Vitus E-Mythique LT Enduro EMTB - Bargain of the year

[Zimmerframe]

Finally got around to doing a boring "Range" type test.

Riding in "E". Vee on the back, Wild on the front (pretty similar rolling resistance).

Relatively flat as I wasn't just trying to see how many meters it would climb. Used GPS to track distance and height gained.

80% Remaining. 25km's 400m

70% Remaining. 37km's 550m

60% Remaining 49km's 720m

50% Remaining 62km's 920m

46% Remaining 66km's 1026m (went steeper for the last bit due to boredom).

"E" is the lowest power option. It was still pushing 320w a few times when I went a bit harder on some climbs. That's the same as a Levo SL 1.1 in Turbo. I think the Bosch in "Eco" maxes at about 120w, so for epic crazy rides, you'd need to turn down the assistance. Or just don't do epic crazy rides .. just go a bit faster and enjoy yourself

It certainly still gives plenty of support when you need it in E, even on steeper climbs.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Hi Zimmerframe
I’m enjoying reading your findings with the bike.
At the current Chain reaction price of £2299 I’m considering getting the base model too!
I’d be interested to hear/read an overall comparison between the Bafang and other motors you’ve used.
Is it possible to view Motor watts and your watts whilst riding?
Cheers
Paul

Thanks !

It's an incredible bargain at that. A really capable and nicely put together bike for less than the price of Two Specialized batteries.

All the motors feel and respond slightly differently to each other and produce power slightly differently through the range. They all sound slightly differently too. In terms of general feel and performance though, a lot of motors are ultimately quite similar in the amount of assistance they'll give you and how they give you that based on your pedalling input. You generally have to work a bit harder on the Bosch, it sort of entices you to put more power in, so you get slightly more range out of the Bosch bikes generally. The M510 assists slightly more than the Bosch and the Brose, though if you have "shuttle" turned up on a Brose, it will assist more than the Bafang.

In you think in ballpark terms though of actually riding any of the bikes and getting up hills, over obstacles, increasing power when you need it, all three perform "ballpark" similarly and will all get you up the same trail in a pretty similar way.

The Bafang has a slightly longer over run - though not as long as a Bosch in "Race" mode. Though the Bafang overrun in it's Race mode is longer than the other modes I think.

I guess the main thing that stands out with the Bafang, is that it DOESN'T feel like a cheap alternative - it stands equally with the others. The older version with a different Torque sensor wasn't anything like the Bosch or the Brose, so they've done a lot of work to make things comparable. It performs really well. Nothing about the bike feels like a cheap alternative (ignoring the faulty fork and the Tektro brake levers which feel like they're designed to emulate SRAM Code R's).
The fact it has 2.3mm disks, decent calipers, a shock that works actually surprising well. A dropper which does the job and wheels and tyres which all seem to perform well. None stupid cable routing. A Robust gear system which you can easily swap out parts with Cues or Linkglide if you wanted in the future. Just swap the fork (if you have a crap one/or get it repaired) and change the brake levers for TRP's or Shimano ones and you have a bike which can happily hold it's own against anything two or three times the price and it even looks good !

 

[Zimmerframe]

Cranks :

Just for reference purposes.

An E-Mythique Crank 165 weighs 273g (with some grease and mud on). They actually look quite nicely made (tough ! but not obscenely chunky).

3rd Party Cranks are fairly rare at the moment, but Miranda do the Delta LS cranks, for example :

Delta LS Cranks 160 Q:16 RF Baf Cold-forged aluminium alloy Standard (Black) for E-BIKE

What's included: Right and left crank arms, installation bolts

mirandabikestore.com

Which I believe fit.

A 150 Shimano Miranda Crank (Clean) weighs 226g, so probably similar for the Delta LS.

Just looking on line, a random Hope 165 crank weighs about 236g

 

[cartwheels]

Thanks !

It's an incredible bargain at that. A really capable and nicely put together bike for less than the price of Two Specialized batteries.

All the motors feel and respond slightly differently to each other and produce power slightly differently through the range. They all sound slightly differently too. In terms of general feel and performance though, a lot of motors are ultimately quite similar in the amount of assistance they'll give you and how they give you that based on your pedalling input. You generally have to work a bit harder on the Bosch, it sort of entices you to put more power in, so you get slightly more range out of the Bosch bikes generally. The M510 assists slightly more than the Bosch and the Brose, though if you have "shuttle" turned up on a Brose, it will assist more than the Bafang.

