2015 FELT RED WOLFE CRUISER - FULL REVIEW

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Rat Rod

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In 2014 Felt released promo photos of their latest cruiser offering which included a special limited edition bike called "The Red Wolfe." Most of you know that Mike Wolfe of the History Channel's hit show American Pickers is a huge bicycle enthusiast. Mike owned his own bike shop for many years and has been a serious collector of bicycles most of his life. Mike contacted the folks at Felt to help him create an Antique Archeology (his company) themed cruiser because he was familiar with their bicycles and level of detail and quality.

I spoke with Doug Martin, Felt's Sports Marketing Director about the bike and he said that Mike was very involved in every aspect of the design process. They went through several design options and finally settled on the bike below. Doug said that Mike was very specific about the way he wanted the bike to turn out and the collaboration process was a great experience.

I received this particular bike from Dan Koenig at Ichi Bike in Des Moines, Iowa. It's sort of an ironic twist that the bike would come from the birthplace of Antique Archeology. Dan has an incredibly cool bike shop housed in an old building in Des Moines. His main focus is building custom vintage bikes for customers, but he's also a Felt dealer among other brands.

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If you've ever been around a Felt cruiser then you know the level of quality that goes into their bicycles. Some people balk at the higher price range for a cruiser bike, but until you see one in person, it's hard to understand why the price tag is what it is. One specific difference is that these bikes are just larger than the average Walmart cruiser. They are designed for adult riders and the riding geometry is quite nice as well. Everything about their luxury cruiser line is just stout and well built. The paint scheme on this particular bike is beautiful with the classic scallop scheme that screams vintage racer.

This is a steel frame bike with 26" x 2.125" wheels and a Shimano Nexus 3 speed internally geared coaster brake hub. It sports a triple tree threadless fork out front with a functional rack in the rear.

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One really nice touch is the embossed Antique Archeology logo on the leather spring saddle. It gives the seat that nice custom touch that is reminiscent of an old Indian style saddle. The embossed silver rivets also add to the nostalgic feel.

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I took the bike to old downtown McKinney, TX for the photo shoot and it seemed to be right at home among the old buildings and shops. As I wheeled the bike from location to location I got several compliments on how nice it looked. Most folks don't know anything about bicycles (new or old), but it's hard not to notice one like this. I did happen to run into a fellow forum member who was downtown with friends eating at a restaurant. He saw me rolling it down the sidewalk and came out to see if I had any connection with the forum.

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As of now I haven't been able to nail down any exact numbers on production. Each bike comes with a numbered plate behind the bottom bracket complete with Mike Wolfe's signature. If you like the bike and are interested in acquiring one, you may want to contact your local Felt dealer to secure one soon.

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A quick walk around video...




You can check out Felt's full line of 3 speed cruisers, including The Red Wolfe here.
 
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There has only been one release of this bike....the 2015 model. ;)
I recall a thread about this or something similar earlier, prototype maybe?
 
I did happen to run into a fellow forum member who was downtown with friends eating at a restaurant. He saw me rolling it down the sidewalk and came out to see if I had any connection with the forum.

I can imagine how this went.
"Hey cool bike, you ought to check out this great site called Rat Rod Bikes. Have you ever heard of it?"​
 
I spoke with Doug Martin, Felt's Sports Marketing Director about the bike and he said that Mike was very involved in every aspect of the design process. They went through several design options and finally settled on the bike below. Doug said that Mike was very specific about the way he wanted the bike to turn out and the collaboration process was a great experience.

......
You can check out Felt's full line of 3 speed cruisers, including The Red Wolfe here.

:21::21: Yeah, and if you do check out Felt's full line of 3 speed cruisers, you can imagine just how involved Mike was in "every aspect of the design process". He was probably like "Just give me an MP in red, with a rack." It couldn't have been a very in-depth collaboration, being that it has the same frame, fork, stem, bars, cranks, sprockets, wheels, and various small parts as the MP. I guess the saddle shown on the Felt site has a bigger loop in the rear springs...but Steve's bike seems to be sportin' the same saddle that the MP has. The frame, of course, is shared by several Felt models, and that makes sense, but I reckon they could've gotten a bit more creative from there. This thing is hardly a "limited edition" customised theme bike; it's just another Felt, with a two-tone paint job and all the same run-of-the-mill parts that other Felts have.

All that nit-picking aside, it does look really nice, if you're into that kind of thing.
 
Did you wax or polish it before you took the pictures?
If not, that's a pretty darn good factory finish, especially for red and black!

No waxing or polishing....just dusted it off with a dry towel after assembly. :)

I was telling Doug at Felt there needed to be a v2.0 that had a matte finish, faux patina, a springer fork and 24" x 3" wheels. Perhaps it could be called "The Rusty Wolfe."
 
I was telling Doug at Felt there needed to be a v2.0 that had a matte finish, faux patina, a springer fork and 24" x 3" wheels. Perhaps it could be called "The Rusty Wolfe."
If they would send me one, I could make that happen!:D
 

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