First Look: Vitus Rapide FS CRX

The Vitus Rapide FS CRX mountain bike is a full carbon race-spec bike designed for today’s cross-country courses.

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By amandawishart

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First Look: Vitus Rapide FS CRX

That looks like a lot of bike for £4k!

Been after the lesser CRS since the 2022 bike was added to the CRC website…. can’t recall ever seeing it in stock in any size and, when i asked about a month ago, there was no intel on when they were likely to be getting any stock

What’s your budget for a complete Nuke? I have frames ready to ship and build kits ready to go. We can’t really compete with CRC on price but could get pretty close and deliver you a more personal spec. Plus our paint job is better 😀

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGLGj4bHo6J/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

That’s banging for the money.

I have one, it’s an open mound Chinese frame which I brought direct from Carbonda:

http://www.carbonda.com/mountain/full-suspension/98.html

Mines a small, 110mm SID 35mm fork, 100mm rear with Deluxe Ultimate.

76.5′ seat tube, 66.5’head angle, nice reach, awesome climber & descender on XC trails.

Rapid AF, surely?

Rapid AF, surely?

Not with me riding it.

Capable even at Enduro!

Just watch out if you are tall and heavy. I have last year’s, and whilst generally a good bike I can’t get the sag below 30% even at max pressure on the shock. I am 83kg and 6’2” on an XL, so not crazy huge!

The bottom bracket is very low, which combined with the long wheelbase makes it super stable on the downs also means it’s not a great choice if you want to do technical climbs without spend the whole time trying to time your pedalling to clear obstacles.

Those reach numbers on an XC bike… Phew! The first XC bike I would be more than happy on a medium. Crazy times.

That looks great to me!

PS: for anyone looking to “downcountry” one, the low bb allows for up to a 120mm fork without upsetting things. Standard shock is 165x40mm but you can get away with a 42.5mm stroke increasing rear end travel, any more and you’ll get tyre rub on the seat tube.

Loads of clearance when using 2.4″ tyres.

Loads of geekery about the frame here:
http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,2079.0.html

The NS Synonym TR is the came open mould front end but with a custom rear end giving 120mm of travel.

Ive been looking at the ICAN S3, and the Carbonda versions of this, trying to decide if I want to give it a go, I have had ICAN forks before and not died….
Given you cant actually buy the NS or the Vitus, its potentially a good option, less good is the availability of parts in the UK for a build vs the availability and price from europe, and now enjoying the brexit bonus….

Just FYI I watched Isaac Mundy cruise to victory in a local MTB event last night on one of those.

I’ll let you Google him.

I have frames ready to ship and build kits ready to go.

So you’ve independently imported the Carbonda frames then added your own hardware and shock plus painted then up?

Can’t see any details on your website…what sort of prices for frame only options are you offering out of curiosity?

i recently got a price from carbonda for thier light XC frame – and it came to £900 + the possibility of tax once it landed in the UK

I have frames ready to ship and build kits ready to go. We can’t really compete with CRC on price but could get pretty close and deliver you a more personal spec. Plus our paint job is better 😀

I’m not on the ‘Gramm, but am I right in thinking you’re Pedals bikes wot sent me a Occam chainstay yesterday?

Got the 2021 base model last year as already had a set of xc wheels, Sid delux is enough and prefer steel deore over the aluminium. Did consider getting 120mm SiD or putting the bargainous CRC pikes to 120mm before I put them on a Big Alat 140mm instead.

Was considering getting the frame direct but the complete bike was only £2400 for a spec that would cost you over 5k from bigger brands. My large with a 125mm dropper, Hunt xc wides, tubeless and xt cranks comes in at 12kg spot on.

Didn’t really click with it for a while but recently put a 35mm stem on it which made the steering more direct. Had an issue setting the sag as too much air made the bike too stiff. Have it spot on now at 30% and I don’t use max travel going over drops etc.

The lockout is a blessing on fire road ascents and climbs like a monster on tech climbs with it off. My 170mm xt cranks help with ground clearance but still get pedal strikes which is part and parcel of modern bikes.

Routing a dropper in the frame was proper hateful and currently using a gash CX/2x style dropper lever! Have a mass of cables out front and in hindsight should’ve got an axs dropper and mech to tidy it up. Would cost around a grand though 👀 but could swap them between bikes. Think a Bontrager drop lock would tidy it up a bit.

It’s pretty solid but have a few issues with the finish where the paint around the shock bolts was too thick. It’s ended up cracking and flaking off. Think they found the upper shock bolt in an xmas cracker and its gonna round off after a few removals.

Maybe should’ve gotten a medium at 182cm tall. The reach is OK and longer than my Big Al but the seat tube is pretty long. Calculated that I needed a 125mm dropper but could’ve put an 150mm in there.

@JWH

the possibility of tax once it landed in the UK

Double check with Carbonda but the price I had (less than yours a year ago) included shipping and taxes.

@qwerty even without taxes its a lot for a open mold frame with no shock.

I’ve looked at them for a while and others mentioned on chinatown forum…. I have afew hardtail / gravel bikes from the likes of iCan – but not quite pulled the trigger on a full sus from there as yet

Yes we are pedals and yes we have imported some. This was started before the Spur existed and long before Virus started using them, I guess it’s reassuring that Virus trust the frame as well. We have all sizes ready to go with SIDluxe Ultimate shocks and twistloc levers @ £1899.

I have been loving it, great bike. Very fast and a lot of fun.

I don’t think you need Instagram to see it, click the link and it should open in a browser if the app isn’t there

I ummed and arred about one of these and then found a synonym rc1 for sale secondhand for a bit over two grand.

Snapped it up, swapped in some xmc1200s, hope xcrs, a dash of xtr and it weighs 10kg with all the gubbins and that 125mm KS dropper.

It’s rapid, but the large is very long. Running a 70mm -17 rsl all in one.

I am tempted to snip the shock spacer and put a 120mm 34 on it but I feel like it would get slower and encroach on my Highlander for rides.

@Amanda Wishart

Did you find a decent bikepacking frame bag for this for the 300 then?

Was a Vitus CRX HT set up rigid that Sofiane Sehili pedaled to his win in this year’s Tour Divide Race.

@Neuromancer I used the Ortlieb waterproof seat pack and wore a backpack. I’m new to bikepacking, so I haven’t done much in the way of loading a bike up, but I tried saddle bag with bar bag for my first trip, and tried with a backpack this time. My conclusion is that I am not a bikepacker!

I have frames ready to ship and build kits ready to go. We can’t really compete with CRC on price but could get pretty close and deliver you a more personal spec. Plus our paint job is better 😀

Just to say that I’ve had excellent service from pedals bike shop on my Orbea. They dealt with some problems really well. Would recommend buying a bike from them