# carrera bikes?



## griffin83 (Aug 27, 2008)

hey looking for some feedback. i've been looking at getting a new bike and i've seen a nice carrera vulcan mountain bike at a nice price.

basically i'm after some first hand experience of carrera? are they worth the money cause i've heard very little about them as a whole.i'd primarially be using it on roads for work with some offroading thrown in at weekends:thumb:

so yeah any opinions?

TIA

griff


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## butcher (Sep 3, 2010)

The Carrera's are very good bikes for the price. You'll look long and hard to find a better spec. The Vulcan's are at the bottom of the range but they make a great beginners bike.


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## chunkytfg (Feb 1, 2009)

I'd agree with Butcher. Got a Fury myself that I have had for a good 6 or 7 years and apart from the usual wear and tear it's been very good.


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## griffin83 (Aug 27, 2008)

cheers guys-just the answers i was hoping for lol


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Ex Halfords employee here and Carreras are very well built bikes! Carrera Vulcan is a great starters bike but if I were you I would definitely go for the disc spec over the V Brake spec. V brakes arent up to the standard of the rest of the bike imo and the discs are much more responsive. IIRC they are hydraulic too so are very smooth in their action and require less maintenance if treated correctly.

For the price they take some beating! Oh and if your company does the cycle to work scheme take advantage of it! It makes a great bike even greater!


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

I've got a Subway - one of these set up for the road bikes. Rigid with smooth road tyres and I think it's very good. The only thing I'd do with mine is put a longer gearset as mine (or rather my legs) run out of puff a bit quickly.


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## Hou (Sep 20, 2010)

I bought a Vulcan about 5-6 years ago, it got some serious hammer on the singletrack and off road trails, only thing that let it down were the rims and the rear axel snapping

For the money they are great!


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## PaulGTI (Oct 21, 2006)

I have this years kraken, excellent bike!

I think the main problem with carerra bikes (and boardman for that matter) is the staff that build them, and set them up.

Unless you are planning on using it in deep mud, these tyres are a very good compromise of on and off road ability. 
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Schwalbe_Land_Cruiser_MTB_Tyre/5360042609/


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## hulla the hulla (May 20, 2009)

the wife has this years vulcan disk spec womans MTB and for the money it's V good, if a little heavy but at this end of the range that is always an issue


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## butcher (Sep 3, 2010)

Mini 360 said:


> IIRC they are hydraulic too so are very smooth in their action and require less maintenance if treated correctly.


They're cable discs on the vulcan. You'll generally pay £500+ on a bike with hydraulics. So while they're not amazing, discs generally stop better in the wet, which is a big plus riding off-road in this country!

It was actually riding a vulcan for a day which swayed me to getting the Fury that I have now.

Watch out for sales in Halfords too if you're not in a rush. They occasionally do 20% discounts on various brands, and there's some big savings to be had.


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## Mini 360 (Jul 17, 2009)

PaulGTI said:


> I have this years kraken, excellent bike!
> 
> *I think the main problem with carerra bikes (and boardman for that matter) is the staff that build them, and set them up.*
> 
> ...


I like to think I was exempt from that statement. :thumb:


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## PaulGTI (Oct 21, 2006)

Mini 360 said:


> I like to think I was exempt from that statement. :thumb:


I will correct myself...

"I think the main cause of moans about carrera bikesis that a small minority of bikes are built by a small minority of halfords employees, that for various reasons (lack of training, rushing, cant be arsed) are not built properly. The owners of these bikes tend be very vocal in airing their problems. From my experience, I am VERY happy with my kraken, and the way it was built and adjusted. Im sure Mini360 was 100% into doing a good job!!!"

Happy now? :thumb: LOL


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## griffin83 (Aug 27, 2008)

cheers guys- i'm set now on the carrera vulcan, i'll be ordering in the morning from halfords. -it's currently got £100 off, so is up for £299. 

much appreciated


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## PaulGTI (Oct 21, 2006)

Post up some pics and a bit of a review once you have tried it out. :thumb:

Also, I really cant recommend those tyres I sugested in an earlier post enough, unless you are using it in real mud they are so much better than the knobblies so much more of the time, and only £20 a set!

