Carrera Virtuoso 2012/2013 review

Back in June 2011, I wrote a review of what seemed to me to be the cheapest "proper" road bike money could buy. That bike was the Carrera Virtuoso, retailing in your local Halford's for the princely sum of £379.99 - and I was pleasantly surprised, because it proved to be a considerably better machine than I'd believed it could possibly be. In fact, apart from a few cheapo components here and there, the only bad thing I could really say about it was that it was ugly; which I still stand by because it was.

The other day, when I locked my old shopper bike up outside the local purveyor of ferret food, rather a nice-looking white and ice-blue aluminium bike happened to catch my eye. "Wossat?" I thought, before moving in for a closer look. Lo and behold, it turned out to be a 2012 Virtuoso - and it really is a far prettier beast than the 2011 model. In its older guise with black and blue paintwork the Virtuoso looked rather old-fashioned, reminding me of a budget racer from the early 1990s, which wasn't a real issue, of course, and may even have been a selling point for some people. After all, some people have no taste: I saw someone wearing those hideous denim-effect cycling shorts last week. The 2012 model, however, looks as up-to-date as next year's summer fashions - the glossy white and blue gives the impression of a considerably pricier bike, but it's still only £379.99 You can tell a lot about the quality of the paintwork by close examination of the lower end of the down tube, where stones flicked up by the front wheel tend to make contact with the frame - as I knelt down to have a look, I became aware of a hulking presence leaning over me.

The bike's owner. Who, one glance told me, was a lot harder than me (as are five-year-olds, and the majority of sparrows). Fortunately, he only looked like a thug and was equipped with a fully-functioning brain; as such he had realised that I was looking at his bike rather than nicking it and thus with-held from killing me pending an explanation. When I told him I'd reviewed an earlier model he seemed quite impressed, possibly because I failed to mention the review was for a blog rather than for a magazine, and once I'd handed over anything of worth as a deposit (wallet and contents, value not much; half a packet of Polos, value about twice that of my wallet and its contents) he agreed I could have a go round the car park on it.

The 2011 Virtuoso's frame was made of 7005 aluminium alloy, which they advertised as light-weight - the real reason it was chosen is more likely to be the relative ease with which it can be welded in Carrera-manufacturer Merida's Taiwanese factories, thus keeping production costs low. The 2012 frame has been upgraded: your money now gets you 6061, which has a lower density and is lighter as a result - yet the claimed weight of the 2012 bike is 700g greater than that of the 2011 bike at 11.2kg, which I suspect is due to the replacement of the older machine's Kalloy components with unbranded versions. However, nobody's going to enter an official race on a Virtuoso and 700g isn't really a problem; what matters more is that the new model is stiffer, meaning that it can hold its own in an unofficial traffic light drag race against the 125cc scooters - probably the only sort of race the bike will see. This has been achieved partly by the addition of an internal headet (the 2011 bike had an external headset) and largely by a much better fork - the curved 2011 version has been replaced with a more up-to-date straight-bladed effort. It's cromoly (you didn't think it'd be carbon at this price, surely?), but again the weight compared to carbon won't be an issue for most riders. The frame geometry has received some little tweaks here and there, too: Halfords called the 2011 Virtuoso semi-compact, this one is compact. All in all, it works - this bike is a genuine pleasure to ride, mimicking more costly machines in its responsiveness and ability to track through a tight corner, and not as sluggishly as you'd expect.

Some of the components have been upgraded, too. Gone is the old Pro Wheel Gloria Compact chainset, in its place is a square taper FSA Tempo with 50/34 rings, just like you get on a Giant Defy 4 and several other bikes that cost £200 more than this one does. Last year, Halfords were keeping quiet about the mechs; this year you've got a Shimano FD-2300 up at a front while a Sora handles the chain at the back. The brake and gear levers are STI 2300 - many riders find these make it difficult to change gear when riding on the drops, but it's something most people can learn to live with. On a bike as new as the test subject - a month, the owner told me - everything was working crisply, but as tends to be the way with budget groupsets the mechs and shifters are going to need looking after. Halfords offer a free service after six weeks; if you're new to cycling ask the shop mechanic if he or she will show you how to adjust the cable tension and derailleurs, then you should be able to keep everything working smoothly without any problems. The brakes are workable Tektro jobs and do what they're supposed to do; the 8-speed cassette is 12-26 and should be capable of getting you up any hill you put in front of the bike for a year or so, which is perfectly acceptable for a budget component.

