Calibre Bossnut of Vitus Mythique

[pti]

Afternoon all,

After having a Giant Anthem stolen a number of years ago I've been doing some road cycling on a Planet X RT-58. Whilst enjoyable, it's not as much fun as XC so I'm looking to get myself another full sus.

Budget is c.£1k as I'd be using the cycle to work scheme and I think I've narrowed it down the the two bikes in the title. I've been watching the evolution of the Bossnut since it was first released and having just had a geo update for 2020 and being priced at £935 it seems a bargain.

However, a friend just sent me details of the Vitus and that also looks pretty good value.

I haven't been able to ride either bike but was wondering if anyone had any experience of either, or both!?

[dai1983]

Good review of both on Pinkbike. The Vitus they have is the higher spec one though.

[pti]

I've seen those, thanks. I can't stretch to the cost of the VRX and it was the forks on the base model (VR) that are a bit of an unknown to me.

[dai1983]

pti said:

I've seen those, thanks. I can't stretch to the cost of the VRX and it was the forks on the base model (VR) that are a bit of an unknown to me.

Yeah exactly how I feel about the lower models. The Vitus frame does seem better than the boss nut and can also be had as a 29er. The boss nut also comes in a special edition and the £895 women's version was the same bike except for the nicer colour and narrower bars.

Go Outdoors also have regular reductions and you can use topcashback to get a load more off. They had a 20% off voucher before lock down plus 24% cashback before lock down! Vitus bikes normally discounted at the end of the season.

The Bossnut Owners group on FB is quite friendly and they have regular days out of that's important. Probsbly gonna get a lightweight xc bike for racing and to replace my CX bike then I'll pick up a FS trail bike in the sales.

[Craikeybaby]

For XC riding at that sort of budget I would be looking at a hardtail.

With regards to Vitus, my Nucleus hardtail passed 6,000km this week (albeit with a lot of upgrades) - I’ve been pretty pleased with it, but it really highlighted that I would not buy another bike without at least sitting on one first.

[Brads67]

Cycle to work 1k limit is no more afaik

Anyway
A friend has been texting me all night to review bikes that he fancies and it has boiled down to the Vitus Sentier vrx.

They really look like brilliant value and are very well specced.

You could buy a better frame, but how good are you that you would be able to discern ?.

My local bike park has loads of Calibre stuff as well and to be fair, it's quite amazing what bike you get for the cash.

Edited by Brads67 on Saturday 18th April 00:13

[andymc]

is the boss nut FS?

[andymc]

Craikeybaby said:

For XC riding at that sort of budget I would be looking at a hardtail.

With regards to Vitus, my Nucleus hardtail passed 6,000km this week (albeit with a lot of upgrades) - I’ve been pretty pleased with it, but it really highlighted that I would not buy another bike without at least sitting on one first.

its sold out everywhere

[pti]

Brads67 said:

Cycle to work 1k limit is no more afaik

Anyway
A friend has been texting me all night to review bikes that he fancies and it has boiled down to the Vitus Sentier vrx.

They really look like brilliant value and are very well specced.

You could buy a better frame, but how good are you that you would be able to discern ?.

My local bike park has loads of Calibre stuff as well and to be fair, it's quite amazing what bike you get for the cash.

Edited by Brads67 on Saturday 18th April 00:13

£1k budget depends on employer, mine stipulates £1k max, without the ability to to up.

Anyway, as one poster has pointed out the Vitus is sold out everywhere (and the offer taking it under £1k has ended) and Go Outdoors won't accept a cycle to work voucher online.

So that's that for the thread title! I've cancelled my voucher and have bumped the budget up to around £1500 second hand.

Currently liking the look of the Giant Reign 2 and LaPierre Zesty. Any other recommendations?

Edited by pti on Sunday 19th April 23:43

[dai1983]

Giant trance and Marin rift zone?

[Xcore]

My mate picked up a 2018 Norco range yesterday for 1200, 170mm lyric up front sram GX drive train etc proper bargain!

[GravelBen]

pti said:

Currently liking the look of the Giant Reign 2 and LaPierre Zesty. Any other recommendations?

You mentioned XC riding, but a >150mm travel enduro bike like the Reign (I'm not familiar with the Zesty to compare that) isn't too well suited for that use - they're very capable and best at going fast down rough stuff, but compared to an XC bike they will be heavy and sluggish on the uphills and may be a bit boring and uninvolving on flatter smoother trails.

Something lighter and shorter travel may be better suited as an all-rounder. If you liked your old Anthem it might be worth looking at a new Anthem, or something more capable than a true XC bike but still relatively light and efficient.

I have a Giant Trance 29 which I really like, it fits that all-round category very well - the geometry is aggressive enough to feel massively more confident and fun downhill than my previous Specialized Epic (equivalent of an Anthem), but with relatively short 130mm front/115mm rear travel its an efficient climber and playful on flatter easier trails too.

Of course it will depend on your preference and the nature of trails you ride (and others here will have a much wider range of experience than me too), but something in that ~120-130mm travel class is my suggestion. Not sure how prices compare where you are, but there are good hardtail options around too as others have mentioned.

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 20th April 10:02

[pti]

GravelBen said:

pti said:

Currently liking the look of the Giant Reign 2 and LaPierre Zesty. Any other recommendations?

You mentioned XC riding, but a >150mm travel enduro bike like the Reign (I'm not familiar with the Zesty to compare that) isn't too well suited for that use - they're very capable and best at going fast down rough stuff, but compared to an XC bike they will be heavy and sluggish on the uphills and may be a bit boring and uninvolving on flatter smoother trails.

Something lighter and shorter travel may be better suited as an all-rounder. If you liked your old Anthem it might be worth looking at a new Anthem, or something more capable than a true XC bike but still relatively light and efficient.

I have a Giant Trance 29 which I really like, it fits that all-round category very well - the geometry is aggressive enough to feel massively more confident and fun downhill than my previous Specialized Epic (equivalent of an Anthem), but with relatively short 130mm front/115mm rear travel its an efficient climber and playful on flatter easier trails too.

Of course it will depend on your preference and the nature of trails you ride (and others here will have a much wider range of experience than me too), but something in that ~120-130mm travel class is my suggestion.

Cheers Ben, and you're right I did specifically mention XC but that was somewhat dictated by the budget and the bike having to be brand new.

My old Anthem was okay but didn't feel aggressive enough when ridden alongside a friends bike (Trek Fuel IIRC). Reason for looking at the Bossnut and Vitus was their slacker geo vs other XC bikes but now I've changed my constraints I think I may as well go for something with a bit more travel as we all love belting down hills, right?

I did look at the Trance 29er and it's still in the running but there's 'only' about 0.5 kg between that and the Reign 2. A lot of this obviously depends on what bikes pop up for sale at what price as well.

[GravelBen]

Yes, fair enough!

Climbing & efficiency is about more than just weight though (if that side of it matters to you) - I haven't ridden one myself but the Reign 27.5 has a reputation for not climbing well, apparently due to its quite slack seat tube angle sitting your weight too far back and letting the nose wander.

The new Reign 29 sounds like a good improvement though if thats the one you're looking at, it would be pretty high on my list if I get to the point where I feel the short travel of the Trance is holding me back (its still far more capable than me so far!). Might be out of budget being a new model though.

Could still be worth considering an aggressive geo hardtail too, I expect you would get a much higher spec hardtail than full sus for the budget.

I didn't comment on your original suggestions because I know nothing about them , Calibre and Vitus don't really feature in the market here in NZ.

Edited by GravelBen on Monday 20th April 10:50