While the article may not be the most neutral review of a bike I have ever read (as it was written by “Michigan’s largest triathlon and bike store”), there is still some very good information. We were once again asleep when this article came out, because while it doesn’t have a post date, it was clearly written before The Tour.

The first thing I thought when riding the F3SL was how nice the frame is. I own a road bike over twice the price of the F3SL- with exactly the same wheelset- and honestly the ride quality is impossible to differentiate. Comfort on the F3SL may even be a tick nicer than on my bike but at less than half the cost. I love the fit on the F3Sl since the cockpit feels longish and in the smaller frame sizes we have steeper seat tube angles. If a triathlete is buying a road bike for group rides but may want to ride the road bike with aerobars on super-technical courses the F3SL is tailor-made due to the steeper seat tube angle in the 52cm and 54 cm frame sizes.

Very few road bikes are ride and race ready out of the box when compared to machines used by the top professional teams, and the F3SL is one of those rare exceptions. Felt used years of refinement and experience with their “F” series carbon fiber fuselage and a great mix of pro-level components to keep the pricing low. As of first week of July in 2008, the new 2009 Felt F3SL was being quoted at $3599 initial MSRP.

The article does go on to say that Felt has joined many other bike manufacturers in openly acknowledging that this price is only temporary, and will go up as the price of raw materials and shipping costs skyrocket.

Click here to head over to Bikesport and read the lengthy article