As with the older models, the cheap plastic pedals and toe clips are a let-down. However, most Virtuosos are likely to be purchased by people new to road cycling and the one thing you'll hear again and again from people in that category is that they were surprised they needed to fork out for a pair of pedals when first buying a bike. Also, many new-comers are put off by clipless pedals; Halfords have therefore stuck these ones on in the full knowledge that serious riders will probably upgrade them to clipless before too long. The saddle - Carrera-branded - is cheap and a little too flexible but comfortable enough - some riders will swap for a fatter seat, mistakenly believing it will offer greater comfort, while those with a bit of nous will swap for their preferred racing/touring model. With that in mind the fact that it's cheap becomes an advantage -  it won't break your heart if you decide to get rid of it. Since many quality wheelsets cost more than this bike the wheels are unbranded and heavy as you'd expect, but they feel as though they'll do their job unless you hit a pothole at high speed. Cheap replacements would be my second upgrade and doing so might well make the bike lighter than the 2011 model. First upgrade for me after the pedals would have to be the tyres: Kenda make some top-quality rubber, but these are far from their finest offering - they look to be the same as those on the 2011 bike, which some riders complained rolled off the rims.

Summing up: the 2012 Carrera Virtuoso will never hold its own when pitted against exotica and it would be unfair to expect it to do so - after all, the complete bike costs less than some derailleurs - but for £380 it's a very good buy indeed. Many people dislike Halfords, but if they can build a bike like this at this price then they're doing something right. Upgrade the components when necessary and, so long as you can out up with stupid people telling you your bike's rubbish, the Virtuoso isn't a bad bike at all. Taking the price into consideration, I'll give it eight out of ten.

Buy this bike if: you watched Wiggo win the Tour and fancy giving this cycling lark a go but aren't certain you'll stick with it for long (hey, if you decide it's for you you can always buy a more expensive bike later); you want a cheap, fast, light commuter that'll get you to work with far less effort than a cheap MTB and be up for some leisurely jaunts if the sun's out on the way home; you want a cheap and cheerful winter bike - there's plenty of room between the fork blades and stays for a 25mm tyre, but be prepared to carry out regular services on the brakes and gears in bad weather.

Review: Carrera Virtuoso

Want a review of the latest 2012/2013 Virtuoso? Click here.

Like a lot of cycling websites and magazines, we've been guilty of concentrating on the expensive bikes and ignoring the affordable ones that are the only bikes many people can afford or are willing to buy. However, we have an advantage here - this blog has only been in existence for a fortnight so we can put it right at an early enough stage to redress the balance a little. That's why we're going to have a look at the Carrera Virtuoso. We've owned a few Carreras over the years and been quite impressed overall (the same is not true of the Apollo range, which are dreadful even for what they cost), but have noticed a lot of variation in the quality of Halford's mechanics - some of them are excellent, others are dire and so it's definitely worthwhile getting someone who knows bikes to give your Virtuoso a quick once-over if you're new to the sport and not talented with the spanners.

Carrera bikes are produced by Merida, an enormous company (Taiwan's 15th largest) who have been making bikes since 1972. Originally concentrating on low-end, cheap products, they've recently begun moving into the high-end  bikes, including Boardman Bikes since buying the company established by Olympic gold winner Chris Boardman (who continues producing bikes under the Boardman Elite brand) and own 19% of Specialized, an acquisition which has allowed them access to technology developed by one of the top bike companies in the world. The Carrera range is priced between Boardman Bikes and Halford's budget Apollo range, at an equal point to many of the Kona and GT bikes they also stock.

The first thing to spring to mind when we went to have a look at the Virtuoso in our local Halfords BikeHut is that it's really not a very attractive bike. There's something distinctly shoddy-looking about the top tube/seat tube/chain stays cluster, the forks look like they come from a bike 30 years ago (and being hi-tensile steel is going to be heavy too) and the paint scheme is nothing short of hideous. However, with a price of just £299.99 online - expect to pay more in the store, up to £379.99 - you're not going to get hand-crafted carbon loveliness and would be an idiot to expect as much. The frame is knocked up out of 7005 aluminium/magnesium/zinc alloy, which Halfords describe as lightweight - however, the primary reason behind 7005's composition is to make an aluminium alloy that can be easily welded rather than one that's light, thus allowing the production of welded aluminium products at a lower cost and hence retail price. This doesn't mean it's going to be heavy - it's still aluminium, after all - but the chief reason for choosing the alloy was to bring the bike in at a set manufacturing cost rather than a set weight. Whatever - 10.5kg ain't bad and whilst it might feel heavy to anyone used to a more expensive bike (in other words, the sort of people who won't be buying this one) it'll feel nimble to the noobs and positively anorexic to anyone giving road bikes a go after riding supermarket mountain bike-alikes. The short stays, described by Halfords as "semi-compact," ought to create a stiff and nippy bike which in the hands of a reasonably fit rider will be able to keep up with the rest, even if doing so requires a bit more effort. Fairly slack geometry will make it comfortable ride, highly suited to the first-timers who don't want to have to think about their feet getting in the way of the front wheel.

