Felt has announced the Breed Carbon, a new aerodynamically optimised gravel bike designed for gravel racing.
The Breed Carbon is said to be “bred for speed across any terrain” and to offer “road bike-like manners”, when it comes to handling, and a riding position optimised for efficiency and speed.
With clearance for up to 50mm tyres on 700c wheels, or 2in tyres on 650b or 29in wheels, multiple bottle and storage mounts, a vibration-damping seatpost sleeve and a non-integrated front end, though, the Breed Carbon does make some concessions to comfort and practicality.
The Breed Carbon can also be run with mechanical or electronic groupsets, in 1x or 2x form. Felt has also implemented a removable front derailleur hanger to improve aerodynamic efficiency when running a 1x setup.
Thoroughbred for gravel
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The Breed Carbon features a full carbon frameset, with truncated aerofoil tube shapes throughout.
Though Felt hasn’t provided any specific figures to back up the aero claims, the American brand has a long history making aerodynamic bicycles (such as the AR aero road bike, DA time trial bike and FA TRD left-hand drive track bike), so it’s probably fair to assume it knows what it’s doing in this regard.
While gravel riding is often thought of as a more chilled-out, IPA-drinking, plaid shirt and ripped denim shorts-wearing cousin of road cycling, aero gravel race bikes are a key emerging trend in that side of the sport.
The Breed Carbon joins bikes such as the 3T Exploro RaceMax and Cervélo Aspero (among others), with a mix of aero-optimised carbon tubes, big tyre clearances, and geometry and handling that’s intended to be more familiar to riders coming over from road racing.
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Felt Breed Carbon geometry
The Felt Breed Carbon is designed to offer an aggressive ride position combined with handling that’s familiar to road cyclists, but still able to cope with technical off-road trails.
That means seat tube angles that are road-bike like, and head tube angles that are only slightly slackened off compared to a pure road-racing bike.
| Frame size | XS / 47 | S / 51 | M / 54 | L / 56 | XL / 58 | XXL / 61 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stack (mm) | 544 | 562 | 575 | 591 | 607 | 626 |
| Reach (mm) | 374 | 379 | 385 | 389 | 394 | 398 |
| Seat tube (mm) | 440 | 470 | 500 | 530 | 560 | 595 |
| Top tube (mm) | 530 | 540 | 550 | 570 | 580 | 600 |
| Head tube length (mm) | 100 | 116 | 130 | 145 | 160 | 180 |
| Seat tube angle (degrees) | 74 | 74 | 74 | 73 | 73 | 72 |
| Head tube angle (degrees) | 70 | 70.5 | 70.5 | 71 | 71.5 | 71.5 |
| Chainstay length (mm) | 430 | 430 | 430 | 430 | 430 | 430 |
| Fork length (mm) | 420 | 420 | 420 | 420 | 420 | 420 |
| Bottom bracket drop (mm) | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Wheelbase (mm) | 1,023 | 1,029 | 1,040 | 1,045 | 1,050 | 1,060 |
Concessions
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Despite its racy aspirations, the Breed Carbon doesn’t do the aero road bike thing of integrating every cable, with Felt using proprietary parts at every opportunity and focusing solely on speed at all costs.
Up front, the Breed Carbon uses a non-integrated front end with semi-external cable routing, which should make routine maintenance and fit customisations a lot easier.
The Breed Carbon also features a T47 threaded bottom bracket, although it’s a new, non-standard variant Felt is calling T47-77 Asymmetric (because it’s 77mm wide).
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There’s no gravel suspension as standard (though Felt does say a gravel suspension fork can be fitted later, if you choose to), but with clearance for up to 50mm tyres on 700c wheels, or 2in tyres on 650b or 29in wheels, most racers should be able to find plenty of compliance and grip for less technical courses.
To improve rear-end comfort, Felt has added a vibration-damping sleeve to the seatpost arrangement. It fits around a standard, round, 27.2mm seatpost and is claimed to reduce “high-frequency bumps and terrain chatter”.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to use the sleeve, it can be removed and a 30.9mm seatpost can be used instead.
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The Breed Carbon also comes with mounting points for multiple bottle cages and storage.
Due to space restrictions, the smallest two frame sizes in the range (47cm and 51cm) only get two bottle cage mounts inside the frame, but every other size gets three – one on the seat tube and two on the down tube.
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Every size in the range gets an extra set of mounts underneath the down tube and on the top tube, behind the steerer.
Felt says it is currently developing a storage box for the top-tube mounts, which will integrate with the bike as cleanly as possible.
The carbon frame also features moulded rubber protectors on the driveside chainstay and on the underside of the down tube, towards the bottom-bracket area.
Whatever you like
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The Breed Carbon can be used in either 1x or 2x configurations, and is compatible with both mechanical and electronic groupsets.
The front derailleur hanger is removable and Felt has designed a cover plate that can be mounted in its place, in order to maintain clean looks and optimise aerodynamic efficiency.
Felt says riders using 1x drivetrains can mount chainrings up to 52 teeth in size, with 2x drivetrain users having room for a time-trial-like 44-tooth inner ring.
Most gravel bike setups will typically use far smaller gears, for muscling over steep climbs on loose ground, but it’s always nice to have options.
Felt Breed Carbon build specifications, pricing and availability
Prices for the Felt Breed Carbon start at €2,999 / $3,549 for complete builds, or $2,499 for the frameset (USA only).
There are three models in the range at launch, two with Shimano GRX and one with SRAM Force eTap AXS.
At the time of writing, UK pricing, claimed weights and build specifications for every model in the range was not available, but we have asked Felt and will update this article as soon as we get a response.
Felt Breed Carbon Advanced SRAM Force
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- Price: €6,599 / $7,549
- Frameset: Felt Breed Carbon Advanced
- Drivetrain: SRAM Force eTap AXS
- Wheelset: Zipp 303 S
- Tyres: Vittoria Terreno Dry TLR, 700 x 38c
- Seatpost: Zipp Service Course SL
- Handlebar: Zipp Service Course SL
- Stem: Zipp Service Course SL
- Saddle: Prologo Dimension NDR
Felt Breed Carbon Advanced GRX 810
- Price: €4,699 / $5,249
- Frameset: Felt Breed Carbon Advanced
- Drivetrain: Shimano GRX RX810
Felt Breed Carbon Advanced GRX 600
- Price: €2,999 / $3,549
- Frameset: Felt Breed Carbon Advanced
- Drivetrain: Shimano GRX RX600