Opinion of the new Carrera Virtuoso

[Vectrum999]

Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for the advice. Was planning to spend most of the time on the hoods as you suggest, only it really is uncomfortable as it's set up at the moment. I was thinking of rotating the bars back towards me as you suggest - I thought they looked slightly pointed downwards. I need the saddle that high as I'm over 6ft - pedalling feels comfortable at the moment.
Stem length is 105 on the Large bikes, dropping to 90 and 80 on the smaller sizes.
Thanks again.

[Jamesh]

A smaller stem would only cost £10

As you get used to it you might want to go to 105mm

Bike looks fine for your height.

Riding a road bike after a MTB or hybrid will feel off tbh.

Cheers James

[Vectrum999]

25 miles tonight after work. Wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Still more comfortable on the top bends on the bars rather than hoods, but as suggested, I’ll get a few more miles under my belt and maybe just nudge the bars round and up a little.
As for the bike, only thing I can fault is gears are slightly out, but I’ll tweak them tomorrow.
Enjoyed my ride in the summer sun though.
Cheers all.

[CyberKnight]

I prefer the next model up..,. The vanquish

Nicer paint job and a carbon fork.

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/road-bik ... 48526.html

Cheers James

I bought the vanquish as an all year commuter , it is indeed a cracking bike for the price, dont be fooled by the listed weight as no way is it "around " 10.5 kg as i have an old tdf frame i built up as a rat bike which is a lot lighter even with basic components and the saddle oof ! the memory foam was the usual sink in stuff so i had to change it as i got a nasty saddle sore .Changed the seatpost as those single bolt jobs i can never get level and changed the seatpost clamp to one with a mount for a pannier rack as the frame has no upper mount points although with the dropped seat stays it would have been hard to route the rack arms so i can forgive them that .
On the plus side it works right out of the box, the disc brakes are pretty good for the price , wide tyres for comfort and although slower than m rat bike it still turns a decent lick of speed .

[CyberKnight]

New here - and to road biking in general!

...

Just wanted to ask for a bit of advice - I'm 6ft 1ins and got the L (54cm) frame with a top tube length of 58cm. Seat height and position feel fine, but handlebars feel to far away - I feel I'm stretching a long way to get my hands on the hoods and it's quite uncomfortable. The comfortable position is when I'm gripping the bend of the top bar - that feels my natural position.

Welcome.

Could you add a side-on photo or video of you riding it?

If you're new to dropped bars I suggest spending nearly all of your time on the hoods with your fingers curled around the levers.

It's hard to tell without seeing you on it, but that looks like:
* A long stem.
* Hoods that are rotated downwards away from you.
* Bars that are much lower than the saddle.

I suggest moving the hoods closer to you on the bars or rotating the bar with the hoods towards you, and seeing how that feels.

Jonathan

I did have to rotate the hoods up slightly on mine too, for some reason halfords do tend to sell bikes with hoods down .
There is a link provided from someone else on here regards bike fit, i cant remember who but its a good guide
https://wheel-easy.org.uk/wp-content/up ... -2017a.pdf

[Jdsk]

I did have to rotate the hoods up slightly on mine too, for some reason halfords do tend to sell bikes with hoods down .
There is a link provided from someone else on here regards bike fit, i cant remember who but its a good guide
https://wheel-easy.org.uk/wp-content/up ... -2017a.pdf

"The shape of bicycles is heavily influenced by fashion and marketing. If you Google “Tommy Simpson” you will see that just a few years ago world class professional athletes used less aggressive riding positions than what is currently marketed to weekend cyclists by many bike manufacturers. For racing, a low, aerodynamically-efficient riding position is a considerable advantage. This is achieved by rotating the contact points around the bottom bracket; the saddle goes forwards and up, the bars go forwards and down, and forceful pedalling contributes to supporting the weight of the rider’s torso. Unfortunately, similar riding positions are “trickled down” to the sort of “road” bikes bought by recreational cyclists, who then need to make some changes in order to get comfortable."

I think that's at the root of the problem.

But there are a couple of recurrent issues that are more in the nature of misunderstandings: riding on the hoods is often the best position in traffic, and you can't always get both feet on the ground while staying on the saddle, whatever you were told as a child.

