planning to buy as a secondary bike. That seems like a good compromise since the Rival group on ebay and steel frame should come in at around $1000 total.


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

For what it's worth your F95 has the 7005 aluminum frame too. . The only difference is that the F75 has a carbon steerer and carbon seatstays. It's a great bike but so is your F95. Felt used to have a few other bikes that used the same frame as the F75- the discontinued F65,F55,F45 and F35. Don't worry, because Felt has discontinued the carbon rear frame in favor of a slightly lighter all aluminum frame. Look at it this way: The only difference between your bike's frame and the new 2011 F75 is that the F75 has a tapered headset and is set up for BB30. Otherwise, you have the same frame. The 2011 F95 however has been"downgraded" to 6061 status- which isn't bad either. C-dale's world class CAAD frames are 6061.


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## tk89 (Apr 2, 2010)

Thank you, terbennet. I just pulled the trigger on the Rival Group and look forward to a winter of content.


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## tk89 (Apr 2, 2010)

*F95 upgrade*

So I just wanted to share my latest upgrade to my F95. As described above, I recently ordered a SRAM Rival groupset for my 2010 F95. While waiting for group set to arrive, I came across a F2C frame on ebay which I was able to get at a pretty good price. 

So I will now have, once I build it, an AWESOME F95 with a F2C carbon frame and a Rival groupset with Aksium wheels and FSA bars.

I'm pretgy sure that I'll have a totally unique and high performance F95, built around the original seatpost and fork.

pretty much the most amazing F95 on the road, I'd say.

(removes tongue from cheek).

Seriously, though, I can't wait to put this baby together for some winter rides.


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

Congratulations. You're going to be happy with that bike. Once you upgrade the wheels you will see what that frame is really made of. It won't disappoint. The carbon bike will also impress you. Good going! I believe that every cyclists should have a spare bike.


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## tk89 (Apr 2, 2010)

Thanks for your helpful comments, terbennett. My next upgrade to my Felt F95 seatpost, will be adding an all carbon fork, possibly an Easton EC90 SLX or Reynolds w/ 45mm rake.

This thing never ends, does it?


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## easyridernyc (Jan 10, 2008)

terbennett said:


> For what it's worth your F95 has the 7005 aluminum frame too. . The only difference is that the F75 has a carbon steerer and carbon seatstays. It's a great bike but so is your F95. Felt used to have a few other bikes that used the same frame as the F75- the discontinued F65,F55,F45 and F35. Don't worry, because Felt has discontinued the carbon rear frame in favor of a slightly lighter all aluminum frame. Look at it this way: The only difference between your bike's frame and the new 2011 F75 is that the F75 has a tapered headset and is set up for BB30. Otherwise, you have the same frame. The 2011 F95 however has been"downgraded" to 6061 status- which isn't bad either. C-dale's world class CAAD frames are 6061.



yeah i was gonna say, that's a good point about the all aluminum 2011 75 and the 6061 95. the all aluminum construction is coincidentally, a distinctive feature of the top of the line caad ten series, its interesting that felt dropped out the carbon stays for some grams, a reconfigured frame and the bb30 on the new 75. personally, i think felt's 09 75 trumped the caad nine, 09 AND 010, it definitely outspecd them both at a better price. the geometries of the new ten and the new 75 vary considerably, both from each other, and from their previous model year incarnations. it would not surprise me a bit if the new 75 turned out to be a head to head competitive performer with the new caad 10. which i think would bode well for both historical and new construction 95's as well...

last year's caad nine was nice, very nice, but given the choice i still would have gone for the 75, even though for 010 i did not particularly dig the color scheme, and the silver caad was super super aguri. still, pound for pound and minus the hype, i go with the value and performance of the felt line. every time so far. like i said before, the 95 is part of a very distinctive class of bikes--imo definitely worth the upgrades if you can afford it.


