Vitus E-Mythique LT range starts at £3,299

The Vitus E-Mythique LT is a brand new entry-level full-power e-bike model with 160mm of rear travel, alloy frame, mixed wheel size and a 95Nm Bafang M510 motor.

• 160mm travel e-bike using Bafang motor
• Bafang M510 gives out 95Nm, and 550 watts of peak power
• Battery is 630Wh
• Mixed wheel size (29in front, 27.5in rear)
• Three models: VR, VRS, VRX
• VR £3,299 srp
• VRS £3,899 srp
• VRX £4,399 srp
• vitusbikes.com

The ‘Mythique’ part of the ‘E-Mythique LT’ name may need a bit of explaining – or clarification – for those who of you familiar with the acoustic Vitus Mythique, which is a 140mm trail bike.

The E-Mythique LT is NOT the electric version of the regular Mythique. The LT suffix denotes that is Longer Travel. This e-bike has 160mm of travel at the rear. And this E-Mythique LT VRS model we have here has 170mm travel forks up front. And thank God for that. Full-power e-bikes should have loads of travel.

Why E-Mythique?

What is still very ‘Mythique’ about the E-Mythique LT is its price and performance combo. It’s a ‘cheap’ e-MTB clearly. But it’s also a cheap e-MTB that can be taken to proper mountain bike terrain.

There are three models in the E-Mythique LT range: VR £3299, VRS £3899, VRX £4399. You can see the full specs at the end of this article.

“What about the Vitus E-Sommet?” you ask? Well, they’ll still exist. And they’ll still be significantly more expensive than the E-Mythique LT, principally due to the use of bigger mainstream brands for the motor and general spec sheet. The E-Sommet VRS for example is over a thousand pounds more expensive than this E-Mythique LT VRS.

What’s it designed for?

What’s the remit of the new E-Mythique LT? Steep stuff.

It bears the ‘enduro’ tag but in my opinion ‘enduro’ has become a bit meaningless – especially on e-bikes. The E-Mythique LT is clearly about riding steep stuff. Steep climbs. Steep descents.

Sure, it can happily meander along any old mild terrain (all mountain bikes can do that) but its raison d’etre is technical terrain and repeat runs of The Fun Stuff. The oft mooted ‘power hour’ hot laps of your friendly neighbourhood woodland mess-about spot will be a real speciality of the E-Mythique LT.

Stats stats stats

With any e-bike the thing everyone looks at first and foremost is the motor. Swiftly followed these days by the battery, specifically the size of the battery.

So yes, the big news here is that Vitus have gone with Bafang for the E-Mythique LT. We haven’t seen much Bafang stuff on many mainstream e-MTBs but I suspect that’s about to change. Bafang have been around for as long as anyone in the ebike game and the E-Mythique LT models all use their M510 drive unit, paired to their own battery.

The vital stats here are 95Nm of torque, 550 watts peak power, which equates to around 400% of rider input.

The battery has 630Wh capacity. The battery can be charged in situ, or removed and charged externally. You’ll need the key to remove the battery from the bike by the way.

Controls and display

On to the user interface stuff. The controls. The buttons and display.

Wherever we’ve come across Bafang bikes before it’s been the controls that have been the weak link. Remotes that don’t play nicely with brake levers or dropper remotes… Displays that basically looked like the original monochrome Gameboy…

Vitus have clearly had similar concerns to us and have duly worked with Bafang to improve things massively. 

The bar remote near the lefthand grip is a simple but effective three button affair. An up button for more power. A down button for less power. The third smaller button at the middle-side is the ON/OFF button. Whilst ON, the third button also acts as the info-scrolling button for the display that cycles through various stats (range, cadence, trip distance etc). The remote plays nicely with brake clamps and dropper post levers too.

The display itself is actually one of the best e-bike screens I’ve come across. Not too big. Not too small. Colour but not distractingly so. Proper Goldilocks type stuff. Easy to read and it’s quick to see whatever info you need to see at any one time.

Special mention goes to having the battery power indicator as a percentage instead of blocks. Hands up who still has their phone battery indicator set to a battery bar instead of a percentage? Exactly. No one.

Assistance modes

5 modes: ECO, ECO+, TRAIL, BOOST and RACE. These are shown as initials in the display ie. E, E+, T, B and R. Each mode gets its own colour vibe too: ECO is green, ECO+is cyan, TRAIL is blue, BOOST is red and RACE is purple.

