Went for a demo on a Vitus Sommet the other day at Aston hill (along with the nukeproof mega 27.5″ and 29″). I really liked it and they were saying that the carbon version comes out shortly.

Is it a risk to pre order the carbon version of the bike before it’s released incase the the frame quality isn’t great? I’m sure it’ll be ok but not sure if it’s the same situation as the first release of software i.e. full of bugs that get worked out over the course of a few patches.

Like i said the bike was great so will probably go for it (although i do have a mondarker dune to take out soon as well) but the value is amazing especially seeing as there is 10% off and I have another 10% from the demo day.

Whats the verdict?

no. It’ll be fine.

You rode a bike and really liked it so you are thinking of ordering a different one? Yes I’d say that’s a little risky.

No in my experience I wouldn’t recommend it. My first carbon Santa Cruz was carbon and suffered an issue which they’ve now resolved. In hindsight it was present in other models too so I should have noticed it during research, but with a new design like the bike you’re after it’s an unknown quantity.

Too risky.

Don’t spend money on a bike you have not even seen yet.

CRC are unlikely to shaft you if the carbon frame does turn out to be cracky.

If the geometry is the same, there’s not much risk in my view

It’s not a carbon thing, I don’t like spending money on anything unproven. CRC house brands don’t exactly have a shining track record- lots of the bikes have been great o’course but some haven’t.

CRC are unlikely to shaft you if the carbon frame does turn out to be cracky.

Ha, really?! Had A Vitus Zircon from them a couple of years ago. The headset and bb were made of cheese. They weren’t in the slightest bit interested. Likewise I had a Ragley (same parent company) which cracked, again no help at all. Sorry OP, but if I was in your place I’d be waiting until the bike had been out a few months before ordering.

CRC were good with my assorted ragley qc issues tbh. Possibly helped that I had an email from Brant that said “That’s wrong, get a new one”

Thanks for the feedback. Think my thoughts niggling in the back of my head have been reinforced by the general concensus.

Nickjb, the bike they had in my size for the demo day was a lower specced version of the one I wanted but gave me an idea of what it’s like to ride geometry etc on a familiar set of trails for me. so that wasn’t the bit i thought of as risky. it was a new frame material for them.
Maybe I’ll just go for the alloy one, now I’m really confused!!

I’ve found CRC offer exemplary customer service when I’ve had legitimate warranty issues.

Will admit I’ve never had to warranty a bike from them, but friends have done OK.

All new things will have more issues when they’re new – you’re not exactly going to modify the design just for fun and introduce issues part way through the production run are you?

I would at least wait until it’s been out a while to sort out any issues (though if it’s genuinely a carbon copy – lolseewhatididthere – of the alloy one it should ride the same but a bit lighter, as per your expectations with the lower spec alloy version). Even if a warranty is sorted out no bother it’s still going to leave you without the bike for a while.