is it any good?

that's pretty good for that money. Sora is a 'workhorse' groupset. not a particularly light bike, but for a first road bike this would be great for that money. If you really get into road cycling you could always upgrade to the 105 5800 groupset later on, or I reckon you would probably still get £400-£450 for it, if you sold it, in two years time. bargain.

is this a better bike?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mekk-poggio-16-sora-2015/

Would anyone seriously pay £1,100 for a bike with a sora groupset, where do these rrps come from?

Decent deal but personally I wouldn't go down the carbon route at this price.

Rutland have some great deals on the Giant Defy, probably one of the best value for money bikes around.

Wheelset:Felt R3 laced on to Felt Road RSL3 (tubeless ready) rims

had a sora geared bike for over 10 years and still going strong. If it wasn't I'd be tempted...

Absolutely nothing wrong with the Sora groupset, I have it on my winter bike (Felt F95) and its awesome.

If you mean the TDF from Halfords, i'm not sure either of those would be a big enough upgrade to be worthwhile, unless of course your current bike needs replacing.

If I were you i'd be looking to get something with 105 or a carbon frame to make the upgrade noticable. Planetx have the pro carbon with full ultegra for £999 at the moment which seems like a cracking deal to me.

If that isn't too much.

Thanks for that Chris, that's probably made my mind up a bit as I was in two minds whether to upgrade or not anyway as the Carrera TDF still meets my needs (perhaps a new seat?!? :smile:). I wouldn't really want to splooge £1k on a bike, its not the money, more the fact that I'm a leisure rider so find it hard to justify as I only get out 2-4 times a week and like to alternate between road and MTB (even then, we're only talking an average of about 100-150miles a week between them).

whilst I would never knowingly talk someone out of getting a new bike I think it is probably good advice in this case.

Whilst the two bikes you mentioned are a slight upgrade on your current one it is not enough to be noticable. Probably better off getting some new wheels and it'll make your TDF feel like a new bike, some good deals around at the moment, these are quite decent value

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/wheels-factory-built-wheels-factory-road-tri-shimano-rs11-clincher-wheels-pair/shimwhfr366

or these (if you are a little heavier as they have a higher spoke count)
http://www.merlincycles.com/fulcrum-racing-sport-wheels-69865.html

This or the Giant Defy 5 for £300??

Cheers Chris, appreciate your advice, I'll have a look :smiley:

Another worthwhile upgrade would be the following: http://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-105-5800-11-speed-groupset-black-72462.html

I went from 9 a speed tiagra triple (basically nowadays Sora) which was a chore to shift, to 11 speed and the difference was night and day!

Sounds like you just had a badly set up tiagra groupset.

Whilst I agree that would be a good upgrade, I don't think spending the price of the bike on a new groupset is good advice and they would need new wheels as well (to take the 11 speed cassette) so you are looking at the best part of £400 when the bike costs about £250 new.

Better off saving up and getting a decent new bike when the current one needs replacing.

Not badly setup, just really old.
A lot of wheels are 9/10/11 speed compatible nowadays, so would only require the spacer being removed.

the wheels on a carrera TDF will not be 11 speed.

Good price for carbon. planning to upgrade later makes it a good choice!

Mine certainly isn't, I think its a 9 speed cassette with two front rings (although I have never had need to use the lower ring yet :smiley:)

need a decent bike desperately costing me too much money to commute on train :disappointed:

how heavy this bike is with pedals?

now 40% off :disappointed:

why dont you just amend it as someone might like it even on 40%?

Fantastic price! The frame is carbon fibre aswell

This deal is back on today as a 'Black Friday' deal for the rest of the day only.

yeah - I just saw the email! grab a bargain while you can!