Updated: Carrera Fury Review - BikeRadar

Best XC bike anywhere in this price range IMO.

Im currently riding a Vulcan and completely agree Carrera bikes are great for the money, i really cant think of anything else which comes close in terms of frame quality and spec for the money.

The best spec at this price range,sram x5/x5 on mine though not x7/x5.Really cant fault it.

Got one a few weeks ago, and all generally good. Halfords sales staff helpful, but build/PDI left a lot to be desired. Hoping to get last few items sorted (had to fix more serious stuff myself) at free six week check. Bike is great though - fork excellent for the price, gears perfectly OK (like other poster, X5/X5 rather than X7/X5 per Halfords text above). Only other issue is tyres - no doubt Speedkings are great for some surfaces (carpet, for example...) but off road at this time of year I have found to be puncture magnets. Maybe too many hawthorn bushes in my neck of the woods...

Bike snobs - eat my dust.

I bought one of these two months ago as a second bike for winter.

What can i say - blown away by this bike!

I'm 18stone and have a habit of killing anything on two wheels so when i bought this as a winter workhorse i was amazed to find a tough, quality hooligan hardtail in waiting.

I've since beefed it up a bit with some atlas bars and my fave charge saddle, ditched the big ring for a bashguard and put an SLX dual front mech on and blinged it up with my fave hope goodies.

I've also extended the forks to 140mm - easy when you know how!

Why do this to a Carrera you may ask .......

Because it eats my Hoss for breakfast, quite a few of the hooligan hardtailers on my local trails, and cost me less than £650 all in once i'd begged, borrowed and e-bayed my way to a tougher and pound lighter build.

A cracking bike for the price thats well worth upgrading and will still leave you change from one of the 'named' brands bikes.

1 - Just been to Halfords and greeted by a helpful, polite, well switched on mechanic who advised me really well so STOP BASHING PEOPLE WHO WORK IN HALFORDS THEY ARE NOT ALL THE SAME (my LBS pretty much ignored me BTW, I think they care more about people buying £2k full sussers)

2 - The Fury looks like a really well balanced bike in terms of spec, and it actually looks good! There are always going to be compromises at this price but it looks like they've sussed out the forks are key, a few quibbles can be quickly improved ie pedals / grips etc etc. If I was out every week I'd spend more on a new bike with better components but I'm coming to terms with the fact my other hobbies mean I don't go out biking every week. Why should I spend more on parts that are built for harder wear when I'm chuffed If i get out on a trail once a month?

3 - Do I want to spend an extra £200 on a similar specced big name brand?

I'm going to try one of these out based on the service I got, the VFM, the decent forks, and the better things I can do with my saved £250.

If it's gash I'm going to join in the slagging of Halfords ...I'll update this in a few months.

Just like to add

IMO Carrera do build good bikes ... my last one was cost me 350 " Absolute " 21 spd that was more than 10 years ago which they don't make any more light as a feather fast as fk ..

Back in the day it was and none of that front suspension ethier

Well I bought this bike on the day of release and I've put a few hours in over the last 5/6 months or so. I bought this bike obviously from Halfords and I like others found it a very good service. The lad who served me in Derby was clearly a bike lover as his knowledge of bikes was cracking.

Since owning the bike I've done all sorts of rides from heavy rocked downhills through to rides around lakes ect. I find the bike comfortable and a joy to ride. It also looks the B*****ks!

My complaint would be that the bike was never really set up right. The gears never worked properly and the crank was knackered and replaced last week.

Since owning the bike I've replaced the front crank and treated it to a XT one which works a wonders. Also the pedals and chain have been replaced. The tyres are good as standard however they wear really quickly and have now been replaced.

ADVICE - Buy the bike which is a steal and get a professional bike shop to set it up. You won't be disappointed!!!