In you think in ballpark terms though of actually riding any of the bikes and getting up hills, over obstacles, increasing power when you need it, all three perform "ballpark" similarly and will all get you up the same trail in a pretty similar way.

The Bafang has a slightly longer over run - though not as long as a Bosch in "Race" mode. Though the Bafang overrun in it's Race mode is longer than the other modes I think.

I guess the main thing that stands out with the Bafang, is that it DOESN'T feel like a cheap alternative - it stands equally with the others. The older version with a different Torque sensor wasn't anything like the Bosch or the Brose, so they've done a lot of work to make things comparable. It performs really well. Nothing about the bike feels like a cheap alternative (ignoring the faulty fork and the Tektro brake levers which feel like they're designed to emulate SRAM Code R's).
The fact it has 2.3mm disks, decent calipers, a shock that works actually surprising well. A dropper which does the job and wheels and tyres which all seem to perform well. None stupid cable routing. A Robust gear system which you can easily swap out parts with Cues or Linkglide if you wanted in the future. Just swap the fork (if you have a crap one/or get it repaired) and change the brake levers for TRP's or Shimano ones and you have a bike which can happily hold it's own against anything two or three times the price and it even looks good !

Thanks for the write up, very helpful.
Can you see Rider Watts on the display?
I’d like to see how much wattage tge motor gives for the given amount of rider input.
Cheers

 

[Zimmerframe]

Thanks for the write up, very helpful.
Can you see Rider Watts on the display?
I’d like to see how much wattage tge motor gives for the given amount of rider input.
Cheers

Ah no, sorry, forgot to mention that bit. Motor watts (battery draw anyway) but not rider watts. Not sure if they'll add this with an update or if it will appear in the go+ app. Not sure how accurate it would be.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Still needs to go in for it's Motor bolt torque check. (They want it shop checked).

Considering this is a DTC (Direct to Client) bike, it's actually pretty easy :

Pick a shop of my choice.

They've sent PDF's of what to do to the shop and translated them to French.

Take the bike when I want to the shop, pay and they'll reimburse upto a max of €100 !!!

 

[Anssi]

A quick tip, check your spoke tension. I did before my first ride and generally all good but a couple of spokes in the rear wheel were basically loose. Also, the 50€ promised to get the fork repaired locally is reimbursed after having it fixed. So will not be doing that and I will just pull it apart when I have the time and let Bikester have their 50€.

 

[mustclime]

Someone should just start a problem thread on the bike. Motor bolts, spoke tension and the fork….. there will be more. Maybe start a fork rebuild thread since they seem to be dumpster tuned out of the box.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Someone should just start a problem thread on the bike. Motor bolts, spoke tension and the fork….. there will be more. Maybe start a fork rebuild thread since they seem to be dumpster tuned out of the box.

There was clearly just a minor design criteria issue when making the fork.

It works as intended. But they made a chopstick and not a fork.

... possible motor bolts .. I had a loose one on the Kenevo and they didn't offer to pay €100 to fix that.

And my wheel bearings were fecked out of the box .. they wouldn't fix that.

Plus the motor was fecked .. and in 2 years of endless back and forwards.... the mighty Spesh were totally crap.

Just to give some perspective.

It's weird he has loose spokes though. This was a known problem on test bikes and was supposedly addressed.

 

[CarolinaCrawler]

For the price of the bike I’m not too concerned about spokes. The nukeproof neutron wheel set is cheap enough not to worry about it. Matter of fact Vitus specs them on their higher tier e-bikes.

 

[Shjay]

The old Hope Tech 35 were shit wheels & most shops had to rebuild them which is why would never touch Hope wheels as weight is crazy on the Fortus use their front hubs they should of made the pro5 3+ years ago they always late to the party

 

[Zimmerframe]

 

[Deriuqer]

Red looks fast

 

[Anssi]

For the price of the bike I’m not too concerned about spokes. The nukeproof neutron wheel set is cheap enough not to worry about it.

My tip was more to keep an eye on it (or at least check it initially and after a couple of rides). Might save some riders from having to replace the wheels.

