Vitus E-Sommet VR

[Gary]

It's not just preference though, it's also perception.

We're talking about a 170mm travel 65degree H/A bike. the bike is quite clearly a very capable Enduro/miniDH bike massively biased towards descending rough and technical tracks
I rode mine from the door 9 miles through local woodland and an old railway line along to my closest DH tracks. Only did a few runs (tired, hungover). Tracks there are short and sweet (1:10-2min) mellow (as far as DH tracks go) but hardpack with good drainage so fast and not too pedally with lots of jumps.
I like the bike. I just don't see any point in not being 100% honest about it's shortcomings.

Here's an E-bike in the gap between a 25ft jump from today

same jump different perspective

Sorry. I have no action shots. I had the place completely to myself. and barely know how to work my phone's camera nevermind work out how to get pics/vids of yourself riding.

 

[davosaurusrex]

Anyone replaced the dropper post yet? I went to put my 170 reverb on earlier but the drawcord I taped on detached. Can only fish from the front end as the cable entry is only just larger than a cable/hose. Really convoluted around the motor, unsurprisingly. Going to try string and a Hoover tomorrow but suspect I may have to drop the motor out which I could do without.

 

[Doomanic]

I had to drop the motor to change the dropper cable on my Trek last weekend. Worth it to have a functional dropper again though.

 

[Gary]

drawcord? taped?
Reverbs come with a red alloy barb that threads into the reverb hose and a length of gear outer so you can join the two. All you needed to do ws thread the hose to your brandX cable and pull it through the seat tube.
This little guy

hindsight, eh? :/

 

[R120]

On the subject of cabling, i would recommend taping/small zip tie round the sensor cable to the rear brake hose where they come out from above motor and before they go into swingaram, the sensor cable has a bit of slack on it on mine and i reckon if it shook loose on a ride you could potentially damage it with your heel

 

[R120]

just saw this pic on single track, shows that the One Up Dropper has a shorter static body than the reverb:

Sea Otter 2018: OneUp Components New Tools (And Dropper)

"The final thing that OneUp wanted to show was the comparative lengths of its posts. As well as having an option to have an in-between drop, perhaps if the longest drop post option is just 10mm too tall for you and your bike, it also has a shorter static body than some other posts, seen here with a RockShox Reverb (also with 170mm drop) for comparison"

Also it appears you restrict/set the max extension with the shim sytem they supply - very intresting:

OneUp Components' Travel-Adjustable Dropper Post - First Ride - Pinkbike

Interested to see your thoughts on the post gary once it arrives

 

[Gary]

New tyres turned up today.
Minnion SS 2.3 and DHF 2.5 exo (both Dual compound).
Fitted tonight and OMG what an improvement. The drag from the OEM 3C 2.5s f&r is ridiculous (for all round riding anyway). Obviously there'll be a reduction in all out grip but I'm absolutely fine with that.
The two new tyres also took another 900g weight off the bike.
DD 3C DHF 2.5s are 1250g each SS in exo is 750g DHF in exo 850g. A little too light actually considering OG 26"x2.35 singleply DHFs were slightly heavier than the SS. I don't really run low pressures though and the riding I'm doing with this bike isn't generally crazy rocky. I'll keep the DDs just incase

@R120 Parcelforce tracking info for my seatpost still says "at national hub" had hoped it'd be here by now. shouldn't be too much longer for you to wait for my review tho.
As always it'll be brutally honest

 

[Gary]

