Volan,Vitus,Viper....ever heard of them?

tailwindhome

Saturdays 50 mile ride, my first ever, has convinced me that firstly I will be sticking with this cycling lark and secondly I need a half decent road bike. While my Specialized Hardrock will always have a place in my heart it does become quite uncomfortable after the 40 mile mark.

Chain Reactions have some offers on at the minute, of bikes I've never heard of.

BH Volan

Viper 105

Vitus

There are a range of Vitus bikes, the specs aren't even listed yet


Have you guys any knowledge of these brands, a search on the forum doesnt yield much.


I fancy the idea of tackling some sportives in the coming months so something suited to longdistance mile munching is the ticket

always_tyred

Someone must have bought the Vitus trademark/goodwill - I last saw this brand in about 1998, and it was regarded then as fading rather like Raleigh or Ciocc.

Might be a clean slate, but who knows.

I might also be thoroughly incorrect.

BH have some more recent pedigree - they sponsored a protour team (which was a casualty of drugs scandal) and may very well still sponsor bike teams. So, the geometry and so forth might well trickle down the range.

cougie

Fit is everything - dont buy a bike mail order - find your Local Bike Shop and see what they have ?

roger_merriman

okay volan microshift? i'd not be too worried about the derailer but the shifters? is that downtube shifters? are they like combined with brakes the viper (vitus goes to viper..) looks a good bike, mostly 105 stuff and i have the same tires good training tires. it is a fair bit more than the volan but the spec on that is something i'd want to be sure off, ie who what are mirco shift? sorry can't be more help but just driven the length of wales in a 30 year old van so fairly knackered....

tailwindhome

cougie wrote:

Fit is everything - dont buy a bike mail order - find your Local Bike Shop and see what they have ?

Luckily Chain Reactions Warehouse/Showroom is about 45mins from home, so I could get down there for a test ride etc.

tailwindhome

Fixed the link to the Vitus, though there are 6 or so different models

Google tells me that Vitus were a French brand, ridden most notably be the legendary Sean Kelly, and have been relaunched recently.

I am presuming that Chain Reactions acquired what looks like a job lot of 2008 bikes to sell at a discount, Hmmm.. doesnt bode well.

I also presume that the distinct lack of passionate advocating of any of these bikes is a clear walk away signal.

prawny

BH provide bikes to the AG2R team, so they cant be bad, even if the logo is a little suspect :?

il_principe

Honestly for that money there are "safer" options out there - i.e brands that are better known (BH aside). If you want to go mail order look at the Focus range from Wiggle. If you want to go LBS then look at Specialized (Allez) or Giant (Defy) to name a few.