Crossfire

Carrera is the in-house 'value' bike brand of Halfords, Britain's largest bike and car-parts retailer, and the Crossfire has been its flagship hybrid for well over a decade. The brand name is a source of frequent confusion: this Carrera has no connection to the Italian Carrera Jeans team that backed Stephen Roche and Marco Pantani in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Halfords positions Carrera between its budget Apollo line and its premium Boardman and Voodoo brands, aiming, in its own words, to deliver 'unmatched value in terms of specification.' The Crossfire specifically is Halfords' 'multi-surface' crossover hybrid: a bike meant to handle the school run, the canal towpath and the daily commute equally well, built around a light alloy frame, a comfort-oriented suspension fork and tough puncture-protected tyres. Because Halfords sells so many of them through its high-street stores and its Cycle2Work scheme, the Crossfire is one of the most common bikes on British roads and, consequently, an extremely common find on the second-hand market across Europe.