Discussion
After reading another thread about returning to MTB after a few years off (9 I think) I decided to get a new bike. I still have my Santa Cruz from back in the day and its a great bike but its hard work for anything other than downhill so I wanted an aggressive hardtail with a big fork for blasting around trail centres.
Initially wanted an Orange Crush, then went onto a P7 Pro, ummed and ahhhed about a Whyte but I was getting cold feet about spending that much on an MTB after all this time off.
I read on here about Vitus bikes being good value so did some research and liked the look of the Sentier VRS which had been reduced by 10% to £899 on Chain Reaction but was sadly out of stock. It got great reviews so thought I'd email them and as when they were expecting some more only to get a reply saying it'll be a couple of weeks, then another email saying they were actually now in stock. I joined British Cycling and enjoyed an other 10% off the bike so I put a dropper post in the basket and enjoyed 10% off that too, as well as the extra BC discount....result.
So for a little over £800 I'll hopefully have a fairly solid bike that I can use to re-acquaint myself with off road again, I ride road a lot but cant wait to get back on an MTB.
Initially wanted an Orange Crush, then went onto a P7 Pro, ummed and ahhhed about a Whyte but I was getting cold feet about spending that much on an MTB after all this time off.
I read on here about Vitus bikes being good value so did some research and liked the look of the Sentier VRS which had been reduced by 10% to £899 on Chain Reaction but was sadly out of stock. It got great reviews so thought I'd email them and as when they were expecting some more only to get a reply saying it'll be a couple of weeks, then another email saying they were actually now in stock. I joined British Cycling and enjoyed an other 10% off the bike so I put a dropper post in the basket and enjoyed 10% off that too, as well as the extra BC discount....result.
So for a little over £800 I'll hopefully have a fairly solid bike that I can use to re-acquaint myself with off road again, I ride road a lot but cant wait to get back on an MTB.
Have been thinking of buying this bike too given i can find no bad reviews of it.
Will be a massive leap spec and price wise from my 12 year old specialized hardrock i use at the mo.
How do u find the 11 speed? Have you ever run out of gears yet? Back in the day it was always the case of more gears the better. So going to 11 goes against instinct but i love the simplicity of it.
May i ask what size u bought and your height and build?
And finally is there anything bad about this bike that i should consider before paying out what is to me alot for a bike. ( turns out i suffer from price creep with bikes as bad as i do with cars!)
Will be a massive leap spec and price wise from my 12 year old specialized hardrock i use at the mo.
How do u find the 11 speed? Have you ever run out of gears yet? Back in the day it was always the case of more gears the better. So going to 11 goes against instinct but i love the simplicity of it.
May i ask what size u bought and your height and build?
And finally is there anything bad about this bike that i should consider before paying out what is to me alot for a bike. ( turns out i suffer from price creep with bikes as bad as i do with cars!)
Yep, Brand X dropper as the bikes got the routing for a stealth dropper. Ordered with the bike so enjoyed the British Cycling discount on that too.
With regards to the gearing, I had my concerns but can honestly say its not caused any issues and seems a broad enough range for me so bo need to worry.
I went for an XL as I'm a powerfully built 6'4", size is spot on.
So far so good though, well set up from Chain Reaction, even comes with a chainstay protector and pot of touch up paint.
I couldnt find anything better for the money, its also had really positive comments from my mates.
In short, you cant go wrong.
With regards to the gearing, I had my concerns but can honestly say its not caused any issues and seems a broad enough range for me so bo need to worry.
I went for an XL as I'm a powerfully built 6'4", size is spot on.
So far so good though, well set up from Chain Reaction, even comes with a chainstay protector and pot of touch up paint.
I couldnt find anything better for the money, its also had really positive comments from my mates.
In short, you cant go wrong.
Greendubber said:
Yep, Brand X dropper as the bikes got the routing for a stealth dropper. Ordered with the bike so enjoyed the British Cycling discount on that too.
With regards to the gearing, I had my concerns but can honestly say its not caused any issues and seems a broad enough range for me so bo need to worry.
I went for an XL as I'm a powerfully built 6'4", size is spot on.
So far so good though, well set up from Chain Reaction, even comes with a chainstay protector and pot of touch up paint.
I couldnt find anything better for the money, its also had really positive comments from my mates.
In short, you cant go wrong.
thanks for the reply. I'm 6'1 (though equally powerfully built obviously) so by the sizing chart will probably go large. Glad to hear the gearing is ok for you, I use such a limited range of gearing at the moment that i'm sure 11 will be fine for me too. Will be glad to simplify things up a bit.With regards to the gearing, I had my concerns but can honestly say its not caused any issues and seems a broad enough range for me so bo need to worry.
I went for an XL as I'm a powerfully built 6'4", size is spot on.
So far so good though, well set up from Chain Reaction, even comes with a chainstay protector and pot of touch up paint.
I couldnt find anything better for the money, its also had really positive comments from my mates.
In short, you cant go wrong.
I keep looking for something else but keep coming back to this bike, no one seems to have a bad word to say about it and on MBR forums it gets recommended regularly.
My only regret about it is that I'll be replacing a grey bike with a grey one... not important really so I'll get over it. Bright blue pedals maybe to brighten it up a bit.
Thanks again for the info.
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