Ok. @R120 my Oneupcomponents seatpost arrived today. Unfortunately I can't fit it as the E-sommet has an internal butted ring inside the seat tube at the bottom restricting how deep I can insert the post.
I had a play with it before i realised it wouldn't fit so I'll give you a quick review from the parts I recieved though.
The post. from top to bottom:
The saddle clamp is a two bolt system with quality (what look to be stainless) steel fastening hardware, the top nuts are the recessed type you find on a lot of twin bolt saddle clamps. Bolts are pre-loctited. The saddle rail cradle is well made and easy to use. it's not far off a Reverb in design (not a bad thing) but cleverly holds the saddle at a lower stack height than other designs.
Underneath the saddle clamp lies the schraeder valve which is covered by a really nicely made and well thought out rubber bung to keep crap out.
The stanchion is shiny anodised and looks to be as good quality as a Reverb.
The wiper/dust seal is a quality garter sealed item.
The post itself has anodised markings for height but they are not numbered. instead they spell out O N E U P C O M P O N E N T S with the letters evenly spaced apart down to the MIN insertion line. looks good and it's a practical enough solution for remembering the height you prefer it at.
down towards the base of the post an external section is butted inwards and then the last cm ish goes back to the same diameter as the rest of the post. I'm not sure why they've done this. no doubt something to do with how the cartridge sits inside. The actuator is quite a clever design. instead of a lever being pulled like so many mechanical droppers. it uses a button where the cable end is fixed and it's actually the outer (ferrule) that depresses the button on the cartridge. this whole assembly is anodised green, feels very well made and is cleverly thought out. The action is very light and attaching the cable is a dawdle.
The psot raises and lowers smoothly and fairly fast with a fairly powerful top out clunk. I didn't check the Psi so this may be adjustable by altering pressure.
I ordered the SRAM Matchmaker lever. Again a quality solid piece of kit. Very lightweight. so light infact it seems like cheap plastic until you loook closely and see it's far from it.. Action is smooth in operation with a sealed bearing for the lever pivot. Only time will tell how long the bearing here will last. but it should be easily replacable when required. The lever is shorter than most so should also have a shorter throw allowing you to activate it with less of a stretch. The lever has two mounting holes for fine tuning the distance it sits relative to your grip. a nice touch as we don't all have our levers in the same position on our bars. The cable end is pinched with a decent sized grub screw which looks properly made for the job.
It comes with a length of inner and outer cable and 2 ferules.
There are no instructions in the box but they are available online should you need them. (once you've figured out how the actuator works here's really no need for instructions).

I've emailed OneUP to ask to exchange the post for a 150mm which should just fit. if not. it'll only be a few mm too long so I can shim it down.

I really don't understand why Vitus didn't ream the seattube straight through. Well. I do. it'll be to stop numpties inserting their satpost too deep and damaging the shock. A warning would have sufficed though.

Talking of the bike. My car was in the garage overnight last night so this morning I commuted to work on the Sommet. With the new tyres fitted the bike rolls so much better it's actually noticable when you exceed the motors limit on the flat. To my work it's a 10mile commute with a couple of short sharp hills and the ride normally takes me around 35mins on my roadbike not murdernig myself but putting in a fair effort. As I was riding an mtb I went off road (doubletrack, singletrack and farm roads) for the first 2 or 3 miles. The commute took 40 minutes. I knew the roadbike aws faster. The difference was I wasn't even sweaty when I arrived.
After work I had an hour and a half free while my youngest was at football training so I did a local XC loop on it too. 13.5 miles of mainly dry woodland trails (fairly flat with one technical muddy rooty loop). The new tyres have transfomed it's playfulness. the 3C were too draggy but also so grippy it was a major effort to make traction break free when I wanted the bike to drift. Now I can break traction in corners at will. in the mud/roots in boost this is sooo much fun it's unbelievable. power wheelying and drifting while pedalling is amazing fun!
I hit a small tight set of dirtjumps the local kids ride as I cut through one wood and.. .erm... Yeah.. .well.. .this bike's still shit at that... I over jumped one so had to pump hell out of the next transition to make the next gap but ended up supercasing the next landing. (I built the jump years back so didn't feel too guilty

 

[R120]

Thanks Gary, always amazing how a few little changs to a bike can make it work better (or worse!) for you

 

[Gary]

Hey fellow E-Sommet owners.

So who's been inside the Lyrik and Super Deluxe and can tell me how many volume spacers/bands they have in there stock?
At a guess I'd say the fork has no more than one token in there and the shock has none - I have another 170mm Lyrik on my Capra but I have Monarch on that and it's a far more progressive leverage curve than this. Not entirely sure whether I want this more progressive or not as it's an entirely different beast to maneouver. (plus no spare bands came with it and i certainly don't want to remove any)

How are your bikes holding up? done any mods? fitted anything new? how are you getting to grips with riding it?

Mine has been sweet. it's 9 days old, has been used at least once a day since I got it and done 130miles and 12000ft of climbing so far. Everything from road, double track, single track, fireroads, steep technical descending, deep mud, huge puddles, roots, rocks, dust, flowy trails to jumps and down to the pub so far and not a fault other than the wheel sensor spoke twisting out of alignment and losing the chain once due to a branch getting stuck in the drivetrain so can't really fault the bike for either of those. The bike has taken a few crashes, a few bashplate (is that what the bottom protective part of the motors are being called?) ground outs and one fairly harsh landing so far and held up fine.
Going tubeless and fitting a lighter EXO carcus harder compound faster rolling tyres are the only upgrade I've made. and I'm so glad I did. Feels like a different bike. the smaller rear tyre has lowered BB a smidge (2-3mm) and slackened it off a tiny amount (less than half a deg) but more importantly changed it's handling and made it feel less sluggish to maneouver and has taken almost exactly 1.5kg off the weight too.
Oh. and I fitted a big ugly RRP Proguard (Max protection version) that's been doing a sterling job of keeping my face clean.
I'll be fitting some Sensus Lite lock ons in a few days when they turn up. I ride all year round gloveless and use disisdaboss on my full sus bikes and sensus Lite's on my 4X bike. disisdaboss are hands down the nicest grips for all weather gloveless riding ever produced. I had a set ready to fit when the bike arrived but don't have room for the longer length of them' with the dropper remote and E-control levers on this bike. Lites are like their baby Bro and almost as good so will have to do. I'm tempted by the other E6000 shifter but I'm starting to get the hang of the paddles now and I'll wait and see how it all works together with the OneUp remote when I get the 170 exchanged with a 150mm post. Can't see that being too soon. OneUP haven't even managed to get to my Email to reply yet. Those posts seem to be selling like hot cakes. and rightly so really.

