2007 FELT DA bike?

I bought a new Felt DA 2007 carbon fiber frame time trial bike. The bike started developing a rattle in the fork from the first day. Took it immediately back to the bike shop as it costed me a bundle of money, they said it seems the fork has a problem, they then instead of replacing the whole frame, replaced the fork, but not with a Felt DA 2007 fork, but with a fork from the FELT DA 2008 model. You can see the difference because the frame of the Felt 2007 model is black and white and the fork of the Felt 2008 model is black and gold. I was not very happy and would have preferred for them to replace the whole Felt DA 2007 but that is what they did. (PS I am from South Africa) to make a long story short the fork is still creaking and making funny noises, I do , I eventually took the bike to a guy who fixes bikes on the side and he told me as the bike and fork is still under guarantee to demand a new Felt DA 2007 model as the fork of the Felt DA 2008 is not compatible with the 2007 model

He said that the fork might snap and then I will propably take a very hard fall. Please advise, is it true that the fork is not compatible and the Bike shop has been lying to me? Should I insist on a new frame for my Felt DA 2007 (because this independant guy also said that I have a hairline crack in my seat post) or do you think I should ask my money back and buy a new bike?

Creaks can come from a number of sources and are often very hard to track down. The area that is creaking may be far from the area from which the sound appears to come from.

Usually, forks are pretty universal. However, the Felt DA has a completely unique fork, headset, etc.

Since replacing the fork didn't fix the issue, I'd go back and have them check the following:

- Integrated headset bearing surfaces. With an integrated headset, the bearing surfaces are actually a part of the head tube of the bike. These surfaces must be within smoothness and trueness specifications for the headset to feel right. Have them check that the surfaces are within specification. If they are not within spec, the frame will probably need to be replaced.

- Headset bearings - If this bike has sealed bearings, remember they can be bad.

- Installation of star fangle nut or whatever this bike uses

- Torque of steering tube cap nut or whatever this bike uses

- Torque of stem bolts on steering tube

- Torque of stem bolts on aero bars

- Clean out all grunge everywhere. Carbon makes a lot of racket when there is any grunge anywhere.

- Internal cable systems can rub and create creaks.

Regarding the cracked seat post, hope it wasn't overtorqued and request another under warranty. You don't want to ride with a bad seatpost. I can tell you from personal experience that they never break at convenient times. As with all carbon products, you must be exceedingly careful about the binder bolt torque. Carbon is utterly unforgiving when a bolt is overtightened. First you get a little tiny hairline crack, then it fails.

Hope this is helpful and gives you something to work on.

okay forks are realitively universal. there would be no difference as far as any compatiblity. they used a 11/8" on both models. it sounds like your dealer is being more honest with you than this other guy. i would return to them and inform them the fork didnt solve the issue. ask them to replace the bike or frame. carbon frames are made of layers of cloth soaked in resin and built up in layers. a flaw anywhere in that process could cause a problem. since the fork didnt fix it, it should be easier to get them to concede a frame problem.

It seems you have a production lemon. Typically forks are made by independent companies. So if you have both a fork and a seat post problem then I would be concerned about the structural stability of the bike. You paid a fortune for the think so the bike shop should be able to send it to Felt for a new bike. I would communicate with Felt too.

Lise, unfortunately I cant help here,,,I am totally blonde in this field