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## easyridernyc (Jan 10, 2008)

f2c awesome yes. 

aksium wheelset? not so much. i would swap out the wheels right away. i'm not sure i get it though, you're buying a used f2c (with unspecified specs, but i think f2c is ace, no?) and you already bought the new rival group. so you're going to put the rival on the 95, and leave the ace on the f2c, right? 

sounds like two awesome bikes. just not the aksiums, easton 70 would be PERFECT for the 95 imo, 90 sl clinchers for the f2c, both around five each


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## BikeNerd2453 (Jul 4, 2005)

tk89 said:


> Thanks for your helpful comments, terbennett. My next upgrade to my Felt F95 seatpost, will be adding an all carbon fork, possibly an Easton EC90 SLX or Reynolds w/ 45mm rake.
> 
> This thing never ends, does it?


Honestly, I'd check out Felt's 1.1 fork, or the Devox if you want gloss. I put a 1.1 on my F95 from '09, and while yes, I did swap every other part out too, it was a 58cm frame that built to 16.6lbs with pedals.
The Felt fork is at least the equal, if not better than the Easton, and is Reynolds even doing forks anymore?


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## tk89 (Apr 2, 2010)

Easyriderny:

Sorry about the confusion and thx for giving me a complex about my wheels. 

I just built up my F2C frame this weekend and took it out for a quick 20 mile spin to Marina Del Rey this weekend and am really impressed by how quick and responsive the bike is. I swear that both wheels pop off the ground when I accelerate and the thing soaks up all the wrinkles and creases on the crap roads really well.

So after realizing how nice a full carbon frame can be, I'm going to sell my F95, as nice as it is, since I don't plan on riding more than one road bike at a time.


Bikenerd2453:

I wanted to get the Reynolds Ouzo Pro carbon that came spec'd with the original F2C frameset on Ebay, but I got a really good deal on a new Easton EC90SLX fork so I went with that, instead. the Felt 1.1 fork looked gorgeous but the price was a bit high for me (My other hobby is photography and need to save up for a $2,300 Canon lens).

I totally dig the F95, but I have to say that the F2C frame opened up my eyes. I cannot believe how light, stiff and responsive that frameset is. Plus, it doesn't make my teeth chatter as much when I hit the bumps so that's an additional plus.


Thanks again for the advice, folks --


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

easyridernyc said:


> yeah i was gonna say, that's a good point about the all aluminum 2011 75 and the 6061 95. the all aluminum construction is coincidentally, a distinctive feature of the top of the line caad ten series, its interesting that felt dropped out the carbon stays for some grams, a reconfigured frame and the bb30 on the new 75. personally, i think felt's 09 75 trumped the caad nine, 09 AND 010, it definitely outspecd them both at a better price. the geometries of the new ten and the new 75 vary considerably, both from each other, and from their previous model year incarnations. it would not surprise me a bit if the new 75 turned out to be a head to head competitive performer with the new caad 10. which i think would bode well for both historical and new construction 95's as well...
> 
> last year's caad nine was nice, very nice, but given the choice i still would have gone for the 75, even though for 010 i did not particularly dig the color scheme, and the silver caad was super super aguri. still, pound for pound and minus the hype, i go with the value and performance of the felt line. every time so far. like i said before, the 95 is part of a very distinctive class of bikes--imo definitely worth the upgrades if you can afford it.


I agree. However to your credit, I like the old F75 better. The 2011 is like a throwback to the early 2000's F75s except with better components. Hopefully, the new 2011 F75 will carry on as the winner that the 2006-2010 F75s were. The jury is still out on the BB30 and tapered fork/headtube design to me. I've ridden a few bikes with the new design and I can't tell the difference. If there is a difference, I doubt the average rider will be able to tell it.Technology is great but how much of this stuff will actually make a difference to the average rider? Whether or not the carbon rear actually made a difference is debatable too. I have the FA frame (same frame as yours) and I used to have an F85. I can't really feel the difference in the rear. I can in the front however.


