Carrera Vanquish or Virtuoso

shaun71

Hi
Please humour me.
I am looking at giving road cycling a go.
I'm 42 years young and haven't had a "racer" since I was about 11.
I got into running a couple of years ago but keep getting injuries so I thought I'd try cycling.
I have no idea whether I'm going to take to it or not so I do not want to spend an awful lot of money.
I am in a "cycle to work scheme" at work and have decided to purchase a bike and associated equipment through this scheme as it will save me some dosh.
I have to use Halfords under the scheme, and have narrowed my choice down to 2 bikes - both Carreras - the £379 Virtuoso and the £499 Vanquish.
I've read that some people don't rate Halfords, but the chap I spoke to in the Scunthorpe branch was amazing. Owning several bikes himself, he was extremely helpful.
I'm kind of getting the opinion that the cheaper Virtuoso will be fine for short flat journeys, but for anything longer / more undulating, the Vanquish would be better.
So here I am with a choice to make. I don't have a lot of money, and I am quickly realising there is an awful lot to consider. Does anyone out there have either of these bikes? What do you think to them? Does anyone have an opinion on which to get?
I would really appreciate your thoughts,
Kind regards
Shaun

veterangaz

There will be far more experience cyclist to comment then me but for my 2cents worth:-

With the cycle to work scheme stores other than Halfords do it so may be worth looking at cyclesuk as wellif there is a branch near you. Do you mean the cost of a £499 after the discount is your limit, if not can you look at bikes worth over £600 and pay around £400 through the scheme?

I had the Virtuoso and paid £300, the prices go up and down at Halfords so may be worth waiting till they drop again, if you can, if money is a bit tight. I had no problems with it, it was my first bike though like you after being out of cycling for a while. You will need to clean it most days after a poor weather commute. Mine got stolen after a year so can't comment on its long term use!

Don't bother buying accesories from Halfords, even with the cycle scheme discount you will get better quality lights, clothing etc through good websites like Wiggle IMO. My lights from Halfords broke after a few months, my cheaper lights from wiggle/chainreaction were cheaper, brighter and last longer.

Don't know anything about the Vanquish but again it may come down in price in next month or so. I doubt it will make a long journey much more enjoyable though, to notice a real difference to the virtuoso you would want to be looking at the £600 plus range at stores other than Halfords but still do the cycle to work scheme IMO rather than going for the Vanquish just because it costs slightly more there.

keef66

No direct experience of either but the Vanquish is a bit lighter (alloy fork vs steel on the Virtuoso).
It also has a better 9 speed groupset (Sora shifters, front and rear mech) vs the 8 speed 2300 stuff on the Virtuoso.
And the wheels on the Vanquish are probably going to be better too.

Whether you think it's worth the extra money, only you can say.

If I was in the same situation I'd consider forgetting the cycle to work scheme and get a BTwin Triban 5 from Decathlon.

You get an alloy frame with carbon fork, and a full 9 speed Sora groupset (shifters, triple chainset, front / rear derailleurs and brake calipers). Also there's a lifetime warranty on the frame and forks. All for £430

night_porter

Although they were the both the previous model I have owned the Vanquish and the Virtuoso. I have ridden them both on 100 mile rides and they both took mudguards and a rack so were used for commuting in fact I still own one and it has done over 25,000 miles. They are very good bikes and are made for Halfords by Merida (2nd largest manufacturer in the world).

Buy the one that suits your budget and enjoy your riding.

shaun71

Many thanks folks. Much appreciated. Night_porter, I've had it suggested by a couple of people that the superior gearing system on the Vanquish will make life much easier on hills. Would you agree?
Kind regards
Shaun

keef66

As far as I can tell they both have the same 50/34 chainset but the vanquish has a 9 speed 12-26 cassette vs the 8 speed 12-25 on the Virtuoso.

So you have one slightly lower gear for the hills

zx6man

Vanquish still available?

goonz

Thought about a Decathlon Triban bike instead for very similar money?

goonz

Out of the 2 I would go for the Vanquish as it sounds like an Aston Martin.

night_porter

goonz wrote:

Out of the 2 I would go for the Vanquish as it sounds like an Aston Martin.

This is the best reason to buy any bike

The main difference would be steel forks on the Virtuoso and carbon ones on the Vanquish but both materials absorb road buzz and carbon is probably a little lighter.

As I said before go with the one you are most comfortable with the price of as you will enjoy riding both equally.

ManOfKent

I had a Vanquish (2010ish model) from a similar scheme and in the few weeks between collecting it and having it stolen, I couldn't find much fault with it, for the price. A mate of mine has put a few hundred miles on his with no problems at all. A guy in my club has a Virtuoso and it doesn't look as nice but seems to run OK.

Slo Mo Jones

If money is tight, get the cheaper one.

You'll never be short of peripherals you'll need to spend money on. If you're still at it in 2 years, treat yourself to a new bike.

andygo

I was in the same position as you a few years ago....and bought a virtuoso.

