Carrera TDF £199 today

[jamiebae]

So the next installment of Halfords trying to shift a load of excess entry level road bikes after a (from a British general public perspective) damp squib of a Tour is on

http://l.mail.halfords.com/rts/go2.aspx?h=54319&am...

Website seems not to work properly right now, but if you want a cheap commuter/pub bike, or have something with 8 speed Shimano 2300 bits and want to swap the shifters and sell it on for what you paid then it's worth a look.

[Type R Tom]

My GF has got back into cycling and is currently riding my Dad's old Giant with slicks, since I got my Giant Defy 1 she now really wants a road bike, very tempted to get one for her £221 on the website (can’t see any for £199) plus 4% quidco.

I think the ability to attach mud guards and a frame for the bag could swing it. The reviews don’t seem too bad on line either, weight being the main concern but I think on her ride to work carrying a laptop etc a few extra kg’s on the bike won’t make much difference.

So that or £220 on ebay for a second hand bike?

[Dunclane]

I've been looking at these to use on my turbo trainer, just reserved one at local branch for collection today.

They have an additional 10% knocked of at checkout to make them £199.

[jamiebae]

This is the email I got from them...

http://f.mail.halfords.com/ats/msg.aspx?sg1=bce024...

I had a TDF for a few weeks, bought to swap the Claris shifters onto my Genesis Volant before selling it on. The tyres are catastrophically awful and are fit only for the bin, but with some £15-20 per wheel replacements it makes a perfectly respectable bike. In an ideal world you'd want to upgrade the wheels but at the price they're OK. The bar tape is horrid too, but that's less than a tenner for a decent replacement so not really an issue.

I'm seriously thinking about buying one to keep in the UK actually, I missed having a bike there in the sunshine at the start of the week.

[kritter86]

Sign up to British Cycling and you get an extra 10% off through Halfords. Also get 12% off with wiggle

[D1bram]

kritter86 said:

Sign up to British Cycling and you get an extra 10% off through Halfords. Also get 12% off with wiggle

Could you explain please how I'd get 12% off through Wiggle?

Also if I signed up to British Cycling today, would I be able to start using the discount straight away? £32 for British Cycling, but figure the £12 it would then stand me is worth the benefits.

Interested in the womens version for my wife.

[jamiebae]

Hmmm, now the website is up and running it appears the reason the bike is cheap is because they've downgraded the groupset since last year!

Instead of a Tourney front mech, Claris rear mech and shifters and an 8 speed block it now comes with full Tourney 7 speed, complete with horrid thumb operated shifters (basically the old 2300 ones but 7 speed). At least it looks like you get a Shimano compact chainset this year rather than the old unbranded non-compact one, but it's not enough to make up for the Tourney bits.

So I won't be ordering one after all!

[D1bram]

Did wonder why folks were suggesting swapping the shifters onto an 8 speeder

Would this be significantly better for the Mrs you think?

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/b...

[jamiebae]

D1bram said:

Did wonder why folks were suggesting swapping the shifters onto an 8 speeder

Would this be significantly better for the Mrs you think?

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/b...

Yes, that's a much better bike.

Take a look at Decathlon as well, you can get a Triban 500 with Sora bits for £450 which is better still

[Black can man]

D1bram said:

kritter86 said:

Sign up to British Cycling and you get an extra 10% off through Halfords. Also get 12% off with wiggle

Could you explain please how I'd get 12% off through Wiggle?

Also if I signed up to British Cycling today, would I be able to start using the discount straight away? £32 for British Cycling, but figure the £12 it would then stand me is worth the benefits.

Interested in the womens version for my wife.

The British cycling thing you can, just print off the membership proof document that comes with your name & membership no,


This is what i did & i was asked no questions, the card comes around 5 days later, well worth it in my opinion & as a bronze member you still get the 10% for only £18.00 a year,

[D1bram]

jamiebae said:

Yes, that's a much better bike.

Take a look at Decathlon as well, you can get a Triban 500 with Sora bits for £450 which is better still

Good old budget creep

Was going to buy her one recently, but she decided to stick to the MTB for now. Was just thinking the carrera at sub £200 was worth taking a punt on. However I don't want to plumb for something crap which will actually discourage her.

Im new to roadbiking and buying something half decent I think is a big part of why I've enjoyed it so much.

[D1bram]

Black can man said:

The British cycling thing you can, just print off the membership proof document that comes with your name & membership no,


This is what i did & i was asked no questions, the card comes around 5 days later, well worth it in my opinion & as a bronze member you still get the 10% for only £18.00 a year,

Bronze race rather than ride membership?

[Black can man]

Mine just says Bronze, but i see it's now £20.00 still well worth it , 10% off of anything at Halfords ! surely thats got to be value in any language.

[anonymous-user]

Be really careful when trying to save a few quid by selecting Bronze membership because its £12 cheaper than Ride.... Bronze does not come with (upto) £10M public liability insurance, legal advice and support. Bronze is for peopel who want a race license as cheaply as possible, its not much use for recreational/sportives etc. I'd stick with Ride if you have no intention of racing or upgrade to Silver if you do.

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/membership/compar...

[jamiebae]

D1bram said:

Good old budget creep

Was going to buy her one recently, but she decided to stick to the MTB for now. Was just thinking the carrera at sub £200 was worth taking a punt on. However I don't want to plumb for something crap which will actually discourage her.

Im new to roadbiking and buying something half decent I think is a big part of why I've enjoyed it so much.

This isn't bad, probably worth £100 over the TDF

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-road-bike-whit...

This is better still, but over twice the price of the Halfords option but would be my choice. Reasonable spec straight from the box and well designed by all accounts.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-road-bike-id...

[D1bram]

Went for the TDF womens in the end, the Boardman is out of stock and when I called the store they said they're waiting on a new model.

£179.10 though by the time I get the British Cycling discount, cheaper than the reverb seatpost I'm eyeing up for the MTB

If she get's on with it, then she can upgrade to something a bit better, but if not we'll be able to sell it for little or no loss I'd think.

And yes, I noted the restriction with Bronze race membership, so went for Ride which with direct debit discount cost me £28.80.

So £207.80 of impulse spending this morning. And I wonder why I'm always spent up end of the month

[jamiebae]

Fair enough, for the money it's perfectly reasonable and certainly shouldn't put her off riding.

[kritter86]

D1bram said:

kritter86 said:

Sign up to British Cycling and you get an extra 10% off through Halfords. Also get 12% off with wiggle

Could you explain please how I'd get 12% off through Wiggle?

Also if I signed up to British Cycling today, would I be able to start using the discount straight away? £32 for British Cycling, but figure the £12 it would then stand me is worth the benefits.

Interested in the womens version for my wife.

I think there is a link through the website of British Cycling once you log in. Not used it as yet though but certainly saw it mentioned when signing up.

[D1bram]

kritter86 said:

I think there is a link through the website of British Cycling once you log in. Not used it as yet though but certainly saw it mentioned when signing up.

Thanks, I realised after I signed up what you meant but at first I thought you were saying I could get 12% off at Halfords via Wiggle

Anyhow, I'm quite excited for her, picking it up tonight, as said it should be a decent enough starter bike to see if she enjoys roadbiking.

[Type R Tom]

So what’s the general consensus, this at £211 or sticking that money on a second hand bike on Ebay for the GF?