Halfords Bike (I know, I know...)

"Burning_Ranger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On my way back from the LBS, popped into Halfords superstore. I know
everyone thinks Halfords bikes are [censored], but they had some bikes with

decent

Quoted message said:

components in my price range (£300). There was a Carrera Kraken SE with
Deore derailleurs, shifters and brakes for 299 (and some crappy mechanical
discs). Has anyone got this, any good? How does it compare to Specialized
Hardrock Sport (also £300) which has not as good components?

IIRC, the high end Carreras have some good reviews. Basically, frames made
in Taiwan to keep prices down, and made up with reasonable spec. Was this
Carrera a rigid? Or hardtail?

Ideally you could do with taking both for a test ride, but I'm guessing
Halfords won't let you.

IMHO, based on not much, I would go with the Specialized. but I'm a label
snob when it comes to mtbs. 🙂

Nick

Burning_Ranger said:

On my way back from the LBS, popped into Halfords superstore. I know
everyone thinks Halfords bikes are [censored], but they had some bikes with
decent components in my price range (£300). There was a Carrera
Kraken SE with Deore derailleurs, shifters and brakes for 299 (and
some crappy mechanical discs). Has anyone got this, any good? How
does it compare to Specialized Hardrock Sport (also £300) which has
not as good components?

One of my workmates has a Kraken SE which he uses it to commute to work in
all weathers, he is well impressed with the disk brake, after a couple of
years he is still on the original pads. Although to be fair he does'nt go
off road much.

George

..>> There was a Carrera

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Kraken SE with Deore derailleurs, shifters and brakes for 299 (and
some crappy mechanical discs). Has anyone got this, any good? How
does it compare to Specialized Hardrock Sport (also £300) which has
not as good components?

And what justifies the tag 'crappy mechanicalbrakes'

The work well are sensitive and stop the bike my 20 stone frame with minimal
fuss. Pads are wearing well as are the discs.

The bike has had two good reviews in cycling comics. The shimano components
are coping well as are the suspension forks.
The bike is wearing well has done 1000 + miles most of them off-road and I
can recommend it without reservation.

Quoted message said:

One of my workmates has a Kraken SE which he uses it to commute to work in
all weathers, he is well impressed with the disk brake, after a couple of
years he is still on the original pads. Although to be fair he does'nt go
off road much.

I've lent mine to a collegue to allow him to sample mountain biking - he's
really enjoying the bike and preferes it to the Hardrock Sport which he
managed to blag a ride on.

Chaque a son goute

At the end of the day it's your own personal preferences that will hold sway
when chosing a bike from a range of similar ones.

vernon levy said:

.>> There was a Carrera

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Kraken SE with Deore derailleurs, shifters and brakes for 299 (and
some crappy mechanical discs). Has anyone got this, any good? How
does it compare to Specialized Hardrock Sport (also £300) which has
not as good components?

And what justifies the tag 'crappy mechanicalbrakes'

Well I say that because everywhere I've looked they seem to need a lot more
maintenance than hydraulic brakes. And I'd rather be out riding than sitting
at home doing maintenance when I don't need to.

Quoted message said:

The work well are sensitive and stop the bike my 20 stone frame with
minimal fuss. Pads are wearing well as are the discs.

The bike has had two good reviews in cycling comics. The shimano
components are coping well as are the suspension forks.
The bike is wearing well has done 1000 + miles most of them off-road
and I can recommend it without reservation.

Quoted message said:

One of my workmates has a Kraken SE which he uses it to commute to
work in all weathers, he is well impressed with the disk brake,
after a couple of years he is still on the original pads. Although
to be fair he does'nt go off road much.

I've lent mine to a collegue to allow him to sample mountain biking -
he's really enjoying the bike and preferes it to the Hardrock Sport
which he managed to blag a ride on.

Chaque a son goute

At the end of the day it's your own personal preferences that will
hold sway when choosing a bike from a range of similar ones.

Ta. Tomorrow will go test ride both bikes.

Quoted message said:

Well I say that because everywhere I've looked they seem to need a lot

more

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maintenance than hydraulic brakes. And I'd rather be out riding than

sitting

Quoted message said:

at home doing maintenance when I don't need to.

So far, zero maintenance. No adjustment or replacement of components
needed. No deterioration of performance aither.

Quoted message said:

Ta. Tomorrow will go test ride both bikes.

It's the only way to decide.

Quoted message said:

vernon levy said:

Quoted message said:

Well I say that because everywhere I've looked they seem to need a
lot more maintenance than hydraulic brakes. And I'd rather be out
riding than sitting at home doing maintenance when I don't need to.

