carrera subway2

little wiser

anyone got one off these or any experience with them?

DonDaddyD

My mate has one. Recommended it because he was on a £200 budget (well £150 but I got him to spend £50 more and get a decent bike instead of something called Amaco - I think).

Solid performer for the price, can't complain for the price. Relatively light too!

If you can go to £300 I'd consider a Giant M2 though.

Matt_westmids

Giant M2 is the bike I'm thinking of cheapest I can find it though is £325 with free gifts.

http://s233299868.e-shop.info/shop/arti ... (free-gift).html

DonDaddyD

Great bike. Ridgeback's in the same vain are good to and without disc brakes, lower in price.

itboffin

I got my Storm for £211 - don't ask how :shock: :shock: :shock:

Matt_westmids

i've heard good things about the Carrera 2 looks a bit of a bargain to me.

But I've heard the tyres arent the best.

TheBoyBilly

A couple of lads at work purchased Carrera 2s on the Cycle2Work scheme. For commuting around Crawley to Gatwick Airport they have proved solid bikes in all weathers. No problems so far in nearly a year.

cyberknight

I have a subway 1 that i use for my 10 mile commute, basically the same bike without disc brakes or the mudgaurds and pannier set .

After adding the gaurds and panniers it is a good solid bike , i bit undergeared maybe but fine if like me your carrying a lot of stuff.I found the tyres have a lot of rolling resistance so when i get some cash i will be looking at getting some replacements maybe 26x 1.25 in a marathon + or similar .

If your doing some serious distance i would have maybe looked at a road frame hybrid personally i find with the smaller wheels and tyres on this bike its hard work , heck i was out for a spin sunday and roadie came up along side for a chat on the down hill he was coasting and i had to pedal ( see what i mean about the rolling resistance :? )

Solid bike for its price though, and its £299 at halfords not £200 , i look at halfords purely as i got mine on cycle 2 work and we were limited to that shop , i wouldnt get a bike form there by choice ....................

Matt_westmids

cyberknight wrote:

I have a subway 1 that i use for my 10 mile commute, basically the same bike without disc brakes or the mudgaurds and pannier set .

After adding the gaurds and panniers it is a good solid bike , i bit undergeared maybe but fine if like me your carrying a lot of stuff.I found the tyres have a lot of rolling resistance so when i get some cash i will be looking at getting some replacements maybe 26x 1.25 in a marathon + or similar .

If your doing some serious distance i would have maybe looked at a road frame hybrid personally i find with the smaller wheels and tyres on this bike its hard work , heck i was out for a spin sunday and roadie came up along side for a chat on the down hill he was coasting and i had to pedal ( see what i mean about the rolling resistance :? )

Solid bike for its price though, and its £299 at halfords not £200 , i look at halfords purely as i got mine on cycle 2 work and we were limited to that shop , i wouldnt get a bike form there by choice ....................

The Subway 2 doesn't come with mudguards or panniers either I don't think. The Subway 8 does have midguards though.

The Subway 2 has disc brakes and something else I think over the one 1.

I think this is right anyway. :?

cyberknight

Oops i stand corrected

I bow to superior Knowledge ......

yea disc brakes and a 8 speed ring rather than a 7


I was thinking of the subway 8

Matt_westmids

cyberknight wrote:

Oops i stand corrected

I bow to superior Knowledge ......

yea disc brakes and a 8 speed ring rather than a 7


I was thinking of the subway 8

No superior knowledge here mate lol I had just been to Halfords looking at them that's all.

Subway one also has grip shift gears where as the 2 has something else better i presume though.

cyberknight

Just an update changed the tyres today for some Schwalbe City Jet Tyre 26X1.5

Will keep you updated but they have very good reviews and only cost me a £10 each from LBS

little wiser

well being as my commute stead died i brought a subway 2 just seemed a good idea not to ruin road bike or mtb (even though i didnt have money the joy off credit lol),any way had a good look at the subway 1 £220 and subway2 £300 for your extra £80 you get disc brakes,normal shifters,8 speed cassete and double butted spokes.
I also got the nice man in halfords to knock £20 quid off, if i used that to get other stuff which i did on a buy one get one half price .
Any way first ride on it today first impressions are very good agree with other people little under geared, needs better tyres (let me know how you get on with your new ones),brakes a pig to set up (i took it boxed!!!!!).
Instead of coming home and getting road bike for training ride i went out on subway round the lanes for 20 miles something different and enjoyable.
I will keep you up dated if any one is interested? :shock:

Matt_westmids

little wiser wrote:

well being as my commute stead died i brought a subway 2 just seemed a good idea not to ruin road bike or mtb (even though i didnt have money the joy off credit lol),any way had a good look at the subway 1 £220 and subway2 £300 for your extra £80 you get disc brakes,normal shifters,8 speed cassete and double butted spokes.
I also got the nice man in halfords to knock £20 quid off, if i used that to get other stuff which i did on a buy one get one half price .
Any way first ride on it today first impressions are very good agree with other people little under geared, needs better tyres (let me know how you get on with your new ones),brakes a pig to set up (i took it boxed!!!!!).
Instead of coming home and getting road bike for training ride i went out on subway round the lanes for 20 miles something different and enjoyable.
I will keep you up dated if any one is interested? :shock:

Sounds good how did you get him to knock £20 off?

little wiser

Just asked . I know halfords get a bad rep but my local one has a bloke in there who is a good bloke so far! (dont think i would let em build bike just cus i would go over it myself anyway, used to be my job ).
He said he would knock twenty quid off if i spent that £20 on other stuff so brought some stuff on buy one get one half price which took a little haggling but i love doing that anyway .

