No sooner had the virtual ink dried on our best mountain bikes under £1000 round-up than we received details of the £1000 Carrera Titan X.

>>> Top 10 best mountain bikes under £1000

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What is the Carrera Titan X?

The Carrera Titan X is a full suspension bike with 130mm travel front and rear that bares a suggested retail price of £1000 but we have it on good authority that it’s current sale price of £850 is actually going to be in place for the foreseeable future.

£850 for a 130mm travel full susser with disc brakes and dropper post? And one that you can actually buy in a real shop? That is pretty much unheard of.

Obviously, we’ve not tested one out fully yet but the mere fact that this bike exists is newsworthy in our opinion. We’ve tested full suspension bikes from the ‘house of Halfords’ before,. Bikes such as the Voodoo Canzo (£1000), the Boardman MTR 8.8 (£1,200) and the older Boardman Team FS (£999.99).

It’s the latter bike that is worth referring back to. Initially, like us, you may just assume that the Carrera Titan X is a rebadged Boardman Team FS (now discontinued) but it is not.

The rear shock may be in the same location as the Boardman Team FS but the suspension layout is different (the Team FS was a Horst linked 4-bar, the Titan X is a linkage driven single pivot) and the geometry is significantly different.

Buy Now: Carrera Titan X from Halfords for only £850.00

Carrera Titan X geometry

The Titan X’s head angle is 67° (Team FS was 68.3°) and the seat angle is 73.5° (Team FS was 69.5°). The reach does remain broadly similar however at 442mm (vs 440mm) for the Large size.

All things considered though, the geometry looks pretty capable on the Carrera Titan X.

Carrera Ttian X specification

We all know though, that it’s the parts spec that really makes or breaks bikes at this value-intensive price point. Can the Carrera Titan X hold its own up against the Calibre Bossnut and the popular Jamis Dakar? Let’s have a look at the spec sheet…

Forks: Rock Shox Recon RL, 15x100mm Maxle
Frame Material: Alloy
Wheel Size: 27.5″ (650b)
Bottom Bracket: Sram Powerspline 118x73mm
Cassette/Freewheel: Sram SX Eagle 11-50T (PG1210)
Chain: Sram NX Eagle 12 speed
Chainset: Sram SX Eagle Boost 148mm, Powerspline, 32T (S – 170mm, M/L – 175mm)
Front Brake: Shimano MT200, Hydraulic Disc, 180mm Rotor
Front Hub: Alloy, 15x100mm
Gear Shifters: Sram SX 12 speed
Grips: Carrera by Velo
Handlebars: Alloy, 31.8mm clamp, 12mm rise (Width: S – 720mm, M/L – 740mm)
Headset: Semi-Integrated, tapered 1 1/8″ – 1.5″ (44/56mm)
Pedals: Alloy Black MTB, 9/16″
Rear Brake: Shimano MT200, Hydraulic Disc, 160mm Rotor
Rear Hub: Alloy, 10x135mm quick release, 8/9/10 speed freehub body
Rear Mech: Sram SX Eagle 12 speed
Rear Shock: Rock Shox Monarch R-C4, 190x51mm
Rims: Carrera double-wall alloy, 32H, Tubeless Ready
Saddle: Men’s Carrera MTB by Velo
Seatpost: Trans-X Dropper post, 31.6mm, 420mm x 120mm drop
Stem: Carrera alloy, 45mm, 31.8mm clamp
Tyre Size: 27.5″ x 2.25″
Tyres: WTB Trail Boss

Things that raise our eyebrows

It’s not BOOST axle, the rear axle is QR, Shimano MT200 (Altus) hydraulic disc brakes, 740mm width handlebars.

Things that make us smile

15mm bolt-thru RockShox fork, 120mm dropper seatpost, 12-speed SRAM SX/NX Eagle drivetrain, RockShox Monarch R rear shock, 45mm stem, WTB tyres.

Buy Now: Carrera Titan X from Halfords for only £850.00

All-in-all, very impressive reallu. At the end of the day, something’s got to give for a full susser to hit the (bricks and mortar) shop floor with a price tag of well under £1000.

There’s nothing in the spec that is going to kill the fun. The main thing would be the Altus disc brakes. We’ve encoutnered these before and, while reliable, they just aren’t very powerful.

Still, perhaps surprisingly, we’d probably opt to upgrade brakes in the future and be happy with having a dropper post and 12-speed hearing range from the get-go. You can pick up great disc brakes for well under £100 (for both ends). Getting a dropper post and upgrading to 12-speed drivetrian is going to cost much (much, much) more than £100.