At the heart of Felt is a genuine love of speed. The man behind the name, Jim Felt, made a name for himself in motocross as one of the ace mechanics for Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha. It was in supporting one of the stars of motocross, Johnny O’Mara—“The O-Show”—that Felt built his first frame, a time trial/triathlon frame for O’Mara. Felt’s first successes in cycling came before he had a name for his company.
O’Mara was racing in triathlons to stay fit for motocross. Today the training makes great sense, but back in 1989 the idea seemed crazy. That year Felt built a frame for O’Mara who, in 1990, won the California State Championship in the time trial. Felt was a pretty decent age grouper and finished third at Bud Light Triathlon in Barstow.
Word of O’Mara’s success aboard the Felt-designed and built frame spread, which led to a call from Easton Sports. Easton was relatively new to the bicycle industry and needed a product engineer for its fledgling bike program. Felt brought his cycling know-how and Easton provided a crash course in metallurgy. One of Felt’s first projects was to design a frame for Easton-sponsored triathlon legend Paula Newby Fraser. Newby Fraser had already won three Ironman competitions and Easton needed to provide her with a bike guaranteed to be fast. Felt delivered the B2, so named for its stealthy, matte black finish. The rest, as they say, is history. Newby Fraser took her fourth Kona Ironman that year.
Felt’s reputation as a guy who understands how to go fast was sealed. Working with Easton, Felt would go on to build bikes for duathlon’s winningest athlete, Ken Souza, mountain bike legend John Tomac, and Ironman strongman Wolfgang Dietrich. Any bike builder on the planet would kill to have such a collection of athletes on their resume. |
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