| I have always been a bit weary of Halfords own | | | | aimed at, they are more than adequate. |
| brand products, this however has been a really nice | | | | I have now done over 200 miles of hard off-roading, |
| surprise. | | | | it has been a joy to own, and have only had a couple |
| I was looking to upgrade from my Hardtail XC as I | | | | of problems which were dealt with under warranty |
| was starting to get into free-riding. I originally planned | | | | by Halfords. In short the problems encountered were: |
| on getting a Kona Coiler or similar, but after a chance | | | | 1. Original rear wheel cone races failed (standard |
| visit to a Halfords store, I saw the Carrera Banshee | | | | wheels are pretty shoddy to be honest). However |
| Mountain Bike. I did a double-take as I read through | | | | Halfords replaced with their "Bikehut XSD-3" wheels |
| the spec, and couldn't believe that I could pick this up | | | | which are excellent. |
| brand new for £499. Not believing what I was | | | | 2. Pedal axles bent (think this is due to me being a bit |
| seeing, I carried out some research online, bikeradar | | | | on the large side), I upgraded myself to DMR v12 |
| and a few other sites rated them, however there | | | | copies. |
| are a few mixed opinions out there. | | | | One thing I will say, and this is only based on my |
| I decided to go for it, the coiler was £999.00 | | | | experience at the local Halfords store, My |
| and what with the credit crunch and all, I went for | | | | experiences with Halfords customer services is |
| the cheaper Banshee. | | | | pretty bad, they took three weeks to sort out new |
| First impressions were excellent, being a four bar | | | | wheelset. |
| linkage with 6" suspension travel, it is pretty bad at | | | | The bottom line is: If you want a credit crunch |
| up-hills, however after re-adjustment and | | | | beating all-round bike (biased to DH) then this is an |
| re-assessing my riding style, you get used to it. It has | | | | excellent choice, and worthy of serious consideration. |
| a really laid back almost chopper style sitting position, | | | | Good Points: |
| which means that it loves the downhill sections, and | | | | The spec is good at this price range, in short: Rear |
| boy it does!! Traction is excellent, it comes with Tioga | | | | Air Shock, Good Suntour Raidon 150mm travel front |
| DH 2.3" tyres as standard and the relatively wide rims | | | | forks, Sram SX5 does an excellent job, Tioga Tyres |
| make the most of the tyre width. The brakes are | | | | are a touch at this price range. |
| more than adequate, being Tektro Auriga Hydraulic | | | | Bad Points: |
| jobbies, they do heat up on the long descents (as do | | | | Original wheelset is total rubbish, as are the standard |
| most other brakes) and can fade (might be | | | | pedals. The Carrera brand is still not quite up there |
| something to do with me being 17 stone and riding | | | | with the likes of the rest! |
| DH at 36mph), however for the type of rider this is | | | | |