Bought this today over a Rockhopper SL 2010 or a used fleabay Rockhopper comp disc (which i had a while ago). Was a big fan of the spesh, but the latest spec seems to be inferior, though the frame is improved, sinec I'm not about to upgare anything as MTB is a casual fun alternative to road training. So far am very imprseed with it, riding position is good, nice and stable like the comp, SRAM stuff works ok though the shit levers are not is such an ergonomically good place as the shimano ones are.

great bike for the price :)

just got it today and cant wait to blast it tomorrow....................let you know how i get on!!

I think my Fury is great value for money, and also a great bike !!

i cant fault the fury, i have done some cosmetic changes to make it my own and it looks the biz

When I first saw this bike I fell for it, the smooth welds the ample tyre clearance in the rear, the smooth feeling fork, the nice white colour, I instantly wanted it, but went elsewhere to build up my rigid and regret this HUGELY.

For the price it can't be beat not by a long shot.

Likely treat myself for xmas, but they keep selling out of them strangely.

p.s. I did get to test ride 1 so the 5stars is allowed, rides great.

Ridden the fury today (liked it a lot) and being new to MTB'ing am unsure whether to buy or look at the Cube Attention. Appreciate its about £100 more, but I 'think' its worth it. Advice welcomed!

shame the bike is now £699.99 !!!

recently baught this bike from halfords and i was well happy with the bike .... looks great and rides great but i was out riding one day and the bolt holding the saddle on snapped and as you can imagine i fell and seriously hurt my self...

NOTE TO ALL if you are going to buy one of these change the bolt from the crap half thredded bolt to the full thredded bolt as these are much much stronger.. as funny as it sounds,,its not funny when it happens to you ...i have torn a liggerment in my wrist and fractured my elbo because of this

Love this bike. Bought it about 8 weeks ago and it has served me well.

Having spent the last six years on a road bike for use in triathlons cycling had become all about training. I bought the Fury to put the fun back into biking and it certainly has done that. I hadn't been on an off-road bike in about 20 years so needed to do plenty of research and everything pointed in the same direction - the Carrera Fury.

Obviously everyone else had the same idea and it took me ages to track one down but it was worth the effort. Took it on a few gentle runs around the hills and woods of Dorset to get my off-road eye back in but the bike just filled me with confidence. Light enough to throw around the local trails but sturdy enough to feel comfortable taking some serious drops. Forks are brilliant, gears are crisp and the braking powerful.

I love this bike so much my gorgeous carbon road bike is now gathering dust. Every Sunday morning I open the shed, look at both bikes, and end up taking the Fury for one more speederbike style blast through the woods thinking, "I'll start training again next week." The Carrera really needs to go in for its free first service but I can't bear to be parted from it... maybe next week. I guess next year I'll have to start racing X-Terra triathlons instead.

If you want a great, well-priced, well-made and well-specced hardtail there is no alternative to the Carrera Fury.

Shame the price has gone up. been waiting for my cycle to work to start and missed the 529 price. this has caused somewhat of a dilema. I'm looking for a bike that will take on the hard technical trails but also some mild downhill abuse. most bikes at the now 700-800 price (inc 2010 sale bike) don't offer 120mm travel and thru axle but may have 'better' components in places. any suggestions on bikes. looked at Marin B17, possibly the next best choice?

Please help.

Bought this bike 4 weeks ago for only £450 as Halfords had a 15% weekend off and when you buy something over £50 you get a £10 voucher. Absolute bargain.

Bike rides very well as used on 7 stanes red routes and used for work.

Only problems I had at 1st was punctures from the speed king tyres but changed the inner tubes and now using slime.

Everything seems ok now. Just need to get fit!!

i think the comment about it being sorted for black route fun is a bit optimistic.I do however really like these bike probably because they are amazing value.The spec is better than some major brand bikes costing £800+.I tried to convince my girlfriend to buy one through cycle2work scheme but she ended up buying a Genesis Altitude 00 in the sale which still cost as much as the better specced Fury,she just wasnt going to buy a bike from halfrauds.I am going to buy one though as i need a cheap bike to hack about on as my My Meta 55 team is a bit lardy as a every day run about.I have seen 2010 fury's on ebay for little over £300 happy days,i read somewhere the frames come up big,I am 5'11" with 31" inside leg should i go for 18" frame?