 

[Zimmerframe]

My tip was more to keep an eye on it (or at least check it initially and after a couple of rides). Might save some riders from having to replace the wheels.

Thanks for the tip ! Just checked mine and there were several incorrectly tensioned on the rear and a couple on the front.

 

[CarolinaCrawler]

Has anyone opened these up to see if there is a light connection in the wiring? Just getting lights on our bikes ready for the impending reduced daylight of fall/winter and it made me wonder how hard it would be to hardwire a light.

 

[CarolinaCrawler]

Jumping briefly back to the question of can you convert the spoke magnet to a disk magnet.

This was on one of the DIY builds yesterday, a custom mount :

View attachment 124953

A build worthy of admiring in it's own right. Lyric, 900wh battery, 18.45kg !

M820 Bafang - LIGHTCARBON LCE930 Frame (lightweight)

has anyone tried running the 930 in a mullet setup with 29 front and 27.5 rear? I'm going to build my one in a mullet, with a 170mm fork up front on my wife's and 180 on my build, coil shock rear and I'm looking at 160mm crank arms. I ordered the frame and motor 20 days ago (but paint will be a...

www.emtbforums.com

I also wonder if you could have someone design and 3d print a bracket simular to @kaylee.s on his LCE930 build;

 

[Zimmerframe]

Has anyone opened these up to see if there is a light connection in the wiring? Just getting lights on our bikes ready for the impending reduced daylight of fall/winter and it made me wonder how hard it would be to hardwire a light.

There's a funny splitter cable which does lights and something else, you just blank off the something else. I'll look it up later.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Has anyone opened these up to see if there is a light connection in the wiring? Just getting lights on our bikes ready for the impending reduced daylight of fall/winter and it made me wonder how hard it would be to hardwire a light.

OK, found it again. I think you need a 1T3 cable. Just search Bafang M510 1T3.

This replaces the standard first feed cable from the motor which the display connects to and has the extra connections for a throttle and to wire lights in. (It might be it already has all this stuffed up the seat tube, but I've not looked ??)

No idea of the exact Amp limit is on the light cable, though I think it's 6V.

Have read 0.5 amps, which isn't much and would probably give you maybe 300 lumens ?

I think some people just tap straight into the battery feed.

Did just check the box of bits which came with the bike and found there is actually a front and rear light included ! (though they're not going to light the trail, only get you seen). There's also two different bells for some reason, they have different tones. Maybe you install them both and play a very limited range of tunes ?

 

[Zimmerframe]

 

[Tooks]

View attachment 125756

Only problem with that is there is zero stock of these at CRC now.

I’ll expect to see a few of these out in the trails now then!

 

[Zimmerframe]

Today was a bit of a range and power test. @Dado wanted to know if the power drops off after 30% (M510 thread) as it does on the standard Bafang firmware.

Good news. It doesn't with the Vitus Firmware (previously tested, but worth checking again).

Not had time to ride this week so only at 525km's.

Went exploring, so fairly flat again.

Using E & E+ 30k and 400 meters used 30%. 65k and 1000m's with 19% left. From 30% I abused the power, using 20% in about 8km's when I found some really cool trails which just wanted riding fast, but were "energy hungry" - tight and undulating, with lots of constant speed variation which needed attacking for increased smile factor.

Then found an unexpected 200m long rock garden which demanded as much speed as possible. This was a little dumb as I was using my phone for navigation and power monitoring and hadn't really tightened the clamp ... Hence lost phone and spent 20 minutes trying to find it, only to find it smashed. Didn't have a clue where I was, so continued to abuse the power (Mainly T) from there because I couldn't do amp tests without the phone, only Watts tests and wanted to get home for a beer to mourn my phone.

The 27.5 and the Lyric were the weak point on that. It's still setup for the Kenevo and I decided not to bother messing with it as the Zeb is due. The rear end felt perfect though. Still really really surprised with how the stock shock with the Vitus tune holds up - it honestly could not have been better.

Having ridden the bike more, have ordered a Fox 38 as I think it will be a better mix with the bike and the shock. I think the Zeb will be a bit harsh off the top without lots of modifications, but it will be interesting to see. Almost went for another Lyric as I'm a little reluctant to add extra weight to the front with how balanced it feels, but I think/hope it will be fine.