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## easyridernyc (Jan 10, 2008)

terbennett said:


> I agree. However to your credit, I like the old F75 better. The 2011 is like a throwback to the early 2000's F75s except with better components. Hopefully, the new 2011 F75 will carry on as the winner that the 2006-2010 F75s were. The jury is still out on the BB30 and tapered fork/headtube design to me. I've ridden a few bikes with the new design and I can't tell the difference. If there is a difference, I doubt the average rider will be able to tell it.Technology is great but how much of this stuff will actually make a difference to the average rider? Whether or not the carbon rear actually made a difference is debatable too. I have the FA frame (same frame as yours) and I used to have an F85. I can't really feel the difference in the rear. I can in the front however.


when you say front i assume you mean the steerer on the "old" 75. i dont know about the 75's new design, i think the overall geometry is generally more relaxed, plus superdave talks about new aero footprint and ride quality in the all alu construction. but the combination of the 1.3 and the carbon steerer on the 09 is serious...up front, old school i agree, is sweet

i figure that cannondale and felt are pretty much one two (trek, specialized maybe?) in quality aluminum frames. i like comparing them anyway, i have an s works frame, but it has cost, and is costing me a lot to upgrade, like necessarily upgrade. cannondale kinda falls in that category too, sure the caad ten is 1500 bucks with a (not the new) 105, but that's with a reconfigured frame, not the same one as last year's bombproof. from what i understand the ten is not all its cracked up to be, at least not compared to last year's nine. i've heard from some cannondale riders who are disappointed, didnt get what they were anticipating. sometimes cannondale can be tricky to figure...

maybe they (as well as their competitors) are already thinking 012; between what riders will pay, what they are willing to accept in component specs, what quality the manufacturers and suppliers will provide at given prices, and so on, there's you know, a mix, a mix of factors, that ultlimately affect end product design and what users wind up seeing on the floor. for me its not so much the subtle differences as it is the dynamic differences when a component, group of components, or even frame construction or design change from any given model year to the next at reasonable price points. bang for buck, imo, the 09 75 nailed it...


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## BikeNerd2453 (Jul 4, 2005)

easyridernyc said:


> maybe they (as well as their competitors) are already thinking 012; between what riders will pay, what they are willing to accept in component specs, what quality the manufacturers and suppliers will provide at given prices, and so on, there's you know, a mix, a mix of factors, that ultlimately affect end product design and what users wind up seeing on the floor. for me its not so much the subtle differences as it is the dynamic differences when a component, group of components, or even frame construction or design change from any given model year to the next at reasonable price points. bang for buck, imo, the 09 75 nailed it...


2012 bikes are probably 80-90% done at this point, from just about everyone. The lead time is soooo long on bikes, they have to get them done early.


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

easyridernyc said:


> when you say front i assume you mean the steerer on the "old" 75. i dont know about the 75's new design, i think the overall geometry is generally more relaxed, plus superdave talks about new aero footprint and ride quality in the all alu construction. but the combination of the 1.3 and the carbon steerer on the 09 is serious...up front, old school i agree, is sweet
> 
> i figure that cannondale and felt are pretty much one two (trek, specialized maybe?) in quality aluminum frames. i like comparing them anyway, i have an s works frame, but it has cost, and is costing me a lot to upgrade, like necessarily upgrade. cannondale kinda falls in that category too, sure the caad ten is 1500 bucks with a (not the new) 105, but that's with a reconfigured frame, not the same one as last year's bombproof. from what i understand the ten is not all its cracked up to be, at least not compared to last year's nine. i've heard from some cannondale riders who are disappointed, didnt get what they were anticipating. sometimes cannondale can be tricky to figure...
> 
> maybe they (as well as their competitors) are already thinking 012; between what riders will pay, what they are willing to accept in component specs, what quality the manufacturers and suppliers will provide at given prices, and so on, there's you know, a mix, a mix of factors, that ultlimately affect end product design and what users wind up seeing on the floor. for me its not so much the subtle differences as it is the dynamic differences when a component, group of components, or even frame construction or design change from any given model year to the next at reasonable price points. bang for buck, imo, the 09 75 nailed it...


Well, I actually Felt the difference between the FA and my 2007 F85 I used to own. The FA (essentially an F75 frame and fork) has a different fork and it actually felt lighter and more compliant. F75s have a fork with a carbon steerer whereas the F85 did not.


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## easyridernyc (Jan 10, 2008)

yeah like i said the 1.3 and the carbon steerer...up front on my 09 75 is a nasty little combination


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