Winter bike upgrades: Carrera TDF Ltd

EarlofBarnet

Not sure if there will be much interest in this, but thought I'd stick up a post up anyway.

So weather starts to get colder and wetter in September 2013 and I started looking at a road bike I could use over the winter. I was initially looking at low end Specialized Allez bikes, but even then was looking at £450 ish. So, what was available cheaper... Halfords were selling their Carrera TDF Ltd bikes off for £250. That'll do me!

So here it is when I picked it up and had stuck some mudguards on it:



This took me through most of winter. Yeh the gear weren't ideal for the lakes (52/42 up front and 11-26 on the back) and it's heavy, but it done it's job and didn't grumble. Wheels stayed true, no punctures, couldn't fault it.

Early 2014 and I started looking at making a few small changes to it, having become a little impressed by how it had lasted. First step was to stick some carbon forks on it to replace the steel originals. EBay came up some Time/Cannondale forks and on they went (and the bike lost just over 500g in the process):





Doesn't look too bad if I do say so myself!

I then picked up a second-hand FSA compact chainset which came with 50/36 rings and a spare 34 too. This made the hills a bit easier!

I then spotted that the same frame and (original) forks had sold on ebay for a decent amount and started wondering about a frame swap. So again ebay came up with a Canyon Roadlite frame with matching forks:



The frame and forks saved 2.33lbs off the original Carrera ones. Bit of a swap over with the addition of a few other little bits I had from a previous bike and I now have this:





Spec:
Frame & Forks - 2012 Canyon Roadlite
Groupset - Shimano Claris 8sp with Sora front mech
Wheels - Mavic Askium
Tyres - Michelin Enduro Pro4

Weight wise it's gone from around 12.8Kg down to 9.5Kg for not a great deal of money. I'll be riding this as is for a few months until I'm in a bit better of a situation with money and then may end up buying a 105 groupset for it, or even look at buying a new bike (Specialized Tarmac or similar).

italian_job

I did something very similar,bought one new for £250,put mudguards on it,used it to commute over winter then sold it recently for exactly what i paid for it,for the money i thought it was a likeable thing,it did exactly what it was intended to do.I like your new machine,its enjoyable making things your own isnt it?

Cheers Paul.

Hals1967

I do like the look of that Canyon !

navrig2

It's a bit like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUl6PooveJE

EarlofBarnet

Thanks for the comments

I think the Canyon will get upgraded over summer and eventually the Carrera will end up back in one piece ready for it's second winter. Will have to get some better pictures up of the Canyon when it's not chucking it down.

Ben6899

Navrig2 wrote:

It's a bit like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUl6PooveJE

Beat me to it. BUT... good work, OP!