Kit-wise, everything is much as it should be for under three hundred quid. Dual pivot Tektro 510A brakes at both ends look the part and will do the business provided the Halfords greasemonkey shows the owner how to keep them in tune when the free six week service comes around. Surprisingly, the rest of the bits aren't unbranded or in-house items - most of it's made by Kalloy who produce perfectly serviceable gear - including the seat pillar (which taller riders will need to change: the length isn't given, but it's a recurring point in Halfords' user reviews. Friendlier Halfords bods might be happy to do that at point of sale if you ask nicely) and the handlebars. The stem is Kalloy too, but the 1.125" headset appears to be a no-namer.

The gear shifters are, of course, Shimano; coming in the form of the budget 2200 range which look alright from a distance but are a bit plasticky up close. The Big S don't make any crap gear shifters these days though, so provided the owner keeps the cables taut and the derailleurs adjusted they ought to keep working more or less as well as when new. Halfords don't say what the derailleurs are, but we'd be pretty confident in guessing the rear one'll be be Shimano RD-2200 and the front one a bottom-of-the-Shimano range model. An in-house saddle will be fine for short rides, but if you want to use this bike for 60km+ runs you'll be wanting to upgrade as soon as possible. If you don't need a longer seat pillar, try your luck in getting Halfords to give you one. There's no harm in asking.

The chainset is something called a Pro Wheel Gloria Compact. We have no idea who Pro Wheel are (nor who Gloria is, for that matter), but the 50-36 combinations will be sufficient for the sorts of stuff this bike will get up to. The bottom bracket isn't listed, but once again we'll guess a low-cost Shimano of some variety. A Shimano 8 speed block and freehub will do what nature intended for a year or so and can then be upgraded if desired. The wheelset, 36-spoked double-wall alloy jobs, should be strong enough for most riders but won't do the bike any favours in the green light drag race - they probably account for a fair old chunk of the total weight.

There's just two places where the Virtuoso lets itself down, and these are the pedals and the tyres. Of course, most expensive bikes don't come with pedals at all and the ones bolted to this one are probably just some cheapos that had been knocking about in the warehouse for a bit because those not in the know would be put off were no pedals fitted. Whatever they are, they're horrible resin ones and spinning them on the shop display bike revealed some dirt-cheap clunky bearings. The toe clips and straps are horrible too. Some riders will swap them for clipless, but most will probably just pull off the straps, break off the plastic clips and use them as flats. The tyres are just as bad, being weighty Innova models - the one good thing about these is they'll probably wear fairly quickly and since the bike's pretty good overall, the owner will go and buy some better ones instead of leaving it in the shed and forgetting about it. One owner review says the front tyre "came loose," which suggests low quality and rubbish beads.

On the whole, owner reviews are positive with most stating it's a fast bike - those who've upgraded to clipless pedals are especially impressed and only one reviewer - who says he's used his for triathlon, a purpose for which this bike is definitely not intended - says he wouldn't recommend it to a friend.

Conclusion: you can't really give the Virtuoso a mark out of ten if you compare it to the expensive top-end bikes because it's not one - it's always going to be a £300 budget bike. However, you're getting something damn good for that amount of money. Most of them will be bought by new-comers to road cycling and there's no doubt at all that they're going to get the road biking bug as a result, which will see them start looking for a better, pricier bike in a year or two and pass this one on to the next in line. Mission accomplished, it seems, so we're giving it 7.5/10. If they sorted the pedals, fork and tyres it'd be an easy 9. If you want one, you might even find it's a bit cheaper when you go to buy yours - it's been around for three years now and Halfords will be wanting to clear them out ready for a replacement sooner or later.