# Who Actually Makes Carrera??



## sleuthey (9 Sep 2008)

OK there are cons and pros about buying from Halfords but thats been discussed in the other threads!

So who actually makes Carrera and are they any good?

Looking on other forums there are mixed views.....

Halfords?? Carrera?? Strongman?? Meridia?? Raleigh??

The Subway has had a good review at Bikeradar.com but some say the Derraliers and Brakes fail every five minutes.

Anyone have any views on these bikes??

Thanks!


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## vernon (9 Sep 2008)

sleuthey said:


> OK there are cons and pros about buying from Halfords but thats been discussed in the other threads!
> 
> So who actually makes Carrera and are they any good?
> 
> ...



Meridia have made the bikes in the past. Not to sure about the present. The Carerra range seem to be popular with bike thieves as I have lost four to them: 2 x Krakens a Subway and one other whose name I can''t recall.

I dispute the fragility accusations about the bikes as they have withstood my sons' abuse and neglect. There were no mechanical breakdowns and the only maintainance was the replacement of brake pads as they wore out and the repair of punctures.

I have not seen any adverse reviews of the Carerra range in any of the cycling comics. The street/town, hybrid. MTB and road bikes have all received positive reviews.

Although Halfords get knocked for poor service etc, it hasn't been my experience when purchasing from two of the Leeds brances. It has to be rememeberde that poor service is more likely to be reported upon than satisfacory service and this is likely to distort the perception of the quality of service that actually exists.

I have no connectio with Halfords other than being a satisfied purchaser of several examples of the Carerra bike range


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## col (9 Sep 2008)

Iv had a carrera vulcan for a good few years now,the breaks are good,and the gears have been very good,considering they are bottom of the range,its also a surprisingly light bike,im very happy with mine,and i was also happy with halfords where i bought it.


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## kyuss (9 Sep 2008)

I had a Carrera Banshee (the early hardtail version) and it was a decent bike. The cheap RST suspension forks went a bit spongy after a while but I never had any major problems with it. In fact I can't remember even replacing the chain in the 7 years I had it. The frame broke last year though, most likely caused by a seatpost that was too short which put too much pressure on the seat tube/top tube weld. It is missed.


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## John the Monkey (10 Sep 2008)

Carrreras rigid framed town/city bikes (the subway range) get great reviews, and from what I've seen seem pretty good.

Where the whole thing becomes a bit of a lottery is in the Halfords end of the experience. Get the guy who knows about bikes, and actually cares about setting it up properly (and knows how to) and you're laughing. Get the lad who wishes he was selling alloys or car stereos downstairs, and your purchase (and post purchase) experience will be less happy.

For preference, I'd buy from a good local bike shop (LBS) instead. If that's not possible, you'll probably still be ok as long as you know enough about bikes to spot a poor set up and/or fix what they may get wrong.


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## ianrauk (10 Sep 2008)

I have had a Carrera subway 1 for hack bike for a couple of years now.
Nowt wrong with it, a very well made bike imvho.
Brakes and gears are fine.


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## Mortiroloboy (10 Sep 2008)

My twin daughters have an S1 each, I believe the frames are still made by Merida, the bikes are a year old, and apart from the usual shakedown niggles they have been fine, mind you they look after them.


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## goo_mason (10 Sep 2008)

I've no idea who makes them, but my Carrera Vulcan did two years of happy commuting with no problems other than the usual wear'n'tear (chain / chainrings / casette). It's sitting in the room beside me, awaiting the arrival of the harsher days of winter when the road bike will be given a well-deserved rest !

Still in great nick too; a brush'n'wipe-down and re-lube every week kept it in tip-top condition.


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## alecstilleyedye (11 Sep 2008)

my carrera virtuoso (as was) was fine out of the box, got lucky with a decent mechanic setting it up, who has moved on to a proper lbs. between the frame (on the summer bike) and the components (now on the winter bike), i've yet to replace anything other than consumables or for upgrade.

mine's a merida frame, but i believe that they no longer make the carrera bikes. if a carrera is a few years old and made of 6061 T6 (heat treated) alu, it will be a merida. the current range is all in 7005 alu.


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## PoiSon (3 May 2009)

vernon said:


> The Carerra range seem to be popular with bike thieves as I have lost four to them: 2 x Krakens a Subway and one other whose name I can''t recall.



