Vitus’ all-new carbon Vitesse Evo completely reimagines road performance for the affordable consumer-direct brand. Significantly lighter, more aero, and more comfortable than ever before, the evolved Vitesse Evo road bike delivers a race-ready ride that won’t break the bank.
2021 Vitus Vitesse EVO race-ready, light & aero carbon road bike
Much like the recent Evo overhaul of their popular Energie cyclocross bike, the new Vitus Vitesse Evo is a ground up redesign to create a high performance all-rounder road race bike, but on a budget. Again, Vitus focused that last two years on R&D together with their Vitus Pro Cycling team to create a bike ready for top UCI Continental level racing, blending comfort, aerodynamics & lightweight in a frameset that privateers could afford too.
Vitesse Evo – Tech details
Light weight was obvious a big target. Then, hitting 840g for a medium frame makes it 15% lighter than the previous Vitesse, and pretty comparable with many, much more expensive all-rounder race bikes. But it wasn’t all weight savings, the new bike also incorporates a number of aero design details, and Vitus says it is still stiff enough for pro racing.
Originally developed with Sean Kelly and his An-Post team, stiff power transfer was always the first characteristic that needed to be met. But even shedding almost 150g off the old Vitesse, this new bike is said to get an “average stiffness increase of 34.9%”. That essentially came down to more careful analysis of the Vitesse Evo’s carbon layup to increase bottom bracket junction stiffness by more than 50%, and fork stiffness by almost 70%. Throughout the rest of the frame, more incremental stiffness gains in the headtube boost steering precision, and added chainstay stiffness boosts power transfer & handling.
But paired with a new set of dropped seatstays, sticking with a 27.2mm post, and the lowered integrated seatpost clamp, there is still said to be more bump-eating smoothness for the rider.
The bike does incorporate most of the latest standards – internal tapered headset, flat mount discs, 12mm thru-axles, a BB386EVO bottom bracket & 30-32mm tire clearance. But it doesn’t go full aero, instead keeping conventional cockpit setups and simple internal routing through a modular cable port on the left side of the downtube.
Update, race-ready road geometry
Again, working with the Vitus Pro Cycling Team, the Vitesse Evo got a race-ready geometry overhaul. Moving to longer frame reach but lower stack heights, the fit is more aggressive than before. But with a wide six size range (XZ-XXL) and a greater offset fork for the two smallest sizes, there still should be plenty of options to fit most road riders with budding race ambitions – without sacrificing on handling.
2021 Vitus Vitesse Evo – Options, pricing & availability
Maybe the most important standout feature of the direct-to-consumer Vitesse Evo bikes are the affordable prices – sold exclusively through online partner shops Wiggle & Chain Reaction Cycles. Seen as a race bike, the disc brake Vitesse Evo doesn’t actually skimp on any builds.
The most affordable Vitesse Evo CR £2000 / $2600 / 2300€ still gets a full Shimano 105 mechanical/hydraulic mid-compact groupset and tubeless-ready alloy wheels to come in at a claimed 7.8kg complete (only 400g claimed heavier than the most expensive build at double the price!)
All the builds use the same SL UD carbon frameset, with the next model up brings the 7.65kg Vitesse Evo CRS for £3000 / $3700 / 3500€ with a Ultegra mechanical group & tubeless Reynolds AR 29 carbon wheels. Add on a bit more to Vitesse Evo CRS Di2 £3700 / $4500 / 4200€ for an electronic Ultegra Di2 build at 7.5kg.
Two wireless AXS builds are offered. The £3750 / $4700 / 4300€ Vitesse Evo CRS eTap AXS gets a Force 2x and the Reynolds carbon wheels at 7.6kg claimed. And the £4800 / $6000 / 5500€ Vitesse Evo CRX eTap AXS takes it one step further to SRAM Red to trim a few extra grams off to 7.4kg.
All of the new Vitesse Evo road bikes are said to be available between now and the first weeks of October, depending on spec & size.
