Felt is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year but, now under new ownership and based in Barcelona, it looks quite different from the bicycle company founded in California by former motorcycle mechanic and triathlete Jim Felt back in 1991.
According to Felt, the Nexar is the flagship of a completely new generation of products planned to hit the market in 2026 and 2027, but it pays tribute to the long-running AR model that was first introduced 18 years ago and was ridden by the Garmin-Slipstream team. In a clever linguistic flourish, Nexar means ‘Next-AR’, neatly designating the next chapter for the brand’s aero performance range.
Felt says the Nexar is “one of the fastest full-aero bikes on the market”, claiming that it is within four watts of the fastest competitor, while reducing drag by five per cent over the previous Felt AR.
As for its weight, Felt lists a very light 6.48kg in the top FRD Dura-Ace specification in size 54. It says at 800 grams, its frame is the lightest of the full-aero category.
The geometry is “modern aero”, based on on a slightly higher stack, shorter reach and designed around shorter cranks. There are seven sizes and Felt’s own lightweight integrated cockpit.
The aerodynamic improvement over the previous AR3.0 was achieved by reducing the frontal area through very slim tube shaping, hiding all cables and creating optimised rider positions that offer less resistance to the wind, says Felt. Increasing stack height sounds counterintuitive, but we’ve been seeing pro riders starting to slide spacers under their stems in order to place forearms flatter in line with the hoods or even slightly sloping upwards to mirror time trial positions.
Felt highlights smooth transitions, hiding all aerodynamic interruptions such as bolts, clamps and other interfaces to keep the airflow clean.
The seatpost is very narrow, with the Di2 battery for Shimano builds positioned under the bottom bracket, and there are more small aero details such as the fairing at the bottom of the right fork leg.
The weight is impressive. There are two layup options, with the top FRD and PRO versions saving a claimed 300 grams over the previous generation AR FRD thanks to the use of higher ratios of T800, T1000 and T1100 fibres with selective use of 30T-40T fibres in key load areas like the head tube, bottom bracket and rear triangle. Felt also credits optimised ply orientation with fewer overlaps and thinner low‐resin plies.
The Expert and Race level frame features a standard layup with T700 and T800 that Felt says is ideal for riders prioritising resilience over low weight. Here there’s a more traditional carbon architecture using slightly thicker plies with more overlap resulting in a weight that Felt claims is roughly 300 grams more than the FRD/PRO frame.
The forward-swept cockpit is quoted as weighing sub-300g, playing a “decisive role in the 6.48kg FRD build".
There’s clearance for 32mm tyres – it comes fitted with 28mm in the stock builds.
The top Felt Nexar FRD, built with Shimano Dura-Ace and carbon-spoked Vision Metron 45 RS wheels (1,290 grams) is priced at £9,899 – competitive for this spec. Here’s the full pricing:
FRD: USD 12,599 (USA) / € 11,399 (EUROPE) / £9,899
PRO: USD 8,899 / € 8,099 / £7,013
EXPERT: USD 6,999 / € 6,299 / £5,454
RACE: USD 5,999 / € 5,399 / £4,675
FRD FRAMEKIT: USD 5,199 / € 4,699 / £4,069
Visit Felt’s website for the full details. We have a Felt Nexar FRD in for review – keep an eye out for our verdict.
