Cycling UK Forum

I remember a conversation in Halfords where the salesman claimed it was the best selling road bike in Halfords although not sure if that was across all Halfords stores or just his store but with Halfords having a huge chunk of the UK bike market probably a very significant budget road bike. Halfords have given it a massive revision with an all new frame and disc brakes and still with a decent Claris drivetrain with strong freehub based rear wheel. A good solid commuting bike and reasonable race bike in my opinion. Just wondered other people's thoughts on the bike even if they themselves go for higher price bikes. Seems a spot on revision to me with only the drab paintwork letting it down a bit.

Seems amazing value for money. I imagine the wheels are a weak point as there is no such thing as a free lunch, but certainly a bargain.

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

Looks great value for money but disk brakes and alloy forks?
How long will that last?
No mention of guarantee on the frame and forks unlike Decathlon.

I stand corrected lifetime guarantee on all frames and rigid forks

What is a 'lifetime guarantee'?

Cyril Haearn wrote:What is a 'lifetime guarantee'?

Google's a great thing:

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/services ... antee.html

it is not bad for the money but

a) would you be better off with a bike that weighed about 1kg less (and rode better) with rim brakes....? and
b) have they got any stock...?

cheers

gregoryoftours wrote:Seems amazing value for money. I imagine the wheels are a weak point as there is no such thing as a free lunch, but certainly a bargain.

Halfords buy directly from the factory and retail directly themselves and there is no real sponsorship plus marketing costs are shared across the whole Halfords product range rather than specific bikes so they are very competitively priced for logistical reasons. Many of their bikes come from Insera Sena in Indonesia which is a factory that is used or has been used by many brands including Kona, Scott, Calibre, Boardman, Voodoo and their own brands Polygon and Marin. There are more US and European brands but I've forgotten them.

Pretty sure I've got a Saracen bike that has come from Insera Sena.

There's a chap that bought the older Carrera Virtuoso and toured around asia on it. I can't remember what failed on the bike but I don't think it was the wheels or spokes. I think he rode it as bought totally loaded up across Asia on the most gnarly roads and tracks. Seemed completely wrong for a touring bike but I think he got away with it and it just about stayed together.

Greystoke wrote:Looks great value for money but disk brakes and alloy forks?
How long will that last?
No mention of guarantee on the frame and forks unlike Decathlon.

There are some bikes with aluminium forks and disc brakes I guess it depends on how overbuilt they are. Halford's bikes urkssed to be tested and certified to the full recommendation of the standard which I think is 160kg, this can be 40kg more than some brands.

The previous Virtuoso had all steel forks and perhaps with this model they didn't want to go up in weight with the disc brakes so resorted to compromising with partly aluminium forks.

I've got a bike with aluminium forks and they are horrible, they are very rigid and give poor ride quality in fact I'm swopping them for all steel forks which I prefer there is a small weight penalty of course.

The fitting of front disk places more stress on the fork so you need a sturdy fork so less damping and more vibration. Steel is known to flex, aluminium not so, hence my concern.
However Halfords have always erred on the side of caution. In rally circles we used to buy Halfords cambelts as they were over engineered to prevent snapping so were cheaper than aftermarket upgrades. If the bikes are the same then all good

Hi,
New here - and to road biking in general!
Picked up my Virtuoso on Tuesday, so haven't done many miles. Quite impressed with the quality and finish to be honest.
I'm used to Mountain Bikes, but ride mostly on roads/dirt tracks. Thought I'd get a cheap road bike and see how it went before I spank loads on an expensive one!
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.
What would people recommend please - I've read a little on bike position and know I can get a shorter stem - do you think this would solve the problem - or have i got completely the wrong frame size?
Any comments greatly appreciated.
Cheers.

Furstly, get some miles in. It is all to unfamiliar to judge at the moment. A couple of hundred miles spread over hour long or more rides should be enough for you to adjust and make judgements.
Stems are cheap but don't come back too far.

Cool - will do.
Out tonight for a couple of hours - we’ll see how I feel after that!

Vectrum999 wrote: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