2019 Vitus E-Sommet VR First Look

[Rob Rides EMTB]

A quickl look around the 2019 E-Sommet VR. Some nice refinements over the 2018 bike including a neater dropper / speed controller integration, featuring the E7000 remote and a fresh lick of paint. Click the play button above to watch the video and check the gallery below.
Full review coming soon!

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Continue reading...

 

[Gary]

Mine died (again) last night.
constant E010 errors
and knackered main motor (BB) bearings. Axle play and horrendous creaking... been steadily getting worse over the last 100miles or so.
right about the same sort of mileage as the last motor bearings went.
Is 800 miles really too much to ask of an E8000 motor?
I just don't think there's enough durability for a proper rider.

Oh... Well looks like I'll be back on my Capra, 4X and roadbike for the next month at least while CRC do my head in with email ping pong.. Might even do some uplifts on one of my nice durable DH bikes.
At least I should lose some weight and re-gain fitness. (I'm actually serious)

I'd give myself a drama queen reaction if I could

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Interested to see how others are getting... any more with over 1000 miles? Any issues?

 

[F-GODZ]

Looks great......until you put the dropper up!

Interesting that you've got the dropper slammed at 6'3" (I'm 6'2"). I'm presuming that's a standard 150mm dropper? I was going for the XL but maybe I might be better off with an L

Think I need to actually throw a leg over one.....

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Looks great......until you put the dropper up!

Interesting that you've got the dropper slammed at 6'3" (I'm 6'2"). I'm presuming that's a standard 150mm dropper? I was going for the XL but maybe I might be better off with an L

Think I need to actually throw a leg over one.....

Yes - its a BIG bike. You'd be able to ride an L easily.

 

[MattyB]

Mine died (again) last night.
constant E010 errors
and knackered main motor (BB) bearings. Axle play and horrendous creaking... been steadily getting worse over the last 100miles or so.
right about the same sort of mileage as the last motor bearings went.
Is 800 miles really too much to ask of an E8000 motor?
I just don't think there's enough durability for a proper rider.

That is my worry with the Shimano - from a ride perspective I really like it, but everyone I know who has had one seems to have reliability problems with them between 1k and 2k miles. I am no-where near as accomplished or aggressive a rider as yourself, but in some ways that makes it more of a problem - I am more likely to wear one out just outside of warranty as I do less miles and less jumping! This is what is making me lean towards a bike with the (supposedly upcoming) new Bosch motor, though given that will be a brand new product that's smaller and lighter than it's predecessor it could easily have reliability issues too.

 

[Gary]

Out of warranty I'd replace the bearings myself

I'd love to be able to get 2000miles out of them.

 

[Cisco]

I've put nearly 2k miles on mine and I've knocked the shit out of it. We also have a Merida 900 (E8000) with near 2k and it's had an even harder life than mine.

No motor issues and no play in either crank so far.

I put 150 Miranda crank arms on near the start. I have a theory that the crank problems (on Bosh and Shimano) may be aggravated by pedal strikes with the 170ish crank arms. TBC

Anyway, we now have five E8000, one E7000 and two Bosh CX motors in the riding group. I'll report issues as the other guys start to put real miles on them.

 

[Gary]

Interesting...
But
bit of a strange theory considering I never pedal strike and you've not had any motor bearings go.

How hard a life are you talking? and what do you consider "knocking the shit out of it"?
The rest of the bike (suspension, pivots, brakes, groupset) have all held up brilliantly to the riding I do on mine. Second dropper bushings/keys are now about as tight as Katie Price's fanny (but that's just wear and tear).

 

[Cisco]

Hi Gary,

I don't know Katie


Bike has had a hard life, 3rd rear rim, 3rd chain, 2nd Cassette, 2nd chain ring, 2nd or 3rd Pads. Apart from the rims (I have a full time lawyer ) everything else was replaced before they let me down but shagged. Frame bearings still fine, headset bearings will need changed soon.

Riding will be similar, we regularly do all those GT EWS tracks you were talking about for this weekend. Maybe not as quickly but hey .

Just seems to me that e-bikes get a lot more strikes than a normal bike, I know mine did before I changed the arms, those impacts can't be good for the crank bearings.

Good luck with it, I couldn't be arsed sending it back to CRC so fingers are well and truly crossed...

 

[E-Glen]

Looks great......until you put the dropper up!

Interesting that you've got the dropper slammed at 6'3" (I'm 6'2"). I'm presuming that's a standard 150mm dropper? I was going for the XL but maybe I might be better off with an L

Think I need to actually throw a leg over one.....

I'm 6'2'', and find the xl seat height perfect when "slammed" (could even go up 10-15mm).

 

[Gary]

Just seems to me that e-bikes get a lot more strikes than a normal bike, I know mine did before I changed the arms, those impacts can't be good for the crank bearings.

Good luck with it, I couldn't be arsed sending it back to CRC so fingers are well and truly crossed...

I don't have a single mark on either rim. I don't run low enough tyre pressures for that to happen. I don't case jumps, tend not to hook up on anything rough as my riding style preference is to pop about everywhere playfully rather than worry about times/speed. If a rim were to fail on me it'd be far more likely bent from a rut or a sideways landing than cracked/dinged through clumsiness or plowing through rocks with not enough tyre pressure to make it.
I also don't get pedal strikes with 170mm arms. (My E-sommet has a higher BB than both my DH bikes and my Capra (lowered with 26" wheels, so lower than pretty much every other enduro bike available) I've been riding proper low bikes (often intentionally lowered) for decades so I'm well used to low BBs and tend not to pedal into things or drop a pedal into oncoming obsticles while descending.
My take on the main motor axle (BB) bearings is they're just not up to the impact abuse and sideways loads a still reasonably fast/stylish air happy heavy exDH rider puts them through.
I'm actually a pretty smooth rider but I do love to get sideways at every opportunity (on the ground or off).
I suppose I could have just been unlucky with 2 motors with poor bearing life but that coincidence seems a little unlikely. Should know for sure by the next 500-800 miles on the 3rd replacement motor

It's the second time I've had to send it back to CRC so know the script well and spent a morning ensuring I spoke to a manager rather than a customer service bod. hopefully it'll be slightly less painful this time.
Thanks for the positive vibes!

 

[Chester]

Bit late to the party on this one but I have 2100 plus miles on mine, I say plus becauce thats the odo reading but I have been running a tuning kit since about 900 miles so I must be at around 2500 at leas. My screen has got moisture in it and the battery holster needed adjusting other than that all running sweet.

 

[G08]

That is my worry with the Shimano - from a ride perspective I really like it, but everyone I know who has had one seems to have reliability problems with them between 1k and 2k miles. I am no-where near as accomplished or aggressive a rider as yourself, but in some ways that makes it more of a problem - I am more likely to wear one out just outside of warranty as I do less miles and less jumping! This is what is making me lean towards a bike with the (supposedly upcoming) new Bosch motor, though given that will be a brand new product that's smaller and lighter than it's predecessor it could easily have reliability issues too.

We finding out in work that lighter components do not always mean better. We run a fleet of machines some we changed for newer models last year we had five in the workshop with transmission problems. We found out from the rep that the internals had been lightened, we have had no issues with the same parts on the older machines.