Carrera Virtuoso

Stormtrooper

Any one had any use of a Carrera virtuoso as i am thinking of getting one for a commuting and training bike so that i can keep my new Wilier lampre evasion for dry use only and before anyone says anything about Halfords i aint bothered as i'll be doing the servicing myself. All i'm after is peoples views on the bike and if they have had any problems with them thanks in advance.

redddraggon

Nice bike.

Although mine is far from from stock now though, it's pretty solid.

tonyw43

Not sure if it helps, but I have the Valour with a couple of mods (Tiagra front mech, Chainset, Pro Race Saddle). Solid bike, well built and value for money. Not overly bothered about the Halfords effect,as my first bike came from there (a Malboro Medalian in about 1984), and as you say, do all my own maintenance, servicing etc, Had no probs with the bike at all.

ras_undy

Also have a Valour, seems solid, although I will be changeing the fornt mech as well. The standard one wouldn't stay in adjustment.

Stormtrooper

thanks for your replies atleast i know a few people now that have them have got a bit of confidence in the bike. Looks like i'll be going out to my local halfords this afternoon for a quick test ride.

alfablue

Stormtrooper wrote:

thanks for your replies atleast i know a few people now that have them have got a bit of confidence in the bike. Looks like i'll be going out to my local halfords this afternoon for a quick test ride.

I will be interested to hear if they allow you a genuine test ride, when I've been in they will only allow the bikes to be ridden (!!!) in the shop, and then not on a properly assembled bike! Maybe its just the stores round here. I think they're usual approach is to say buy the bike and bring it back if you don't like it, no idea if they would refund you without question though.

The last bike I bought there (a Carrera Gryphon) I bought in its box, it was for a friend and was a no brainer given the bargain price, but a test ride would have been appreciated.

Stormtrooper

Well i went down there and even though the bike was marked up as a medium and the last one there it was to small i didnt even try to sit on it, and all i had off the salesman was if you put the seat up it should be fine and fit you ok :? so i walked away and left it there.

But on the way home i poped into the lbs just incase they had something there for the price i wanted to spend on a hack bike, and they did a dawes 2007 giro 300 knocked down from £320 to £230 tried in the shop seemed ok went for a quick spin and all was fine so went home got changed into my biking gear got droped back off at the shop and 18 miles later its sitting in my shed all nice and dry after a good toweling down.

So even if you want a cheep bike its still worth trying the local shop even though they normally have top end expensive stuff there.
Happy days

Home:Ballyhoura

Carrera Virtuoso For Sale, €290 (Limerick, Ireland)

cifcdano

Thread revival :shock: A couple of questions if anyone can help

Looking for an entry level road bike and must use Halfords through my employers C2W scheme, the Carrera Virtuoso appears to be my best choice but i'm a bit worried that at 6.1 the large frame will not be big enough, has anyone on here of similar size got one and what is your experience of it?

Also i have read the review of the 09 bike on Bike Radar, the bike shown is a blue/black colour scheme where the bike i saw in Halfords was red, is the colour the only difference between the 09/09 models or has the spec been changed/updated?

I have checked the Halfords website but so far the 09 model is not listed.

Also if anyone thinks i should consider another bike please feel free to comment but please remember i must use Halfords and want to stick to around the £350 mark.

sturmey

The blue black is the '09 current model.Red one is last year's.
I had a blue/black one in large. I am 6' tall with 34" inside leg. I had to replace the seatpost with a longer one as the standard one would not have had enough insertion at the height I wanted it. The bars were a touch low and I flipped the stem.
The bike does not have carbon forks and ride is a bit harsh.
I had the bike from new but sold it after a couple of months for something better. The gearing was a bit agricultural and front shifting in particular was never first class.
It is a solid bike and would make a good commuter as it takes mudguards but I used it as a training bike and found I could go faster on my old steelie.
Mine was discounted down to £225 as it was ex display. Don't know what theyre selling them for at the moment but you don't want to be paying list price.
Personally I would say get a bike with a carbon fork. You will notice in the red example shown above this is one of the mods that has been done.That would cost nearly £100 to do in which case you might be in the market for something like a Specialized Allez instead or one of the cheaper Giants which already have the carbon fork and probably better quality gearing.

Surely Halfords still allow you to buy a bike through them from another source if it's on C2W scheme?

cifcdano

Thanks for the reply Sturmey

Halfords have the red 08 model listed at £319. I have looked at the Specialized Allez but while i'm sure it's a good bike at £499 it's a bit more than i'm willing to pay as this will be my first road bike and there's a chance i may not get along with it.

I've read a couple of favourable reviews of the Virtuoso and it seems a good starting point for me, i guess the only thing left to do is to bite the bullet and go get one.

This will be my 2nd bike through the C2W scheme and Halfords sourced my previous bike (Felt QX80), so i am aware they can obtain almost anything you want, i previously asked if they could get Pinnacle bikes but i guess because of the connection to Evans they are unable to do so.

chinkster

i've had a virtuoso for 8 years and its been reliable. done about 6000 miles and had to change rear cassette/chain and brake blocks only. The bike is majorly uncomfortable compared to my trek 1.5 tho

freehub

chinkster wrote:

i've had a virtuoso for 8 years and its been reliable. done about 6000 miles and had to change rear cassette/chain and brake blocks only. The bike is majorly uncomfortable compared to my trek 1.5 tho

I'd say that's down to it not fitting you properly or something like a saddle not suiting you, I've got a virtuoso as my commuter bike and the only reason I find it abit crap sometimes is the saddle, gives me cramp or something round the inside of my legs, if I use a decent saddle it's good.