Experience of Vitus Bikes?

Is anyone here riding a Vitus bike? I’m interested in the ZX-1 Evo or the Vitesse Evo. They look incredible value for money and have awesome reviews including some award wins recently. It would be great to hear from any TR users who have experience of either of these bikes (or Vitus bikes in general). Cheers!

I don’t have too much to offer, but I have a Vitus Mythique VRX. I’m pleased with the value for my money and had a nice experience buying from Chain Reaction to the US.

I have an Energie CX Evo. Apart from the Sram drivetrain, I’m a big fan of it. I’m using it more as a gravel bike but definitely has CX characteristics. Nice value for sure.

@conman55 I’m actually planning to get the Energie Evo as my winter/allroad bike! How are you enjoying it? Can I ask why you don’t like the SRAM drivetrain? I was looking at the eTap Rival model.

Certainly. I have a Di2 for my road bike and I just feel like it beats the eTap in everyway. The Rival feels lazy and not as crisp while shifting. I did end up accidently bending the hanger so now the shifting is WAAAYYY worse, but that’s beside the point because it just wasn’t to my liking before. Not being able to microshift each individual gear like the Di2 is also a big negative to me. I’m still learning the drivetrain since I’ve only had the bike a few months, but so far I’m just not a fan of it.

Now with all that aside, I really like the bike! Even though it has CX geometry, it feels very comfortable to me as a gravel bike. I have 38mm Pathfinders on them now (they come with 32mm Maxxis All Terrane, which are OK). The frame can accept up to 45mm, which is a big plus. The Prime Barodeur wheelset is underated. I converted to tubeless on my first try without any problems. The bike feels sprightly as well. While overall slower, I feel like it climbs better than my road bike.

For the price, the bike is worth it. While I’m not fan of the eTap, I’ll eventually get used to it. The rest of the bike is great.

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A while back I picked up an NOS alloy Vitus road frame, can’t recall the model, on clearance for cheap. Built it into a capable bike. Being Chainreaction’s house brand, they can offer some pretty good value as an “OEM” but it is also why they can no longer ship certain individual components (Shimano) to North America.

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I had my eye on the new (ish) Vitus evo after I saw the quality of the older model up close on a ride out.

Unfortunately couldn’t actually buy the things for love nor money and gave up on the idea.

I’m reviving this topic as I’ve been eyeing a Venon EVO GR. I’d love to hear any feedback from anyone who’s owned one, or anyone with a Vitus in the US who has dealt with their customer support/warranty.

The Venon seems like a pretty amazing bike-for-the-money option, nice wheels and and bar from their in-house brand, and full Rival AXS for ~$4k. Super-positive reviews from mainly UK-based sites (makes sense, they’re a UK brand).

The new Grail or a Ventum GS1 are also on the bang-for-buck GRoad short list, if anyone has takes or recs. I honestly like the spec on the Vitus more than either of those though: Standard seat tube and bar/stem, better spec at the price point than Canyon (Rival vs. Rival bike).

I’ve just picked up a Venon Evo GR for the same reasons as you have highlighted. Great spec for the price attracted me vs the new Grail etc. I got the SRAM Rival AXS model and have put some road tyres on for winter riding here. Feels responsive and a very ‘fun’ bike to ride!

I’m UK based so can’t help on US support/warranty but they’ve been good to deal with on my side.

I currently have 2No Vitus bikes; a Substance Gravel bike and MTB, with my first bike being another Vitus.
Overall; they are great value for money and when considering the cost of groupsets, you are basically getting frame for free.

Great customer service and only 1 issue of a brake calliper being overtightened (by Wiggle not Vitus direct), which stripped a thread and required a replacement fork.

I have a ZX-1 Evo that I built up last Aug shortly before Vitus began US distribution. I ordered mine from Wiggle. The combination of good reviews and great value for the dollar had it as a winner at least on paper. I could not be more pleased with all aspects of the ride and performance. The stated weight of a M frame was very exaggerated but otherwise no complaints. My bike built up with SRAM Red, Lightbicycle AR 565 wheels, Prime aero bar (38cm), Deda Vinci aero stem (140/-17), 175 Rotor Aldhu Carbon cranks, Fizik Arione 00 saddle and Speedplay Ti spindle pedals all in weighs 16.9 lbs/7.66 kilos. The bike is very fast and snappy but yet very stable and handles very well. No real penalty climbing either, could not be happier. The only thing I wished for would have been availability in a different color than the matte black offered fir the ‘22 model year. I probably have about 13,000 miles on it at this point and still am very happy with the choice. After riding it on virtually every conceivable type of terrain and chasing many Strava KOM’s I doubt any other aero bike would be any better when factoring in cost vs performance. Any potentially more aero bikes like maybe the Scott Foil or Orbea Orca Aero could rival or exceed the Vitus but definitely come at significantly more cost.