Jonathan

[CyberKnight]

yup all my bikes i have the correct set up and i cant touch the floor without standing across the top tube

[CyberKnight]

I did have to rotate the hoods up slightly on mine too, for some reason halfords do tend to sell bikes with hoods down .
There is a link provided from someone else on here regards bike fit, i cant remember who but its a good guide
https://wheel-easy.org.uk/wp-content/up ... -2017a.pdf

"The shape of bicycles is heavily influenced by fashion and marketing. If you Google “Tommy Simpson” you will see that just a few years ago world class professional athletes used less aggressive riding positions than what is currently marketed to weekend cyclists by many bike manufacturers. For racing, a low, aerodynamically-efficient riding position is a considerable advantage. This is achieved by rotating the contact points around the bottom bracket; the saddle goes forwards and up, the bars go forwards and down, and forceful pedalling contributes to supporting the weight of the rider’s torso. Unfortunately, similar riding positions are “trickled down” to the sort of “road” bikes bought by recreational cyclists, who then need to make some changes in order to get comfortable."

I think that's at the root of the problem.

But there are a couple of recurrent issues that are more in the nature of misunderstandings: riding on the hoods is often the best position in traffic, and you can't always get both feet on the ground while staying on the saddle, whatever you were told as a child.

Jonathan

http://bikeretrogrouch.blogspot.com/201 ... tions.html

[CyberKnight]

I did have to rotate the hoods up slightly on mine too, for some reason halfords do tend to sell bikes with hoods down .
There is a link provided from someone else on here regards bike fit, i cant remember who but its a good guide
https://wheel-easy.org.uk/wp-content/up ... -2017a.pdf

"The shape of bicycles is heavily influenced by fashion and marketing. If you Google “Tommy Simpson” you will see that just a few years ago world class professional athletes used less aggressive riding positions than what is currently marketed to weekend cyclists by many bike manufacturers. For racing, a low, aerodynamically-efficient riding position is a considerable advantage. This is achieved by rotating the contact points around the bottom bracket; the saddle goes forwards and up, the bars go forwards and down, and forceful pedalling contributes to supporting the weight of the rider’s torso. Unfortunately, similar riding positions are “trickled down” to the sort of “road” bikes bought by recreational cyclists, who then need to make some changes in order to get comfortable."

I think that's at the root of the problem.

But there are a couple of recurrent issues that are more in the nature of misunderstandings: riding on the hoods is often the best position in traffic, and you can't always get both feet on the ground while staying on the saddle, whatever you were told as a child.

Jonathan

http://bikeretrogrouch.blogspot.com/201 ... tions.html

7
the old bikes they use to rideon the drops more, the had a very similat body angle to todays riders , better leverage on poor brakes and abilty to reach dt shifters maybe ?

[CyberKnight]

"The shape of bicycles is heavily influenced by fashion and marketing. If you Google “Tommy Simpson” you will see that just a few years ago world class professional athletes used less aggressive riding positions than what is currently marketed to weekend cyclists by many bike manufacturers. For racing, a low, aerodynamically-efficient riding position is a considerable advantage. This is achieved by rotating the contact points around the bottom bracket; the saddle goes forwards and up, the bars go forwards and down, and forceful pedalling contributes to supporting the weight of the rider’s torso. Unfortunately, similar riding positions are “trickled down” to the sort of “road” bikes bought by recreational cyclists, who then need to make some changes in order to get comfortable."

I think that's at the root of the problem.

But there are a couple of recurrent issues that are more in the nature of misunderstandings: riding on the hoods is often the best position in traffic, and you can't always get both feet on the ground while staying on the saddle, whatever you were told as a child.

Jonathan

http://bikeretrogrouch.blogspot.com/201 ... tions.html

the old bikes they use to ride on the drops more, the had a very similar body angle to today's ridersi believe ? , better leverage on poor brakes and ability to reach dt shifters maybe ?

[Vectrum999]

Spun my bars back a little - made so much difference - don’t care if it’s technically the wrong angle, everything feels like it’s in the right position now - so much more comfortable. Week off work now - few long rides in order. Got my fake carbon fibre bottle cages off eBay (3 for £8 - can’t go wrong).
Thanks for all the advice.

[Vectrum999]

Top 2 pics new position - bottom 2 pics pls position- assuming you’re seeing them as I am

[CyberKnight]

Top 2 pics new position - bottom 2 pics pls position- assuming you’re seeing them as I am

yeah i found the same its as if the hoods are set to low on the bars, when i retape i will likely move them up a bit

[Vectrum999]

Really getting used to it now - so much more comfortable and easy to ride than the Merlin PR7 I used to have. Seat is really comfortable. One small problem I’ve found - probably because I’m coming off mountain bikes - struggling with the gearing on the steep hills. Any one know if I can swap my 11-28 cassette out for a 11-30 or 11-32 without the need to change the rear derailleur or chain? Not sure if the standard Claris derailleur is short or medium length cage. I’ve read if it’s short, I can’t go up much.
Cheers.