Matt_westmids

little wiser wrote:

Just asked . I know halfords get a bad rep but my local one has a bloke in there who is a good bloke so far! (dont think i would let em build bike just cus i would go over it myself anyway, used to be my job ).
He said he would knock twenty quid off if i spent that £20 on other stuff so brought some stuff on buy one get one half price which took a little haggling but i love doing that anyway .

Cool well played.

Matt_westmids

Anyone have any more opinions?

asffraser

hi itboffin

would you recomend the storm, im looking at the 09 model at evans, is it a fast commute? it is £400.

big al

Portrush Philly

I have the Subway 2, bought 6 months ago from Halfords, been using it for about 110 miles per week for that time on my commute. My honest review is as follows, quick summary - good for the money (£260), nice riding position if you are coming from a MTB background. Expect to upgrade all the components except frame, forks, stem, bars headset and seatpost & saddle. No mudguards so budget that in. Reliable, starts every morning, looks descreet enough to leave outside well padlocked.

More detailed review - initially purchased as I needed something relatively cheap, as I didn't want to commute to work on my 2K Mtb. The bike would be locked up outside in all weathers so again I wanted something that if it got nicked I wouldn't cry for weeks afterwards, the styling is subtle enough that it doesn't attract too much attention. Mine is locked up with 2 x heavy duty locks outside the staff entrance under 2 security cameras and so far has remained there with no signs of tampering.

First purchase was mudguards, essential! I cycled on it all through the winter, -5, wind, rain, snow, hail ice and road salt, the latter took its toll as expected quite quickly. After 2 weeks every bolt, mainly waterbottle, chainring bolts etc developed rust, (the 1st sign of cheap parts) so I suggest replacing these with alu ones if you can, and essential is washing down the bike after every wet/winter ride and lubing all key parts.

Tyres that come with it are kelvar puncture protected, for about 8 weeks they seemed fine, then I had one particulary bad morning with 3 hits on the front and 2 on the back onthe same trip. Closer examination revealed they were riddled with hacks and cuts from glass etc. In my opinion the compound is just too soft for my route anyway so second purchase was a pair of Marathon + tyres, no punctures since (fingers crossed & touching wood)

Next part that failed were the pedals, cheap wellgo flats with no sealing from the elements, I did strip and clean and pack with grease but this was a short term fix and they became noisy as ever. So dumped them and third purchase was a pair of m520 spds (£20).

The wheels on the surface seem ok, my front is still fine, a bit of oxidising around the spoke eyelets but I expected this with the bike spending a lot of time outside. The rear freehub however died after 12 weeks, with a huge amount of play developing, I decided that a new freehub at £20 wasn't worth it. Replaced rear wheel with a spare MTB one I had.

The brakes, cable pull tekros, ok I suppose but not great, they only have a piston on one side so they are not amazingly effective but they will stop you eventually. My pads are done (6 months) and replacing the pads on these is just as expensive as those on hydro brakes at about £25 - £30 for all 4. So i have replaced the brakes completely with a set of Magura Julie Hydros that I picked up for £30 from a MTB classifieds website.

The drivetrain, I knew it was cheap from the outset and didn't have high expectations, but in reality it works, and has been reliable, the Suntour crankset is undergeared though and you quickly run out of gears when you get to about 32mph, my best speed on it with a wind and big hill was 41mph. After the winter riding and effect that has on moving parts everything is knackered, the chain was about to snap, rear cassette and front rings all goosed. So next purchase has been a Deore Chainset with 48t big ring (£44.95) to sort out the gearing issues, new rear 9 speed cassette & chain (£30), also needed to change the shifters to deal with the triple up front and 9 speed rear so a set of sram X7 (£30) there then. Also a new front derraileur. The Sram rear mech has proved faultess although new jockey wheels have been necessary, also new gear cables!

I know it seems like a lot of changes to the original spec and it is, but now its a great bike and runs sweet, the upgrades have made the world of difference but obviously at a cost. However I always expected from the outset that the changes would be necessary. The bike is fine for the money, the frame is solid, but like all things made to a price, compromises are made to bring a bike in for a budget purchase price, i.e. the components, this is true in any price range. Should anyone considering this bike maybe spend a bit more and buy a better spec steed, yes! But if like me you needed something at a cheap price, that met your needs with a view to upgrading anyway, something that I did over time not all in one hit, then this might suit you just fine. As such, its a great bike!

PS. When buying from Halfords do as I did, make sure you buy one thats still boxed, i.e. unassembled by the staff, this way you can ensure you have everything tightened, set up correctly yourself.

Sorry for rambling and thanks for your time having read this.