# Guy Riding a Felt ZW vs F series?



## hawker12 (Oct 19, 2003)

Would appreciate any opinions..including FeltDave.

I''m a short guy at 5'4 with short arms. I was getting ready to jump on a LOOK 585 Optimum as it has a TT just under 51cm and a slightly taller headtube. Today I walked into my LBS and they had just finished building a women's ZW in a size Small. I tested it and it rode nicely even though at 19.1lbs it was exactly one pound heavier than my current Giant TCR. I'm pretty sure that extra weight came from the 105 components. It also fit me very well. 

I notice that the F Series 48cm frame also has a 51cm top tube but the the rest of the frame geometry in different. It also doesn't have the word "woman" on the top tube. 

What would be the difference between how these frame would fit or handle?

Also, is the carbon used in these two frames the same? 

Last, this is the first carbon frame I have ever ridden. I have ridden several kinds of steel and old and new Aluminum. Frankly, I guess I was prepared to feel a suppleness similar to steel or titanium. Instead the road feel and vibration over chip and seal, road seams, etc. felt a lot more like my current aluminum TCR than anything esle. A slightly different feel but not what I would call better. Perhaps the tires or wheels? Just slightly disappointed it wasn't smoother.

Thanks in advance, would appreciate any thoughts or opinions.


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## terbennett (Apr 1, 2006)

You just hit on something that many people are discovering. While maunfacturers tout carbon as the "miracle material", the fact is that similar ride quality can be found in nearly any material. It's all determined by the how the bike was built. Wheels and tires make the biggest difference in your ride quality. 
Take a Cannondale CAAD 10 for example. That all aluminum bike has a more compliant ride than many carbon bikes that costs more and it definitely destroys the similarly price carbon bikes. Felt's own F75 feels similar to the carbon F5 IMO. Comfort wise, the F75 feels very much like a CAAD 10 to me. I would bet that if most people rode both bikes without knowing what material they are riding on, they couldn't really tell the difference with similar wheelset. Your TCR is a very high quality aluminum frame. That bike was top of the tier in the Giant lineup at one time. It comes as no surprise that you can't feel much of a difference. Like someone said in another post: "I'd rather ride high quality aluminum than low grade carbon." I'm not saying that the ZW has low grade carbon because it doesn't but a higher end aluminum bike can be tuned to ride much like a carbon bike.


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