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Spotted the Vitus Rapide FS CRS for £2,239 which seems to be a decent balance of weight (11.7kg) and components (RockShox SID, Deore/SLX). I don't think I need any more than 100mm travel, I'm coming from an older HardRock HT that had some upgrades, so don't see myself suddenly needing 150mm+, and don't want a 15kg bike either.
CRC wouldn't commit to how long the discounted price will last when I contacted them.
Is there anything similar I should consider? https://www.wiggle.co.uk/vitus-rapide-fs-crs-mountain-bike
Thanks
my initial thought is that a rapide is very much an xc bike, and wondering if you really want more of an all round trail bike? obviously you have specified XC
Bird have a load of reduced stock atm (thinking Aether 9) but it wont match an xc bike in weight by any means
on the other hand, if an xc bike is what you really want, that rapide is a relative bargain
rocky mountain still have some preoorder sizes on the element
https://rockymountainuk.com/products/element-carbon-30-2022
If you were interested in a self build then you can buy the frame direct from Carbonda and could probably beat the spec for a similar price
I'm a bit bewildered by how everything has moved on since I bought the HardRock in 2010, to be honest. Back then I'm sure 29ers were only just starting to become mainstream, and full sus (at my 2010 price range), was heavy and to be avoided.
I've got a gravel bike (and a spare wheelset with 28c road tyres on), and a Brompton for London. I read this article and it seemed XC was right for me - https://bikefaff.com/xc-bike-vs-a-trail-bike/
So this is to replace the HardRock - I'm not a hardcore rider by any means so just fancied something a bit different, keeping it lightweight (ish) and it seemed that 100mm travel was a sensible compromise and a dabble into FS.
Even if it's just confirmation that the Rapide is decent value for money is helpful. That Element looks a really nice bit of kit
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Re self-build, I'm on the fence to be honest, I did the upgrades to the Hardrock (cable > hydraulic, cheapo Shimano 3x8 > Zee 1x10) and had the original supplying LBS change the fork out for me.
But while I'm a decent DIY car mechanic, I find bike adjustment a bit of an unknown/fiddly in comparison! I have a nagging doubt that if something doesn't feel right, I won't know if it's my assembly/adjustment or a component mis match (appreciate the help from these forums means the latter shouldn't be an issue). E.g. last night I fully cleaned up the HardRock, stripped out the cranks and bottom bracket and cassette, and did the rear cup/cones as I wasn't happy with a noise they were making. Took me far longer than it should have done. Trying to draw a parallel but changing the wheel bearing on my old MR2 was just four bolts and an impact gun, then a torque wrench to reassemble.
Buy the rapide chop the travel spacer and put a longer spring in the fork and it's a 120/120 weapon.
You don't need a 45lb tank for UK riding.
Rides like a trail bike, will do pretty much anything trail wise you'll find in the UK.
I was after the same sort of bike as you recently and picked up a 2022 Scott Scale unused second hand for not a lot. It's my race bike but I use it for local riding too.
The others I was looking at were the Vitus you're looking at and the Orbea Oiz H30. Slightly more travel at 120mm, but it's the same as their XC race frame. It's on sale a lot of places for under £2k so it's cheaper. Despite having longer travel it's actually racier than the Vitus so if you're serious about riding fast it may be more suitable.
Both would be good bikes. I think the Vitus having more capable geometry would have swung it for me but I live in Scotland not the south east.
Thanks both. I'm too tall for an M frame Kryton but thanks for the tip.
Orbea looks interesting, is the Vitus' weight saving worth the difference? Like I said a couple of posts up I'm several years removed from the scene so everything is bigger and potentially heavier than I'm used to
You’ll get a Neuron for that. Very happy with mine as a comfy bike for less extreme riding. Of course there’s not much you can’t actually ride on it just feels less composed through steep rocky stuff
It’d say you need to get a handle on the geometry. Ideally you’ll find the reach and stack of your current back to compare. As a rough rule of thumb if the new bike has 30mm more reach then it will feel the same with a 30mm shorter stem.
An xc race bike will probably have a more stretched position. Which might be a guys thing or a bad thing. A quick look suggests that bike you linked is long. In XL which is my size it’s a reach of 520mm with a 100mm stem. That puts the bars 8 cm further forward than my neuron. Al though the steeper seat angle will take away some of that
I wouldn’t worry about having too much travel as most modern bikes pedal pretty well.
The Vitus is a good bike. I bought one for XC racing as it is hard to get close to at it's price point. Anything else carbon and FS was closer to £4k new when I was looking.
It has very agressive gemetry for its travel; this might hold it back a bit on the really tight twisty stuff of XC races - I'm not sure. However it does mean that it decends very confidently. If you want to take rough downhills fast something with more travel would be a better bet. At high speeds over rough stuff the steering gets a bit vague, I assume this is because of the skinny SID forks. Likewise long rough descents (e.g. Jacob's Ladder in the peaks) are hard on the arms if you try and push on.
For days where I am focused on down I will get out the big bike for that reason, but for general riding the vitus is great. Compared with a 10 year old hard tail it is incredibly capable down and goes very fast for the effort on roads or the ups. If I only had one bike it would be the Vitus or something similar.
I've got the electrified version of the Orbea ideal trail bike , component wise it's ideal,that's a great price 👍
Thanks that's really useful, I'm 6' 2" but my height is in my torso.
The HardRock (26" wheels, 21" frame) is apparently:
Reach: 444
Stack: 609
The Arkose (obviously different form factor but still)
Reach: 407
Stack: 616
So the reach of the Vitus is significantly longer then?
