3. Thoughts on my new bike.

The Felt TK2 that I picked up last week has seen three days of Velodrome action thus far - two Wednesday night omniums and Super Sprint Sunday.

My first impressions were good - it's got big ugly welds but they're fairly clean and uniform, though without the filing or smoothing that Cannondales or Bianchi Pista Concepts use. No matter - fit is way more important. The Felt is a 52cm, which would be too large for me, except that what's called a 52 is much more like a 51, whereas other companies' 52 size closer to a 53cm. It's always good to get familiar with reading geometry charts and knowing what sizes you can ride - you don't want to exclude possibilities because of what size name they're given, nor do you want to buy a bike that fits too small for you.

I think that bikes at the small end of the size range should come stock with 165mm cranks, and Felt says that their 52 does, but this one has 170s. I'll trade them for 167.5s, to get the tradeoff between spinning and power. The Felt comes stock with Deda Pista bars - 42cm wide, oversize clamp, and just too damn big for most people.

I did use the 170s for the three events, and the Deda bars for two, however. The Dedas kept me slightly uncomfortable and I felt as though my spin was sacrificed somewhat with the 170s - this was noticeable toward the end of my sprints. That's also a fitness and strength issue that I'll have to address with training, not parts trades.

I was slightly nervous about the Felt's very steep traditional track geometry. Kissena is bumpy and though I had the opportunity to buy the Felt, given the choice I might have gone for a Cannondale, with its somewhat slacker geometry. However, the Felt has exceptionally stable front end; especially with the better-fitting handlebars I put on it, it handles well. The rear end skipped around a few times on turns 2 and 4 during hard efforts, but everybody's bike does that. My Pogliaghi did that a few times. It's a reminder not to exceed 120psi, which I've done when ambitious a few times.

My only gripe is the trackends - they're short, and without steel inserts. I don't know if the aluminum will get chewed up, but I do take out and re-insert my wheel frequently, to change cogs once I get to the track (note: Miche splined cog and carrier system totally rocks). The trackends barely accomodate a 2-tooth difference. Felt has addressed this with both longer trackends and steel inserts in their 2008 model, but I wish they had the foresight earlier. Oh well.

Anyway, enough talk. I'm at work, which means I should be daydreaming about some really long miss and outs.