The amount of assistance you’re getting at any one time is also displayed as a rising and falling ‘graphic equaliser’ style bar on the right hand side of the screen.

The info/stats on offer for scrolling through: Trip distance, odometer, maximum speed, average speed, watts (from the motor, not your legs), range remaining, cadence, calories expended and time elapsed.

The Bafang M510 motor

On to the motor and the assistance. The vital stats of the Bafang M510 drive unit are 95Nm of torque, 550 watts of peak power and around 400% of rider input. Four times you, in other words.

It’s a cliche when pontificating on about e-bikes that “numbers don’t tell the whole story”. And this is true. What’s more useful to know is HOW and WHEN the power is delivered. This is what gives different motors different ride characteristics.

Bafang are pleasingly transparent about how the power assistance is delivered. They have graphs and everything. Here you go…

Absolute maximum assistance (95Nm and 550 watts peak power) is only accessible in RACE mode.

This same 550 watt peak power is accessible in BOOST mode too but comes in a bit later. The top torque of the BOOST mode is 85Nm.

Top mode is not the most important mode

BOOST and RACE modes are often used as your classic ‘Power Hour’ modes. All-out for 60mins. You can use BOOST and RACE during your ‘normal’ rides for predictable steep pitches but it’s often TRAIL that is most people’s default mode for normal weekend rides. As you get used to e-bikes the BOOST/RACE modes lose their novelty and your attention turns to how much longer distance and/or amount of climbing you can do in your regular ride time window.

TRAIL is the Most Important Mode in my opinion. TRAIL gives 495 watts peak power and 75Nm of torque. It’s TRAIL mode that has the most interesting – and significant – power delivery ‘method’.

Essentially, you don’t get TRAIL’s peak assistance until you’re inputting around 250 watts. And the assistance is delivered in an exponential curve. Pootling about (soft pedalling 100 watts ish) will get you a modest amount of assistance, putting some effort in will get you a lot more assistance out. This curve kinda dictates how the system feels to ride. It’ll be very interesting to see how it compares to main players like Shimano, Bosch, Yamaha and Brose (Specialized).

The lowest two power settings are ECO+ and ECO. ECO+ gives out 412 watts peak power and 55Nm of torque. ECO gives 302 watts peak power and 35Nm of torque.

Confused as to the difference between watts and Nm? Basically, Wattage increases are felt on less steep terrain (flying along contouring terrain), it’s Nm (torque) that is felt when climbing and is More Important. Diet and mid-power bikes (decent watts but low Nm) feel fine on the flat but can’t compete with full-power ebikes (decent watts AND decent Nm) on climbs.

Frame

What about the frame itself? The bit that everyone glosses over while focus on Nm, watts and £pricing! 

What doesn’t the Vitus E-Mythique LT have? No flipchip. No thru-headset cabling. No carbon. No accessory bosses under top tube.

What does it have? Simple (as it gets) internally routed cabling. Bottle bosses on down tube. Down tube protector. Sump guard. Motor cover (another thing Vitus badgered Bafang to do). Plenty dropper seatpost insertion (this L will easily accept a 210mm travel dropper as future upgrade over the 170mm dropper that it comes with)

Suspension and geometry

Suspension geekery. The shock is a healthily long-stroke 205 x 65mm. And there’s a trunnion mount there that really helps reduce stiction in the system. The leverage ratio is 27% (2.83 to 2.06). Which is genuinely progressive. So the bike should offer a cushy start that build into a supportive mid-stroke and a ramp-up end stroke. And yep, coil friendly if you want to ‘go coil’ at some point in the future.

For those who like to know about anti-squat – which is broadly force that copes with pedal bob – the anti-squat never really goes over 100%. Which essentially means the rear suspension stays supple and tractiony no matter what’s going on with the drivetrain. Hey, it’s an e-bike so it’s not overly concerned with ultimate pedal bob efficiency; this system prioritises grip, traction and comfort.

Geometry. Pretty bang on for a modern mountain bike. 63.5° head angle, 77.5° seat angle, 476mm reach on this Large, 26mm BB drop, the chain stays are 445mm long, the seat tube is short (440mm on this Large).

Spec is everything at Entry Level

The Vitus E-Mythique LT range begins at £3,299 and tops out at £4,399. How have Vitus hit these impressive price points? A combination of canny choice of alt. brands and own brand stuff. Alt. brands like: Bafang, Suntour, TRP and Vee Tire Co. Own brands such as Vitus, Nukeproof and Brand-X.

