NEW Carrera Crossfuse

[egroover]

Do I switch from my Crossfire-e to the Crossfuse ? At about £1k at the moment with various discounts, cashback, gift cards for the Crossfuse, I am very tempted. A recent run on broken rear wheel spokes has got me thinking maybe it's time to upgrade, however, the Mrs has the ladies version of the Crossfire, so I have a spare battery for longer rides, plus I have a spare Crossfire-e rear motor wheel (picked up cheap on ebay) if I ever get issues with that. Plus the Crossfire-e is pretty punchy on the big hill on the commute to work, I'm not sure if the Active Line Plus on the Crossfue will give me as much assistance.
Have heard great things about the range, and although I prefer the look of the Cube hybrids and would probably opt for the 500wh Bosch battery option, I keep coming back to the price of the Crossfuse...it's bonkers cheap for what it is....help me decide before they put the price up !!

 

[Zak Tempest]

Hi @egroover , looks like you have some choices to make. I think that Halfords are not too long between deals. By which I men another deal will be along soon if you don't manage to catch this one. They are there to sell a large quantity of bikes.They need the volume to enable the low price points they can offer. All that said I will be picking mine up later this week and can report back on the hill climb issue (we have some big ones round here).

 

[corsur]

I cant say how it compares to a Crossfire on hills, But I was out testing my new Confuse this week. It went up hills know problem. Some of which, I struggled to get up on my old none electric hybrid bike . The motor is so quite on this Confuse also.

 

[MikeS]

The Crossfuse motor is superb - quiet and with and incredible range. It's also pretty good for going up hills but if that's what you really want to do most of the time you probably should go for the CX motor. If you are switching from a Crossfire you may miss the standing start assistance that the hub drive motor gives (great for starting out in the wrong gear on hills). The walk assistance of the Crossfuse is more user friendly though. And the back end is lighter which makes riding the bumpy stuff a bit more confidence inspiring
Mike
PS I'm sure you won't miss the various intermittent problems that most Crossfires seem to have

 

[Zak Tempest]

The story so far...

I have had my crossfuse for a week. I wanted to come back and post my findings so that other users could gain insight from my experience.

Halfords,
Mark at the Huddersfield branch was brilliant with me. I appreciate that you can get people in large chain stores(see what I did there ) that are not focused on the customer experience. I found them to be brilliant. I wanted a high value bike, which Halfords could supply because of their scale.

The bike
I fitted some guards, because the bike is for commuting. The motor is brilliant and effortlessly comes in to give you a gentle push up the hills upto 15mph. The disk brakes are suitable for a bike going typically 15mph. The hills (we have quite a few) disappear. The battery has plenty of life for my requirements. They tyres offer low rolling resistance (I'm used to a set of lumpy MTB tyres). It feels safe going down hill at 30mph.

Clothing
There should be a section on here for clothing because using an e-bike is not like cycling. In so much as there is less exertion and so less heat generated so more clothing is required when using one. I have invested in a balaclava that has a neck gaiter built in. It is thin enough to go under my bike helmet but windproof enough to be effective, although on the down side several family members asked if I was going to do a bank job! but het it is not a fashion show.

I will update as I gain more experience. I am sorry that I can not offer comparative data as I only have one ebike but it seems to me to be fantastic.

 

[corsur]

Congratulations on your new bike Zak. I have mine just three weeks now and am well pleased with it

 

[maldrich999]

I bought my crossfuse from Halfords and haven't regretted it. As others have said super quiet and great range. I don't think there are bolts for a bottle cage. Can anyone recommend an alternative? Also looking for some lights for daytime type use - not too expensive and ideally from Amazon - any suggestions?
many thanks

 

[Andy McNish]

I have two of these from Amazon and they are excellent for around a tenner (lots of sellers of them - all the same light).
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Defurhome-Rechargeable-Battery-Bicycle-Waterproof/dp/B07Y36TGRS/ref=sr_1_12?crid=2R77P0SNALNO7&dchild=1&keywords=bike+lights+set+rechargeable&qid=1582017180&sprefix=bike+lights,aps,427&sr=8-12

 

[maldrich999]

Very helpful re lights. I have ordered. Any suggestions on bottle cage?