Also, if you havent been on a bike for a while dont over-estimate how far you can ride for your first few rides. When I first got mine I had a few 10- 15 mile routes planned... I was gasping after 3 miles! The good new sis that improvements come very quickly if you keep chipping away at it. Within a few weeks I was doing a 24 mile round trip from Walsall to Brum along the canals averaging 12mph, and sometimes stretching it out to near 50 miles as I would go the long way there and go through wolverhampton on the way back.

If you have canals by you they are a good starting point as they are flat and not too tiring, when they get easy just go faster! Then go hill-hunting :thumb:

Also recommended, go to sports direct and get a few pairs of padded cycle shorts for £10 a pair (Be careful, they have some that are not padded for £8)

Have fun!


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## griffin83 (Aug 27, 2008)

cheers for the advice- i'll definatly keep those tires in mind,and i'll definatly let people know how the bike performs.

although this is the first bike i've owned in years,i've been riding with a few lads from work at weekends whenever i could borrow a bike-last saturday i managed 18miles. there is a rumour that work will be putting a team in for next years london to brighton......don't know if i'll be quite ready for that though.:thumb:


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## PaulGTI (Oct 21, 2006)

You'll definatley want to be rid of the knobblies before doing London to Brighton!

But if you are doing 18 miles already then I think you should easily be able to train to do the distance, although keeping a good pace throughout might be hard work.


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## chunkytfg (Feb 1, 2009)

PaulGTI said:


> You'll definatley want to be rid of the knobblies before doing London to Brighton!
> 
> But if you are doing 18 miles already then I think you should easily be able to train to do the distance, although keeping a good pace throughout might be hard work.


Trouble I found with the L2B is it is just soo damn busy! the onyl way to get a clear run is to start very early in the morning. IIRC they have starts from about 6am! If you dont leave early then you end up having to stop at the bottom of every slight incline as the 'ride once a year for charity' brigade cant actually bother to ride up them so get off to walk! It's especially bad up ditchling beacon towards the end of the ride:wall:

It is for that reason I only did it once but did the hampton to hove ride a couple of times as it is much less crouded:thumb:


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## griffin83 (Aug 27, 2008)

yes i'd already figured the big knobblies would be no good for that but we'll see. more likely that everyone else will get cold feet nearer the event lol.

i didn't realise about the start times on the L2B so i'll bear that in mind (and let my boss know who will be organising us):thumb:


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## zed3 (Dec 24, 2007)

PaulGTI said:


> You'll definatley want to be rid of the knobblies before doing London to Brighton!
> QUOTE]
> 
> unless you do the london to brighton off road ride :thumb:


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## PaulGTI (Oct 21, 2006)

zed3 said:


> unless you do the london to brighton off road ride :thumb:


I didnt think of that!

You will definatly want rid of the knobblies if you are doing it on road.

You will definatly want to keep the knoblies if you are doing it off road.

:thumb:


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## Adam D (Nov 3, 2009)

From what I have heard Carrera bicycles have a good rep amongst everyone except the brand snobs.


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## Jace (Oct 26, 2005)

PaulGTI said:


> I think the main problem with carerra bikes (and boardman for that matter) is the staff that build them, and set them up.


Paul is bang on the money.

I work for a company who make bikes for lots of people, inc Halfords. Their bikes are made by several factories accross asia & get built along side many other famous brand names.

I've visited the main GIANT factory in Taiwan & seen Specialized ALLEZ Epics being built along side some of TREK's mtbs. I've seen some claud Bultlers being built in the same factory as GT use for some of their bikes. In fact the GT's that Halfords used to sell were actualy built by Merida.

You might think they are just "cheap" for a reason, they are, the reason is that Halfords deal direct with the factories, not like most brands who go through importer (15-35% margin > shop (35-55% margin)> consumer.

Same for Boardmann bikes, thats why they such good value, no middle man.

Same works for Chainreaction, Wiggle & Evans own label stuff.

As long as its built right, it'll work as good as any other brand.

I have a £100 supermarket type bike at our place in Lanzarote, its 18speed TY22 Gears & Gripshift & steel v-brakes. Yet because I've built it & set it up correctly (& added stainless wires) it works about as well as my XTR equiped bike at home.

:car:


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