So far, zero maintenance. No adjustment or replacement of components
needed. No deterioration of performance aither.

Quoted message said:

Ta. Tomorrow will go test ride both bikes.

It's the only way to decide.

I've read up on it a bit more. I'm now torn between this and the Specialized
Hardrock Sport. Kraken has good components but doesn't look nice (hey, I'm
shallow). How good's the frame?

Hardrock has not got as good components but I might be able to buy it from a
place which gives £50 of free acessories/upgrades, and it looks nice and has
good frame.

I havn't ridden either bike (YET) but the Kraken didn't look light or very
nimble, which is what I'm looking for (I'm only 5'5). Is it light and
nimble?

BTW do you know anywhere online I can get a full spec of the Kraken SE, I'd
like to see if I can get the Hardrock updated to similar components for £50
or a little more.

I'm really stuck between these two. Do I go for heart (Hardrock) or Brain
(Kraken)?

Quoted message said:

I've read up on it a bit more. I'm now torn between this and the

Specialized

Quoted message said:

Hardrock Sport. Kraken has good components but doesn't look nice (hey, I'm
shallow). How good's the frame?

The 2004 model is not as nice as the 2003

Quoted message said:

Hardrock has not got as good components but I might be able to buy it from

a

Quoted message said:

place which gives £50 of free acessories/upgrades, and it looks nice and

has

Quoted message said:

good frame.

Do you mean good or good looking? The Kraken frame is made by the company
that maufactures the GT range of bikes. It's coped very well with the hard
life that I have given it.

Quoted message said:

I havn't ridden either bike (YET) but the Kraken didn't look light or very
nimble, which is what I'm looking for (I'm only 5'5). Is it light and
nimble?

It's very nimble and it's rideable by a 5' 5" lass who rated it highly. A
5' 10" colleague is currently enjoying it.

Quoted message said:

BTW do you know anywhere online I can get a full spec of the Kraken SE,

I'd

Quoted message said:

like to see if I can get the Hardrock updated to similar components for

£50

Quoted message said:

or a little more.

The chain set is now Trutativ instead of Suntour the front and rear mechs
are Deore as are the gear changers. The disks, and levers are Tektro. I'm
not sure of the hubs and rims. I don't know of any online specsheets apart
from the one that Halfords used to have on the web site but is there no
more. I don't have the comics with the reviews any longer so I can't point
you at them. Cycling plus was one title, cn't remember the other.

The bike weighs in at 34 lbs.

Quoted message said:

I'm really stuck between these two. Do I go for heart (Hardrock) or Brain
(Kraken)?

Go for the one that wins the ride out ([censored])

Vernon

in message <[email hidden]>,

Burning_Ranger (') said:

I've read up on it a bit more. I'm now torn between this and the
Specialized Hardrock Sport. Kraken has good components but doesn't
look nice (hey, I'm shallow). How good's the frame?

Hardrock has not got as good components but I might be able to buy it
from a place which gives £50 of free acessories/upgrades, and it looks
nice and has good frame.

I havn't ridden either bike (YET) but the Kraken didn't look light or
very nimble, which is what I'm looking for (I'm only 5'5). Is it light
and nimble?

Weigh 'em. Seriously. You can get a little spring balance from an
angling shop for not a lot. Weight makes a lot of difference on a bike-
far more than you'd imagine.

I rode Halford's bikes for many years when I was young and poor, and
they were OK and I covered a lot of miles on them (like tens of
thousands). But they were heavy. Nowadays I ride much nicer bikes and
some of them weren't a lot more expensive.

Quoted message said:

I'm really stuck between these two. Do I go for heart (Hardrock) or
Brain (Kraken)?

If it comes down to that, in the end a bicycle is a heart thing.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Just as defying the law of gravity through building aircraft requires
careful design and a lot of effort, so too does defying laws of
economics. It seems to be a deeply ingrained aspect of humanity to
forever strive to improve things, so unquestioning acceptance of a
free market system seems to me to be unnatural. ;; Charles Bryant

Burning_Ranger said:

vernon levy said:

And what justifies the tag 'crappy mechanicalbrakes'

Well I say that because everywhere I've looked they seem to need a lot more
maintenance than hydraulic brakes. And I'd rather be out riding than sitting
at home doing maintenance when I don't need to.

It is said repeatedly, but I've never come across any justification
for it.

Consider teh maintenance regime on my mechanical disks:

1: occasionally (once every few weeks) I twiddle the adjuster on teh
cable. Normally I do this while waiting for some traffic lights to
change.

2: err, nothing else.