Riding wise. I'm still not dialled into the extra effort lifting the wheels takes yet. My bunnyhops on the trail are pathetic and my timing is off from riding other bikes so much and it's an absolute pig to try and manual. Takes so much more effort to get the front end up I end up not committing enough most of the time as that amount of effort on any of my other bikes would probably have me knocked out cold on the floor behind the bike.
Jumping and pumping the bike take a different approach too.
It's a fun bike for sure and is letting me ride in a completely different way on a lot of my local trails. I usually rarely take anything other than a hardtail out locally as it's far from the raddest riding from the door. I've ridden a couple of hardtails and my BMX this week so am not picking up any bad habits from the Sommet. It's just another type of bike to learn to get the most from an a little steeper learning curve than most.

Overall I can't believe how much of a deal this bike was. Looking at E-bikes twice the price I honestly can't see why I'd prefer any of them.
So glad I didn't keep waiting and being strung along by CANYON until they actually had a bike for me. Phew...

 

[ccrdave]

I reckon its a very cool bike, i also reckon you need to get over the “ on my other bikes i could do this” the ebike is always gonna be a different beast just enjoy what it is,
My lyrics need three tokens but i am a fat barstewrd they are sublime!

 

[Gary]

I don't need to "get over" anything Dave. I'm simply comparing my new bike to my other bikes.
My other bikes are not quite so good at riding up fireroads or powering through deep mud or over flat root gardens

Perhaps you need to try being less defensive over my honest observations about the limitations of my new E-bike.

 

[Gary]

My lyrics need three tokens but i am a fat barstewrd they are sublime!

They actually don't *need* 3 tokens because of your weight. You like 3 tokens because of your spring rate preference. Assuming you understand what tokens do to the spring rate curve. If we're talking about 170 or 180mm Lyriks by using a lot of tokens you are sacrificing spring linearity in favour of a softer beginning stroke and improved small bump compliance. That's kind of the opposite of how I like a fork.

I'm not light. I run no tokens in my Capra as I want a firm supportive sag point to push off and jump everything rather than soak up everything and stick to the ground. This bike I don't need to be quite as supportive early on as it's never going to be as playful or air happy.

Sorry for making a comparisson to a normal bike again.

 

[ccrdave]

lol
my lyric is 160 and I like the soft initial stroke to soak up small bumps and I like the ramp up to give plenty of support on drop offs etc. and of course good traction is important to me I seem to have a habit of front end whashouts (im a clumsy rider) but I can see for jumping and popping you would want a firm linear fork. horses for courses I guess but to get the performance from the fork that I want I do need three tokens

 

[R120]

Is there any such thing as a normal bike anymore! Seem to spend as much time sett No up the damn things as riding them anymore, the more you can fiddle with the more you can think isn’t set up right!

 

[Gary]

C if you remove a token up pressure and reduce sag you'd find a middle ground where you'd have more midstroke and beginning support and the frok would be less likely to wash the front out. You don't actually want that ramp up you're sold by manufacturers for dealing with drops. You want correct spring rate in the first place. look at coil DH forks and how they perform. They use a linear spring with slight progression through the remaining air and compression controlled through damping,

Push Bikes still are pretty simple. Setting up suspension is also pretty simple once you figure out what you actually need/want.
I set up all my bikes in the first few rides (and it seldom takes long to do) Then leave everything be. I do have a lot of experience granted.
this is why the 8 rides I have done on the Sommet been so varied. I now know the suspension and how it reacts to the different style of ridoing the bike requires. Any why I do spend time comparing bike to each other much to some folks annoyance.

