carrera virago 08

iainleverett

hello experts -i am a newcomer to this world and have a big favour to ask

i am doing the etape this summer, and am planning on buying as good as bike as possible under the bikes to work scheme, ie , budget £1,000 from halfords.

i am not an expert in the slightest. however i was expecting a decent aluminium bike. however they seem to have a full carbon bike with ultegra gearing to boot for £1,000.

when i ask people, some say that the carbon must be rubbish at that price and it will be really flexible ie i lose power, others say that carbon is basically always stiffer, lighter and more comfortable so go for it, so long as you don't mind the fact that it may be a bit more likely to die in a crash. this i can certainly live with.

i am therefore confused, and given a total lack of reivews on line (the 2002 version looks a completely different bike) was hoping for some help. anyone got any ideas on whether this virago is supposed to me any good?

meagain

Not on H'fords web site yet -and certainly wasn't one on our local branch yesterday! The 2002 Virago was actually a Merida - and an excellent bike, especially at its price. Won at least one best for a grand award. Sounds as if H again trying to float top stuff under Carrera name (rather than e.g. Boardman). The all-carbon mtb also at a grand looks pretty good!

Whatever the snobbish disparagement of Carreras, H's large volume means can offer top vfm. Main downside is poor resale value. But that is probably true of many of the current crop of "carbon for a grand" bikes!

Lagavulin

Listed on Halfords

I'm pretty certain someone on here has got one. There was a thread entitled "Check Out My Ride" a little while back and I'm sure someone posted a pic of one.

redddraggon

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... e&start=45

dnsmiff wrote:

Just arrived Carrera Virago, got it for £900 (10% off) on the cycle to work scheme (so will cost me in the region of £450 interest free), also got £50 of accessories ontop of the £90 I have with c2w.

Just weighed on bathroom scales - Just under 18 lb and I haven't removed all the reflective stuff yet!

Lagavulin

Good man Red.

meagain

Whoops! Dunnow why I didn't find it!

Looks very nice for the money.

dnsmiff

Please note it is not a compact chainset, so if you ride some pretty steep hills you will be looking to swap for a compact one, I have now got a SRAM Rival 34-53 (comes with a 39-53) on which is much better for where I live. (and my level of fitness!)

Happy so far – when I took it to a LBS to have the chainset replaced they where impressed with the frame – thought it was the Giant at first.

redddraggon

dnsmiff wrote:

Happy so far – when I took it to a LBS to have the chainset replaced they where impressed with the frame – thought it was the Giant at first.

Out of Interest which LBS do you use?

dnsmiff

I took it to Alf Jones (Wrexham). Nice job with the chainset, they had to remove a couple of links in the chain, the shifters were set-up perfectly.

It's a pity I can't use them for the C2W scheme, but I try to use them for bits (and other bikes!) when I can.

iainleverett

thanks dnsmiff, i certainly do intend to get a compact there's no way in a million years i will be doing the etape without that! good to hear it seems to be working out, i'm off ot the shop!

going on a stag do to cardiff this weekend, as a londoner this is a glorious oppo to test out where i am at in the black mountains. first big hill