Felt has lifted the curtains on its new NEXAR road bike, touting it as its lightest and fastest aero bike to date, thanks to a completely redesigned frame that tips the scales at a claimed 800 grams, courtesy of Felt’s premium FRD 12K carbon layup, while complete bikes weigh in at as little as 14.2 pounds – depending on the build.
“After years away from the pure aero race category, FELT didn’t come back with an update. We came back with a reset. NEXAR was built from zero — not to chase trends, but to recalibrate what an aero race bike should be in 2026. Performance is not marketing. Performance is a calculation,” says Felt.
Felts says the NEXAR is 5% faster than its predecessor, the AR, with tests yielding an aero quotient that brings it within 4 watts of the fastest competing aer bikes at 40kph.
“Aerodynamics has defined FELT for over 35 years. From Olympic velodromes to Ironman world titles, we’ve refined airflow management through CFD modelling and wind tunnel validation. With NEXAR, the objective was simple: match the fastest aero bikes in the world — without compromising real-world rideability. The result, the NEXAR is within 3.5 watts of the fastest aero platform on the market, along with one of the best aero-to-weight ratios in its category. But numbers only matter if they translate to the road,” says Felt.
How did the NEXAR get there?
According to Felt, it all started with the fuselage, streamlining the width of the head tube, while also optimizing airflow between the top tube and down tube interfaces, while full cockpit integration further improved the NEXAR’s overall aerodynamic signature.
Additionally, revised geometry also played a critical role in developing the NEXAR, wherein a slightly taller stack height and a slightly shorter reach, combined with a steeper seat tube angle and a zero-offset seatpost, allows the rider to strike a better balance between comfort and performance, instead of the usual all-too-aggressive position aero bikes have come to possess.
“Elite aero geometry used to demand elite flexibility. We questioned that. Using anthropometric rider data, NEXAR was engineered to deliver aggressive positioning that can be sustained over hours, not minutes. This is not comfort geometry. This is sustainable race geometry,” explains Felt.
Elsewhere, the NEXAR gets on board with the latest trends of shorter cranks and wider tires, with crank arm lengths limited to just 165mm and 170mm across all seven sizes, while there’s now enough clearance to accommodate tires up to a beefy 32mm.
The NEXAR is available in a number of different builds from Shimano, starting with 105 Di2 up to the top-tier Dura-Ace equipped model, with pricing to be announced.
Here’s how the versions break down:
Felt
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