i have away from mtb for a long time & i am just getting back into it to try & get fit,i decided it was time to upgrade my old ridgeback competition and after much research and magazine reading i opted for the fury seen as it had got good write ups in what mountain bike.i thought all the bad comments about halfords must be a few isolated incidents so i went ahead & reserved one.i have had it just over a week now and when i got it home i gave it a check and found many loose parts, have tried to ride it twice and been unable to due to problems with the gears,been back to halfords twice for adjustment,after 1st time it was a bit better but when i tried to go up a steep hill the gears just jumped causing me come to a stop,luckily a got my foot unclipped just in time to avoid falling,took it back 2nd time on thursday and was told we are really busy 7 wont be able to look at it till monday! well monday i rang them atl1pm to be told they had not done it but it was the 1st job & would ring me when it was done,they did not ring.when i finally get the bike back i will leave a review about it,until then if you are thinking of buying a fury then beware of halfords set up,i bought the cycle plan as well & now i am thinking that maybe that was a mistake.

I got this bike for my birthday in May, and loved it :) I was going to get the cube attention, as they were both 600 at the time, but then when i went to halfords they gave it to me for 440 so i got it. I absolutely adored the bike but, there were a couple of problems. The main one, was halfords.

They set it up properly, (gasp :O) but, after a few weeks, I managed to have a crash and bend my front disc. I had to kick this into place and ride with a warped disc very quickly to get away from an angry dog. I took it into halfords, with the plan they said they would replace everything that was broken for free (they really didnt want me to go to cycles uk :L ) which, they didnt. It took them 5 weeks to even bother doing anything, much after endless phone calls. All they did was replace my warped disc with guess what, ANOTHER WARPED DISC! We bought a new one from cycles uk, fitted it ourselves, and then had a service with halfords to try and fix the chafing noise the breaks make (anyone got any advice on stopping that noise? still does it :/ ) and just a general check-over. After this, I went cliff cycling, easy trails, but there was a nasty 25 metre drop if you fell over. About 2km in, my back wheel fell off, yes, fell off. I nearly went tumbling over the edge, and as it was only one way, had a nasty 15km walk back (bracket had snapped). In the next service, halfords ripped my seat. So, advice. Get the bike in the box. Take it to cycles uk, get them to build it, and you have a PERFECT :3 bike.

Regards.

Great bike for the money! The review is spot on too, it was this review which entised me into getting one. I'm glad I did though. I chose it over the Boardman on the basis of doing some harder riding and I'm glad I did, the extra travel makes lots of difference, after riding a Boardman Comp.

best bike possible for £550 as an all-rounder a must for a beginner or a experienced rider

This is a superb bike - very well specced, sturdy and reliable which is all you could want. I've used mine for commuting and trails and it's proved more than up to the job on both counts. In terms of value its one of the best new bikes I've seen. Great brakes, truly excellent fork (don't let the Suntour brand put you off) and reliable gear shifting. You can pay more for your bike if you want but why would you pay more and get less?

The front end is maybe a little light but you soon learn to cope. The rear is super tough and the chain/seatstays are nicely chunky. It feels very chuckable on any terrain.

Being honest, the Halfords setup was OK, I had to tweak one or two little bits but really nothing major. The staff were friendly and happy to talk bike for ages on end.

Try one out, I doubt you'd be disappointed. Easily the best hardtail I've owned and at the price it can't fail.

Got mines back in the beginning (before this review) mainly because of the spec at the price, couldn't get away from the pure value.

For getting into riding trail centres and such, it is ideal.

