Carrera Crossfuse V Crossfire

[Yarbles]

I do allot of mileage in all weathers in London and have a very large Halfords nearby.

In a nutshell my research says the Crossfire has allot of niggling, annoying cut out problems that are endlessly debated but never solved but just about everyone is happy with the more expensive Cross fuse for reliability and value for money.

Is that about it ?

 

[RobF]

That is about the strength of it, but another thing yet to be resolved is whether the Crossfire's problems have been resolved at the factory.

The bike has been around for a long time, so many of the problems you've read about will be of some age.

Crossfire owners who get a reliable one, and there are plenty of those, rate their bikes highly.

The Suntour hub motor is pokier than the Bosch crank drive on the Crossfuse and it rides nicely.

But a Bosch bike cannot be beaten for smooth power delivery and the unobtrusive way it works - very easy and agreeable to live with.

The Bosch motor has had its problems, but most of those stem from full on mountain bike use.

The three I've had have been pretty much faultless on road and cycle paths over many thousands of miles.

Value of both of the Halfords bikes is fair, but not spectacular, particularly for the Bosch one.

Halfords are known for short term price offers, but the Crossfuse at its currently listed price of £1,900 looks a few hundred quid too dear.

Less so for the Crossfire - a lot of Chinese hub bikes are now more than £1,000, and most would be bike in a box internet purchases.

There's a lot to be said for buying a bike from a shop local to you which you can use for service and warranty work.

Another plus for the Crossfire is it's available in three sizes.

Most Chinese ebikes are 'one size fits all', which it doesn't

You could do a lot worse than a Crossfire, but you could do a bit better than a Crossfuse, if you wanted to spend the extra on a Bosch bike.

Cube bikes are generally better value, and there are a few Raleigh Motus Bosch bikes around on clearance/discount for between £1,300 and £2,000.

The £1,300 Motus sounds a bargain, but the one I saw was only in extra small, so you'd probably end up spending closer to £2,000 - unless you are always the last person to know when it starts raining.

 

[Yarbles]

There's a lot to be said for buying a bike from a shop local to you which you can use for service and warranty work.

Thank you for all your helpful comments. I would ideally buy from a small local independent but sadly there isn't one that sells these models.

Halfords have a strange cumulative discounting in place which means stand alone the Crossfuse is £1700 which does feel a tad too much. If I buy the crossfire and it starts cutting out though I will feel a complete burk for not heeding all the anecdotal advice. I tend to feel if you spend allot of money on something it should just work properly . I asked in store about the cut outs on the Crossfire and the assistant (who did seem like he had worked there for more than 5 minutes) dismissed it as customers over charging the battery !! That suggests combined with what I have read elsewhere that that Halfords are still not fully on top of the problem.

 

[Woosh]

Most Chinese ebikes are 'one size fits all', which it doesn't

that a very valid comment.
Very few importers import 3 or 4 frame sizes.
Mainly M or L but not S or XL.

@OP - You are in London, we are in Southend, one easy train ride away.

 

[Amoto65]

I have had both, the Crossfire was at best annoying and at worse dangerous, where as the Crossfuse is a gem and a totally different bike. This is down to the Bosch alp motor and not so much Carrera so if possible I would check out other makes with the Bosch motor or even possibly look at a hub motor from Woosh or Wisper depending on your needs.

 

[sjpt]

Definitely look at Woosh (https://wooshbikes.co.uk/) as suggested above, though I'm not sure you could define the rail journey to Southend as essential travel. Reliability on their bikes is likely to be on a par with Bosch driven bikes, but the Woosh will probably much cheaper to repair if anything does go wrong. Battery replacement will be cheaper too; should not be for several years though.

 

[MikeS]

One problem that I had with my Crossfire (and also apparent on a shop demonstrator) was it would frequently become very difficult to pedal - like pedalling through treacle. The Crossfuse hasn't had that problem (I swapped it for the Crossfire and about £300). I once thought I was getting the same problem with the Crossfuse but Halfords correctly diagnosed it as a worn chain and it being incorrectly laced through the derailieur. The Crossfuse is a joy but of course Halfords know this and have upped the price to something rather uncompetitive.
Mike

 

[Amoto65]

The Crossfuse is a joy but of course Halfords know this and have upped the price to something rather uncompetitive.

Very true I managed to get mine for just over £1200 however they are cheaper at Cycle Republic.

 

[Yarbles]

Halfords say :

"If you find a cheaper price we'll match it, and if you find it after you've purchased from us we'll refund the difference within 7 days of receipt of your goods"

So far £1700 is the lowest I have found and that is Halfords with a discount.

Thanks for all the good advice. I am not sure how Halfords could justify selling an e version of £300 bicycle for nearly £1900 list, £1700 discounted price but I guess the simple answer is they can

 

[Nealh]

On another forum they say Cycle Republic are to be closed by parent company Halfruads as they also have Tredz bike on line who are in the same stable as well.