Bike Check: Renny’s Felt Brougham
Last week we showed you Rachel’s mint green Felt Brougham, which she’s been riding around town for the last couple months. As part of that, we mention’s the steel frame and fork on the Brougham was built tough enough to stand up to more than a fair amount of abuse. But every review says that, right? We have proof. Renny’s been riding an earlier version of Felt’s Brougham around for over three years now, and while it’s definitely showing signs of wear it’s still going strong and running smooth.
While Rachel’s Brougham is still shiny and new, Renny’s adapted his to be a bit more functional. Most obvious is the sizable Wald front basket, the ‘grocery basket.’ Made in America steel frame, the Wald rack is tough as all get out, and comes with a nice little elastic netting to keep whatever weird things you decide you need to carry around town. And Renny’s definitely pushed the limits of what can/should be carried in a rack. Plus, check out the seriously tough mounting hardware for this thing.
Smaller details on Renny’s version of the Felt include made in Toronto, insanely tough fabric toe straps from YNOT, which nicely match the red cable housing on the Brougham. CanCon for the win. The YNOT straps are attached to Fyxation pedals, which are decidedly less harsh and more shoe friendly than full DH flats. Renny’s also thrown one of White Industries insanely smooth freewhees on the Brougham. White Industries are all made in America and, while not cheap, are very smooth and quite tough too.
Felt’s Brougham cuts a rather familiar profile – very straightforward classic geometry
YNOT’s very, very durable fabric toe straps hold Renny’s feet onto Fyxation flat pedals
Singlespeed drivetrains leave little to go wrong, and put up with endless amounts of abuse
Like this poor White Industries freewheel – looking neglected, but still spins smooth as butter
FSA V-Drive flat bars, and some fancy red cable housing to match the YNOT straps
Lock-on Grips, and a minimal brake lever from tektro
Red cable housing, Felt’s removable cable clip, and Renny’s edited version of YNOT …
Felt got fancy with the Brougham’s rivited leather saddle
Tektro’s tough looking brakes have survived quite a bit of abuse
As Renny’s around town bike, the Brougham’s set up with a rack large enough to carry whatever he wants
The Wald ‘Grocery Basket’ is built tough to live up it’s purpose, with very sturdy looking supports
And the steel fork’s on Felt’s Brougham are built tough to match
The Wald ‘Grocery Rack’ is built from stainless steel, and super tough
And has impressively tough looking mounting clasps to match
This isn’t the deepest basket Wald makes, but it still looks like it can carry quite a bit of stuff
And elastic netting to hold things in place, the Wald rack will carry whatever you want
Vittoria Randonneur – literally designed with mileage in mind. And an unnecessarily long valve stem