When I change pads I
1: Screw cable adjuster fully in
2: Use allen key to turn pad adjuster back a couple of turns.
3: Use screw-driver to remove a bolt
4: pull out old pads
5: push in new pads
6: use scredriver to replace bolt fully
7: use allen key to wind in adjuster 'till teh pads are very close to
teh disk

I think teh most time-consuming step in teh whole process was waiting
for the bike-shop credit-card machine to print teh slip for me to
sign.

Anyone that says hydraulic disks are low maintenance hasn't had to
bleed a hydraulic system recently, imo. Generally the manufacturers
advocate doing that annually, and it takes longer to read the
instructions than it takes me to change the pads on my disks
(something I do less than annualy).

Depending on fluid choice, teh only real advantage I can see for
hydraulic over mechanical on anything other than a lunatic downhill
bike is that there's no risk of the cables freezing. Of course, that
doesn't mean the cylinder seals won't freeze or the caliper won't jam
up with ice.

regards, Ian SMith
--
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|o o|
|/ \|

"Ian Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Depending on fluid choice, teh only real advantage I can see for
hydraulic over mechanical on anything other than a lunatic downhill
bike is that there's no risk of the cables freezing. Of course, that
doesn't mean the cylinder seals won't freeze or the caliper won't jam
up with ice.

Tandem - cable length invokes stretch issues, and you can use the back
brake.

(assuming you're restricting your discussion to disc brakes, otherwise I'll
bring out the myriad advantages of the magura rim brakes!)

cheers,
clive

Clive George said:

"Ian Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Depending on fluid choice, teh only real advantage I can see for
hydraulic over mechanical on anything other than a lunatic downhill
bike is that there's no risk of the cables freezing. Of course, that
doesn't mean the cylinder seals won't freeze or the caliper won't jam
up with ice.

Tandem - cable length invokes stretch issues, and you can use the back
brake.

Possibly, though that's only a function of teh rigidity of teh
hydraulic tubes, and you could presumably use thicker cables. I'm
willing to believe off-the-shef hydraulics suffer less from long
actuator system runs than off-the-shelf mechanicals though.

Quoted message said:

(assuming you're restricting your discussion to disc brakes, otherwise I'll
bring out the myriad advantages of the magura rim brakes!)

Well, I was limiting it to the hydraulic / mechanical divide, and
advantages of a particular model (or even range of models) was outside
my consideration.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Simon Brooke said:

Quoted message said:

I havn't ridden either bike (YET) but the Kraken didn't look light or
very nimble, which is what I'm looking for (I'm only 5'5). Is it
light and nimble?

Weigh 'em. Seriously. You can get a little spring balance from an
angling shop for not a lot. Weight makes a lot of difference on a
bike- far more than you'd imagine.

Yeah, that's why it's so important to me to get a small a frame as I can get
away with (comfortably), instead of a lumbering heavy thing that'll drag me
down towards the Earth's core.

Quoted message said:

I rode Halford's bikes for many years when I was young and poor, and
they were OK and I covered a lot of miles on them (like tens of
thousands). But they were heavy. Nowadays I ride much nicer bikes and
some of them weren't a lot more expensive.

Quoted message said:

I'm really stuck between these two. Do I go for heart (Hardrock) or
Brain (Kraken)?

If it comes down to that, in the end a bicycle is a heart thing.

Thankfully. I picked up MBR today and there was an advert in the back for a
shop that gives £75 of accessories for a £300 Hardrock Sport. I've made up
my mind to get it from there. At least I'll be able to upgrade some of the
parts to Deore and get some things likes pumps, grips etc.

By the way, if I could only upgrade one thing (for not much money) what
should I upgrade? Both derailleurs? Brake levers & shifters? I'm inclined to
go for derialleurs since I can always upgrade brake levers and shifters
later on (and who knows I might even like the shifters and levers the
Hardrock comes with).

Ian Smith said:

Consider teh maintenance regime on my mechanical disks:

1: occasionally (once every few weeks) I twiddle the adjuster on teh
cable. Normally I do this while waiting for some traffic lights to
change.

2: err, nothing else.

When I change pads I
1: Screw cable adjuster fully in
2: Use allen key to turn pad adjuster back a couple of turns.
3: Use screw-driver to remove a bolt
4: pull out old pads
5: push in new pads
6: use scredriver to replace bolt fully
7: use allen key to wind in adjuster 'till teh pads are very close to
teh disk

I think teh most time-consuming step in teh whole process was waiting
for the bike-shop credit-card machine to print teh slip for me to
sign.

I reckon I'll risk it and get some mechanical discs. They're so cheap now
(recently saw several brands for around £40-50 for both discs) that it won't
be too big a deal if they do mess up. Ta for convincing me.

