Opinions on Carrera TDF road bike

[Xiorell]

As the title suggests. I was looking at MTBs the other day and had a quick butchers at this.

Seems alright to me as an entry road bike?

 

[Goldie]

Cycling Plus reviewed it last month and said it was totally sound, if a bit weighty (about 11.5 kilos, iirc)... and drew attention to the heavy discounts that Halfords have got on them at the moment.

Of course, as an alternative you could always crack open a beer, fire up the mighty fleabay and see what you could get for the same money second hand

 

[cd365]

I have one, I paid £299.99 and am fairly pleased with it. It does the job for me. It is on offer at £279.99, well worth it in my opinion.

 

[Xiorell]

I have one, I paid £299.99 and am fairly pleased with it. It does the job for me. It is on offer at £279.99, well worth it in my opinion.

280quid? Where you seen that, says 350 when i look on website?

 

[2Loose]

Hmm, I have an email saying that the TDF has an extra 20% off until monday and is £279, but when I go to the website is tells me £349.


EDIT: Ah, 20% discount applied in basket.

Sounds like an absolute bargain if you can order before monday.

 

[subaqua]

[QUOTE 1393845"]
It's ok. Far better though is the Decathlon entry-level road bike.
[/quote]


agreed.

 

[festival]

I know this is going to sound mean, but you really don't get much of a road bike for around £350 (or less)
But I do know not everyone can justify £2000 and therefore cut their cloth to suit.

A bike like those mentioned here so often, will do a job, for a while but even with care and regular maintenance its not long before 'wear and tear' becomes 'worn out and broken', this is in addition to the poor ride and performance from new

So what am I saying exactly, well I read time and again on here similar questions, "is it a good bike", No.

Of course it gets people out & riding and that's not a bad thing, but I regularly see these bikes deteriorate to a point were it cant be much fun to ride, and at worst unsafe.
Also, you have a situation were if money is spent on it to maintain it, you now have a £300 bike that's cost you, say another £150 +, that's on top of any general running costs that any bike will incur.

Use them as a stepping stone, If you ride more, find a way to something worthwhile.

I am sure there will be those lining up to contradict me, some rightly will comment that they don't expect a quality performance etc, but it fits their budget, that's fine, go for it.

But remember that the upgrade in quality,features & function of a £500 model is going to cost you double the price difference if you decide to upgrade the bike yourself at a later date.

 

[cyberknight]

I know this is going to sound mean, but you really don't get much of a road bike for around £350 (or less)
But I do know not everyone can justify £2000 and therefore cut their cloth to suit.

A bike like those mentioned here so often, will do a job, for a while but even with care and regular maintenance its not long before 'wear and tear' becomes 'worn out and broken', this is in addition to the poor ride and performance from new

So what am I saying exactly, well I read time and again on here similar questions, "is it a good bike", No.

Of course it gets people out & riding and that's not a bad thing, but I regularly see these bikes deteriorate to a point were it cant be much fun to ride, and at worst unsafe.
Also, you have a situation were if money is spent on it to maintain it, you now have a £300 bike that's cost you, say another £150 +, that's on top of any general running costs that any bike will incur.

Use them as a stepping stone, If you ride more, find a way to something worthwhile.

I am sure there will be many lining up to contradict me, some rightly will comment that they don't expect a quality performance etc, but it fits their budget, that's fine, go for it.

But remember that the upgrade in quality,features & function of a £500 model is going to cost you double the price difference to upgrade yourself at a later date.

The TDF is actually well built , a little on the solid side sure but not much more than the other bikes on the same test as i looked at the review and their was maybe 1 llb in the weight of all the bikes .These bikes deteriorate most of the time i think because people buy them and do not maintain them properly, i know of people at work who bought carrera bikes and do not do any maintenance and wonder why the bike falls to bits .All because it is a cheap bike you still need to treat it with respect and maintain it.

Would you win a race on this bike? i doubt it unless your Gilbert etc but it is a fun affordable way into the road bike market, i did 45 miles the other weekend on it and it was fine.


I ran mine through winter and it was fine , it needed a new chain and cassette but you will get that with any bike.

I am actually going to be selling my TDF very soon as i am going to be getting a boardman as a weekender and use the Virtuosso as the commuter.I have had some interest in it but nothing definete, its a 54 cm and if your local your more than welcome for a tester even if its just to try the ride.
As for upgrading i would not bother, these bikes tend to hold their second hand value so i would get one off fleabay and keep it as a back up bike as you always need a back up plan

 

[Rouge Penguin]

i would offer something similar to Festival.

Buying a cheap bike does get you out on the road, but has limitations. All the stuff hanging on the bike will be bottom end, not bad, after all it will change gear and stop you. I bought as cheap as i could when i was first starting out and it did a great job of getting me into cycling, but within months i found i wanted to upgrade things.

In the end i cut my losses, sold it as standard and bought a better machine. Aftermarket gear is unbelievably expensive and difficult (not straight forward i should mean). Adding extra cogs means changing/fiddling about with hubs, complete new running gear including shifters and its not cheap. You might as well spend the extra for a better bike with the middle of the range gear now. Plus for that little bit more (around £250 or so) you might get a 2010 bike with carbon forks half decent gear.

Shop around, cheap isnt always the best thing to do. Why not get a 2nd hand bike like an allez of fleabay and see if its your thing....or try C2W if you can get it.

 

[Fab Foodie]

[QUOTE 1393845"]
It's ok. Far better though is the Decathlon entry-level road bike.
[/quote]

Agreed, absolute bargain IMO.

 

[johnnyh]

it appears to be basically the same as the Virtuoso, and the Virtuoso is a sound bike. Done several thousand miles on mine, and it is well loved, even though it is relegated to commuting and bad weather complete with mudguards and rack.
For the money it is a bargain.

 

[LosingFocus]

Agree with the thoughts above. I weighed up the TDF and Virtuoso only 3 weeks ago and ended up spending the little bit extra on the V. *IF* I had known about this deal, then I probably would have waited and gone for the TDF.

 

[Mark_Robson]

The TDF is a steal for the price. People underestimate Carreras because they are sold by halfords. They are well specced ( for the price ) and well made.

 

[Rouge Penguin]

I was just in helfrauds, looks a decent enough bike for entry level.

 

[festival]

[QUOTE 1393860"]
I disagree.
[/quote]


with what!