Still stoked with the bike ! It really is some magical do it all machine. It seems happy with anything. Stick it on the road and it chomps up the miles and seems incredibly frugal on power. I was concerned with how much power it seems to give that range would be atrocious, but it must do some weird thing like the Bosch where it tricks you into giving more than you think you are (my legs say it tricks you ....). General trails it just sucks up and is incredibly stable and easy to ride. Then throw it into the gnar and its the most stable and capable bike I've ridden. I literally have no desire at all to bother getting the Kenevo or Jam out :-(

Not 100% happy with the TRP's. They're controllable, work really well power wise, but just feel slightly disconnected compared to XT's - the front anyway. The rear feels fine. Will try them with the 2.3 Tektro disk instead of the XT disk and see if that makes any difference.

 

[Dado]

View attachment 125756

What the hell, what are they doing then with used ebike? Selling ebikes must be really bad, when companies come up with such a deals.

 

[Zimmerframe]

What the hell, what are they doing then with used ebike? Selling ebikes must be really bad, when companies come up with such a deals.

I think when you have someone who is selling an e-bike which is pretty much on a par for 95% of buyers with anything else they can buy - you've already undermined the bike market in competitive way. You just need to overcome everyones pre-conceptions, which is harder said than done. We're all guilty of falling for marketing and what we think is better.

I don't think ANY bike manufacturer has ever worried about what anyones second hand bike is worth ..??

Hey, I know you just paid €15k for that spesh which is now on offer for €7k ... but, well ... buy a second one and cut your losses. ? ...

If there's one let down on this bike (the VR model) it's the dysfunctional fork, which presumably is nothing like the pre-production models and is just an assembly issue. It won't affect anyone fireroad cruising, but it's dangerous for anyone hitting anything harder. I'm a bit surprised Suntour haven't made more effort to identify the issue and work out batches and issue a recall. It clearly has a high speed compression lock out issue and without trying to be overly dramatic is exceedingly dangerous for anyone riding a bike expecting at least the normal basic performance you'd expect from even a base level 160 fork.

Without that it should be on everyone's top 10 consideration list (discounting where colour doesn't fit ! )

 

[CarolinaCrawler]

@Zimmerframe, at the World Cup this weekend. Tried to talk to the SR Suntour guys and get their opinion about it but no one was around.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Tried to talk to the SR Suntour guys and get there opinion about it but no one was around.

Good try. Would have been nice to have some insight from people who probably know about the damping they used and any potential assembly issues - and fixes so people could maybe strip it themselves.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Was just having a break and being really boring thinking about weigh bias ..

The Focus, for example, is incredibly neutral in the air and off drops, it's exactly 50/50 front to rear weight bias.

The E-Mythique with the 27.5/180 Lyric/XT disk is 46.6 Front/53.3 rear (ignoring tiny rounding).

With a Fox 38 or Zeb, 29 and the 2.3 disk I think it will be about 47.5 Front/52.5 rear - so still not nose heavy.

I guess I'll just have to wait .... then ride it and see ...

 

[CarolinaCrawler]

Good try. Would have been nice to have some insight from people who probably know about the damping they used and any potential assembly issues - and fixes so people could maybe strip it themselves.

I was hoping to catch one of the mechanics there to chat. I’ve found the techs in the pits to be really open and straightforward with questions. Lots of Suntour stuff riding around there too.

I wonder how the Durolux does on the VRS? That’s the model I’m looking at currently.

Actually saw a VRX wondering around. Talked to the guy riding it and he as very happy with his. He said he had no plans on upgrading anything but was looking into making a range extender for it.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I was hoping to catch one of the mechanics there to chat. I’ve found the techs in the pits to be really open and straightforward with questions. Lots of Suntour stuff riding around there too.

I wonder how the Durolux does on the VRS? That’s the model I’m looking at currently.

Actually saw a VRX wondering around. Talked to the guy riding it and he as very happy with his. He said he had no plans on upgrading anything but was looking into making a range extender for it.

Rob has the vrs version with the durolux and has had no problems and says it rides great. If there had been an option to upgrade the broken ? zeron to the durolux I'd have taken it out of curiosity. With the bike feeling so perfect you ca only presume they spent a lot of time matching it with things which worked well. You get the feeling it was quite a passionate project where they were really aiming high !

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Stock update:

• Some VRX due to arrive next week
• VRS due w/c 16th October
• VR due w/c 23rd October