Felt F5 Carbon Road Bike

After over decade and a half of mountain biking, I decided it was time for a switch to road biking. I had shopped around for a couple of years trying to decide if road biking was for me and which bike would be appropriate and best piece of gear. I had only been accustomed to ridding specialized mountain bikes. My first mountain bike was the Specialized Rock Hopper Comp, “a fine piece of metal” with no suspension. I rode that for 5 years, and wondered why friends were clearing rock fields effortlessly with their brains still intact. My second Specialized was the FSR Rock Hopper, this time I went big and purchased the full suspension. I rode this with much improvement, but couldn’t figure out why the big rear red coil sprung so much on climbs. I even had my mechanic reverse the rear shock too dampen most of the movement. This bike was awesome; I had util it fell off my car on I95 when the rack failed and the bike jettisoned from the car and was smashed by oncoming traffic. So back to the shop for another. This time I got the 05 Specialized Stump Jumper FSR Comp. It was fully loaded. I immediately switched to disk brakes, etc, etc, After one year the frame cracked, and our good friends at specialized replaced the frame and upgraded the rear shock. So after all of this, why switch to road biking? I just needed a change of pace and scenery.So that leads me too my next purchase. After test riding many different road bikes, I decided on the Felt F5C full carbon race bike. I bought it in the off season of 2006 and got it for 35% off retail at Wilton Outdoor Sports in Wilton, CT. I bought this bike because it basically had everything I needed to get riding. Gear and components were important features and the F5 had a very decent package. Full carbon makes the ride very comfortable, and light versus aluminum tingy feeling. I will eventually upgrade the brakes, but that will come later. The F5C likes to be ridden fast, has great handling and loves to climb. I feel very comfortable out of the saddle for bigger climbs, and very comfortable in the cockpit during fast descends. I have been on it 5 times averaging 20 miles rides. I'm finding myself looking for more challenging and longer rides as I grow into this bike. I made a true outdoor connection with this bike.