There will most likely be things you'll want to change along the way though, such as:

1 - shorter stem for more direct control. This does compromise some reach, but once you getting more into technical stuff, it's worth it (50mm in mine which can be a bit twitchy, would recommend even 70mm) I also went for some 720mm wide bars, and feel I could still go a bit wider (I am 6'4" and a half though!-)

2 - extending the fork to 140mm. There is a video on Suntour's website showing how to do this and what you need. I had some concern about compromising the strength on the front, although after reading that the Fury had been sold with 140mm forks on before, game on! One of the main advantages of doing this is slackening the head angle just slightly more, giving more stability and helping put your weight just a bit more back (great with that shorter stem)

3 - The crank arms can have some trouble staying tight, and once they are ridden with play on them, stand the chance of being buggered. If they stay put, no probs, but in the long run this is probably something that'll need upgraded too.

When it comes to tyres and such, it's all personal preference to where you riding really. I have 3 main sets I use and change between them all the time. One of them is the Continentals which are great for XC trecks as they're light and have good volume too ,as long as you remember they're not gonna grip great, you're fine.

Ah yes, nearly forgot... the pedals were actually the first thing I changed for some DMR V8's. (and then Kona wah wah's) Anything with pegs will help your feet stay on, especially in the wet!

So, you might think that I'm saying the bike's no good as it is... although that's not the case at all. It's great for getting into more serious fun riding, and you will find that the upgrades are kind of a natural progression as you improve and find your style.

Issues:

The paint on my frame got a fair crack on it at the seat stay. Halfords said it's fine and the frame is not cracked, although paranoia got the best of me and I scraped back the paint to see (tip-ex touched up the white not too bad!-) It looked okay and must've just been from flex. although I lost a little faith in the bike after this. I am a heavy chap and had started riding it pretty hard too so it didn't really surprise me all too much, just a bit of a disappointment. Busted the rear hub too which was replaced by Halfords (took ages and I agree, try learn to do most things yourself or go to your local bike shop if it is not a guarantee issue)

I have now built the components over to a on-one summer season frame and you can see what that would look like on the on-one reader's rides section. Had to think of a name cos they asked, and she be called Laidy, cos she so laid back with that slack head angle (which I measure at about 66.6deg with that fork as opposed the the Fury's 69'ish with the same travel)

All in all this bike has been a great starting point for greater things, and I can't really fault it for what I have put it through, but it has to loose a point for things actually breaking I guess, regardless of my occasional lack of finesse!-)

Happy riding!

Been looking at this and some of the board man models from last year that were recommended in the under £1000 category as a first proper mountain bike.

In every case at least the rear mech is shown as a lower spec model on the halfords website than the one listed in the review. Are the reviews correct and Halfords have lowered the spec when the bikes are on offer, or are the reviews wrong?

If the former it's quite a sharp practice, particularly when your reviews are quoted in store on the likes of the Fury.

Does anyone know where I could pick up one of these brand new, yes I know this bike came out 2 years ago but this bike is a cracker! Or have they made a new make/model similar in they're 2012 Carrera range?

I got a Fury (£495) as the comparable Cube was £50 more for slightly lower spec bits. I have absoluetly hammered it. Apart from breaking some bits it has been a great fun and brilliant value. I didn't buy it at my local Halfords, as the guy there is a complete tit and blames me for all the damage to my previous bikes (if it says mountain or dirt on the side they should be able to take a bit of stick). Went to a different store and they are decent chaps who when I take the broken bits there are quite willing to order new parts. Only down side is they want the bike there for days to fix it, so I inevitaly cut my losses and get the bits from LBS or online and fix it myself.

Anyway the first bit to give up was the middle chainring, managed to bend it through 90 degrees. I replaced this with a Shimano part which seems a bit tougher.

Next the rear cassette started skipping on the smaller sprockets. I got an upgraded 11-34 SRAM from Chain Reaction £30!! (the original cassette has plastic spacers and these started to break up flicking the chain off). I thought I would have to change the chain however the extra tension seems to keep the chain in place better.

I had to mess about quite a lot to get the front mech to change properly but now I have set it up I have not had any more problems with it. The trick seems to be, first bin the SRAM instructions, center the mech on the middle chain ring with the shifter set to position 2; then it almost automatically sets itself up for the other chainrings.

I have used my Fury on red and black runs, it is really light on climbs and am quite happy to ride it all day. I think I had a good buy.