Since I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable about the bike industry, I was surprised that I had not heard about something as important as a new Canadian Bike Manufacturer.
So off to the website I went http://www.vitess.com/ not knowing what to expect.
To my surprise, what I found was a very professional and in depth website for a new Canadian manufacturer of HIGH END carbon road bikes.
After perusing the entire website I was glad to see that the showroom for this new manufacturer was in Toronto, only a 30 min drive from my home, and best of all was offering free test rides.
I filled in the online request for a test ride and expected to get some generic response in a week or so saying that test rides in my area would take place on such and such a date and to reserve your spot fill in this long survey.
To my surprise I received a personal email the same day from Julien Papon, the Founder of Vitess Bicycle Corporation asking me when I would like to come down to the showroom and get set up for the test ride.
I called back and talked with Julien directly setting the appointment up for the next day.
When I got to the showroom I mentioned to Julien that I was not interested in just taking the bike around the block and that in order for me to do justice to the test ride, I would need it for the weekend to do my regular routes. Julien said no problem, so I let Julien know what size bike I needed and he said he would have it ready for me to pick it up on Friday.
I have ridden a lot of high end bikes in my day and currently have 3 bikes that one would consider high end pro level bikes which I ride regularly. All the bikes have different ride qualities, strengths and weaknesses.
I am 5’ 11” and weigh 160 lbs. and ride 10-15,000 km’s a year. You could consider me a passionate competitive club racer.
My review of the bike is in 3 sections. The bike, The ride and Other comments.
I showed up at the showroom on Friday for my appt. and here is what was waiting for me.
A full carbon road bike made with Toray high modulus carbon tubing, the same tubing that several 
well known very high end Italian bike manufacturers use. The frame was put together with tube to tube construction and finished in a 3k carbon weave with clearcoat. The look was striking to say the least and the finish quality of the frame was as good as I have ever seen. The graphics package was a little subdued for my taste, however Julien told me that there may be different graphic options available in the future.
The geometry of the frame is quite classic looking, however close examination reveals that the frame has a slightly sloping top tube. The down tube has a round top surface and a flatter bottom surface.
The bike was fitted with a full Shimano Dura ace 7900 Group, as well as the top of the line 3T LTD carbon handlebars, seat post and stem. The saddle was a Fizik Arione CX with carbon rails, the same saddle I have on all my bikes, so I was shocked to see it on my test bike considering the fact that this saddle retails for over $300.00. The wheels were Vitess’ own brand of full carbon tubular’s with 50 mm rims and top of the line Continental tires.
The bike has an asymmetrical head tube with a one and an eighth inch bearing at the top tapering to a one and a half inch bearing at the bottom, The seat stays are relatively slim in diameter, a feature common to more than a few top end bikes these days. Although the bottom bracket area is large, it is not as massive as I have seen on other bikes and does not protrude past the seat tube. This allows for more tire clearance and the fitting of larger tires than the standard 23mm if desired.
The chain stays on the other hand are another story. They are the thickest I’ve seen and stay that way right out to the carbon dropouts making the rear triangle of the bike very stiff.
The bike comes with a full-carbon fork, including fully-integrated head-set. The heads
et is made by Acros a German company, and is quite unique in the fact that it does not use a star nut arrangement, but rather a simple 2 piece wedging system to keep the front end tight. This is a brilliant set up, and is a breed apart from most headsets.
THE RIDE
When I got home with the bike I immediately set about fitting the bike to match the set up on my other bikes. Proper bike fit is an essential part of riding with comfort, safety and power and this is included when you buy a Vitess.
First I put on my pedals. Shimano Dura ace 7800 spd SL’s commonly known as the “Lance” pedal. I’ve been using these pedals for 5 years now and would never switch. They give me just enough float to prevent injury and provide a very sold platform for power transfer with the pedal interface. Next I attached my bottle cages and computer.
The bike came with the right size stem for me already and the handlebars were also set up the way I like them. We did that before I left the showroom so Julien could show me how easy the new headset was to use. All I had left to do was set the saddle height and setback and I was ready to ride.
The seat post that came on the bike was a zero setback post and since I have fairly long femurs I didn’t think that I would be able to get the saddle back far enough to accommodate my proper saddle position (nose of saddle 6cm behind the centre of the bottom bracket). I normally need a seat post with a 26mm setback to get me to the right position.
I was pleasantly surprised that I indeed was able to get my saddle back to my usual position and attribute this to two reasons. Although the 3T seat post was a zero setback, the design of the seat post head allows for greater fore and aft movement than most others.
Also the seat tube angle on the bike is a little more relaxed or laid back (not as steep) as some other frames putting you automatically slightly further back on the bike.
Now that the setup was complete I was anxious to weigh the bike.
The bike came in at 6.9 kg or 15.18 lbs only 100gms over the UCI minimum bike weight. That is very impressive given the fact that this was a ready to ride actual weight with pedals, bike computer and bottle cages on a large frame with no what I call gimmick light weight components.