I have a Vitus mythique. The dropper cartridge failed relatively quickly. Chain reaction wanted me to mail the cartridge back to the UK so the could “evaluate” whether it was covered, so I just ordered a new part for like $25 bucks because because I had an event coming up. It was mildly annoying that CRC wouldn’t replace the part based on video clearly showing the malfunction but I’m over it.

Dealing directly with Vitus USA would probably be a positive. I would definitely wouldn’t hesitate to buy from Vitus in the future. I think the only downsides are the same as other DTC brands, except Vitus doesn’t seem to use any proprietary parts, which I appreciate.

Looks like the parent company for Vitus (Wiggle, CRC, Nukeproof) is in a really bad spot currently. If after-purchase support is important to you just a heads up, the recent Pinkbike Nukeproof review is full of comments that say warranty support is missing (though its the internet and you can find complaints of anything).

Hmm this is good to know and kind of a bummer; thanks for sharing.

I’d figured that association with Wiggle and other brands under that umbrella meant Vitus was fairly stable. If the warranty outlives the company that issued it it’s not much good! I’d have some similar concerns about most smaller companies (Ventum and Fezzari spring to mind as DTC brands that are relative upstarts.) Maybe I should reconsider the new Grail…

EDIT after some reading, the situation does seem rather bleak (or at least uncertain) for Vitus, Nukeproof and Wiggle in general. They’re now owned by a much larger company that is in deep financial doo-doo and may slash or sell off their whole cycling portfolio. From a Cyclingnews article:

"As part of the restructure, the statement confirms the measures will include “rightsizing of under-performing business units as well as the evaluation of disposals of non-core assets.”

Perhaps worryingly for the WiggleCRC brand, the statement specifically highlights the bike segment as an underperformer, stating that it “continued to lag management expectations.”’

I have an energie crx cx bike and a vitesse road bike. Both are excellent, well equipped, light, stiff, good geo and amazingly equipped for the price. I would buy again. Particularly in the case of the vitesse a similar specced specialised would have been c.£3000+ more: I don’t believe it would have been £3k better

I have a Vitus Escarpe mountain bike and it’s been terrible. First 100 miles were fine but it’s needed maintenance and/or new parts every single ride since. Customer service from chain reaction has been non-existent, the warranty team useless and objectionable.

My experience of the bike might be an outlier. I hope it is. However I’d caution that it’s also consistent with a business cutting corners to hit a price point.

The news about their financial predicament isn’t a surprise to me. If you do get one then, at the very least, I’d set aside money for an early replacement of all the bearings.

Posted this on the dedicated thread too, but it seems the shit is definitively hitting the fan for Chain Reaction/Wiggle/Vitus/Nukeproof, at least for their American distribution. From a Cyclingnews article:

“ Elsewhere, in a LinkedIn post, the CEO of Signa Sports United’s North American cycling sector, encompassing Vitus and Nukeproof, appears to suggest that 45 of its employees are now available to be contacted for work, suggesting that they have, or will shortly be laid off, and that the whole North American division of the company is closing down.

“SIGNA Sports United North America’s bike division has been forced to cease all operations with less than a few days’ notice. This was triggered Monday by a sudden reneging of a binding 150 million Euro equity commitment to SIGNA Sports United N.V.””

Two days ago I messaged folks at Vitus and they were happy to ship their bikes from their Utah distribution center. As of this morning the Vitus’s US site redirects to their British site, and it seems you can no longer purchase from US distribution.

I was eyeing up the same bike too. My concern would be frame warranty issues down the road…

To resurrect an old thread, would you guys take a chance on a Vitus bike right now? Even at a crazy deal, like 50% off.

100% - I got a Venon with a 33% discount last year and it’s a fantastic bike. I took the view that even if something went wrong with the frame then the value of the parts would pretty much give me the opportunity to build the bike back up at minimal cost.

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