Carrera bikes - any good?!

cyclingpunk

I have a Vanquish and it turned out being better than I thought. It has Tiagra/105 Groupset which was unheard of the for £££ I paid. The frame is not too bad but is a bit on the heavy side. I use mine for commuting and winter riding.

If you can stretch to a Vanquish it may be a better investment. I picked up a year old model brand new for £300.

cbatten565

all i can say is that Halfords "aint got a clue" and they are rubbish!!

cyclingpunk

Some Halfords staff are a little 'slow' but you just need to judge that in you local branch.

jd72kingmerckx

Yes halfords are rubbish but you cannot fault the carrera bike range.At the end of the day you get what you pay for,I bought my vanquish for 420 quid in january ok for shimano groupset and truvativ crank. As Lance wrote "its not about the bike",I have to laugh at the amount of snobbery in cycling we should all be glad others are enjoying the pleasures of riding no matter what steed they choose. I always have a smile on my face as I pass others on their £1500 carbon bells and whistles tootling away at 13mph.

brownbosh

£460 for sott speedster s60 with truvativ and shimano mix plus carbon addict fork and its one of the lightest alu frames youll find 1200g. Its the same frame they put on the £1300 s10 and perishables can be upgraded.
Much rather ride a great fram like that than heavy chunk of off cut that you get from carrera and halfrauds.

redddraggon

jd72kingmerckx wrote:

As Lance wrote "its not about the bike"

.......it's about how good your doctor is.......

jd72kingmerckx

A bad workman always blames his tools

STEFANOS4784

redddraggon wrote:

jd72kingmerckx wrote:

As Lance wrote "its not about the bike"

.......it's about how good your doctor is.......

lol, all joking/drug mis-use aside though, put him on a bmx for next years TDF then we'll see how little the bike counts :P

jd72kingmerckx

To be honest he would proabably still finish higher than David Millar on my old raleigh record.lol

jd72kingmerckx

Stanley222 wrote:

Hi all

Have any of you had any delaings with a Carrera TDF or Carrera Valour please?!

Just wondered if they were any good!!!

Thanks

Apologies I think were getting away from the original subject.It all depends on your budget,some would rather go for a better name and buy secondhand but its a personal choice the bike will go as fast as you can pedal.

Beeblebrox

I paid £330 for a Carrera Valour '07 and would recommend it as a starting bike. It is fairly heavy and I've had one or two problems with it, but nothing that Halfords haven't dealt with well (I'm fortunate int hat they aren't proper Halford monkeys)

But if your budget is strictly ~£300 then there's not much choice. Although my friends brother did get a rather nice Giant for £350 (I forget the model).

fuzzynavel

Stanley222 wrote:

Thanks all

Budget isn't really an issue - a work colleague was bought an 08 Carrera Valour for his birthday and he doesn't ride road bikes!
It has genuinely only done 150 miles maximum and it's mine for £200 if I want it!!!

Wasn't sure if they were any good or whether I should keep my money for something better!

For £200 you can't really go too wrong. It will do everything that you would want from a road bike and for better options you will have to p[ay a lot more than the £200.

sicknote

I have seen a 07 vanquish in one of my local Halfords and for the extra money, I think it might be a better buy if you can find one in your size.

I have just got back to riding after a 10 year break and loving it but am looking at getting a road bike.

Beeblebrox

fuzzynavel wrote:

Stanley222 wrote:

Thanks all

Budget isn't really an issue - a work colleague was bought an 08 Carrera Valour for his birthday and he doesn't ride road bikes!
It has genuinely only done 150 miles maximum and it's mine for £200 if I want it!!!

Wasn't sure if they were any good or whether I should keep my money for something better!

For £200 you can't really go too wrong. It will do everything that you would want from a road bike and for better options you will have to p[ay a lot more than the £200.

Seconded. Would make a splendid winter bike if nothing else.

tonyw43

I've got the 2006 Valour (bought late on in 2006, just as the 2007's were coming out so saved a packet), and it is really a good bike. People say the frame is heavy, it's not that heavy. True it's no carbon lightweight, but then your not paying the money for that. The groupset that was on mine was Tiagra rear, Sora front with Sora shifters and Sram cassette, tektro brakes. As a starting point, it's a good bike. As a mid point it's a good bike. A couple of colleagues have gone all out with five and a half grand bikes with all the bells and whistles, and can't understand why it isn't a flying machine. That would be because the engine is garbage (i.e. them). All I have done to mine is to convert it to a full Tiagra groupset, with a couple of cassette options, and changed the bar tape over to Deda. Oh and changed the saddle, but that, like everyone is a personal thing. Will be changing the tyres shortly, but that is just for looks, to match the blue bar tape, and the blue in the saddle. Basically, for your £200, you can't go wrong, and that's from someone who actually rides a Carrera.