Bu=ikester have the 140mm Occam in all sizes & colours. If your aren't racing, that'd be an awesome trail bike (I am biased):
https://www.bikester.co.uk/orbea-occam-h30-M1015487.html?vgid=G1491728
Having followed the link above I'd love to buy Jnr a £2k Oiz for trail/race but he's still growing...
When I looked at bikes it made the shortlist. Went for a Canyon because it was in stock. Lux Trail similar spec was £1000 more!
The Vitus looks like a great bike. Fairly long and slack but light/short travel. I use my lux for all sorts it's fine for fast xc rides (and by that I mean big natural trails in the lakes, black GT and other centres etc.
I've not seen much in that genre that comes close price wise. I've a Vitus cx bike and really rate it.
It'll take a 2.4" tyre at a guess which will make it more capable. A dropper if it doesn't come with one would be good at some point - even if racing in my experience.
The only thing is if it is going to suit your riding. If you want something to more downhill focussed and less concern on flat and uphill speed it may not be the bike for you. Something with 130mm travel and a burlier build might be better. It will certainly handle anything you've managed to thrown at your hard rock.
Reach and stack are going tool be really hard to compare to an old bike - geometry is quite different. Vitus size charts seem close enough to what I would choose myself. Bit harder if you are between sizes.
I don't have the lack of regard for my personal safety that I think's probably necessary to tackle more difficult/technical trails 🙂 so flat and uphill gains sound like the order of the day. Perhaps I'm zoning in on the wrong thing but with some of the other bikes linked (thanks again to all), is the weight penalty genuinely not that noticeable? Most of the others that aren't carbon seem to be 14kg+?
Think I'm just at the mercy of them having stock when the time to buy comes then, they really weren't willing to commit to how long the price point would stay and how long the '2022' model would remain in place.
Kryton - can feel your pain, we bought our daughter a 20" Kona as it seemed to be the lowest standover height of its class (she was a tall 5 year old) but she couldn't quite get on it at the time. Ended up with a Halfords steel BSO to tide her over as an interim measure, and then due to lockdowns/crap weather and all the rest, she's barely got two years out of the Kona in the end.
Jonba - I think size L makes sense for me, I know it's apples and oranges but the closest comparison I've got beyond my current bikes is my partner's Liv Tempt 1 Medium, which is blatantly too small for me. My Brompton only has the standard seat post and at full extension that's perfect for me. I went XL on the Arkose but that's the first time I've ever gone for the largest option on a bike in my adult life, think Specialized offered a 23" frame at the time in 2010 and I went 21".
Ok so your on same size Arkose as me. I’ve got the stem flipped with loads of spacers. Assuming your on the original stem the correct way up I recon you’ll be fine on a modern long mountain bike
The Vitus is really long. At 5'10" I even pondered a small. I ended up with a large Spark which is about the same as a medium Vitus.
The Orbea is the opposite - I almost pondered an XL! It's much more traditional.
re the weight thing...
i'm not convinced weight is a massive deal.. however the majority of my riding is up a hill then back down again. i personally notice tyres being the biggest deal. That being said, my lads bike i try to make it as sensible weight as poossible so as not to put him off.
To me, having tyres that arent going to let me down, and geometery which gives a little get out of jail room works better for me.
And yes, you will notice the reach on a modern bike, my shortest medium was coming in at 455 and i recently sold on my Bird Aeris which was 485 in Medium long, me im not quite 5ft9.
Might also sound like you could benefit with some test rides..
Swinley hire out a range of Vitus bikes, although i dont think they have rapides. but every other bike pretty much.
Its a good price...so about 2 weeks ago i bought one! Been following it alm year and only came back in stock in the autumn.
Been eyeing up various bikes from intense sniper t to the scott but couldn't justify the high price for those bikes compared to the Rapide fs...every bikes a compromise in some way but reckon the Rapide FS is going to suit about 80% of my riding and am looking forward to getting out on it around the surrey hills for xc & trail (just need to fit a dropper)
Personally ive noticed it kept selling out in medium and then came back in stock.... almost like crc are trickling the stock through. Stock seems good at minute as all sizes available (out of stock on xl and medium only last week)...i reckon it may get reduced again in the post xmas sales but its whether you want to risk it
I have a Carbonda FM936 which is the same frame as the Rapide FS. You can only up the rear travel by testing the shock spacer to give 42.5mm of travel, any more and you risk the tyre hitting the seat tube, it'll take a 120mm fork though. There is some chatter of Carbonda selling the NS Synonym rear end soon which offers a proper 120mm of rear travel.
It's got very "downcounty" geometry for an XC race bike.
There's a ton of info here: http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,2079.0.html
And more on Chinese frames that might suit you: http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,3204.0.html
Brill, thanks all, this has all been really helpful. Sounds like as a forum, there's very few paths left untrodden!
I'll have a wander round some some chain stores to get a sense of reach on similar bikes
PS: mine comes in at 12.1kg with a 1700g wheelset, 2.4" tyres, BrandX dropper, 35mm SID forks and SLX level kit, nothing else carbon other than the frame.
Wiggle are now citing 2nd half of 2023 for CycleScheme to be accepted on their site again. So that's probably the Rapide off the cards sadly, as I imagine the 2023 version will cost more than I've got to spend.
I've been trawling around for anything comparable online -light(er)weight/carbon/shorter travel, and the only things I've found are either a 'Cube Stereo 150 C:62 Race 29' which comes in over budget, or this one from Decathlon, which doesn't seem worth the £250 premium over the Rapide in general? https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/29-inch-full-suspension-carbon-mountain-bike-rockrider-xc-900-white/_/R-p-325040?mc=8614815
Has anyone spotted any 2022 sale bikes that might fit the bill? Or do I need to give up on the idea of sub 13kg on my budget and just go for something like the Cube One22 Race?
Many thanks