Saturday morning, 10:00 AM and the temperature is 5 degrees Celsius. I put my leg over the bike looking forward to our 85km route. My intension on this day was to put the bike through an “everything I can throw at it” test ride. I was riding with 9 other cyclists that I ride with on a regular basis
The first thing I noticed when I took off was how well the bike tracked. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, it means the ability of the bike to ride in a straight line on its own without having to steer it. This bike rode dead straight and rock solid.
The steering was very responsive but not the least bit twitchy. This tells me that the fork is well matched to the frame and that the trail of the bike is spot on.
At this point I already knew that I had a well built bike under me.
None of the current bikes I own tracked as well as the Vitess. Put a big checkmark in the plus column for this attribute.
Over the next 3 hours I proceeded to put the bike through its paces to the best of my ability. Full speed out of the saddle sprints and climbs, fast descents, diving into fast corners, low cadence climbs and very high cadence riding over a large variety of road surfaces including some pretty rough ones.
The bike has exceptional vertical compliance and soaked up all the various bumps, pot holes, cracks and nuances of the roads here in southern Ontario.
Not even the new rough surface pavement that they are laying down in certain areas in the outskirts which I affectionately call Canadian Cobbles was able to spoil the comfort of the Vitess.
The frame and wheels combined ability to absorb these purposeful imperfections in the road gave the feeling of less rolling resistance, and I didn’t get the same numbing feeling in my hands and feet that I normally get on these roads.
No doubt this was due to the thin seat stays, the slightly longer than normal wheel base and the way the carbon lay up was done on the frame.
From a relatively slow speed I jumped on the pedals on a 10% grade climb and went as hard as I could go. The bike reacted instantly beneath my feet. There was no delay in the power being translated to the road. No noticeable flex in the bottom bracket or twisting from the back of the bike due I’m sure to the massive chain stays described earlier. There was also no rubbing of the rims on the brake pads either, indicating that the Vitess Equinox wheels had good lateral rigidity.
When I got to the top of the climb my heart rate was lower than normal telling me that I had expended less energy than normal to generate the same power on the Vitess compared to my other bikes.
All day people that I normally ride with at equal strength and ability were telling me to slow down. Saying things like what did you have for breakfast this morning?
There’s no doubt this is a fast bike!
The next test was to see how the bike handled in a high speed descent.
Would I get the dreaded speed wobble?
There are several hills in southern Ontario that you can frequently hit over 80km’s per hour on if the wind is right. Although the wind was in the wrong direction on this day I was able to get the bike up to just shy of 70km’s per hour in my high speed descent test. Again the bike was rock solid, instilling enough confidence in me to hit a small hole in the road at this speed to see how the bike would react to it. Normally at this speed I would avoid any imperfection in the road if possible.
The Vitess took the hole in stride. There was no pitching of the bike to one side or the other showing that the frame had excellent lateral rigidity.
The freewheeling ability of the wheels was also very good. I frequently would coast down hills while others had to pedal to keep up. A sure sign of quality bearings and aerodynamics of the 50mm carbon rims.
Everything I threw at the Vitess that day, it passed with flying colours.
On the following day (Sunday) I was supposed to go mountain biking with some friends.
After the Saturday ride on the Vitess I called up my friends and said I wouldn’t be there.
I had to return the Vitess on Monday and there was no way anyone was going to keep me from riding the Vitess again on Sunday.
On Sunday there was no putting the bike through its paces. I just went out on a 90km ride and enjoyed every minute of it.
KUDOS to Vitess Bikes !
OTHER COMMENTS
Here are some things that you may not think about.
If your headset loosens off on you after going over a lot of rough road, how difficult is it to fix on a ride.
With the Vitess all you need is a 2.5mm allen key. Insert it in an adjustment screw in the bottom ring of the Acros headset, make a half turn and you are done.
Time to complete… 10 seconds max by any novice.
Other bikes require loosening and retightening stems and star nuts and realigning your handlebars if you are not careful.
Time to complete … 2-10 minutes depending on how proficient you are and also having the necessary allen keys on hand to fit both the star nut and stem bolts.
And what about putting the proper torque back on the stem bolts on the road? Come on tell the truth…You Guess don’t you!
Most people who ride bikes take their bike back to the shop to have them tighten the headset because they either don’t know how to do it or are concerned that they will break something. Not being able to fix this problem on the road could easily lead to a loss of control on the bike resulting in potential injury or at the very least a spoiled ride.
It may seem like a small thing but it is a very important one.
Here is the bottom line on the test ride…
On the Vitess I was faster, more comfortable, more confident and ended the ride fresher than any other bike I’ve ever ridden…. PERIOD.
Would I buy one at a retail price of $7300.00 including all the top of the line components that were on my test bike… ABSOLUTELY. It’s on my list!!!
Ride Hard
Ride Strong
Ride Safe
K. Scott Judges
The Passionate Cyclist
Nice review. Nice to see one done by someone who regularly rides nice bikes. My review at slowdad.com is coming from the opposite angle.
ReplyDeleteThat's the same bike I rode and I loved it, but the only Carbon thing on my bike is a cheap fork so it was a huge difference. And I am no racer that's for sure.
I see they got in the decals for the wheels.