It wasn't a bad bike a did a job...but i've upgraded since (I crashed it last year).

In hindsight I'd have bought a different bike....some thoughts for you to consider.....

* The first thing i had to do was put on a stem raiser to get the handlebars higher. Even though the bike was (on paper) the correct size for me - I found the handlebars were too low and you can't raise them on race bikes these days...(this was news to me....like you I was brought up on a racer - but it had the old fashioned quill stem to adjust height). The only way of increasing handlebar height on new a-head stems - is to get a stem raiser or a adjustable stem (or buy a completely new fork!)

* I had to change the gearing. Mine had a 52/42 front chainring and 11-23 cassette....I couldn't get up any hills so had to change to a 50/34 front and 11-28 cassette. Luckily the rear derailleur could cope with the larger cassette - but only just....it could have been more expensive..

* My Carrera (yellow) didn't have clearance for full mudguards so I had to bodge a set on - you can also get crudcatchers and various other types of mudguards but they can rattle around and aren't as effective as a proper mudguard.

* Mine came with 23c tyres....which were fine but you could feel every pothole in the road and I got quite a few pinch punctures....I now run 32c and there much more comfortable....and to be honest don't seem much slower.

The Carrera has a lot of positives - once the handlebar height was sorted it was pretty comfortable and the cheap sora kit worked great - I still use it on my new bike. It was also pretty light.

In hindsight I'd have bought a Kona Dew or a Boardman hybrid as both have with disc brakes and better gearing for me....but you really need to think about what you're using the bike for, what type of journey, hills, off road, tow path etc and make a choice from there....I wouldn't narrow it down to just two bikes in Halfords.....though while you're there it have a look at the Boardmans.
I'd also consider going used.....as chances are you'll probably want to upgrade to something else in a few years. I got mine for £150 from someone who only used it 3 times so it was almost new anyway..

Good luck whatever you get

Andy

night_porter

The yellow bike you are talking about is a Carrera TDF which is a totaly different bike than the 2 that the OP is speaking about so the problems you had are not really relevant. The TDF is more race orientated hence the bar drop and higher geared chainset and these 2 are more Sportive/touring type bikes with relaxed geometry and fittings for racks and mudguards.

Also I am not sure the Halfords bike to work scheme covers used bikes and as the OP says he has to use Halfords.

Boardman bikes are also built by Merida so in my opinion they are well made but of course the higher spec parts mean higher prices and the OP is trying to limit his expenditure because he is unsure of his long term commitment to the sport of cycling.

shaun71

Thank you so much for all your comments. What a great site / forum. Only joined today, so much appreciated folks.

shaun71

Just to put the tin lid on this, here is a brief summary of both specs:

Virtuoso - Alloy frame, Chromoly forks, Shimano 2300 16 speed STI trigger shifters, double wall alloy rims on alloy QR hubs
Vanquish - Alloy frame, full alloy forks, Shimano Sora 2x9 18 speed gearing, FSA tempo compact chainset, Mavic CXP-22 double wall alloy rims. 0.3kg lighter than Virtuoso.
Thanks :-)

zx6man

night_porter wrote:

The yellow bike you are talking about is a Carrera TDF which is a totaly different bike than the 2 that the OP is speaking about so the problems you had are not really relevant. The TDF is more race orientated hence the bar drop and higher geared chainset and these 2 are more Sportive/touring type bikes with relaxed geometry and fittings for racks and mudguards.

Also I am not sure the Halfords bike to work scheme covers used bikes and as the OP says he has to use Halfords.

Boardman bikes are also built by Merida so in my opinion they are well made but of course the higher spec parts mean higher prices and the OP is trying to limit his expenditure because he is unsure of his long term commitment to the sport of cycling.

My TDF has the same frame as the virtuoso, and has fittings for racks and mudguards

lancew

With the boardman bikes on special I'd personally recommend a Boardman Road Race (from halfords so you can use your Ride to Work Scheme). Its £20 more and has a carbon fork and is generally a very good bike.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_289005

andygo

night_porter wrote:

The yellow bike you are talking about is a Carrera TDF which is a totaly different bike than the 2 that the OP is speaking about so the problems you had are not really relevant.

Really, what's this then?


(The Alex rim front wheel stayed impressively true even after that shunt btw)

Also I am not sure the Halfords bike to work scheme covers used bikes

Genius...there are no flies on you :roll:

The OP asked for advice on bikes, I'm sure he doesn't need you to try and patronise those who take the time to reply.

At least you've said one sensible thing -

enjoy your riding

montyburns56

For the same price as the Vanquish you can get a Boardman Road Sport. The components aren't quite as good as on the Vanquish, but the frame is much better.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165710

Edit: Actually I've just looked on the Halfords website and it looks like they have stopped selling the Vanquish!

zx6man

I think the only time to get the tdf/virtuoso is when they do them in the sales, my tdf was 265.