At the heart of Felt is a genuine love of speed. The man behind the name, Jim Felt, made a name for himself in motocross as one of the ace mechanics for Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha. It was in supporting one of the stars of motocross, Johnny O'Mara—“The O-Show”—that Felt built his first frame, a time trial/triathlon frame for O'Mara. Felt's first successes in cycling came before he had a name for his company.

Felt's European President, Michael Müllmann, is the owner of Sport Import, a powerful importer and distributor in Europe. Müllmann studied management and economics while in college, and in the years since has developed expertise in international business, organization and financing. In 1980, while in school, he started a bike shop to help finance his education. That's right, instead of working at a bike shop to make money, he started one. Dissatisfied with the lines he carried in his shop and looking for strong BMX lines, he started his own import and distribution company two years later and began bringing some of the first production mountain bikes into Germany in 1984.