The sole big brands present are SRAM for the drivetrain and WTB for the wheels. 

This bike does not look like it has any hidden surprises – disappointments – restrictions. Vitus don’t appear to have cut corners or gone down various pennies-over-performance decisions. They don’t really do that on any of their bikes, E or otherwise.

Spec lowlights? No hidden speed sensor magnet (it uses a no-nonsense magnet-on-spokespoke). No cinch chainring (4 bolt BCD chainring – which is chain lubing WIN in my book). No integrated top-tube display. No wireless Bluetooth remote control.

Can you live without those things? I imagine you can.

Spec highlights? Er… pretty much all of it? You can judge for yourself by inspecting the spec sheets below.

There’s also really good upgrade potential; you can own this bike for a few years and Trigger’s Broom the heck out of it.

Review coming soon

We’ve only had this particular Vitus E-Mythique LT VRS for a week or so. We’ll have a full review up once we’ve properly put it through the wringer.

Vitus E-Mythique LT VR specification

• Frame // 6061-T6 DOuble Butted Alloy, 160mm
• Shock // RockShox Deluxe Select R, 250 x 65mm
• Fork // SR Suntour Zeron36 Boost EQ 29″, 160mm
• Wheels // WTB KOM Trail i30 rims on Vitus KT hubs
• Front Tyre // Vee Tire Co. Attack HPL 29in
• Rear Tyre // Vee Tire Co. Attack HPL 27.5in
• Chainset // Bafang, 165mm
• Drivetrain // Microshift Advent X, 11-46T
• Brakes // Tektro HD-M535 4-pot, 203/203mm
• Stem // Vitus Alloy
• Bars // Nukeproof Neutron V2 Riser
• Grips // Vitus Lock-On
• Seatpost // Brand-X Ascend dropper
• Saddle // Nukeproof Neutron
• Motor // Bafang M510, 95Nm
• Battery // Bafang 630Wh
• Sizes Available // Small, Medium, Large, X-Large

Vitus E-Mythique LT VRS specification

• Frame // 6061-T6 DOuble Butted Alloy, 160mm
• Shock // RockShox Deluxe Select R, 250 x 65mm
• Fork // SR Suntour Durolux36 Boost EQ 29″, 170mm
• Wheels // WTB KOM Trail i30 rims on Vitus KT hubs
• Front Tyre // Vee Tire Co. Attack HPL 29in
• Rear Tyre // Vee Tire Co. Attack HPL 27.5in
• Chainset // Bafang, 165mm
• Drivetrain // SRAM NX/SX, 11-50T
• Brakes // TRP Slate EVO 4-pot, 203/203mm
• Stem // Vitus Alloy
• Bars // Nukeproof Neutron V2 Riser
• Grips // Vitus Lock-On
• Seatpost // Brand-X Ascend dropper
• Saddle // Nukeproof Neutron
• Motor // Bafang M510, 95Nm
• Battery // Bafang 630Wh
• Sizes Available // Small, Medium, Large, X-Large

Vitus E-Mythique LT VRX specification

• Frame // 6061-T6 DOuble Butted Alloy, 160mm
• Shock // RockShox Deluxe Select R, 250 x 65mm
• Fork // RockShox Yari RC 29″, 170mm
• Wheels // WTB KOM Trail i30 rims on Vitus KT hubs
• Front Tyre // Vee Tire Co. Attack HPL 29in
• Rear Tyre // Vee Tire Co. Attack HPL 27.5in
• Chainset // Bafang, 165mm
• Drivetrain // SRAM GX/NX, 11-50T
• Brakes // SRAM DB8 4-pot, 203/203mm
• Stem // Vitus Alloy
• Bars // Nukeproof Neutron V2 Riser
• Grips // Vitus Lock-On
• Seatpost // Brand-X Ascend dropper
• Saddle // Nukeproof Neutron
• Motor // Bafang M510, 95Nm
• Battery // Bafang 630Wh
• Sizes Available // Small, Medium, Large, X-Large

Geometry of our size Large Vitus E-Mythique LT VRS

• Head angle // 63.5°
• Effective seat angle // 77.5°
• Seat tube length // 440mm
• Head tube length // 120mm
• Chainstay // 445mm
• Wheelbase // 1,275mm
• Effective top tube // 619mm
• BB height // 26mm BB drop
• Reach // 476mm

vitusbikes.com