The Halfords brand might not be synonymous for those looking for a mountain bike fit for today’s trail centre’s but the Carrera Titan X is looking to change that with a 1x drivetrain, a dropper post, SRAM SX Eagle to name a few of the many branded parts. We take a good look at the bike here before we get out and test it.
- Everything you need to know about the 2020 Carrera bike range
- The best mountain bikes for under £1,000 – the best budget buys ridden and rated
- The best mountain bikes you can buy for under £1,500 – full sus and hardtails
The Carrera brand probably needs little introduction, the bikes are stocked and sold by high street retailer Halfords and ridden by kids across the country. The Titan model has been around for years as the brand’s full suspension bike but it’s only recently that it comes in a guise that looks ready to hit the trails. The Titan X steps things up another gear with the inclusion of a 1x SRAM SX Eagle drivetrain (pun intended). In addition to this bike there are lots of new bikes all with updates to spec and geometry in the 2020 Carrera range, get all the details in our Buyer’s Guide here.
The 27.5″ wheeled bike gets 130mm of travel front and rear and there’s a load of other trail-ready parts. The fork is a Rockshox Recon RL fork and a Rockshox Monarch shock, then there’s that 12 speed 1 by drivetrain from SRAM, coupled with Shimano MT200 hydraulic brakes.
The SRAM SX Eagle gets the similar range of gears as the pricier NX and GX spec drivetrains, the cassette has a 11-50T range which is coupled with a 32T chainring and 175mm cranks on medium and large bikes (170mm on the small size).
Finishing kit is mostly unnamed and consists of some fairly flat bars, a shortish 45mm stem and Carrera grips. There is an Ascend Trans-X dropper post fitted which has a 120mm drop, an underbar shifter style lever and internal routing, keeping things neat and tidy.
The wheels have Carrera own alloy rims and unbranded hubs, neither front nor the rear end has Boost spacing. The tyres used are a WTB Trail Boss front and rear both in a 2.25″ diameter.
In terms of geometry, the Titan looks a little conservative but with numbers that will still get the job done. For example, a large bike gets a reach of 442mm, a head angle of 67 degrees and an effective seat tube angle of 73.5 degrees. There are three sizes, small, medium and large with a 410mm, a 460mm and a 480mm seat tube length respectively.
At the moment the Titan X is down from £1,000 to £850, that’s for a fully built bike with tubeless-ready tyres, a lifetime guarantee on the frame and a lifetime worth of safety checks form Halfords. We’ll get on with riding this bike and get back to you with a review soon.
You might also like:
- Your complete guide to the RockShox fork range
- Your complete guide to SRAM MTB drivetrains, from AXS and XX1 Eagle to NX
- SRAM’s SX Eagle budget 12-speed mountain bike drivetrain: weights and tech specs
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