I may buy a Carrera – somebody stop me!

what does everyone think to this? seems a fairly good deal for what will be used and abused as a commute bike?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_272647_langId_-1_categoryId_165710

Anything of similar spec/price I should look at?

Been some very good deals on 2011 Treks around recently.
Were some cheap Kona Honky Tonks around as well.

whereabouts? ^^

Why do you want someone to try and stop you? Nothing wrong with Carrera bikes, hard to beat for the money.

Nothing wrong with Carrera bikes, hard to beat for the money.

Damn right, enjoy it!

because I am a bike (s)nob, and would prefer to get something far more cooler and something probably far in excess of my ability, just so I can get kudos from the other cyclists I pass on my commute and recognition from people on bike forums when i post pictures of my bike…oh and halfords is usually shite.

£450 for that Vanquish seems excellent value.

Check out WMB March 2012 page 22 for a review of the Carrera Vulcan MTB at £360 and just weep.

I have an old (>10 yr) Carrera steel frame built as a winter hardtail and it just quietly does its job.

I have a few Carrera Hellcats (by Merida) built in different flavours and love them. Simple massive single pivot that I cannot wear out and standard fittings for BB, headset, seatpost etc.

Carrera are tarred with the H*******s reputation, but once you look underneath that and do your own build/maintenance they are brilliant value.

I have other more expensive bikes, but fear breaking them and consequently ride them less.

PaulD

Most Trek dealers had big savings on last years bikes, might be some left.
They looked very good value.

Nothing against Carreras by the way, just thought the Kona would make a good value all round commuter.

Don’t be vain, just go with if it’s the right bike. Sure Halfords can be poor but nothing a set of allen keys can’t sort out.

Couple of friends have them for commuting, for the money they are pretty damn good.

Check out WMB March 2012 page 22 for a review of the Carrera Vulcan MTB at £360

Yes, Seb Rogers review of that bike is good. I was with him on one of his test rides (around Cannock Chase on the route guide with Mike Davis in the same issue – see if you can spot me in several of the pics).

His only gripes were the godawful tyres, which seem to be a plastic/teflon mix and the fork wasn’t all that good. But he rode around fine on it for the 2 days considering he had about 50kg of camera gear strapped to his back.

Merlin Maven is serving me well over the last couple of months

Voodoo Marasa[/url]

I own a ‘halfords’ voodoo marasa, and i probably buy another bike from them. It rides well and was good vfm.

ps check the bb shell – my bb was fitted dry 😯

Buy it.

Just like fork oil there’s always something cheaper which is no different.

halfords always seem amenable to throwing in gifts too – go in with an idea; even just stock up on inner tubes.

i’ll try and stop you…. Halfords, that should be enough to send you running for the hills.
not a being a bike snob, but they are a disgrace to bike retail.

I would also look at the Merlin Maven (Merlin Cycles). £450 with discount at the moment.

For a road bike to use and abuse you can’t really beat this (new anyway)…

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-id_8167038.html

…I’ve seen them in the flesh and they are very nice for the money.

There’s a thread about them here…
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=17113516

Revolution
EBC have some good deals on at the mo – The merlin bike is a good spec though.

Nowt wrong with Carreras- my On One, my Cotic and my Last are tucked up in the garage along with 2 Carreras. Stunning value, good honest bikes.

My colleague bought a Carrera Kraken Ht today.
£3.50 from the dump , OK so its rear wheel is destryed , got eaten by the mech , but X7 Fr Shifter + fr Mech. Tektro cable discs that appear towork , Deore R shifter , computer , still working , rear led .- still working, crud catcher , yep still working, rear mud guard , well it might work.
nice saddle , but nasty seat post and stem / bars
BB is good , and the V12 copies spin really nicely .
Will be stripped and put in the shoe box of all things usefull

Until I bought my current f/s bike 4 years ago , I had been on a Carrera Furnace,aluminium hard tail, ( actually it was rigid when I bought it new.)since ’94. By the time it went there was only the frame and seatpost left from original purchase. But it performed time and time again as my one bike does all. I wasn’t riding then as much as I now do, but it did local hack duties. Scottish mountain all dayers, Snowdon, Dales, Lakes. Finally gave it to a mate in return for him donating £40 to Cats Protection.
I have probably and very unreasonably become a bit of a bike snob. But I’d cheerfully doff my cap to anyone using a Carrera properly.

Mate of mine has the Careera TDF – the yellow/black one. It seems to be doing him well & he likes it.

I thought you meant a Porsche!

Daver27 you really should keep stupid comments to yourself. Uptill last year l worked for squarewheels in strathpeffer for over 4 years,during that time l have worked on all brands of bikes coached the shop race team( scottish champs for the past four years and been team coach for winning puffer and puffer lite teams. You have by now guessed l work at halfords bikehut and try to give the same level of service. Braindead comments like yours help no one except showw how full of shit you are

Its a pretty good spec.
but I might also look at some of the Cannondales at pauls cycles for a wee bit more.
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m7b0s6p3679
or Giant Defy?
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/36383/Giant_Defy_2_Bike_2011
Just thinking about the resale value and chances of upgrades would make them better options. If you’re not worried about that aspect – go for it and enjoy!

To be fair andyruss, the worst service I’ve had from Halfords was terrible- very nearly as bad as the worst service I’ve had from an LBS in fact!

i would be more concerned that it is a road bike…

i bought my little sister a carrera subway a few years back. solid enough little bike for the money.

My local halfords is superb. The guys that work on my bike are great and I’ve never had any problems. They all ride mind you. It must just depend where you are in the country.

Point taken northwind,but not everyone in halfords is clueless about bikes

I stand by what i said, i have had dealings with bikes from at least 4 different branches of Halfords and all had to be stripped and reassembled to be made safe, they were literally dangerous.
Nothing wrong with Carrera, just Halfords employing idiots.
Andyruss, don’t take it so personally, you may well be the only employee who is worth his weight and i salute you for that, lord knows halfords needs some decent knowledgeable staff. maybe you could come and work down here, guildford, horsham, crawley or redhill…. they all need sorting out.

This month’s Cycling Plus has a review of (road) bikes at that price point, think the Specialized Allez came out top.

I’d say, just make sure you try it for size. If the Kraken I got off Ebay is anything to go by, their sizing is weird.