Carrera brand bikes

Victor_M

Hi folks,
I was posting on the 'thoughts on this cheapie' thread last week I'm just going to start a new thread for this question as it's pretty brand specific.

I noticed Halfords have a sale on some of their bikes, the Apollo one's I asked about on the other thread don't seem to be great, I'm a big guy and don't want to break my neck on a trail with a bike that falls apart at the first sign of abuse.

The Carrera brand, exclusive to Halfords seems to be reasonable, the Fury in particular has caught my eye, but @ just under €700 its out of my price range THIS Carrera Vengeance looks like a good bike and is half price @€;345.

Is it really a €700 bike? And is it any good, in your opinion is it as good as, the Fury? I have found a few reviews of the fury which rate it very highly, is this vengeance in the same category?

Thanks in advance for your help.

langdang

Looks like an absolute steal of a price. A lot of low end entry level bikes have crappy Suntour forks - this has rockshox, AND shimano hydraulic brakes.
A 20" mountain bike could be humongous tho..

Icyseanfitz

seems like a nice bike for the price tbh

Victor_M

Thanks Langdang!

What do you mean about the size of the MTB? Is the sizing different for MTB's vs racers or hybrids?

I'm 6'1 should I be aiming for a 20" bike or smaller?

It looks superficially that the components (in my very limited knowledge) are good quality, it weighs 14.75Kg's so it's not exactly a light weight (the fury is 13Kgs) and the general concensus online seems to be that the quality is pretty good for the cost.

Icyseanfitz

you should be looking at either a 19 or 20 inch frame, best thing to do is go down to halfords and get on both sizes and see for yourself, 14.7kg's is fairly heavy tbh especially if you intend to be doing xc riding, but at that money you wont find anything better

arturg

Hi,
I have this bike for 8 months now, nearly 2k km done. I am 5'10" and 20 inch frame is perfect height for me. My weight is 90 kgs and I tried bike on different trails.
This is my first MTB and I am pretty satisfied with it. In future I might go for more expensive bike or stick to the same brand. I know Halfords had it for 700 euro for a while, but that is the way they have their price strategy set up; now it is 350 euro and this is excellent price for this kind of bike.
As for realibility: I changed rear derailleur and I might need to change gear shifters and bottom bracket soon. Anything else is ok, breaks are fine, Rockshock Dart 1 shock are excellent.

xyz123

i have one and its definitely not a 700 euro bike. Its fine as a beginner mountain bike but if i were doing it all again i'd spend a bit more to get something with better forks. Also, its a big bike, even at 6'1" the 20inch could be too large.

langdang

xyz123 wrote: »

i have one and its definitely not a 700 euro bike. Its fine as a beginner mountain bike but if i were doing it all again i'd spend a bit more to get something with better forks. Also, its a big bike, even at 6'1" the 20inch could be too large.

I reckon they are the best forks commonly available at 600-700euro range - and by far the best you'll see for under 400!
I would agree that the Carrera brand seem to be "big for their size" (I have an 18" carrera vulcan for commuter duties on crappy days). To me they seem longer than average, but then I prefer small bikes. Check it out for size Victor, and the next size down if possible.