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I've been looking at the vitus rapide fs but have seen the reach figure of 500mm on a L (ETT 640mm), which seems massive. I'm 6 foot exactly. Has anyone ridden one and got any comments on sizing?
Thanks
No, but did have a play on a few similarly long bikes when looking for a new one, and my Escarpe has an even steeper seat angle if you dig into it it's not that far out from an older bike.
Versus something decidedly old-school like a Singular Swift the TT is 20mm longer, but the stem is 30-40mm shorter (than ~110mm). So the distance to the bars is actually less.
The big difference is the 77deg seat angle which is what makes the reach massive. IME modern bike geometry is designed around riding aggressively for shorter periods of time with all that weight through your hands. It had it's flaws but there's a reason bikes <2010 copied 100 years of roadie geometry, it's ergonomic, just a bit sketchy.
One thing you could try is sizing down to get back to a 'normal' reach figure, as long as the kink in the seat-tube is proportionate to the size the higher (relative) saddle will slacken the seat angle a bit. And fit some higher rise handlebars which maintain the reach but increase the distance from pedals to bars so it feels roomy and long without feeling 'forward'.
The trouble with droppers is you cant experiment with a offset/layback post.
The frame is a re-badged Carbonda, you can see it on their website. There is a thread somewhere with experiences of people who have bought these frames directly from Carbonda.
I had a large, and at 6'2 and a long torso I found it a bit short feeling. I bought a large as I thought 500mm would be plenty, and the prospect of a 530mm seat tube of the xl and my relatively short legs didn't seem right.
at 6' a large will most likely be OK.
There's a large thread on the carbonda FM936 frame used on the rapide FS here: http://chinertown.com/index.php?topic=2079.0
One thing you could try is sizing down to get back to a ‘normal’ reach figure, as long as the kink in the seat-tube is proportionate to the size the higher (relative) saddle will slacken the seat angle a bit. And fit some higher rise handlebars which maintain the reach but increase the distance from pedals to bars so it feels roomy and long without feeling ‘forward’.
I ended up putting my saddle quite far back on the rails, which made the bike bob more than a bobby thing when seated. so I'd have lots of pressure in the shock for a nice feeling active bike when sat down, but stood up and weight shift forwards it lost all the suppleness.Ony way to combat that would be to have a high LSC shock, but I got fed up and moved it on.
Currently looking at these too and trying to find a reason not to purchase.
Haven't ridden a full suss (or a mountain bike of any kind in 5+ years), so finding sizing a bit confusing.
I'm assuming if there's a warranty shaped issue with the frame you're basically screwed?
I’ve been tracking these for a few months now. Lowest they had been was 2499 at the start of December.
They then went back over 3k until the Vitus drop last week. A friend is wanting one but is holding to see if they go 2499 (or lower) again!
I'm waiting for it to drop back to £2499 too!