True that. My kraken '08 was stolen the other day when it was locked up with a pretty hefty lock. There were about 20 bikes there, half of which weren't locked up and they still went for mine...

From my experience they're really nice bikes to ride and fairly easy to maintain. However, seriously never let a Halford's mechanic touch your bike! I got mine out of the shop and within about 10 seconds took it back again. They'd managed to set up the gears so badly that when you tried to go to the third cog it threw the chain straight off. The seat also fell off 2 days later...

My kraken '08's wheel also got a fairly hefty dent in it recently and I don't remember having done anything to warrant that kind of damage to it.

Apart from that no real complaints with the bike. Paint job isn't anywhere near the quality I had on my previous saracen though and expect it to scratch easily. But for the savings I don't mind this and am looking at buying another one with the insurance money.


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## stoatsngroats (3 May 2009)

alecstilleyedye said:


> my carrera virtuoso was fine out of the box, if a carrera is a few years old and made of 6061 T6 (heat treated) alu, it will be a merida.



Mine too, fantastic bike, been a good few miles, no probs, I'd be more than happy to buy Carrera again...(No link with halfords/carrera - other than being an extremely happy user..


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## ianrauk (3 May 2009)

+1




> Nothing wrong with the brakes or gears. It's a fine bike.


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## alecstilleyedye (5 May 2009)

stoatsngroats said:


> Mine too, fantastic bike, been a good few miles, no probs, I'd be more than happy to buy Carrera again...(No link with halfords/carrera - other than being an extremely happy user..



i'm glad they're doing steel forks now, mine had alu ones which were not so good. a nice carbon fork sorted that.


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## Mortiroloboy (5 May 2009)

I cannot confirm this...But I'm confident that this was asked on the old C+ some time back and someone suggested that Carerra frames are made by Merida.


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## colin w (14 Aug 2012)

i have the carerra subway limited edition hybrid fantastic bike gears easy and smooth brakes great too can recomend there bikes infact also looking to buy the carrera virtuoso road bike .....col.


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## 400bhp (14 Aug 2012)

ianrauk said:


> +1


 
+2


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## mickle (14 Aug 2012)

There are many factories in Taiwan making lots of bikes for hundreds of different brands. Giant are the largest followed by Merida. One years model will often be manufactured by a different factory from the next. Some brands use more than one factory -Kona one year used six different makers for their range - and sometimes as with a particilar Dawes model a couple of years ago production of one bike was split between two factories. I dont know why, probably capacity issues. As has neen alluded to upthread who made your bike is much less important than how well it was assembled.


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## sabian92 (14 Aug 2012)

I've got a Carrera Virtuoso - apart from the wheels needing a true every few days (irritating but I'm 16st so it's partially my own fault, and they're getting replaced with handbuilts anyway) it's a solid bike. Had to adjust the brakes/gears once, replaced the tyres/tubes (Nothing wrong with Kenda tyres but I didn't want to get stuck commuting with no spare tubes etc so I put my usual Marathon+ on).

Solid bike all in all. Shifts well, reasonably light and I've not had a single problem with it. I suspect this is something to do with the fact I bought it from Halfords and never ever took it back for anything  and I actually learned it do it myself.


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## ianrauk (14 Aug 2012)




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## wheres_my_beard (14 Aug 2012)

Has no-one found the answer in 4 years???

I'm sure that Halfords staff make them. Sometimes I hear the sound of the heavy machinery in my local store, but it might just be the sound of the staff trying to think of sensible things to say to customers.

That actually happens.


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## Cyclopathic (15 Aug 2012)

I thought Porche made them.


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## festival (15 Aug 2012)

stoatsngroats said:


> Mine too, fantastic bike, been a good few miles, no probs, I'd be more than happy to buy Carrera again...(No link with halfords/carrera - other than being an extremely happy user..


What an ugly looking bike!


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## festival (15 Aug 2012)

Sometime in the distant past Merida did make some bikes for halfords.
In recent years all halfords own branded bikes, including the Carrera's come from the likes of Indonesia, Maylasia, Vietnam,and Bangladesh.
I am almost certain nothing has come from Taiwan in the last 10 years. Its possible Merida may have factories in these countries but even the Boardmans they sell do not come from Taiwan.
Ask in store, they usually have the place of manufacture on the box they are delivered in


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## Hip Priest (15 Aug 2012)

I've done 1500ish miles on my Carrera Virtuoso road bike, and it's bombproof. The wheels are still true. Compare that with my Revolution bike, which has twice been into the shop to have the rear wheel built in 900 miles.

