Virtuoso vs New Virtuoso

usumdelphini

Hi guys, I am a little bit confused. Harlfords sells this Carrera Virtuoso

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65710#tab2

but I got to that page thinking it was a great bike after reading this review:

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/cate ... -09-34691/

Now, it doesn't seem to be the same bike at all. The frame and forks material appear to be different, and I actually do not know if the same good arguments of the review apply to this - completely different - model.

Is it still worth the price?

rolf_f

That'll be because the review is five years old.

I think it is still supposed to be a good bike for the money.

dilatory

I started riding a used Virtuoso in January of this year. It was a 2012 model, it weighs as much as a small family car and came with 53/39 12-25 so has been like a mild form of torture for a brand new roadie. However, it's seen me through 1,500 miles so far, wind, rain and even a bit of sun! The 2300 groupset isn't the best and has taken some TLC to keep running smoothly; but it still is, shifting is fine.

I'd say as an introduction to road bikes you can't really go wrong. It's very easy to get caught up in the snobbery of brands and such but the truth is I don't think I've really ever noticed someones bike when cycling towards/away/past them even.

chatlow

I used to have the 2008 virtuoso and it was a good starter bike, albeit a little on the heavy side.

From what i can tell, the newer virtuoso has slightly better components and a full compact chainset (2008 model has a 36 inner chainring not 34)

If on offer then not a bad bike to get but if i was going to buy i'd look for second hand at that price, a b'twin triban 3 or the mekk bike wiggle were selling for cheap recently..

Rubberducky

+1 on the Mekk Pinerolo. I bought one and its a lovely bike.