 

[ccrdave]

Ok i will give it a go, the fork came with two tokens installed, i added a third as i couldnt stop the fork bottoming out unless I upped the pressure to a point where it was very harsh begining of strole

 

[Gary]

What's the bike? What sag are you running? (f&r) (and what method do you use to measure it) what do you weigh? And how do you ride? (honestly)

 

[ccrdave]

What's the bike? What sag are you running? (f&r) (and what method do you use to measure it) what do you weigh? And how do you ride? (honestly)

Its a turbo levo 20% sag on the front 30% on the rear i measure the stroke and divide accordingly im 106kilos and i ride fairly varied stuff naturall rooty off piste trails some quite steep ,rocks and steep if we go to the peaks and trail centres blue and red some of the easier downhill stuff in the forest of dean
I dont do jumps and drop offs are mostly rollable but not all

 

[Gary]

Sag sounds in the right ball park. By how do you measure sag I meant. Did you measure the sag stood centrally over the pedals in a neutral (fore/aft) position? pushing down through arms and legs then allow the suspension to settle move the O-ring to sag point then get off the opposite end from the sag you're measuring? with compression damping full open bothe ends?
or sat down?

 

[ccrdave]

No stood up but wasnt trying to push harder than my weight as it were.

 

[Gary]

No. I just mean pushing to compress the suspension (so as to avoid any stiction) and then letting it settle at sag point. body weight centred. light on the bars. weight trough the pedals. sounds like you're doing it properly.

What height are you and what size Levo is it?
Also what front tyre is it? and at what pressure do you run it?
(trying to fathom your front wheel wash problem, but kinda difficult without seeing you ride)

 

[ccrdave]

Ah yes understood
My forks are pretty good as they are set now lots of small bump compliance and good mid stroke support, they just get a bit harsh at the top but i suppose there has to be a compromise somewhere
We have Jake Ireland (world cup downhill spanner man)here at the FOD trail centre and he’s really good at setting my suspension tunes to suit me and my riding, i had him put a stiifer tune in my rear shock as the spesh one was crap and it made loads of difference

 

[Gary]

Ah yes understood
My forks are pretty good as they are set now lots of small bump compliance and good mid stroke support, they just get a bit harsh at the top but i suppose there has to be a compromise somewhere

Yeah. There are always compromises.

We have Jake Ireland (world cup downhill spanner man)here at the FOD trail centre and he’s really good at setting my suspension tunes to suit me and my riding, i had him put a stiifer tune in my rear shock as the spesh one was crap and it made loads of difference

Ah.. handy. I've used custom shimmed coil shocks with more midstroke support on a few DH bikes. I don't really bother anymore. Suspension designs have come on a fair bit since then. Plus. I'm no longer competitive.
What did Jake say about the front wheel washing out on you?
Is FOD you're local playground then?

 

[ccrdave]

Yes i live in the forest natural of piste stuff is about 500m away from where im sitting now the trail centre is about 4 miles away i can ride from home hit a couple of trail centre trails and ride back again.
Lol Jake reckons most of my problem is im too far back on the bike. I think the advice was man the fuck up and lean forward more lol
Not enough weight on the front wheel

 

[Gary]

Ha ha.. .I like his honesty

Your location sounds bliss. Do you have a spare room/Couch for random E-bikers you talk shit with on the internet?

 

[ccrdave]

As it happens i do
I like Jake very much he brilliant with suspension and of course his other half is Katy Kurd, i did a training session with her. She beat the fuck out of me for three hours, i came out with two cracked ribs and shed load more skills than i had before. My problem is im 68 and i dont bounce like i used its just a dull thud now when i hit the deck lol

 

[Gary]

Bloody hell that's some commitment to a skills day.
I'm 20 years younger and already find injurys taking twice the length of time to heal (or sometimes not at all).
15 years ago I used to live in Somerset and rode in South Wales absolutely tons but weirdly never ever rode FOD.

 

[ccrdave]

Ah we go to cwum carn and afan a bit but we have the quantocks to the south brilliant natrual stuff there. I used it live in dorset no trail centres but masses of natural stuff.
Our plan is to go to finale ligure this year i have a mate who has a hotel there so should be easy as long as i can work out how to get my battery there
Got to keep riding

 

[Gary]

Yeah. I was 10miles from Taunton so rode the Quantocks a lot. even helped build some of the original triscome DH tracks and a few other well hidden ones. Cwmcarn wasn't a trail centre back then but we raced Dragon DHs there on Jason Carpenters tracks. there were two amazing tracks. much more natural, rooty, muddy and consequential than what's there now. Same with Gethin (now BPW). I'm off to Morzine in June. been going there 20 odd years now and have mates who live there but haven't been over in 4 years.
Never been to Finale.
Maybe you could ship the battery out beforehand? I dunno. I'll be using chairlifts and a DH bike.