the Carrera is a pill of balls, the rear stay will start wobbling within a week of trail riding. it comes with tiny 26inch wheels. The reason for it being son cheep is the quality of bearings and metal using.

Where do I start with this bike, first i bought the Carrera banshee. As an avid mountain biker looking to get back into the sport after a two year absence i was assured it was a nice ride and capable. On the first ride i buckled the back wheel which was not made of metal more like jelly, I was merely performing a small stoppie but it squished way out of line, along with the headset playing a lot with the raidon forks which were pants.

Anyhow, halfords said if i pay the difference they would upgrade it to the banshee X which has much better component set up. The bike does ride fairly well when it is in working order. However, I had the same problem with the chainrings as a few others however they did not come loose, they totally sheered off while pedalling fast down hill, not very good as it was pretty high speed and I was nearly dead lol. Anyhow back to halfords the bike went and i waited for a week while they repalced the bolts, they didnt however replace the bent chainrings the sheered bolts caused, just bolted the bent chainrings together with new ones. Anyhow the bike was rideable keeping off the top ring and i didnt want to miss any mroe of the short summer while halford bafoons tarted about over my brand new bike and how to fix it properly. I had about a months worth of fun until the chain snapped, and about two more days of riding before I put a crack in the swing arm. Sorry if that is the motorbike term but i mean the metal arm going from the rear mech towards the BB possible the chainstay?, I didnt realise the crack until it completely snapped about 15 miles from my home, leaving me getting the train home.

This bike is completely flawed in so many ways, the chea paint scrubs off from the break cables and gearing cables , the bottom level model is for pensioners and the components (excellent avid stoppers and mozzocchi forks)on this model are clearly out classed by a responsive and fun frame design flawed by being far too easy to break, 4 weeks riding is no good for a bike aimed at all mountain riding. I had the bike in the back of my car ready to go back to halfords, and someone threw a brick through the back window and stole it, what a muppet cos there was no way he could ride the damn cursed banshee X, no chain left, slightly buckled front wheel completely buggered frame and a bent top chainring, break it down for ebay parts he probably did but i was glad to see the back of such a wretched awful excuse for an all mountain bike which was a collateral waste of 800 pounds.

Save the extra cash, as the saying goes, pay peanuts, get monkeys. Im not sure who the biggest monkey is, me, the bike or the idiots who work at halfords?