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

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

Fantastic price! The frame is carbon fibre aswell

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

now 40% off :disappointed:

how heavy this bike is with pedals?

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

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:)

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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

This or the Giant Defy 5 for £300??

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

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).

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

is this a better bike?

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

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.