Carrera Bike but which one?

Matthew.Pengelly
Matthew.Pengelly Posts: 3
edited June 2015 in Road buying advice
Hi all newbie to site, so apologies in advance for stupid questions i may ask........

I am looking for some advice on what Bike i should i buy.

Only reason for looking at Halfords and no other is because i have vouchers for the store.

At first i was looking at Carrera Karkinos Limited Edition Road Bike 2015

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/carrera-karkinos-limited-edition-road-bike-2015

then i decided on one of these two:

1.Carrera Vanquish Road Bike 2015
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/carrera-vanquish-road-bike-2015

2.Carrera TDF Mens Ltd Road Bike
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/carrera-tdf-mens-ltd-road-bike

Apart from the amount of gears i can't see much else in terms of difference - but surely there must be??

I have not owned a road bike for many years in fact the last time i owned one the gear levers where situated to the top bar.

So i'm sure things have massively changed since then.

I'm also looking to match the bike with the following, again thoughts would be good

Shimano R065 Road Shoes
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/clothing/shoes/shimano-r065-road-shoes

Shimano Pedal PDR 550 Black
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/parts/pedals-pegs/shimano-pedal-pdr-550-black

Shimano SPD SL Floating Cleat
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/clothing/shoes/shimano-spd-sl-floating-cleat

Thanks every in advance as help is really needed

Comments

  • dj58
    dj58 Posts: 2,223
    What is your budget for the bike? The Vanquish has a carbon fork, also if you join British Cycling, £33 p.a. you can get an extra 10% on top of any existing offers.
  • Matthew.Pengelly
    Matthew.Pengelly Posts: 3
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19634586#p19634586]DJ58[/url] wrote:
    What is your budget for the bike? The Vanquish has a carbon fork, also if you join British Cycling, £33 p.a. you can get an extra 10% on top of any existing offers.

    I have £440 in vouchers so i thought that would be plenty as at first i was looking for a bike around £200

    but now looking more into it, and reading about the Claris Set i am edging more towards the Vanquish.

    Fab tip about British Cycling - i wasn't aware of this - is it easy to obtain and use the extra discount and defiantly on top of any other sales discounts?

    On;y reason i ask is i have been looking at price matching the accessories with wiggle.com and Halfords have confirmed they will do this.

    Thanks again

    Matt
  • dj58
    dj58 Posts: 2,223
    Matt,

    Yes once you get your BC membership card just go into the store and tell them you want the extra 10% off, I bought a VooDoo Hoodo MTB for my nephew which had money off and got the extra 10%. You can use it for cycling accessories also and non cycling products, although some of their staff will tell you that it is only cycling related. You also get 10% off at Chain Reaction cycles, one voucher code per month.
  • iron-clover
    iron-clover Posts: 737
    Welcome!
    I must admit I would probably avoid the Carrerra bikes as they will be fairly heavy and you can find much better for either the same price (B'Twin from Decathalon) or a little bit more cash.
    They are OK though- I know a few people that run the TDF model as winter training steeds with different wheels (not expensive, only Shimano R500 of so, but still better than the stock wheels!) and some slightly better tyres.

    As for shoes and pedals etc, you can put any pedals you like onto any bike, although definately DO NOT buy road specific shoes (i.e. no treaded sole) and mtb style spd cleats- the metal mtb cleat will protrude from the sole really badly and make it a misery (and fairly dodgy) to walk on.

    The pedal and shoe choice you've listed is fine though- the spd-sl cleats are nice and wide and you can walk on them without much difficulty, but you won't want to walk much more than to a coffee stop counter and back though :p

    Good luck!
  • Salsa
    Salsa Posts: 753
    Iron-clover's given you some great advice but I'd have to disagree slightly with him regarding the bikes at the moment, yes the Vanquish at it's higher price (around £420 usually) is trounced by the lower priced Btwin. But seeing as how it's available now at £315 comparing it to the Triban 500 SE at £330 I know which I'd prefer.
    Weight isn't an issue, both weigh in at 10.6kg. Having used both the Microshift on the Btwin and the Shimano Claris on the Vanquish imo the Claris is the superior groupset.
    Both the Btwin and Vanquish are big steps over the Tourney equipped TDF Ltd though.
  • andy9964
    andy9964 Posts: 930
    Halfords have a flash sale on Carrera bikes today.

    TDF @ £299 + a further 10%, so £269
    http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/carrera-tdf-mens-ltd-road-bike

    Vanquish @ £349 +10% - £315
    http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/carrera-vanquish-road-bike-2015

    Both will get a further 10% with BC (which doesn't apply to web only deals). Might be worth asking if they'll accept email confirmation of membership to apply the discount

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