Who does good mechanical discs?

vernon levy said:

Quoted message said:

Hardrock has not got as good components but I might be able to buy
it from a place which gives £50 of free acessories/upgrades, and it
looks nice and has good frame.

Do you mean good or good looking? The Kraken frame is made by the
company that maufactures the GT range of bikes. It's coped very well
with the hard life that I have given it.

No, I meant structurally.

Quoted message said:

The bike weighs in at 34 lbs.

Quoted message said:

I'm really stuck between these two. Do I go for heart (Hardrock) or
Brain (Kraken)?

Go for the one that wins the ride out ([censored])

Heh. I've made up my mind now after a lot of 'umming' and 'aahing' and
researching. All that remains is a test rid of both to confirm my choice.

"Burning_Ranger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thankfully. I picked up MBR today and there was an advert in the back for

a

Quoted message said:

shop that gives £75 of accessories for a £300 Hardrock Sport. I've made up
my mind to get it from there. At least I'll be able to upgrade some of the
parts to Deore and get some things likes pumps, grips etc.

By the way, if I could only upgrade one thing (for not much money) what
should I upgrade? Both derailleurs? Brake levers & shifters? I'm inclined

to

Quoted message said:

go for derialleurs since I can always upgrade brake levers and shifters
later on (and who knows I might even like the shifters and levers the
Hardrock comes with).

I'd do neither - alivio etc work well enough. Unless the choice was 8/9
speed, in which case I'd go for 9. I'd spend the money when I needed to, ie
the stuff breaks/wears out.

BTW with your discs question - you do know that on top of the 40/50 quid for
discs, you've got to budget for a new wheelset too?

cheers,
clive

Clive George said:

"Burning_Ranger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thankfully. I picked up MBR today and there was an advert in the
back for a shop that gives £75 of accessories for a £300 Hardrock
Sport. I've made up my mind to get it from there. At least I'll be
able to upgrade some of the parts to Deore and get some things likes
pumps, grips etc.

By the way, if I could only upgrade one thing (for not much money)
what should I upgrade? Both derailleurs? Brake levers & shifters?
I'm inclined to go for derialleurs since I can always upgrade brake
levers and shifters later on (and who knows I might even like the
shifters and levers the Hardrock comes with).

I'd do neither - alivio etc work well enough. Unless the choice was
8/9 speed, in which case I'd go for 9. I'd spend the money when I
needed to, ie the stuff breaks/wears out.

BTW with your discs question - you do know that on top of the 40/50
quid for discs, you've got to budget for a new wheelset too?

Eh? What exactly comprises a 'wheelset'? And why will I need a new one?

Burning_Ranger said:

Eh? What exactly comprises a 'wheelset'? And why will I need a new one?

A wheelset is... errr... a set of wheels *ahem.*

This point here is that you cannot use disc brakes on wheels that were
built to be used exclusively with rim brakes. The hub of a disc brake
compatible wheel will have fittings to allow the attachment of the
disc rotor. Without this there is no way to install one.

I think also (although not positive, I never used them myself) that
the frame and forks will also need mounting points designed to accept
disc brakes, so once again, without them you're buggered.
--

"Bob"

'The people have spoken, the [censored]'

Email address is spam trapped.
To reply directly remove the beverage.

"Burning_Ranger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

BTW with your discs question - you do know that on top of the 40/50
quid for discs, you've got to budget for a new wheelset too?

Eh? What exactly comprises a 'wheelset'? And why will I need a new one?

A pair of wheels. Disc brakes are mounted on the hubs, and the hubs on a
rim-brake equipped bike will probably not have the relevant mounting points.
So you would need new hubs. Which possibly means new spokes, and certainly
means a wheel rebuild, at which point you may as well get new rims as well,
ie a new pair of wheels.

cheers,
clive

in message <[email hidden]>,

Burning_Ranger (') said:

Thankfully. I picked up MBR today and there was an advert in the back
for a shop that gives £75 of accessories for a £300 Hardrock Sport.
I've made up my mind to get it from there. At least I'll be able to
upgrade some of the parts to Deore and get some things likes pumps,
grips etc.

By the way, if I could only upgrade one thing (for not much money)
what should I upgrade? Both derailleurs? Brake levers & shifters? I'm
inclined to go for derialleurs since I can always upgrade brake levers
and shifters later on (and who knows I might even like the shifters
and levers the Hardrock comes with).

We discussed this only a week ago. Pedals and shoes.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

The trouble with Simon is that he only opens his mouth to change feet.
;; of me, by a 'friend'