If you're a keen cyclist on a tight budget then you can't go wrong.


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## smokeysmoo (15 Aug 2012)

Cyclopathic said:


> I thought Por*s*che made them.


FTFY


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## captainhastings (15 Aug 2012)

I had the subway 2 and it was great too ride but I swapped it for the tdf road bike in hind site I wish I had kept it and of course also got the road bike


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## cyberknight (15 Aug 2012)

captainhastings said:


> I had the subway 2 and it was great too ride but I swapped it for the tdf road bike in hind site I wish I had kept it and of course also got the road bike


I hear you , i had a subway 1 and sold it as i moved more into road bikes, ended up buying a rigid MTB off ebay a replacement.


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## captainhastings (16 Aug 2012)

cyberknight said:


> I hear you , i had a subway 1 and sold it as i moved more into road bikes, ended up buying a rigid MTB off ebay a replacement.


Exactly what I did too got a marin rigid MTB off ebay but the subway would have been perfect doh


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## stoatsngroats (17 Aug 2012)

festival said:


> What an ugly looking bike!


 
Well, I didn't outshine it's beauty either.....


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## User16625 (17 Aug 2012)

sleuthey said:


> OK there are cons and pros about buying from Halfords but thats been discussed in the other threads!
> 
> So who actually makes Carrera and are they any good?
> 
> ...


 
Well they would with the stig riding it.


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## Dangermouse (18 Aug 2012)

There is actually an Italian company making Carrera but I dont know if this is the same company that Halfords use to make them, but the brand name is identical


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## black'n'yellow (18 Aug 2012)

Dangermouse said:


> There is actually an Italian company making Carrera but I dont know if this is the same company that Halfords use to make them, but the brand name is identical


 
nope - entirely different company and entirely different bikes.


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## Dangermouse (18 Aug 2012)

If so how does one play the other off with the brand name, it is odd to see two different makes using the same brand name


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## black'n'yellow (18 Aug 2012)

Dangermouse said:


> If so how does one play the other off with the brand name, it is odd to see two different makes using the same brand name


 
http://www.carrera-podium.it/

The Italian company trades under the name of 'Carrera Podium' - but the two don't really compete in any meaningful sense....


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## Dangermouse (18 Aug 2012)

So still no answer to the original question then, my guess would be the frames are made in the far east and the bikes built up in the UK under the carrera logo for Halfords


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## Dangermouse (18 Aug 2012)

Ahh it appears the carbon frame is made by 3M


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## black'n'yellow (18 Aug 2012)

Dangermouse said:


> So still no answer to the original question then, my guess would be the frames are made in the far east and the bikes built up in the UK under the carrera logo for Halfords


 
I think that was generally accepted to be the case anyway. Last I heard, the frames were made by Merida - but it doesn't actually matter who makes them. The bikes are almost certainly NOT built-up in the UK - they are probably shipped as complete bikes after being assembled/boxed in the far east. Standard distribution methods - all the Halfords guys do is fit the bars/saddle/seatpost and do the PDI on it.



Dangermouse said:


> Ahh it appears the carbon frame is made by 3M


 
unlikely, seeing as 3M doesn't make cycle frames....?


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## Globalti (20 Aug 2012)

Mickle is right; bikes, like just about everything else, are built in general bike factories not factories specific to the brand, except for the big names like Spesh, Trek, Cannondale etc. who probably do own their own facilities.

Last year I visited a TV factory in Hungary; it's a massive facility that assembles TVs to the spec required by the brand manager, a much more efficient way than building your own factory. They built TVs for four major brands and when I asked the factory manager which he would choose he told me Samsung were specced with the best components but otherwise they are all the same.


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## Keith Oates (20 Aug 2012)

The top end Trek carbon bikes are hand made at their US Waterloo factory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## black'n'yellow (20 Aug 2012)

Globalti said:


> except for the big names like Spesh, Trek, Cannondale etc. who probably do own their own facilities.


 
not even sure that's the case. I'm pretty sure Specialized are made in Merida's factory. As far as I'm aware, the only big brands that make their own bikes are the likes of Giant - and to a lesser extent, Merida. Ironically, they started both started out as OEMs to other brands....


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